LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIX, 8 February 1936, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A Post Office service for passengers on overseas vessels is the attendance of a telegraph messenger on the ship for an hour prior to its departure, for the purpose of taking charge of lastminute telegrams or letters. The experiment was tried first in Auckland and then extended to Wellington, and during the last year every overseas passenger steamer either arriving oy departing was provided with this facility. It was used to send 319 telegrams, 288 cables, and 805 letters, which is sufficient to satisfy the Department that the experiment is worth while from tlie viewpoint of service to travellers.

The Regimental Band will give a free municipal concert in the Queen’s. Gardens on Sunday afternoon. The Bandsmen have been practising hard for the forthcoming contest and are now at the top of their form. The concert will give .m opportunity for friends and supporters to hear the band before leaving for the contest at New Plymouth.

The Dunedin. Public Art Gallery Society has received a cabled intimation from the Empire Art Loan Collection Society to tlie effect that a collection of 60 important paintings, also some sculpture, from the National and Tate Galleries, London, is available for sending out to Australia and New Zealand this year. The Dunedin Society is one of the contributing members of the Empire organisation, and at a meeting its council decided to make an effort to arrange for the collection to be brought in due course to Dunedin for exhibition.

In normal circumstances the grades of schools for 1930 would he determined by last year’s average attendances. It lias, however, been announced by the Minister of Education (the Hon. P. Fraser) that in view of the probable sudden changes in the rolls due to the re-entry of the five-year-olds “the grades of schools shall be determined for the year 1930 on the basis of 95 per cent, of the roll or. 31st March, in all cases where the grade so determined is higher than it would be if fixed in accordance with the present regulations.” This is a very fair way of dealing with tlie situation, and is in line with the views placed before tlie Minister by the executive during its interview with him in December last, states “National Education,” the organ of the New Zealand Educational Institute. As the result of this decision the influx of the five year-olds will he reflected in the course of a few months’ time in much improved prospects of promotion throughout the service. Indeed, with the general up-grading of schools which will in all probability take place on 31st March tlie present trickle of promotions will swell suddenly into a stream of quite considerable proportions.

“The best available talent will be utilised for the preparation of a new set of primary school text hooks, the copyright of which will he held by the State.” This sentence from tlie Labour Party’s educational programme indicates that the Government is aware of the text-hook problem, remarks “National Education,” the journal of the New Zealand Educational Institute. We would, however, emphasise that the matter is one of great urgency, and express the hope that it will be among the first to receive attention on the director’s return to New Zealand from overseas. Teachers are almost unanimous in declaring that with one or two exceptions the present authorised text hooks have been tested and found sadly wanting. Until they are replaced by very much better ones—and there is no lack of excellent models—both teachers and children are being asked to work with defective and i;. some instances almost unusable tools. It is not too much to say that tlie provision of a thoroughly satisfactory set oE text hooks would do more- to improve the every-day work of Hie schools than any other reform oil the immediate horizon.

That tlie pendulum of the investment market was beginning to swing back towards real estate as a stable and profitable investment was claimed by Mr G. B. Osmond, president of the Auckland branch of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, at a meeting this week. There were signs in Auckland of more activity in warehouse and office building properties. In favoured localities modern houses were in steady demand. Prices were improving. More houses were required to meet the demands of an expanding population, and suburban sections were improving in value.

Strong criticism of the pension laws was voiced in Auckland by the Minister of . Pensions, the Hon. W. E. Parry (states the “Star”). It was pitiable to red'd the distressing circumstances of cases beyond the pensions laws, which came before him daily, he said. Most of them were cases of old people, often in poor health. Some of them had been in tlie country perhaps 10 or 20 years, and had been hard hit by the depression, but because they had not been in the country 25 years they could not qualify for the old-age pension. “It is very hard on them, but it is a stipulation of the existing pension laws,” ho added. “It is a phase of those laws that the Labour Government proposes to review in tlie coming session.” Mr Parry added that he was unable to give details of the Government’s proposals in regard to pensions, as they had yet to be decided by Cabinet, hut the fullest consideration would be given to cages of merit, and there were manv such cases.

In a letter to a relative in Westport, Eddie Holder reports that liis wife and himself are “in the pink,” he himself reaching such a stage of fitness that he feels as if he could play football every day (states the "News ’). His team, Sti’eathem and Mitcham, have gradually improved since McDonald, Harrison and Nepia joined Smith and himself, and I recently defeated the champion club. Harrison, McDonald and the writer scored thethree tries. Nepia is very popular and is captain of the team. Eddie said that with his football and job he is drawing £8 10-s a week and when tlie Cup matches are on should he getting £lO clear of his wages. He states that Fahvasser, the Maori, who is coaching in France, visited London with a view to arranging matches with Streathem and Mitcham in Paris, which the Westport hoy is looking* forward to.. In the team are all classes, Welshmen, Scotsmen and Englishmen, and Eddie says lie will be a real “Pommy” when he returns home. At his office at the time of writing, the lights had to he turned on at 10 ami. to see through the thick fog, which he describes as a real “pea souper.” In one game, three men were ordered off. and if the referee had treated all men cautioned the same way, only Smith and Holder would have been left on the field.

The Returned Soldiers’ Association Social Committee will hold a complimentary carnival dance to the Marlborough Ladies’ Cricket Club on Saturday night in the Velma Hall at 8 o’clock. Another 50 fans have been procured for the first 50 ladies. Good prizes will be given for the novelty dances and also complimentary tickets to the ruuners-up. A dainty supper will he provided by the ladies’ committee. The Melody Boys’ Dance Band will play tlie latest music as well as the. old time. Mr G. L. Housiaux will carry out the duties of M.G.

Strong hostility to the continuance by the Commonwealth Government of the embargo on New Zealand potatoes and. which was referred to as its concomitant, the embargo by the Dominion on Australian citrus fruits, was manifested at the meeting of the New South Wales Citrus Growers’ Defence Association, last month. The secretary. Mr 11. G. Bennett, said things had come to a pretty pass when the Plant Diseases Act and the quarantine regulations were used merely to stop competition. It was dishonest, to say the least. He had seen the New Zealand Trade Commissioner, and had been told that the New Zealand Government would be willing to meet the Commonwealth in the matter if New Zealand apples and potatoes were allowed into Australia. A motion was unanimously agreed to stating that the New Zealand embargo on Australian citrus fruits and the Australian embargo on New Zealand potatoes were based on fallacious grounds. It was decided to approach the Government and request that immediate action be taken to remove the embargo. If such action is r.ot agreed to, the association will meet again to consider what further action should be take to relieve citrus growers of “this unjust and unnecessary restriction.”

During the last few years the Christchurch City Council has been embarrassed by the number of applications for permission to hold street appeals, but one organisation at least whose objects are recognised to be fully worthy of public support—the Health Stamp Committee for Canterbury—does not propose to add to the council’s dilliculties (says “The Press’). At a meeting of the committee it was suggested "that the council should be asked to allocate a day on which a public appeal might be made to augment the funds for health camps for children; but the opposition was so uncompromising that the proposal did not even go to the vote. Those who criticised the suggestion agreed that the public was tired of being asked to give to street appeals, and one speaker said that a street appeal was more likely to prejudice the committee's efforts. The public's support to the health stamp campaign was sought over a period of scveral inontlis, and once a person had' given to a street appeal he would think he had done all that was neeessarv.

Has engineers have recently given a oreat deal of attention to the development of economical apparatus fort burning coke, both for central heating and domestic uses, according to Mr F. W. J. Helton, engineer to the Christchurch Gas Company, who gave an address on “Recent DcvclOpnyentsJ l in Gas” at the conference of the Gas Institute of Xew Zealand. The most outstanding development was the magazine coke boiler for central heating, requiring attention only once a day. In these the coke was held in pockets or magazines, forming the sides of the boiler, and fed out by gravity on to an inclined grate, at the rate at which it was being burned.

Methods of distributing milk in schools are concerning education authorities in Auckland. Coupled with a request that a deputation should be received, the Auckland branch of the Xew Zealand Educational Institute has forwarded the following resolution to the Auckland Education Board: “That, in view of the adverse criticism of the present system of milk distribution in schools, this meeting requests the Board of Education to convene a conference of representatives of the Health Department, the Better Health League, and the teaching profession, with the object of defining such action as will bring about a hygienicaliy sound system of distribution to all schools.” A letter has also been received from the Auckland City Council regarding cases of children taking home millt supplied for consumption at the various schools, asking the board to take steps to prevent the practice.-

The opinion that the production of petrol from coal is at present an experiment and not an economic proposition is held by Mr F. W. J. Belton, engineer to the Christchurch Gas Company, who addressed the conference of the Gas Institute of Xew Zealand (reports “The Press”). “At present the production of petrol in England by the hydrogenation of coal is just a £5,006,000 experiment, and there are a lot of snags to be got over yet,” he said. “Even the hydrogenation of creosote or tar is not a simple matter, and as for the economic side of it, the less said the better. However, the gas industry has benefited by it, as. the price of creosote has risen from 2ld to Od a gallon in England.”

Mr E. M. Blaiklock M.A., lecturer in Classics at the University College, Auckland, has been invited to come to Xelsoii'to gite a-series of messages on subjects dealing,with , the. evidences of tlie Christian faith. Mr Blaiklock is an able scholar, and has achieved distinction in his work fit the Auckland University, yet he .is able' to present his messages so simply that all may understand. He is an accepted speaker on many Christian convention platforms in the Dominion. He will speak here nightly next week in the Baptist Church.

Twenty-five years ago, when a resident built his house on the North Shore, he put up a long paling fence of 48yds at a tendered price of 2s' 8d per yard, labour and material included (says the Auckland “Star”). Recently the heavy gale played havoc with the fence, as most of the scantlings were rotten. After looking up his old accounts to see what the costs were, the resident decided to get a quotation for a new fence, even although the cost might be double the former price of £6 Bs. He got a hit of an eye-opener wjien he was told that the best kauri 25 years ago cost only 25s per 100 ft, and it was nearly 70s to-day. All other timber had risen in proportion, it was stated.' Four by scantling of rough heart of kauri for fencing was now worth 42s per 100 ft, palings were sold by the ICO at 70s, and even rough posts were three times their former price. Tile average price to-day for a sft substantial paling fence was 3s 6d per running foot, or roughly £25 for 48 yards —four times the amount of 1911.