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Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 89, 13 March 1935, Page 6

Federal statistics show that in the last few rears of the depression there was not "a decrease, but an increase, in real wages. Bones which are thought to be those of a mo a were discovered by an employee of the Havelock North Town Board while digging a trench on the side of Simla Avenue, Havelock North. By the terms of a remit from the Devonport Borough Council the Municipal Association conference in Christchurch next week will he asked to support strict control or the absolute prohibition of Alsatian dogs in the Dominion.

No fewer than 71 remits have been sent forward to be considered at the Municipal Association’s 29th annual conference, which will open in Christchurch on March 21. A large number of the remits deal with proposed amendments to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1933. and with various aspects of the subject of rating.

Ability to spell correctly is apparently not a strong point with many new students entering Canterbury University College this year, according to some remarks made the other day by the rector, Dr J. Eight. He said that fully half of intending students spelled “enrolment” with two T’s” while many insisted in putting a “t” in “bachelor.” Others addressed the Professorial Board as the “Professional” Board. “Thank goodness.” said Dr Hight, “no one lias spelled ‘college’ with a ‘d’ yet.” “The Mayor’s job is not always a bed of roses.” remarked the Mayor of One Tree Hill (Auckland), Mr I. J. Goldstino, at a meeting of the Borough Council. He reported that a few days ago a woman ratepayer telephoned" him a few minutes before midnight, asking him to arrange immediately for the removal of a dead rat which she had found outside her property. A few days previously lie had been rung up before (5 o’clock in the morning with a complaint that there was a dead fowl on a footpafli in the borough. Preliminary figures of the numbers of live birth's, stillbirths, marriages, deaths and infant deaths registered in the Dominion, exclusive of Maoris, during the year 1934 are now available. The Dominion total of births, 24,322, shows a further small decrease with a corresponding reduction in the birthrate. Alter a succession of yearly decreases in the death rate, a substantial increase from 11,701 to 12,527 occurred in 1934. The infant mortality rate also shows a rise, but the movement is insignificant. there being only two more infant deaths than in the previous year. Both the number and the rate of marriages show a further noteworthy increase, the number of marriages having been exceeded in only one year, na meJy, 1920.

Something in the nature of a plague of fleas is being experienced at the present time in Waipukurau. The Fire Brigade was summoned at 10.30 p.m. yesterday to Main Street East to attend to a sleeper on the radway line which was on fire. Only trifling damage was done.

The work of tarring and sanding the main drive and all footways in the grounds of the Palmerston North Hospital is at present proceeding under a contract recently let by the board. A decision to form an Unemployment Research Association to conduct an investigation into the causes of, and remedy for. the unemployment situation was made at a public meeting in Wellington last night. The soi of close on £SO in cheques and notes was lost by a Great South Road (Auckland) grocer on Saturday morning, hut a few hours later it was discovered that the packet had been posted back to the owner, after ±ll4 in notes had been extracted. In the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon, Rt. Hon. G. IV. Foibes, replying to Mr F. Jones, Labour member for Dunedin South, said the matter of Government recognition of the quadruplets born at Dunedin would receive consideration. A wind of gale force, with heavy rain, prevailed yesterday at Auckland wiUi rough seas in the harbour. Heavy seas are reported off the const and the Ruahine, which was due from London at 6 o’clock this morning, is being delayed by the weather.—Press Association. “By flying part of the way from London j have reached New Zealand in 17 days; my father, in 1857, look four months to get here,” said Sir Edward Campbell, M.P.. a member of the British air delegation, who arrived at Auckland from Sydney. _Sir Edward said his father came to New Zealand for the Maori Wars, but did not subsequently remain in the Dominion. Mixed with sawdust and shavings, 200,000 wet and sodden cigarettes were shovelled into tlie furnace at a New Plymouth factory recently. Damaged by the flood while still held under bond, cigarettes of many brands we:e destroyed under the supervision of a Customs Department official. The packets wen j so sodden that it was necessary to mix a large proportion of shavings to keep the fire burning. While fishing in the Opilii River, near Tiniaru, a young man landed a s.fib. salmon on a dry fly. The catch was unique, in that, as far as is known, this is the first occasion on which a salmon has been landed on a dry fly in New Zealand. Another peculiar feature was the fact that the fisherman had only 15 yards of line. But lor the fact that the fish ran ashore, the fisherman may not have met with the success lie did. “When you want to increase the flow of anything you put the extra supply into the source of the stream, not at the mouth, and the same applies to the country : the farmer is the source of wealth in New Zealand and the extra supply should be placed at his disposal where it wi'l percolate through the rest cf the community” stated Mr H. 0. Mellsop, of Auckland, at Feilding, last night, in referring to the proposals of the Government m regard to the Mortgage Corporation Bill. A letter from the All-India Hockey Federation, which was before a meeting of the committee of the New Zealand Hockey Association in Christchurch last night,' stated that tlie terms offered by New Zealand, were acceptable and that a team of players which would he fully representative of hockey in India would be sent. Cable advice stated that the team would arrive in Wellington on May 13 for a tour of 101 weeks.—Press Association.

“This Bill means the handing over of a problem which should be treated sympathetically to a soulless, cold body” stated Mr H. 0. Mellsop, president of the Auckland Farmers’ Union, in an address at Feikling, last night, on the Mortgage Corporation Bill. Mr Mellsop went on.to say that lie was very friendly with Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, but in this measure he could not see that any benefit was to accrue to the farming industry from the Bill, and as far as lie was concerned it was a fight to a finish. “It appears to me that if something is not clone to combat the spread of blackberry it will soon be all over the county,” stated the chairman (Cr. W. E. Barber) at yesterday’s meeting of the Manawatu County Council during a discussion on a commercial spray, particulars of which had been placed before the council. Members of the council agreed with the chairman that the spread of blackberry and gorse in the county was becoming serious and it was agreed to witness a demonstration of the spray on blackberry. A considerable amount of rivalry in connection with the growing of sunflowers of unusual dimensions or height has 1 developed throughout the Dominion and, indeed, even further afield. A local product which now enters the ranks of claimants for a place of honour is a sunflower head which was grown in the garden of Mrs Lewis Gold of Palm Avenue. The head, which is at .present on display in the window of the G. M. Ross Coy., Ltd., measures 24 inches across and turns the scale at 14lbs. Speaking at the flower show at Rongotea, yesterday, Mr W. G. Black commented that such shows in New Zealand seemed to draw poor attendances, and he referred to the crowds lie had seen attending a flower show at Melbourne on the occasion of the Centenary celebrations. The city was one of gardens, he said, and it was as if all Melbourne liad attended the show. Mr Black suggested that much might he done at a conference of horticultural societies in the Palmerston North and Manawatu district. The clashing of dates could be amicably avoided, and the societies might be able to come to some arrangement as to the common use of certain fixtures and equipment in order to reduce expense.

“Apparently nothing is being done concerning the vital question of improved marketing of the Dominion’s produce,” commented the president (Mr A. J. Graham), at the meeting of the council of the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce, yesterday afternoon, when he observed that though the Government was taking steps to rehabilitate the dairy industry little appeared to have been done in the direction mentioned. “Has anything concrete been achieved?” he asked, stating that months had elapsed and the market was still in a parlous condition. Mr M. H. Oram said they would have to wait and see if the two produce boards could do the job. “I sincerely hope for the benefit of New Zealand that they will do it,” he added. Officials of the Royal Prince Albert Hospital, Sydney are conducting a search for about £SOO worth of radium, which has been hist from the body of a patient. The radium, in spite of its value, only occupies the smallest space, and, with its container, is not much larger than a pill. It is not known how the valuable element escaped detection. Radium worth about the same amount was lost from a hospital several years ago. An electroscope, an instrument constructed to detect the rays emanating from even the smallest particle of a radioactive element, was taken to a rubbish tip. After hours of searching, officials saw the thin leaves of the instrument curl, and knew that the radium was nearby. In a few more minutes the tiny needle was found.