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Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 254, 23 September 1933, Page 6

A Daffodil Day appeal by the kindergartens of Christchurch yesteiday realised £3400. The ferry steamer Maori arrived at Lyttelton yesterday morning at 7.40. She encountered rough conditions in Cook Strait, a strong southerly wind and heavy seas prevailing. Two tramcars were extensively damaged by lire in the Auckland depot last night. The cars were parked in the depot for the niglrt when cleaners noticed smoke issuing from one oi them. They immediately gave tin alarm, but the flames spread rapidly and ignited the woodwork of an adjoining car. It was not possible to subdue the flames before considerable damage was done. A New Zealander, prominently connected with child welfare, recently wrote to the Italian Ministry of Health, requesting information on a new type of health camp arranged for poor children in Italy. True to the accepted idea of Latin courtesy, a lengthy explanation of the now system, together with numerous photographs, arrived in duo course from the Italian Minister. The letter was dater A.D. 1933, year of Mussolini 11. One wonders (an exchange observes) if future generations of Italians will date their letters with the initials of Anno Mussolini instead of the more usual Anno Domini.

The complete equipment and stocking of the refreshment room at the World Economic Conference was the subject of comment by Professor A. T. Tocker, economics adviser to the New Zealand delegation at the conference, when addressing a “welcome home” gathering which had been arranged by the Economics Society in Christchurch. “If you had business to transact and proceedings in the conference were not vitally affecting your interests, the method was to approach the men you wished to meet in private with the request: ‘Come and have a cup of tea,’ or ‘Come and have a drink,’ according to circumstances. The refreshment room adjoining the conference was remarkable. Tea, coffee, cocoa, soft drinks and any other type of drink on the face of tho earth were available. The proprietors prided themselves on the range. There were drinks common to Iceland and the East Indies, to mention only two specially represented. We did not try them all. (Laughter.) For a lark, we tried ‘monkey gland cocktails’and “angels’ kisses.’ That was enough. It ( was a remarkable buffet.”

Attention is drawn to the announcement in this evening’s issue of a special meeting to bo held in the Theosophical _ Hall, Church Street West, to-morrow evening at 7 o’clock. A memorial address is to bo given commemorating tho life-work of tho late Dr Annie Bcsant, who was president of the Theosophical Society from 1907 until her death, which took place this week at the Society’s headquarters, Adyar, Madras, India.

The overseas exports from Otago for the past eleven months (56,974 tons) constituted a record for the port oi Dunedin. The Dunedin Harbour Board has decided that no retiring allowance be granted in future to employees retiring on superannuation and to forward a remit on these lines to the Harbour Conference. The Sargeant Art Gallery Committee, Wanganui, has resolved to spend up to £SO in the purchase of a picture, or pictures, by New Zealand artists, to be exhibited at the Wanganui Arts and Crafts Exhibition in 1934. That the House should have the opportunity to discuss the reform of the Legislative Council before further appointments are made was a point urged by Mr A. J. Stallworthy in a notice of question given in the House of Representatives yesterday. The twenty-fifth anniversary of New Zealand’s elevation in status to a Dominion will be celebrated on Monday. Although this anniversary is not now observed as a public holiday, banks and legal offices will be closed. Flags will be flown from public buildings. Mr H. H. Sterling, chairman of the Government Railways Board, yesterday announced that, after a consultation with Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, it had been decided to extend the time for receiving tenders for the erection of the new station at Wellington for another ten days. A statement has been published in certain papers that North Otago is experiencing a drought, but this is far from being the case, states an Oamaru message. The district has not experienced for many years more favourable spring weather with ample rainfall. The pastures and crops are in great heart. The work of electrifying the North Island Main Trunk railway between Wellington and Paekakariki —an epochmarking work—has begun. Poles for carrying the overhead electric lines have now been erected from Paekakariki to a point south of Pukerua Bay station. In no long time electric locomotives like those that attract the attention of visitors at Lyttelton and at Otira will be an every day feature of the Wellington-Paekakariki traffic. France is now to have a national lottery. Details concerning the arrangements for this have been settled by a meeting at the Ministry of Finance. During the conference the system of organisation of national lotteries in Italy. Czechoslovakia, and Spain were carefully examined. It was eventually decided that the French enterprise should follow the lines of the Spanish lotteries. Tickets to the value of about £10,000,000 are to be issued. Of the proceeds, 60 per cent, will be awarded in prizes, while the remaining 40 per cent, will be retained by the State to pay its obligations to distressed farmers and ex-Service men. The prizes are to be free from all taxation. Little-known facts about the island of Mauritius were given by Major H. Vere Chumleigh in an address to members of the Auckland Overseas Club. The island has the distinction of having the world’s record for the rise and fall of tides. There is a difference of no less than 32ft. between high and low water. Another record Mauritius claims is the possession of the oldest living creature in the form of a gigantic tortoise, which is 460 years of age. It has passed through the hands of the Dutch, French and the buccaneer rulers of the island. Now the British officers’ mess makes it a daily allowance of one rupee to provide it with the comforts that its mature age deserves. The chief cause of the activity in the wool market, writes a correspondent of the Melboure Age, is the revival of full-dress fashions on the part of the women throughout the world. Mrs and Miss Europe have got their dresses down to their ankles, and Mrs and Miss Australia are not far behind. Japan has a watchful eye on all these fashions. Had America come in, there woidd have been a bigger rise still. But America is too busy looking after its cotton, and its inventors are sure to evolve something specially good in fleecy-lined material without the aid of the sheep. But with prices going up, and dresses coming down in every part of the world, the Australian wool clip is safe for this season at least.