NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11583, 28 July 1923, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

The Eastbourne Borough Council ha* outstanding rates totalling £lB7 10s. The town clerk has been authorised to sue for them. A larger lighting plant lias been installed at the Bona Bay wharf, and the lighting is consequently considerably improved. It is understood that the plans and estimates for the proposed drainage scheme at Eastbourne will be completed towards the end of August. “I understand the Hon. Minister for Education’s ideas and policy. He is always progressive—backwards.”—Mr A. L. Monteith, M.P., speaking on the Estimates last night. The Eastbourne Borough Council has made application to the Harbour Board for the sole use of the jetty in Wellington. There are 118 borough councils and 68 town boards in New Zealand. The boroughs have a population of 760,000, or nearly three-quarters of the Dominion’s total. Nearly 100 Acts of Parliament come within the scope of a borough council’s activities. Describing the chariot races in Rome, Mr Joseph McCabe said that the circus where they were held accommodated 400,000 people. This was the national sport, and there was always great rivalry between the different stables. “We have even been asked by the Tourist Department,” the executive committee of the Otago Expansion League states ill its annual report, “to reply to a man from New York who wanted to locate and obtain somo information about a city called Dunedin.” The position in regard to the influenza epidemic in Queenstown (states the “Mail”) is improving a little. Three cases of pneumonia aro reported, one being of pneumonic influenza type, one post-influenza and the other lobar pneumonia. Bronchitis has been fairly prevalent among young children and old people. The Mayor of Eastbourne (Mr P. H. Mather) remarked last night that, he hoped the war memorial in that' suburb would not meet, the fate that had befallen Queen Victoria’s statue. “We don’t want to have to remove it,” he said, “and cart it round as they did that of Queen Victoria in the city.” Snow is still lying in sufficient quantity on the various playing grounds in the Queenstown district to hold up all winter pastimes. The Glenorchy ground is the only one fit to play oil. It is now nearly a month since all games -football, hookey and golf—were held up on account of the rigours of the present, winter. —“VVakatipu Mail.” “The balance-sheets in connection with the carnival are not yet available, and I do not know when they will be,” said Mr F. H. Mather, Mayor of Eastbourne, last evening, “but enough information is to hand to show that .the net result was very disappointing indeed.” He added that the carnival had been hampered by bad losses, and there had also been certain unforseen expenditure. He did not anticipate any great profit. The vital statistics for the month of June show that Auckland city is first with a population of 167,760, Christchurch follows with a population of 113,400, Wellington is close up with 112,070, and Dunedip is fourth with 75,020. Of the provincial towns, Wanganui is first with 24,460, Invercargill coining next with 20,180, Then follow Napier 17,870, Palmerston North 17,810, Timaru 16,450, Hamilton 15,350, Gisborne 15,120, New Plymouth 13,003, Hastings 13,730, Nelson 11,240. Ask any resident of Hawera now to make footpaths, and the answer will be- “Don’t use bitumen” (says the “Hawera Star”). Owing to the oily nature of the bitumen, on dewy mornings and in wet weather water collects on the bitumen surface in little globules, instead of draining off evenly, as in the case of an ordinary asphalt surface, and the result, is extremely discomforting to pedestrians. Thick soles or wet feet all the way to worn is the choice of many where bitumen is employed, and seeing that on almost every day there is either dew or rain, the discomfort is generally present. The Maoris in the King Country are in many cases making full use of the money paid over to them in connection with the subdivision of native land. A gentleman who hias just arrived from the King Country informed a “Times” reporter yesterday that last Sunday he visited a certain pah and was amused to. see a native woman dressed in an expensive fnr coat and doing the week’s washing. During the week another Maori bought a costly piano from Auckland. Not being able to get this cumbersome article through the door he got over tlie difficulty by making a large holo in the side of tlie house. A gentleman who lives near New Plymouth has for years past paid an annual visit in July to the Huatoki river. From the mouth of the stream right up to Vivian street the banks are built up in places with stones, and between these stones are many holes where, in the winter months, eels find Banctuary. During the past week the native has paid visits to the river, and with hook or stick has been most successful in securing many fine specimens of eels. For oenturies the Huatoki stream has been famed amongst the Maoris for the quality and quantity of eels found in its water. In the old fighting days the eels from the Huatoki were eagerly soughtInterviewed in Montreal, Mr Julian Giande, F.R.G.S., who recently spent several weeks in this dominion, said: “New Zealand is the most charming country I have ever visited. It is never dull or monotonous, but wonder fully varied by plains and valleys, gentle slopes and hills, deep ravines and bold peaks, fortified eminences and great snow mountains. Its peaks, passes, and glaciers are bead and shoulders above anything you will find in the Swiss, French, or Italian Alps. Tho New Zealand Alps are certainly more varied and impressive than the European Alps. I don’t wish to exaggerate, but the finest piece of scenery in the way of virgin bush I have seen was during a three and a-half hours’ ride on horseback between Franz Josef ifcßd Se*. fiJeoiww.

Dredging operations have been com pleted at Bona and Day’s Bays, and there is now said to be ample water at low tide for the ferry steamers. 1 The roll of the Girls ’High School for the past month has been 764, an increase of 20 on that of last year. Boarders now number 38. Tlie ferry steamer Cobar was placed on the slip this week for reconditioning purposes. Tlie Duchess has taken up the ordinary running of the Cobar. A special tTee planting effort is to be made at Eastbourne on Saturday, August 4th, for the improvement of tho borough reserves. The attendance at Wellington Girls’ High School has been very satisfactory up to iast week oonsidering the prevailing influenza, states tlie principal (Miss McLean). Owing to tlie number of teachers and children absent from Lyall Bay School yesterday, there being insufficient teachers to carry on the classes, the children were dismissed until Monday. At a meeting of the executive of the Dairy farmers’ Union yesterday it was decided to ask the Minister for Education to endeavour to have bookkeeping included in the syllabus of the proficiency examination. The average number of pupils absent from Wellington College during the past three weeks has been 113 according to the monthly report of the headmaster, Mr T. R. Cresswell. The aggregate number of absentees for that period has been greater than that for the whole of the fourteen weeks of the previous term. During the progress of the Wellington amateur billiards championship, collections have been made towards Wellington Welcome Week funds. To this Messrs Billiards, Ltd. added the entrance fees, making a total of £ls 18s 7d. Among the contributions in the collecting box were three trouser buttons, one pearl button, and an American dime. Mr D. G. Sullivan (Avon) gave notice yesterday to ask the Minister for Health whether he will give an explanation of the reason for the reduction of £29,095 in the expenditure ot the Health Department in the quarter just expired-; and whether the reduction is occasioned by anv reduction in the efficiency of the laealth Department. The Prime Minister presented to the House of Representatives yesterday, a petition signed' by John Dennis, clergyman, of Te Kuiti, and 1399 other electors resident in the King Country, praying that the House will effectively maintain the policy of prohibition of the sale of alcoholic liquors in the King Country, agreed to between the Maori chiefs and the New Zealand Government when the area was opened to the European population for settlement. A young Dunedinite, Mr O. W. Hastie, has invented a dovioe which he claims will register on ordinary milking machines the amount of milk which each cow yields. The devioe also takes a sample of the milk from each oow, and therefore the farmer may ascertain tlie quantity and quality of the animal’s yield without employing a bucket machine. The invention has been praised by the managers of local dairy factories, as they consider it of great value to the industry in that it will give the producer an opportunity of weeding out the poorer of his herd. An old resident of the hill country, now living near Invercargill, informed a “Southland Times” reporter that when in tlie high country tile “old hand®” always dreaded a fall of snow at. or about the shortest day. “We would tick off the days with interest,” lie said, “as the shortest day approached. Every day away from it meant less danger for the sheep on the hills. We reckoned ourselvos fairly safe if we got through the week following the shortest day without a fall of snow. The danger was the frosts which always followed mid-winter snow.” At a recent country stock sale a burly farmer was walking along tlie planking above one of the pens, when he trod on a rotten piece of timber. After a few violent gymnastic exercises in balancing he reached the ground safely, although he had had a narrow escape from meeting with an accident. “They tell you that if you break your neck there, that you break it at your own risk,” he growled l . Seizing the rotten planking, he wrenched largo junks away. He was determined that neither he, nor anyone else, should risk his neck in future by walking on that treacherous place. The chairman of the Southland Power Board (Mr Rodger) baa stated that the representations Which it had been possible, to make from time to tame on various matters, had resulted in a saving of nearly £150,000 to the board in the cost of carrying out the scheme. For instance, by representations to tlie Post and Telegraph Department, it had been possible to obviate tlie necessity of erecting separate lines for high tension and low tension wires, which w-ere now able to be erected on the same pole provided oertain safeguards involving a small expenditure wero carried out. “Denmark began cow-testing much earlier than New Zealand. In fact, I believe some Danish dairymen were Weighing the milk of individual cows before Wellington was founded in 1840. They started their first cow-testing association in 1895, and in 1921-22 tested per milk-recording societies somo 230,000 dairy oow3, out of their total of 1,148,000, showing that 20 per cent, of tlie .whole of the milch cows were under test. New Zealand has this 1922-23 season tested 84,000 out of--1,137,000, or 7.35 per cent.”—Mr W. M. Singleton, Director of tho Dairy Division, on herd-testing. When Mr Justice Hosking was making fixtures in connection with the civil list yesterday, counsel intimated that he would ask for an adjournment regarding a certain Crown case. The counsel for His Majesty the King, he inferred, was at present away from the city for a fortnight in connection with an important matter. As the counsel in question was recently united in the bonds of holy matrimony, and is away on bis honeymoon, the announcement was greeted with a smile, well, then,” replied the judge, who suggested that if the applicant had desired' to go on with the case he should have applied for an injunction. (Laughter.)