LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 10 January 1929, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A vigorous protest against the number of people “driving pens and typewriters in this countx-y” was made by Councillor Wilkinson at the Waimea County Council meeting to-day, when the Council’s usual grant of £25 to the Nelson Technical School was being considered. Councillor Wilkinson said it was time the young people were taught something useful. Councillor Ilewetson said that it would be much better if many of the people who sent letters to the Council used typewriters. Many letters were unreadable.

A Wanganui rowing enthusiast who travelled to New Plymouth for the New Year regatta tells of an amusing episode on the beach that afternoon. A “treasure hunt’’ was staged on a roped-in area for the prizes. A little fox-terrier staged a treasure hunt for himself just outside the ring, and, following the example of those witliin, delved with his fore paws just as vigorously as those with spades. The real humour of the incident came when he turned up a buried cigarette tin, though of course, lie had not been in the “prize area.” The terrier nosed his find back into the sand, and seemed to find as much delight in unearthing it again as in the original discovery.

At a special meeting to-day the Waimea County Council resolved that the statutory half-holiday in the coiyity be observed on Saturday. Waiters who had struck in one of the smart cafes in the fashionable district of Vienna, evolved a novel offensive which brought the proprietress almost to her knees, while thousands of spectators in the boulevard outside were greatly amused. When the buxom lady who owns the place tried to break the strike by employing “scabs,” the strikers brought up a couple of hundred idle members of the Waiters’; Union, who, dressed in their Sunday! best, occupied all the tables in the establishment for two days. They ordered nothing but occasional glasses of soda water, costing about Id, at two hours intervals, so as to be within the law. Not only did they sit idly all day, but they smoked villainous cigars and cigarettes, creating a poisonous smoke barrage which even the most loyal client of the cafe could not brave.

No one could speak in more glowing terms of New Zealand, its people, its customs, its institutions, and its pride of race than does Professor W. F. Osborne, of the University of Manitoba, who recently returned from a comprehensive tour of the Dominion. Professor Osborne, in an address in Vancouver, said that the most arresting impression of his tour was the New Zealander’s pride in being British and his manner of treating "the Maoris. The newspapers, reporting his address, gave prominent notice to the fact that the constitution and practice of New Zealand was to afford absolute equality before the law to the Maoris. Their high standard of intelligence, the culture of their educated classes, the legislative capacity of their leaders, and the desire of the race generally to “break even” with the pakeha in matters of civic and national aspiration, were factors that made him marvel at the results New Zealand has produced i:i the Maoris. “If you seek the best British sentiment, you will find it in New Zealand, among both races,” the professor said. “It is a standing example to the truth of the saying that no nation in the world can handle natives like the British. Of the climate and physical configuration of New Zealand, Professor Osborne spoke in superlative terms. “Charming, even to the point of bewitching,” he said. Her natural beauties were incomparable. It was no doubt the most beautiful part of the globe.

Special attention is drawn to the Pailway Department’s advertisement, and enclosed poster in to-day’s issue relative to the delayed running of the 4.7 p.m. Belgrove-Nelson train on Saturdays and the issue of special cheap fares’ as an inducement for city residents to visit the country.

A garden party will be held at Wakefield on the 12th inst., in connection with St. John’s Church. Patrons are promised an enjoyable afternoon.

A very happy Christmas was spent by tho patients in the Public Hospital this year and at yesterday’s hoard meeting the chairman (Mr T. Neale) said the staff deserved to be congratulated on the result of their efforts. “We are also,” he said, “very grateful to all those public spirited people who generously assisted to make this Christmas in tho hospital such a bright ono.” A fire occurred at Wairoa shortly after noon yesterday, says a Press Association message, in a shop owned by Mr Withers (draper). The building was gutted and the stock badly damaged by smoke and water. The stuck was insured in. the South British Office for £2OOO.

On tho suggestion of the resident surgeon (Dr. D. C. Low) it was resolved at yesterday's meeting of (Jie Hospital Board that arrangements for blood transfusions at the Hospital be placed on a proper footing and that an amount not exceeding £2 2s be paid in each ,case. The details of the arrangements were left lo the Superintendent.

“I have worked my way from Auckland to Otago and have sounded the feeling of all the towns I. have visited. There is no doubt a distinct improvement in the tone of the business community has taken place, and that the change of Government has put new spirit into the country.” Such was the opinion expressed in an interview yesterday by Mr 0. A. Moller, organiser of the * United political organisation in Auckland, wires the Christchurch correspondent of “The Mail.” He has spoilt the last four weeks oil a motor tour of both Islands in the interests of his party. A Wellington business man would like to renew acquaintance witli “a man with a cock eye,” who on a plea of a job awaiting him in Nelson was advanced £2 for passage money. A promise was made that the money would be wired out of the first week’s wages, the name of the firm to which the man was supposed to be going having been given the Wellington citizen. As time went on and no word was received, inquiry was made in Nelson, with the result that the “job” turned out to be a myth.

Electricity is a vast and mysterious force, whose real nature is still only imperfectly understood even by scientists and about which the average layman knows very little indeed. In domestic use it is bringing about a revolutionary improvement in the convenience of the daily routine; but from time to time wo hear of instances where ignorance or carelessness has had a fatal consequence, says the ‘ London Daily Mail.” Two inquests in one week on deaths by electric shock, caused by contact with the connections of electric radiators in bathrooms, draw attention to one simple but deadly source of danger. There should be no electric power fitting—as distinct from light—within reach in any bathroom, the conditions there being peculiarly apt to give rise .to a shock. It follows that a portable electric radiator is always out of place in a bathroom ; and even some leading dealers in electrical apparatus say roundly that the onlv fittings tolerable there are those for electric light. Some may think them over-cautious; but it is significant that those who know most about electricity treat it with the most meticulous circumspection; and this is emphatically a case for the application of the maxim “Safety first.” Mr J. G. Haddow, of Auckland (who found time to study for his law examination while engaged in school teaching and farming operations in the backblocks of Waikotara County) has an interesting article in a recent issue of “The Spectator,” entitled “Self-Help Farming' in New Zealand.” He deals with the striking enterprise of the successful farmer, a man who is able to do his own repairs to his implements and his buildings, especially on bush farms, and who is capable of doing much more as well. He gives some experiences of his own when farming in the bush 30 years ago, at which time it was a standing joke that with a kerosene tin, a soldering iron and timber from the bush anything whatever could be constructed. There seems to be no limit to the enterprise which back country farmers will display in self-help; and what is written should be inwardly digested by all who aspire to take up farm work in the younger countries. Mr Haddow concludes: “Sometimes in New Zealand we wonder if the spirit of the early pioneer still lives —the spirit to endure, to face difficulties with inadequate means, and to pull through in the face of long odds. Is the doubt fair to the young men who faced and cheerfully won through the years between 1914 and 1919? Of this company were the men of whom I have spoken.” It is not generally known that the Railway Department grants a liberal concession to parents travelling, accompanied by their children, for journeys of not less than 20 miles. The price of three adult second-class return fares provides tickets for father, mother, and all their children under sixteen years of age. The following examples are typical of the substantial savings made possible by the concession rate: Two parents and four children aged 14, 13, 10 and 9 years may make the return journey between Wellington and Napier at a cost of £6 5s 6d—saving £4 3s 8d on the ordinary fare. A family of similar proportions travelling between Christchurch and Dunedin would pay £4 16s 8d less than the ordinary rates. The provision of such a liberal concession will doubtless be a boon to many families who would otherwise be debarred from the benefits of an occasional holiday jaunt.

The secretary and some members of the executive of' the Nelson Red Cross Fund paid their usual visit to the public hospital and distributed special Christmas comforts to the returned soldier inmates. Generally tl(ey are practically all members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces, but on this occasion there were a Boer War veteran, an ex-Highlander of the Great War, another Imperial man, and an Australian. Six of them were confined to their beds on Christmas Eve, but were remarkably plucky and cheerful. In. Melbourne recently Superintendent Salts, superintendent of traffic, said that the police had instructions to proceed against motorists and motor-cyclists who permitted their engines to make offensive noises. From Ist July to 30th November forty-seven noisy motorists had been fined *£l26 10s, and 240 noisy cyclists had been fined £463 ss. “The fact that we have obtained convictions against 287 persons in the metropolitan area in five months,” said Superintendent Salts, “shows that the Police Department 'is alive to this nuisance. There are twenty more cases pending. Now that recruiting for the force has been resumed there will be more men to deal with this class of offender. When motor-cars and motor-cycles are presented for registration the traffic police see that they are fitted with efficient silencers, but the trouble is that from flashes the irrcsponsibles remove the silencers either to make a noise or to obtain more speed.”

Motueka and district residents are advised by advertisement in this issue of an. apple and tobacco show, to' be held under the auspices of the Motueka Horticultural Society, about the middle of Mav.

The Motueka Amateur Swimming Club tvill onen the season, as advertised, at Motueka Beach on Saturday, with a programme of events for both young and old. Entries must be lodged with the secretary before 2 p.m. Saturday.

When the sailing ship Cflivobank leaves Auckland for Australia towards the end of the present month she will have as ballast a portion of the Civic Square. A largo ship such' as the Finnish barque cannot go to sea empty, and as the Olivebank will have no cargo from New Zealand to Australia she will sail “in ballast.” The soil has been excavated for the foundations of Tanlield, Potter and Company’s new building. When it reaches Australia it may be utilised for filling in some important section—truly an Australasian exchange ! The total weight will bo about 1200 tons. Olivebank’s first port of call will be Port Lincoln, where she will load wheat for England. The motor ship Olivebank now discharging sugar from Java at Chelsea wharf, will also go to Australia to load wheat, but her ballast system is of the most modern type, consisting of sea water carried in the ballast tanks which are formed by the double bottom of the hull. All that is needed to fill them is to open the seacocks, and at the port of loading they are pumped dry by machinery.

War has been declared on the whale with a vengeance; thore is the greatest boom known in modern times in the whaling industry, and if the “monarch of the seas” is not exterminated within a few years, it will not be the fault of the whalers, writes a Wanganui correspondent. New Norwegian companies are being floated, into which much British capital is being- put. Gone are the old sailors with their whale boats and harpoons. The whale hasn’t a sporting chance these days; great 12,000 liners are being fitted out as depot ships, and power-driven chasers, equipped with guns, firing bomb-harpoons, make the death of the great sea mammal a certainty as soon as one is sighted- Some time ago there was much public agitation against tliis wholesale slaughtering, but it seems to have died away. Meanwhile the slaughter goes on, and unless the slayers are checked, the whale will soon be as extinct as the dodo.

Mr B. Fortescue, general secretary of Die' Police Association in New South Wales, in a statement issued fast week, protests against the proposal to reduce the height standard of the police from sft 9£in to sft 9in. “Such a reduction would bo an open invitation to the lawless to disregard what the uniform should always stand for, the majesty and ability of the law,” said Mr Fortescue. “Men of stamina, ability and commanding presence can be attracted to the force by making the conditions of service and the opportunities to rise in it better. It is difficult to understand the point of view of the sub-committee which some months ago recommended a reduction in the physical standard, to which the Chief Secretary seems to have given some approval. The association will always be jealous of the standard, physical, mental and moral, of the force.”

A Wanganui drover in conversation with a "Herald” reporter remarked that this was the trying period of the year for the drovers with so many motorists on the roads, more particularly when drovers were handling the big mobs of fat lambs. A few years ago it was possible to take a back icfad and be practically immune from motor traffic, but now the motor was e\crywliere. Speaking generally of motorists the drover said that they were niv considerate when passing Xhrougli a mob, and more particularly service ear drivers. The worst motorists lie nad to contend with were generally dairy farmers who seemed to have little knowledge of sheep. Even then .there were good and bad dairy' farmers, and the worst type was the dairy farmer who had jettisoned his old second-hand car for a new and.more modern type, and who wanted to’speed up a bit. It v.rs a case of the better the car the mere haste on the part of the owner.

Mrs Williams, wife of Mr Richard Williams, of Wagga, New South Wales, had a sensational experience early one morning recently, when she was about to retire to bed. She switched on the electric light in a sleep-out, and the house dog, which was sleeping there, became furious, and', although usually fond of members of the family, he viciously attacked his , mistress. Mrs Williams attempted to ward the dog off with a chair, but it bit her on the ankle, and she fell. When she attempted to rise the dog gripped her savagely by the breast. Mrs Williams’ daughter heard the scuffle, and went out. She caught the dog by the threat, and forced it- to loose "its hold.' The dog then attempted to bite her, but she pluckily fought it off, and eventually drove it out of the sleepout. She then assisted her mother, who- was in a state of nervous collapse, dressed her wounds, and secured medical assistance. The girl’s plucky action probably averted a tragedy, as the dog is a big strong Irish terrier crossbred. When Mr Williams arrived home he killed the dog.

The party of children from the Ariki school, sonic 14 miles back from Murchison, are enjoying their visit to Nelson—and the sea. Most of the children had never seen a train or the sea before and everything has been of great interest to them. Their teacher, Mrs Hutchings, who has arranged the visit and is taking the children, round says everyone has been most kind to them. They are camping at Tahuna and are enjoying the sea beach and' the waves. Visits have been paid to various parts of the city and industries have been inspected. A most interesting visit was to one of the steamers in port. The children return home on Monday next. Funds for the trip were raised by Mrs W. A. Hutchings, teacher of Glengarry School, through medium of a garden party, concert, social and dance. This visit is for educational purposes. The Railway Department is running another excursion, train to. Kawatiri on Sunday next and as on previous occasions Spiers Motors have arranged a service to Lake llotoroa. Special cheap excursion fares will be charged for the train journey and also on the motor service.