LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21910, 20 September 1934, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Towing Barges Urom Wairoa The large launch Lady Eva has left for Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, to tow two lighters to Auckland for the Public Works Department. She towed the barges to Wairoa. about two years ago. The Lady Eva iis a powerful launch of 35 tons, and is fitted with a 120 horsepower engine. She is expected to return to Auckland next week. British Goods Predominate

Reference to importations of Japanese goods in the drapery trade was made by Sir George Elliot, chairman of directors of Milne and Choyce, Limited, at the annual meeting yesterday. "It is impossible to avoid buying some foreign goods, but 80 per cent of the company's purchases are Sir George said. Malnutrition in Children

Statements that cases of malnutrition were prevalent among school children at New Lynn were further considered at last night's meeting of the Auckland School Committees' Association. A remit from the district school committee, urging that arrangements should be made for assistance in such cases, was adopted. School Dental Clinics The opinion that the work done by school dental clinics was too valuable to be. restricted by any lack of available funds was expressed at the quarterly meeting of the Auckland School Committees' Association laßt night. It was decided to urge the Government to make itself responsible for all expense in connection with the clinics.

Six Frosts in a Week Mainly through an unpromising start, last week was much colder in Christchurch than is normal for this part of the year, the mean for the week being 45.1 degrees as against the normal of 49.7. There were six frosts recorded at the Christchurch Magnetic Observatory, the hardest, of 7.7 degrees, occurring on Wednesday. The lightest was registered on Sunday. It was only a fifth of a degree.

Party Telephone Subscribers A complaint that, as there was no time limit for conversations by party telephone subscribers, an urgent call was often delayed, was made at a meeting of the Auckland executive of the New Zealand Farmers' Union last night. A resolution was passed recommending the Post and Telegraph Department to make a regulation that any one subscriber, after holding the line for three minutes, could be ordered off if the line was required.

Stamp 329 Tears Old A stamp 329 years of age is in the possession of Mr. Martin Gerken, of Invercargill, states the Southland Daily News. Issued by Barbados in 1605 and printed in black and white, measuring about ljin. by l|in., it shows in the centre a ship in full sail, bordered by a floral pattern. Unfortunately a lower corner is missing, but otherwise the stamp, which was issued in the year of the Gunpowder Plot, is in perfect order.

Wireless in Schools An indication of the popularity of school educational broadcasts was given in a letter from a country Bchool teacher, which was quoted in a report presented to the Auckland Education Board yesterday. "We have all enjoyed the lessons immensely, and were genuinely sorry to miss last Tuesday's, when our school was closed for the teachers' refresher course at Hamilton," stated the letter. "I was glad to find that all children who have sets at home made a point of listening-in, and, quite of their own volition, told what they had learned to those not so fortunate." Air Race Machine Named

An appropriate name, Tainui, has been chosen for the machine to be flown in the Centenary air race from London to Melbourne by SquadronLeader J. D. Hewett and Flying-Officer C. E. Kay, of Auckland. The machine is thus called after one of the ancestral canoes of the Maoris, the name meaning literally "the great sea." The New Zealand Centenary Air Race which has entered the machine, has decided to have it finished in international orange with silver wings, the colourscheme adopted as standard by the Auckland Aero Club.

Bishop Patteson Anniversary To-day is the 63rd anniversary of the murder of Dr. John Coleridge Patteson, first Bishop of Melanesia, by the natives of the islet of Nukapu. in the Santa Cruz group. Dr. Patteson was well known in early Auckland, having been for many years associated with Dr. Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand. Having been taken ashore from the mission vessel Southern Cross in a native canoe, the bishop was murdered and placed in a canoe, which was set adrift in a lagoon. The body was found by a party which set out for the shore to investigate. The murder was surprising, in view of the popularity of the bishop with tho natives, and it is supposed they had become hostile to Europeans owing to treachery of "blackbirders." Golf Balls Not Trophies

Golf balls are not trophies, according to a ruling by the Canterbury Centre of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association. The question came before a meeting when Linwood Club asked for a ruling. The letter stated that accounts had been received from three firms in the city for trophies supplied to successful competitors. Th§re was a cycle lamp valued at 4s, golf balls at a similar price, and a collar press valued at 6s 6d. On being told what a collar press was, and having consulted the ruleß, the chairman said: " Well I think we can pass that and the cycle lamp. It seems to be all right, but I don't think I can pass the golf balls." Having again read the rules, the chairman said: " No, I must rule out the golf balls." Members of the centre agreed.

Shrapnel Fragment in Scalp Many cases have occurred of soldiers wounded in the Great War carrying bullets or pieces of shrapnel in their bodies for many years. One of these, Mr. L. Forbes, of Otakiri, in the Bay of Plenty, has had a piece of German shrapnel buried in his scalp for over 20 years. This was recently located by means of an X-ray photograph and was removed by Dr. J. L. Frazerhurst at tfie Whakatane Hospital last Monday. Mr. Forbes was wounded in the head in France on August 24, 1914, and was immediately afterwards captured, remaining in a German prison camp for the next four and a-half years. He later came to New Zealand and periodically suffered violent pains in the head and sleeplessness. Further attacks led to the X-ray examination and the locution of the cause of the trouble.