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Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 243, 11 September 1935, Page 6

Reporting at yesterday’s meeting of the Manawatu County Council, the engineer (Mr H. V. Rond) stated that the planting of some 2000 trees on the Sandon town belt and Mt. Biggs reserve Avas in progress.

A definite and significant sign of returning prosperity is reflected in the boat-building industry, of Auckland. A total of £20,000 is an estimate of the amount being spent at present in* the construction o.f new yachts and launches for the pleasure fleet of the Waitemata.

A distressing incident occurred on a farm between Carterton and Gladstone the other day. A young woman was missed from her home, and was found some hours later at the foot of a> deep Avell. When recovered she was suffering severely from shock, and it Avas almost a miracle that she was not drowned, as the tvell contained several feet of water.

“The Royal Navy at the present time, I consider, offers most excellent prospects for anyone who goes into it, for 1 am convinced that the Navy must expand again,” declared Commodore the Hon. E. R. Drummond when speaking at the annual dinner of the English Public Schools’ Club at Auckland. The chances of promotion for young officers, he added, were extremely good.

The most startled man at a dance in the Fitzroy Hall, New Plymouth, on Saturday night was the pianist in the orchestra, when the instrument he was playing disappeared over the edge of the dais and crashed to the floor among the dancers. Fortunately the heavy instrument fell into a vacant space among the large crowd. The piano was standing near the edge of the orchestral dais, and apparently the vibrations set up the dancers and the music caused it to work gradually to the edge of the polished platform.

Within the next feAv Aveeks, provided the river rises sufficiently, there Avill be launched on the Molyneux River, Otago, tAvo of the largest dredges that have ever been used, in NeAv Zealand for the winning of gold, states the Otago Daily Times. The companies OAvning the vessels are backed by English capital and have as their objectives the dredging of the bottom of the SAviftest river in the Dominion. Six months of construction work have been completed and it is expected that dredging operations Avill begin early next year.

Considerable pleasure Avas given to members of the Terrace End School Committee last evening Avlien the inspectors’ report, for the sixth successive year, it Avas mentioned bv the chairman (Mr W. B. Tennent), graded the school as excellent. Reference Avas made by a member that in the past Terrace End had been most modest over its excellent achievement, and lie thought the parents should fully realise Aviiat Avas being done for their children. Mr A. W. Thompson (headmaster) remarked that the best of spirit existed .betAveen the city schools. It Avas pleasing to knoAV that several had been graded as excellent. It Avas a credit to Palmerston North.

Much disappointment at Aviiat has been done in the Avay of rebuilding* Armentieres, so familiar to NeAv Zealanders in the Great War, Avas expressed bv Mr D. M. ltae vesterday, in an address at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Armentieres had been rebuilt, lie said, for about 15 years now. but it had almost got back to the condition in which it Avas Avlien the NeAv Zealanders first Avent there in 1915. “That is to say,” he added, “it is not a \*ery sanitary toAvn.” Those responsible liad not had sufficient imagination to see the opportunity to improve the toAvn immensely Avhen rebuilding, but had simply reproduced all its old features, including 1-oavs of ugl.v tenements and a very unsatisfactory drainage system.

Two building permits, covering a value of £571, were issued in the Manawatu County last month. A conference of City Council representatives, the police and businessmen was held yesterday to discuss tho matter of traffic in the Square on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The findings of the conference are to be submitted to a meeting of the City Council on Monday night.

*‘l think it is one of the finest movements there is on foot to-day, and I move that we support it by purchasing £5 worth of stamps,” declared Cr J. H. Perrett, at yesterday’s meeting of the Manawatu County Council, when the question of tho health stamp campaign came up for discussion. Tne purchase, the speaker added, would be equal to a donation by the council of £2 10s. Tho proposal was unanimously agreed to.

The winner of the third prize of £250 in the Happy Thought v Art Union was Mrs L. Flashman, of Newmarket, Auckland. “1 could hardly believe it when I heard that ‘Zane Grey’ had won third prize,” said Mrs Flashman. “The money could not have come at a better time.” Her husband, she added, owned a small milk-vending business and was badly in need of a little extra capital. All the prize money would go into the business. Mrs Flashman's ticket was inscribed with the pseudonym, “Zane Grey.” With the object of helping to place the mining industry on a sound basis and opening up new avenues for employment it is intended that a national delegation from the industry should wait on the Government and urge the immediate removal of the gold tax. Advantage will be taken of the presence of this delegation in Wellington to hold a meeting of members to formulate proposals tor the rehabilitation of the mining industry on a national basis, including suggestions covering the complete revision of the Mining Act, 1926, and regulations. Falling 120 feet, a boulder of solid rock, estimated to weigh 700 tons, was dislodged during blasting operations at tho Cobden quarry recently. The mass rolled over several times before coming to rest, but, fortunately (says the Greymouth Star), there were no men and no machinery in the path. When it struck the ground, after its sheer descent, it made a hole three feet deep and ground the rock surface to powder. It is considered that the impact was of 80,000 tons force, or much greater than the striking force of a 16-inch naval projectile. An extension of the legislation relating to rent restriction is provided for in a Bill, of which the Minister of Labour (Hon. A. Hamilton) gave notice in the House of ltepresentatives yesterday. This legislation, whicli provides that a standard rent shall be determined on a basis of 7 per cent, of the capital value of the dwelling, exclusive of rates, insurance, repairs and depreciation, applies only to houses first let before 1920, and since 1928 it has directly affected only houses to which it has been expressly applied by order of a magistrate.

The removal of anomalies in the existing law is the object of the Mental Defectives Amendment Bill, notice of which was given in the House of Representatives yesterday by the Minister of Internal Affairs (Sir Alexander Young). Ono clause will exempt hospital doctors and honorary assistants from the provision which prevents partners from certifying as to the mental state of the same patient. The interpretation of “partners” has been extended to include doctors on the same staff, and somo unnecessary inconvenience has been caused thereby. The popular belief that lightning never strikes twice in the same place was exploded by Mr L. B. Hutton, 8.E., jV1.1.E.E., during a discussion of a paper by him on the incidence of lightning, at the annual conference of the Electric Supply Authority Engineers’ Association in Wellington yesterday. Mr Hutton ■ said that investigations by Russian engineers in the liral Mountains had shown that lightning struck many times in the same place and they had found that again and again lightning had hit within an area as small as one chain and that nothing would stop it.

How the modern, word “stockholder” originated was explained by Mr E. A. Wallace, president of the New Zealand Institute of Secretaries, during an address to members of the Auckland Chapter. Mr Wallace said that at the time of William the Conqueror, and after, a system of accounting was in vogue called the tally system whereby debts were recorded by cutting notches on a stick called a tally stock. Banks kept records of deposits by the tally system, said Mr Wallace, and their depositors held tally stocks corresponding to these in the bank. In that way the modern word had originated. An 800 miles ocean race, which was won by half a ship’s length, is recalled by the arrival of the steamer Simonside, at Lyttelton. The Simonside won this race to settle which vessel should first enter the port of Fort Churchill, on Hudson Bay, which is open only between August and October each year for loading wheat. Each year vessels gather in Hudson Strait until about August 13, when a race to Fort Churchill is started. Four steamers took part in the 800 miles dash last year, and the Simonside got home by half a length after racing neck and neck with her opponents the best part of the way.

A point of interest to parents and school committees was mentioned by Mr A. W. Thompson (headmaster of Terrace End School) at the meeting of the committee last evening. The school having fallen in attendance a teacher has been transferred. Mr Thompson said that members of the committee and parents would ask why a particular teacher should be transferred. The position was that the “last to be appointed to the permanent staff was the first to go,” hence the transfer notified by the board. The appointment of specialist teachers was not taken into consideration in the matter of such transfers.

An appeal for greater encouragement of New Zealand talent by New Zealanders was made by Mr Stanley Oliver, music judge at the Hawera competitions, at a Hawera Rotary luncheon. “You have plenty of talent in this country —some beautiful voices —and there is no need to go overseas to secure vour radio artists, ’ he said. Mr Oliver added that a Wellington woman, who could not get a radio engagement in New Zealand, had gone to°England about a year ago, and, after singing for the British Broadcasting Corporation, had been invited to accept the post of radio instructress in either singing or speech culture. When she went to Kaai Hau, near Canton, China, six years ago, kidnapping was rife, said Miss Annie 1. James, a New Zealand Presbyterian missionary, who recently returned on furlough, in an interview. The head of the police had warned her on no account to allow her little adopted Chinese girl, Po Chan, out on the street alone. One day a dozen women gathering charcoal on the hillside were kidnapped and held for ransom. In the following year, however, a new local magistrate was appointed, and the penalty of death for anyone engaged in kidnapping was established. This put an end to the practice, and Miss James said she could now move about at all hours of the night without fear.