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Otago Daily Times, Issue 19803, 31 May 1926, Page 6

'.According to the time-table, th» last electric car from the Maori Hill junction runs somewhere between 11 and 11.30 every night, but there seems to be one tram on that service that is a somnambulist, for its grinds slowly along the rails every night from about midnight till the small hours of the morning. Several residents who for various reasons have been out very late have seen that car. much to their bewilderment, especially when a closer investigation reveals four huge barrels in the cabin and a fire burning smokily on the back platform To folk who have been perhaps a little unwise in their manner of spending the evening it must appear as a grim warning—a ghostly carriage with Pluto at the wheel, the four great casks being carted to perdition, and the consuming flames at the rear, and all the while the rumble of slow thunder. The explanation, however, is verv simple. It is merely that the rails, which havt. been badly corrugated, are being ground smooth, the wheels of the car being fitted for the purpose with emery. There is not a groat deal of risk attaching to ancient circulating library books, according to Dr M. Watt, medical officer of health (says the New Zealand Times). Dr Watt did not say that books were entirely innocuous, but he did say that in all his reading he had found no cases where infection had been traced to books brought from a circulating library. 'Hie procedure in Wellington is that the civic authority is informed of ail cases of notifiable disease, and that the householder it warned that he should not obtain any books from a public library. At the termination of the case the officer of health himself disinfects the house and any books which may have been drawn. Formalin is used for the purpose, and while it is admitted that the one real way in which to disinfect a book is to destroy it, the formalin is very effective. The illustrations of the Otago Witness to be published to-morrow include some fine pictures. The front page contains three New Zealand views—“ The West.” Kawaroa Seaside Park, New Plymouth; “The Tunnel.’’ Mount Messenger, T« Kuiti; and “A Precipitous Cliff on the Mokau River. Another page of scenery shows three now photographs of Stewart Island, and three of Riverton, both favourite holiday resorts in the south. Of immediate interest is a half page showing the spoils of some of the more fortunate sportsmen who participated at the opening of the shooting season, while the “Jubilee of the Presbyterian Theological Hall, Dunedin.” of similar news >alue. occupies another page. There are many strikm" views in the collection: “Unusual Volcanic Activity at Ngauruhoe” and “The Spire’ Road, Taumarunui,” are specially diverting from our own land, while, further afield, “The Iceberg Menace in the North Atlantic,” “.Tn-Jitsu ‘a le Pafhvderni!’ ’’ “The Itnl-"--, Airship Norge which Flew over the North Pole.” “Babs. the Speed Monster,’’ a-'"’ "A Picture Wizard of the Ether” m-d--" an equallv !ar"« appeal. “A Long f Partnership. ’’ featuring two of Dunedi” - ' alde't residents, and ‘A Pretty Gdre Wedding” ore picture# of human interest.

Divorce day in the Auckland Supreme Court on Wednesday last filled the lobby and passages with nearly as large a crowd as may he seen at the opening of the criminal sessions (reports the New Zealand Herald). Counsel in wigs and go., < were exceptionally plentiful; In the upstairs court there were not nearly enough seats for them, so those waiting their turn invaded the jury box, out of which they climbed one by one when fresh coses were called. As about 60 cases were on the list, the harvest of fees must have been considerable.

A strong plea that an agricultural instructor should be appointed to the Rotorua district was made by Mr F F. Hockly, M.P., to the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. O. J. Hawken, during the latter’s visit to Rotorua last week. In urging that one of the best men of the department should be allotted to the large area of which Rotorua is the centre, Mr Hockly said the matter had been referred to in last year’s Budeet, but so far nothing had been done. The Minister said he fully realised that the Rotorua district ■was capable oF making much agricultura. progress. He was surprised at the rate of progress during the past few years. Under proper treatment he was convinced that the land would give great produc tion.

An ex-auctioneer from Waikato, who is on a visit to Wanganui, while in a reminis cent mood, related to a reporter some of the amusing sides of auctioneering life when dealing with certain classes of farmers. It is customary, he said, for firms who have made advances to farmers to send along now and again for a report of the number of stock held on the farm. Of course these forms are not always filled in correctly. The firms generally know the farmer who errs on the liberal side, and. said the auctioneer; “It is all the same whether they enter 400 or 4000 Jiead of stock, for we don’t believe them.” Now and again a clerk from the firm is sent to have a look round the farm for himself and inspect the stock. If the farmer happens to get intimation that he is coming, he will most likely borrow a few head of cattle from his neighbour to make up the number. The clerk may be check ing off the list and ask -where the black bull is, and may be shown a big brown steer with horns pointing up tr the sky.

A Wang'xnui Herald representative recently met en electrician who resides in Manawatu, and during a conversation that ensued regarding the vagaries of electric light, the newspaper man was informed that all th.- blame could not be put upon the power boards, and that the Mangahao supply was responsible for a good deal of the trouble. For instance, he said that recently there were to fewer than 11 failures in 14 days. This was rather too many to expect from a big concern, involving a huge expenditure, and controlled by the G overrun p-‘ If a storm happened in the Wairarapa, .nstead of that district only going out of action, the ■whole system failed, a fault th , should not exist. At Mangahao they had only one set of what was known as “buzzar bars,” whereas a system run on a large scale required more, and their experts should be fully apprised of this fact. Another feature which was also plainly evident to those who had anything to do with the controlling authorities was that they appeared to be carefully nursing Wellington as against the other dis* served by the power.- Why Wellington should receive this preferential treatment was hard to conceive, but no doubt there was more revenue coming from that source than from other parts of the area reticulated.

The Maori collection in the Auckland Museum is acknowledged to be a very fine one, but, according to the president of of the Auckland Institute, Mr H. E. Vaile, it could be made mu&h bett (reports the Kew Zealand Herald). Many people keep valuable relics which are really of no in terest to them, but which in the museum are of interest to the whole community “By medium of the museum itself,” said Mr Vaile at a meeting of the institute, “the History of New Zealand can be preserved as it should be. People have many valuable relics, some of them of unique national importance; but mainly through ignorance they will not place them in the keeping of the museum. During the past few years thousands of pounds’ worth of Maori antiquities have been lost through the selfishness of their owners. lowever. there are many more. These would be properly housed in fhe museum, and people should undoubtedly come forwa with them. There is no reason why the Maori collection in the new museum should not he second to none. We should specialise in Pacific Islands collections, and make the museum something which not only Auckland but also the whole of New Zealand can point to with pride.”

An educational scheme for the benefit of members of the service has ust been evolved by by officers of the Railways Department, in the form of a correspondence school (reports the Wellington Evening Post). This new branch of the department’s activities is now in full operation, and although it is but two weeks old, about 600 enrolments have been made. The school is open to both the first and second divisions. In one instance, and not an isolated one,. a stationmaster and nis two porters have joined up, while a casual coalman has also become a student. The lessons are prepared in groups, with a full course of 53. Railway accountancy, tariff regulations, traffic work, and matters of an instructional order relative to transportation are some of the subjects in the syllabus. In this way the department aims at increasing the capacity of members so that they will be able to render the public more efficient servl- This laudable effort of the department should prove a boon to railway servants and be of ultimate service to the public generally Mr M. L. Bracefield, who is head of the school, has his headquarters in Wellington

Fire drill in Wanganui primary schools, in the opinion of the fire prevention authorities, has not been receiving the attention it warrants, and the Wanganui Fire Board has taken steps to have the need of a specific course of training brought under the notice of the-Minister of Education (reports the Herald) Last year the superintendent of the Wanganui Fire Brigade instituted a system of fire drill in local schools, with the abject of teaching children how to leave a burning building speedily, yet without panic, and also how to handle rescue cases end incipient fires A fortnight ago he mspected several schools to ascertain to what extent the instruction had been followed, but found that at only one school, Wanganui East, had good remits been achieved, the children of that school making practically a perfect emergency turnout. A further move in the matter was made last week by the Wanganui Fire Board, which passed s resolution advocating fire-drill as a routine feature in State schools. In most secondary schools which passes* fcoaiding establishments fire drill is carried out regularly. The Wanganui Girls’ College is one school which has svstematic demonstratiohs revealing marked efficiency. •

A supreme egotist revealed himself when a deputation waited on the Prime Minister on Friday (reports our Auckland correspondent). Mr Coatee was intimating that any young man without dependents who was seeking unemployed relief work must be prepared to go out into the country—to “hike out” to quote Mr Coates in his own terse phraseology. Then a young man interjected, “Why should I go out into the country? I have enough brains to be in the city. If I had the same op portunity as you have had I might be Prime Minister.” -Many of those present, including Mr Coates, gazed at the speaker, and then smiled.

With the dismantling of the Exhibition buildings the services of the efficient Gre fighting force is no longer required, and the Leyland pump and crew, which had been stationed at the Exhibition for over seven months, returned to headquarters on Thursday last. During the period the men were on duty at the big show they were only called upon to deal with one outbreak of any magnitude, but the whole staff was kept continuously employed patrolling the buildings and grounds, draw ing attention to the risks invol d. This, no doubt, resulted in the prevr ition of any serious outbreaks. The service was not one sought after by members of the City Fire Brigade owing to the mono tonous duties involved. The staff, which consisted of four men, was under the charge of Senior Fireman J. V. Salmon The Exhibition authorities and those in charge have repeatedly expressed satisfaction of the manner in which the staff carried out its dutiefc

The motorist who hogs the road, jumps corners, drives without his license, and breaks one or several of the other hundred and odd regulations by which the authorities endeavour to i eserve the span of life to those taxpayers who merely walk the earth, is going to get a jolt or two on the suburban thoroughfares (states the Auckland Star). The Avondal Borough Council is among the local powers who have no intention of allowing the population increase it has gained m the last census to be seriously lessened by wild motorists. Recently a uniformc' 1 official of the borough made a good catch before breakfast. By a few minutes after 8 a.m. he had, hr informed a motorist who passed with a clean bill, bagged no fewer than 30 offenders, and the day was still young. He had made the further impressive announcement that the Borough Council already had 150 prosecutions pending against motorists for various offences. It seems likely, therefore, that “the man in the car’’ is not going to have things all hi's own way on the concrete roads of Avondale.

“The Government should aim at increasing production, not by the bringing in of new country, but b\ subdividing improved land for more intensive cultivation,’’ said the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. O. J. Hawken, when opening the Franklin Winter Show at Pukekohe. ’On an average,” said Mr H iwken, “most of the farms in the Dominion were too large. Big estates generally were well farmed as such, but many of the average-sized farms, however, could be cut up, and wou*d yield a great deal more under intensive cultivation.”

“It is not the lack of roads that is driving men off the land,” said the Prime Minister to a deputation when it ■’as sug gested that road works in the country might be used to serve the double purpose of providing relief works for the unern ployed and keeping the settlers on their farms. Mr Coates asserted (reports our Auckland correspondent) that where the settlers had acquired land at a reasonable price and saw a chance of making good they would remain on their holdings whether they had roads now or not. _ He was also of the opinion that no better job could be found to-day than improving the land in the King Country.

A sample of the quality of this year s crop of apples in Central Otago and also of the thoughtfulness of the grower was received at the Otago Daily Times office last evening in the form of a case of apples from Mr G. M. Marshall, of Matangi Orchard. Earnscleugh The case contained a large assortment of varieties, and all were fine specimens of their group and in the best condition. Though reporters are not necessarily judges f quality in fruit the avidity with, which he case was attacked indicated a keep appreciation of both th quality and the grower’s generosity. Mr Marshall says the Newton Pippin variety, of which the case contained several specimens, is the favourite eating apple in the district, growers preferring it to all the other varieties grown there.

The question of a council’s eligibility was raised at a meeting of the Stratford Borough Council last week (reports the Post), when the following letter from the borough solicitors was read by the town clerk under instructions from the Mayor:—“With reference to the question submitted to us for our opinion whether Ct Hewitt is qualified to act as a councillor by reason of the fact that he is the general manager of the Farmers’ Co-operative Organisation Society (Ltd-), with which company the council has made contracts for more than £lO altogether in a financial year, we have to state that we are ot opinion that Cr Hewitt is, by virtue of the fact that he is general manager of the said company, incapable of being a councillor of the borough.” The law on the subject was clearly set out, continued the letter, which proceeded to quote at length section 40, sub-section (h) of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1920. as modified by the Amending Act of 1921. Cr Hewatt stated that he had obtained a legal opinion rn the matter, and this was contrary to the opinion given by the council’s solicitors. Ihe Act was framed in such a manner Uat interpretation was difficult, and he was advised that * e did not come under the clause in question. He was absolutely unaware that the "ouncil had any dealings with the Farmers’ Co-op Later in the evening, Cr Hewitt stated that, in accordance with an intimation he had given some time before, he intended to resign his seat owing to pressure of business.

An order for £2O is ihe special prize at the Dunedin Euchre Assembly’s tourney tonight in the South Dunedin Town Hall. Buy an Alarm from the people who know clocks and n mre satisfaction, —Williamsons (next the Bristol). —Advt. Eyes are precious. At first sign ol weakness tro to the qualified and experienced (20 years) optometrist, W V Sturmer, D. 5.0.1., G.A.0.C., Octagon. Dunedin. Most up-to-date equipment, including test electrically-lit testing charts in stalled. —Advt.

A. E. J Blakeley and W. B Bagley, dentists, Bank of Australasia, corner of Bond and Rattray streets (next Telegraph Office) Telephone 18X9 —Advt. Make no mistake. For honest value in jewellery, watches, and optical goods, “Pete. Dick.” the most reliable watch makers, jewellers, and optometrists, 490 Moray place fopp. City Hotel). —Advt.