NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11422, 19 January 1923, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Sir Edwin Mitchelson is expected in Wellington to-day, and probably he will attend the meeting of the Licensing Committee which will he held during the Wellington racing fixture.

Special! meetings of the members of the Christchurch branch of the Amalgamated Engineering Union are to be held next week, and the following week, to formulate remits for consideration at the conference of the New Zealand Labour Party, which opens in this city on Easter Monday.

It is believed to be the intention ot the Wanganui River Trust to get a fleet of Maori canoes fitted with oil engines and hire them out to tourists. Mr Wilbur is of opinion that it would be the best method of popularising the river, as tourists could make a picnic of the trip, stopping where they liked.

The usefulness of the seaplane was shown at Auckland recently, when a doctor, who was urgently required at Wiaiheke Inland, travelled there by that means. His patient was a little child, into whose leg a fish hook had entered. The seaplane left Kohimaraina at 1.40 p.m., and reached Cowes Bay at' 2 p.m., the distance of 23 miles being thus travelled at the rate of a little over a mile a minute. The return journey was made at about the same speed.

The Dominion conference of the Workers’ Educational Association wid be held in, the Trades Hall, Christchurch, on January 24th. It had been decided previously to bold the conference in Wellington, but as so many members were unable to go, to that centre, a change of venue' was agreed upon.' Subjects to be discussed include finance, highways, a central library, uniform text-books and annual conventions, and other business will be the election of officebearers of the Dominion, and local councils.

An accident to two motor-cyclists occurred at Waihi beach. The vouug men were Erio E. Smith and Albert Phillips, both of Waikino, and they were astride the one machine. They were racing along the hard, smooth sand, at about 60 miles an hour, when the machine struck a soft patch, which caused it to perform a series of bounds, and, before it crashed on the sand, the riders were pitched high in the air, and, came down about 30ft or 40ft ahead of the badly-smashed cycle. The men were picked up in a semi-oonscious condition, and conveyed to the Waihi Hospital.

A letter has been received by the Christchurch secretary of the W.E.A. Mr 'George Manning, from one Marius Bansome, ot New York, asking for co-operation in an endeavour to get a complete survey of workers’ educational movements throughout the world The writer said that he hoped to earn the degree of Ph.D. in the department of sociology in the Columbia University. He desired to make the survey, ns exhaustive \as possible, thus placing within easy acoess a bibliography and a directory of addresses that would serve the international movement. Mr Hansome asked for information on the following points:—When the schools were started in Christchurch, Ly whom, the leaders, the aim, the curricula, and the methods of teaching, and he also asked for pictures for illustration purposes.

The population of Sydney within a ten-mile radius now exceeds one million, the statistical estimate at December 31st last being 1,050,000. That of the actual metropolis is estimated it the same date at 950,000. However much critiqp will deplore the failure of the rural population to grow commensurately with that of the metropolis, most of the city dwellers feel a certain amount of pride in the giant strides that Sydney and its immediate environs are making. In the light of these latest figures the charge might be laid against Sydney that it is top-heavy. To that a convincing answer might not be possible, for the fact cannot he ignored that 43.65 per cent, of the people of the, State five in the metropolitan area. But even in that respect Sydney possesses a better record than Melbourne with a. population at December 31st of 811,000, for it represents 51.27 per cent, of the population of Victoria; and than both Adelaide and Perth, which contain respectively 51.84 and 46.42 per cent, of the population of their States.

The Kiwitea County Council has collected to within £IOO of its rates for last year.

The sum of £3O has been received by the Pensions Department as conscience money from Nelson.

The services of the Croixelles Defence Rifle Club, Nelson, have heen accepted by the Defence Department.

The output of butter at the Masterton butter factory for December was 110,5161b5, an increase of 16,9631bs over December, 1921.

The circumstances of a recent fire at Martinborough are likely to be inquired into in the police court at an early date.

During 1922 there were 73 bankruptcies in Hawke's Bay, an increase of 46 over those recorded the previous year. In 1920 the figures were 10.

The close season for seals hag been extended by Order-in-Council for a further period of three years from November 27th last.

Wanganui Borough Council has been appointed the Domain Board to have control of Williams Domain, on the left bank of the Wanganui river.

The royalty for stone, shingle, boulders, or sand taken from the shore or for a navigable river has been fixed at not exceeding 3s per cubic yard.

The importation of radio-active solar pads, which emanate from Ohio, U.S.A., is prohibited by the Executive Council.

The railway line to Opunake has now been completr<3 from Te Roti to ICapuni, a distance of eight miles. Preparations are being made to push the work on, to Opunake more rapidly. Owing to the heavy rain which fell during the morning, play in the Palmerston North Tennis Club’s tournament on Tuesday was postponed till yesterday afternoon.

The ratepayers of the Iviwitca county have resolved not to join up with the proposed Kiwitea County Rabbit Board, but to have their own board at the Kiwitea end.

Some woqlgrowers who have several years’ clip on the plr.re are considering the advisability of getting the buyers up and selling on the farm, without the trouble of railing to the wool sales. A number of farmers in the Far North, including tho Minister for Public Works (Hon. J. G. Coates), have already done this.

At an extraordinary general meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce yesterday afternoon, a resolution was passed that Article No. 4 of the constitution be amended by increasing the limit of membership of the chamber from 300 to 1000. A meeting to confirm this resolution will be held early next month.

The Otago Radio Association, having been granted permission by the Telegraph Department to use its transmitting plant, purposes making a series of experiments with Dr Jack and his assistant, J. Sutherland. The former is at present residing at Queenstown and the latter at Pukeraw.

Building activity in Masferton foi’ 1922 has heen very pronounced, and ffermlits tptah>jrig £93,151 2s, [wjere issued by the Borough Council. They comprised the following: 37 new dwellings £42,867 'ss, 10 new business prem. ises £28,047, 30 additions and altera tions to dwellings £4653 10s 6d, 5 ladditioms anjd alterations |t-o( £685 10s, new high school £14,273 9s, 27 motor »nd miscellaneous sheds £2624 7s 6d.

Splendid sport in trout fishing jg being enjoyed by the men engaged on the clearing of the site for the Arapuni dam, on the upper reaches of the Waikato river. It is suggested by Mr E. J. Darby, a farmer resident in the district, that when the dam has been constructed and the lake is in existence, the latter should be stocked' with rainbow trout, as Mr L. F. Ay son, Chief Inspector of Fisheries, states it would be an ideal lake fish. In the opinion of Mr Darby, a good move on the part of the Auckland Acclimatisation' Society would be the importation of fresh ova from abroad, to introduce a new strain among the trout, thus counteracting the influence of too much in-breeding.

The ordeal of clinging for two hours to an upturned boat in shark-infested waters befel Mr E. N. -Heycock, manager of one of the Crown estates in Samoa, and a Rotuma Islander named Peter off Aleifata, recently. The launch on which they were travelling experienced engine trouble, and when darkness fell, the two went off in the dinghy to find the passage and guide the launch, when her engine should start. A sea swamped the boat, and for an hour the men held on to it, Then Mr Heycook’s strength failed, and Peter, who could have swam ashore, had he chosen to do so, went to his assistance, and held him up for half an hour, meantime giving an occasional shout. The launch was eventually started, and its skipper cruised about in the darkness until he found the men, who were dragged on board in an exhausted state.

The Board of Inquiry set up by the Government in connection with the investigation of the position of soldiersettlers in the Canterbury land district, which has been at work since November last, has resumed its opera--tions this week after the vacation. It is the aim of the board to interview every soldier-settler who desires his position to he reviewed, but quite a number of the men have, from one cause or another, failed to forward their applications for attention, and the board cannot undertake to revisit districts, especially in remote places, as. the board’s findings have to be sent in towards the end of next month. There are, of course, quite a number of settlers who, notwithstanding the adverse conditions that have prevailed, are suooeeding in their ventures, and these are not asking any further assistance, and their holdings are therefore not being visited by the Board of Inquiry.

In opening the '24th annual show of the Newtown Horticultural Society, at St. Thomas’s Hall on Wednesday night, Mr R. MoKeen, M.P. for Wellington couth, eulogised the -officers of the society for the good work they had done S maintaining it so long. Tracing the story of the society, he stated that it had originated from a Sunday-school class, through the teachers distributing seeds to the children. It appealed to him as both useful and instructive to the children to combine a knowledge of the beauties and mysteries of nature with their Sunday-school work. (Applause.) He himself had beee brought up under the stem and rigid discipline of Presbyterianism; and in his time it would have been looked upon as a horrible sin and the seeds distributed in that way would have been expected, instead of proving fertile, to be blasted for everlasting. (Laughter and applause.) He wished the society every success, congratulated it on the large attendance, and complimented it upon the very fine display of flowers, vegetables, pot-plants, etc.