LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 25 May 1936, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Two shocks of earthquake were felt in Nelson in the early hours of Sunday morning. One at 3.5. was sufficiently strong and prolonged to awaken most sleepers.

“The unscrupulous company promoter has done more to damn the gold mining industry than any other person connected with it,” said Mr J. George, when renlying to a toast at the smoke concert held at Lawrence to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the discovery of gold in Gabriel’s Gully. “It is to be hoped that the first tiling the Labour Government will do when it amends the Mining Act will be to see that every prospectus issued to the public is a genuine one.” Ladies’ Ty/ecd Skirts .in practical and smart styles. Flecked and checked in Haras and Donegal effects. Ideal for Sportswear. All sizes. 17/11 to 27/0 at McKay’s* Fur-trimmed Coats in all wool fancy coatings. Rich Fur Collars in new novelty cascade and scarf effects. Newest colours and styles. All sizes from S.S.W. to X.O.S. 49/G to 7Jgns at McKay’s.*

Further to the announcement regarding the Chief Post Office, Nelson, and the Post Office, Motueka, remaining open for the relicensing of motorvehicles until 8 p.m. daily during the current week, it has been decided that the remaining offices in the district which accept relicensing fees are to keep open for such business until 5 p.m. each day. Usually, these offices close ul p.m.

The name Monowai is well known in the New Zealand shipping trade and there are probably many who still remember the first vessel to bear that name; she carried a large number of New Zealand troops to the two wars in which the Dominion has served the Empire. After the Great War the Monowai was sunk at Gisborne to form part of the breakwater that guards other ships while lying in harbour. Her bell was preserved and has been presented to the Samoan Committee in Wellington, and it is the intention of the committee to have it included in the collection of war relics in the chambers of the National War Memorial Carillon. The first Monowai was built at the Clyde in 1890 for the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Ltd., and was used in the inter-colonial and coastal trade. In March, 1900, she sailed with troops to South Africa, and shortly after the outbreak of the Great War she was requisitioned once more to serve as one of the troopships required to transport the advance guard of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force to Samoa. Upon her return to New Zealand she re-entered the coastal trade to continue her sphere of usefulness until she was sold to the Gisborne Harbour Board.

“The- soils of the Nelson district” was the title of an address given last evening by Mr T. Rigg, director of the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, at a meeting of members of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry (reports “The Press”). The diversity of the agriculture and the great differences in production in various localities in the Nelson district were discussed by Mr Rigg. He described the topography of the region, classifying the land as rugged mountain, gentle hill, and flat land, and giving details of the chemical content of soils for agricultural value. With the aid of lantern slides he described the problems of soil deficiency that were being faced by the Cawthron Institute. He outlined the use of chemicals in overcoming ailments to stock and plant-life, and described the charts employed in making maps of a district for its soil content, and charts illustrating proportions of chemicals used and results obtained. He mentioned the recent discovery of boron as a cure in the ailment known as “internal cork,” which affected apples, and gave details of experiments in effecting a cure for the ailment to stock known as “bush sickness” in the Nelson territory, for which cobalt had recently proved successful. Mr Rigg gave a brief survey of the work done in reclaiming waste land by applications of lime and phosphates, and by scientific control over the sowing and stocking of the land. The address was followed by discussion. Mr Packer thanked Mr Rigg on behalf of the members present.

An extract from the New Zealand Gazette containing the results of the examination held in March, 1936, by the Electrical Wiremen’s Registration Board, shows that a Nelson candidate, H. H. Grant, passed in the written cart. The Cable Makers’ Association is again presenting two gold medals (known as the C.M.A. Awards): ono to the candidate who gained the highest marks in the written part of the examination and one to the candidate who gained the highest marks in the practical part. As an additional prize the proprietors of the New Zealand Electrical Journal are forwarding, free of cost, to each of the prize winners a copy of the journal each month for the next twelve months. The prize for the written part was gained by D. Ryland of Christchurch, who secured 74 marks out of a possible 100. The prize for the practical part was gained by J. I-I. Hartnett of Wellington, who secured 83 marks out of a possible 100.

That the Maoris have shown themselves as exceptionally intelligent agriculturists was the opinion expressed by Mr T. Rigg, director of the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, in an address on the soils of Nelson given to members of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry at a meeting at Canterbury College (reports “The Press”). There were some 1500 acres of land in Nelson that had been actually made by the I ancient Maori, said Mr Rigg. The Maoris had first selected loam dug from pits. They had added sand and then burnt scrub and small trees upon the soil to obtain charcoal. After slow burning, a fine ash remained, which provided charcoal, potash, phosphates, and other necessary soil ingredients. The only difficulty encountered in tracing their methods was in finding where their nitrogen was obtained. It was considered, he said, that burning had a sterilising effect, which was followed by an increased bacterial activity, and consequently an increased nitrogen supply. The activities of the Maoris in the direction indicated have been the subject of several articles in “The Mail.”

For the first time in New Zealand radio telephony is to be used in directing the operations of whalecliasers. Arrangements are now being made by I A. Perano and Company, of Picton, who operate one of the two whaling stations in New Zealand, to have radio telephone apparatus installed at their look-out station at the entrance of Tory Channel, and on the Tuatea, the mother ship of the company’s whalechasers. ■ The apparatus, which has been constructed by the staff of the Electric and General Import Company, Christchurch, was tested in the city last week, and will be sent to Picton for installation (says “The Press”). The successful operation of the apparatus should result in larger catches, a reduction in the working costs of the whaling fleet, and a considerable saving of time. The apparatus is as simple to use as a telephone. The operator speaks into a microphone, and the reproduction is through an ordinary loud speaker. The only controls arc an “on-and-off” switch and a switch for changing over irom the transmitter to the receiver, while a meter on the panel registers the aerial output. A similar apparatus was installed last year on the Clarence Reserve estate, Kaikoura, for giving communication between the home station and the back station at Quail Flat, thus bridging mountainous country on which no telephone line could with-■ stand the severity of winter storms. I

The second term of the Nelson School of Music will commence on Thursday next. Intending pupils may enrol with the principal, Mr J. B. Lemmcr.

Let’s go woolly—All Wool Jumpers and Cardigans in a large variety of styles. Delightful shades of Cherry, Rose, Bottle, Saxe, Beige, and Brown. 12/11 to 20/11 at McKay’s.*

Owing to a heavy south east gale, j the Niagara, which was due at Auckland this morning from Sydney j is not expected before to-morrow j morning. She sails for Vancouver j at five to-morrow afternoon. I

The filling of important official positions, often apparently without sufficient consideration of the qualities necessary for those positions, was criticised by Mr W. Machin in an address to the Christchurch branch of the New Zealand Institute of Public Administration. “When the State appoints a man to a position it cannot in some miraculous way endow him with the qualities needed for the job,” he said. “Yet the assumption that such an endowment does automatically follow appointment seems to have underlain many appointments.

The new three-channel cable carrier system, on which there has been recently a good deal of work carried out at Seddon, was successfully tried, out and the extra circuits are now j actually working on full traffic be- j tween Christchurch and Wellington ' (states the “Express”). Full testing out and lining up of the delicate apparatus has been carried out at Seddon by the telegraph engineer from [Wellington and a staff of mechanicians, /m interesting feature of the new ! system is the automatic attenuator. A selected frequency is sent out from a , pilot oscillator at each terminal and , i any variation on the physical lines : ; is automatically adjusted by a mech- j ! anical switch, electrically operated , There is also an indicator which re- | cords the condition of the line and if a [major fault develops on the line be-; I tween Christchurch and Seddon, after l a delay of 11 seconds is given for the i line to right itself, a light shows and an alarm comes in indicating serious j trouble on the physical lines. The I system had been in use only a few' : hours when a line broke at Keke- | rangu, at 2 a.m., and it was rather uncanny that this robot screamed, as it were, that one of its legs was broken, and it would not be pacified until the circuits were transposed. Speech on the new circuit is perfect. During the installation the cable engineer from Wellington, with a gang, has been j locating and repairing land line faults i on Seaview hill and Blind river beach. Special apparatus was brought over in numerous hampers and the instrument used for testing the four-core cable was all packed between kapoc ■ pillows. Owing to heavy traffic on the ; inter-island cable repairs had to be ! carried out in the early hours of the morning and it had to be again available for traffic before 6 a.m. It is expected that very soon more circuits will be available for the Marlborough and Nelson districts.

“Two things about New Zealand have greatly struck me during the few days I have been here,” said Dr. David Lang, M.A., D.D., of Canada, during a lecture in Wellington on that Dominion. These were the cordiality and friendship of the New Zealand people, and the magnificence of the scenery here. Dr. Lang said that this week he had had an opportunity of flying to Nelson and back by aeroplane. Although he had travelled all over the v'orld, he had never seen anything to beat this trip. Later in the lecture, Dr. Lang mentioned that he had met in Canada a man who had lived in practically every part of the globe and had not long since returned from New Zealand. The man had told him that if he had been living his life again, he would spend it in New Zealand.

A weakness which he stated was inseparable from the administration of the acts providing for the control of meat and dairy produce was illustrated by Mr W. Machin in an address to the Christchurch branch of the New Zealand Institute of Public Administration (reports “The Press”). “It is a horrifying thing to give the intimate details of your own trade to the Government under the seal of the strictest confidence, and then to see those details lying on a competitor’s desk in a fortnight’s time,” he said. “That is a horrifying sort of thing to have to say. But it happens. It is an example of the State using its power to secure information in confidence and then lacking the administrative capacity to see that the confidence given is respected.”

Republican politicians in the United States were saying that Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal were like Christopher Columbus in his search for the royal road to Cathay, said the eminent Canadian ecclesiastic, Dr. David Lang, during the course of a lecture in Wellington (reports “The Post”). Columbus was not sure whether or not he had discovered the East Indies, as he had first imagined. Mr Roosevelt, it was said, was like Columbus because he was not quite sure where he was going with his venture, the New Deal: he was not sure where he was when he stopped going further, and he did not know where he had been when he had got back. Although unwilling to forecast the result of the Presidential election this year, Dr. Lang said that it would be one of the most bitter contests that America had seen ' for very many cars. There seemed to be only one question in the whole election, “Are you for Roosevelt or against him?”

The Department of Air Services, while granting a certificate of registration to the first "flying flea” built in New Zealand by two Auckland ground engineers, Messrs A. McGregor and R. I). Downey, has declined to issue a certificate of airworthiness as yet. This means that the machine may be flown as an experimental craft within a radius of not more than three miles from a licensed aerodrome and only by a licensed pilot. The Department ■has no intention of granting certifiicates of airworthiness to these craft at present and is awaiting further information irom Great Britain, stated Wing-Commander T. M. Wilkes, Controller of Civil Aviation. In any case it would probably be difficult in New Zealand to arrange for the £SOOO compulsory third-party insurance policy required in England.

It’s not every smoker that knows how to care for his pipe. A good briar should last for years. Often just through carelessness it doesn’t. A good way to crack a pipe is to bang it hard against something when knock- | ing our your ashes. Too frequent and violent —scraping out the bowl is another excellent method of ruining a pipe. Yet “another way,” as the cookery books say, is. to light up from an ember, or a “brand from the burning.” The use of really good tobacco, containing little nicotine, will go far to preserve your pipe—and also your health. Anri about the best tobacco you can get is "toasted.” Hardly any nicotine in it. The stuff’s eliminated by toasting, so that you get a fine, pure, sweet and fragrant smoke —and a harmless one! It’s so good this baccy, that you soon find other brands insipid. Five varieties only of the real toasted: Navy Cut No. 3 (Bulldog), Cavendish, Cut Plug No. 10 (Bullshead), Riverhead Gold and Desert Gold. All unequalled for flavour and bouquet.