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Otago Daily Times, Issue 20089, 4 May 1927, Page 8

At the monthly meeting of tho Committee of tho Patients’ and Prisoners’ Aid Society yesterday a letter was read from Colonel J. Cowio Nichols, expressing tho goodwill of himself and his family to the society, and their hearty wish for success in its effort to place its finances on a sounder footing than they are at present. To mark their good wishes in a practical manner Colonel Nichols enclosed fivo cheques for £5 each from himself, Mrs H. li. Nichols, the Misses Violet and Virginia Nichols, and Mr Arthur Cowie Nichols. A very cordial vote of thanks was passed to tho donors for their generous subscriptions. “Wellington’s free ambulance system,” said the Mayor (Mr C. J. B. Norwood) yesterday, “ now bids fair to become a flourishing and popular service” (says our special correspondent). “The local bodies, without one exception, within the area bounded by Paraparaurnu on the one side and tho Rimulakas on the other, are giving tho scheme their financial support, ana likewise their excellent moral backing,” ho added. “We will copy tho system that Iras spread, and is still spreading so rapidly in Australia.”

“I think tho time has come when the Christian Church must begin preaching a new gospel, or, shall I say, preach tho gospel from another point of view,” stated the Rev. Mr Niblock at a town-planning meeting on Monday evening (states our special correspondent in Auckland). “Tho Church has not gripped tho people. Wo must face the facts and be honest. ‘Wo have not done what we ought to have done.’ Wo have not reached the hearts of men and the women. Wo have not taught them the beauty of life. Wo have not brought that throb into their mind? that comes through gazing on beauty and realising its meaning, and I feel it is for such societies as this to assist tho Church by making an environment that is full of such ideals and has such an action on tho minds of the people that when the Church's message is. preached the people will bo ready to respond, and ultimately to bring forth and know that inward beauty is tho aim of the true life.”

Eleven new applications for employment were received’ yesterday by the Labour Department. Six of those were from married men, and five were from single men. Two men were provided with employment by the City Corporation at Logan Park. After the roll had been purged yesterday there remained a total of 160 men (89 married and 71 single) still seeking employment.

A' large contingent of new settlers reached Auckland yesterday morning by the steamer Mataroa from England. The southern quota left Auckland by last night’s Main Trunk express, and those booked for Otago and Southland are expected to arrive in Dunedin to-morrow afternoon.

The cessation of work at the Finegana freezing works on Friday came at a peculiarly inopportune time for the management, as there were 3000 lambs in the paddock awaiting killing (reports our correspondent). A number of offers were, however, received from nearby farmers who had turnips to spate, and the lambs would not have been allowed to lose condition. Fortunately, the settlement of the trouble removed the necessity for grazing these lambs.

Atfer providing for certain annuities under the will of. the late Mr Sinclair Johnson, a bachelor, who oamo to Napier from Lerwick, Shetland Islands, and who died here on March 15 last (reports a Napier Press Association message) there should be a sum of £IO,OOO for division amongst the following institutions: —One part to the Hawke’s Boy Children's Home (Napier), one part to the Gilbert Bain Hospital, Lerwick (Shetland Islands), two parts to Agnes Weston’s Sailors’ Rest (Portsmouth), two parts to the Royal Infirmary (Edinburgh), and fourteen parts to Dr Bamado’s Home (London). “Boys will bo boys. You cannot expect them to be saints and angels,” _ remarked Mr Justice Frazer in the Arbitration Court at Auckland, when dealing with an apprentice delinquent (reports the New Zealand Herald). While, he said, the court regretted to see a lad discharged on account of misconduct, it must put sentiment aside and be fair to employer and employee. ‘‘Be diligent, punctual, and trustworthy. Be amenable to your employer’s control. One of the things we have to learn in later life is self-discipline, and it is well to start early on the right track,” were the concluding words of advice.

Comparative statistics of the number of drug stores to the population in Great Britain, Canada, and New Zealand in 1925, were quoted by the Committee of Inquiry into the proposed operations of the Proprietary Articles Trade Association in the report presented to Cabinet (states the Dominion). The figures were:—Great Britain, one to every 4500 people; Canada, one to every 2624 people; New Zealand, one to every 2100 people. “In the principal towns of New Zealand,” added the report, “it is generally conceded that there are too many retail shops selling goods of the same class, and that chemists’ shops particularly are in excess of the requirements of the public.”

Dealers and others in the Owaka district find that it pays better nowadays to send their cattle by road to Stirling when they are intended for Burnside market than to truck them from the Owaka railway station.' It has been found that 150 head of cattle can be driven to Stirling at a droving fee of 30s, whereas to truck the same number from Owaka would cost no less a sum than £37. The railway freight charge from Stirling to Burnside is comparatively light, but it seems rather a pity that the railways could not get all the business by carrying the stock the- whole of the distance.

Mr K. Lammas, Matiri, Murchison, in a letter to the Nelson Mail, asks if anyone has seen weasels go n-fishing. Ho answers his own question as follows:—“A settler in the Matiri Valley had been absent from his farm for the winter months. • Returning, he found the door of his hut locked as he hod left it. He had mislaid or lost the key, so he broke in the door, and discovered a heap of small crayfish on the floor, such small crayfish as are found in the streams round here. His first thought was that children had collected them, but as the door was locked he knew that could not be. There were also feathers of tomtits and other birds on the floor. On going to move a bag of wool from a corner he discovered the skeleton of a weasel curled up in the wool with crayfish remains around it. It looked as if the weasel had gone into the hut with a good stock of provisions for the winter, but evidently the crayfish did not agree 1 with it. Perhaps it was old, and its digestion was not very good. Some, boys who had visited Matiri Lake in the summer report having seen a weasel splashing in the water on the edge of a stream; perhaps it was fishing also.” “I have heard that hockey is regarded by some people here as too rough or too strenuous a game for girls,” said Miss E. H. Sandford, head mistress of the Diooesian High School for Girls at the annual prize-giving the other day (states the Auckland Sun). “It can, of course, bo a rough game, and X am not going to say that nobody will get hurt,” she added. Hockey should not be rough if properly taught. In England it was found that, if anything, lacrosse could be the more strenuous of the two. Both hockey and lacrosse were games of the first class, but Miss Sandford confessed she was prejudiced in favour of hockey. She believed that the advantages to be derived from the playing of these games, both from the moral and physical point of view was inestimable. She desired to urge parents to give their support to those games so that they might become school games, and not bo played by only a fraction of (ho girls.

Although it is not uncommon to find women on hospital boards in New Zealand, they have not, to any great degree, sought positions on city or borough councils, road boards, and similar local bodies (remarks the Auckland Star). With the election of Misses Melville and Hasten last week there will again be two women representatives on the Auckland City Council. This is the second occasion on which there have been two women councillors, as Miss Melville was associated with Mrs Maguiro for a period of five years. In Wellington Mrs Amie M'Vicar has been a member of the City Council for some time, and, in Christchurch, Mrs J. M'Combs has occupied a seat'ns a Labour representative. It may be claimed that Auckland has had more experience of women in public life than other parts of the Dominion. Over 20 years ago the late Mrs Elizabeth Yates was elected to the mayoral chair in Onor hunga, and administered the affairs in that borough as the first woman mayor in the Empire. There was a clean sheet in the Police Court yesterday morning. In the course of a bulletin which has been prepared by the Economics Committee of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce on the subject of “The Arbitration System’’ it is affirmed that “the Arbitration Court has been trying for many years to maintain the standard of living of a particular section, the manual workers in sheltered industries, comprising about one-fourth of the total wage-earners, with little regard to the effect its efforts have had on other sections of the community. The intractable nature of the prevailing unemployment shows that that attempt has reached its limit. The court has been itself perhaps the most potent instrument in causing stagnation of production and of standards of living in the Dominion.’’ After criticising at length the defects in the present system, the author of tiio bulletin concluded with the following indictment: —“Summed up, the case for the arbitration system must bo judged on the balance of its advantages, and disadvantages. There are those who would suggest its entire abolition; there are many more who consider that it requires thorough investigation, with a view (O modification and amendment. It has received much credit for good work in tho past; it possesses elements that are still of groat value; but at the present time it fails in its primary object, tho maintenance of industrial peace, it is responsible for seriously retarding adjustment of the price disparities which are a chief cause of depression in the primary industries and of unemployment, its limited economic vision goes little beyond the shelteii industries which it, investigates, its chief ha.-is for wage standards i> founded on fa I 1n*..,, and over the vital internal relations of labour and capital in much of our productive industry it has laid the dead baud of public control.

“As the retiring Mayor, I consider that the citizens of Dunedin are under a deep debt of gratitude to the Hudson family," said Mr H. L. Tapley at the annual meet* ing of the Dunedin Free Kindergarten Association yesterday when referring to the Hudson Memorial Kindergarten. The gift, he said, was a splendid one, and the family could have chosen no better means of perpetuating the memory of their father than by presenting to the city the magnificent kindergarten at Caversham. It was to be hoped that others would be inspired by such an excellent example.

Residents of St. Kilda who can, nowadays board a tramcar, and, for the small sum of twopence, be carried to their destination, have reason to congratulate themselves that they had not to make the trip 50 years ago. In those days, the sole means of transport, apart from the exerciaw of pedestrianism, was by the old-fashioned four-wheeled cabs drawn by two horses. According to the driver of one of these conveyances who is still living in Dunedm, the journey was anything but pleasant for the passengers, nor was it an unmixed delight for the driver. The fare was sixpence per passenger each way, and a shilling after 9 p.m., and the driver had to be constantly on the alert for open, ditches and huge dips on the route. Despite his vigilance the cab would not infrequently strike one of the obstructions, and both driver and passengers would suffer accordingly. Apparently, the only one who derived any pleasure from these trips were the cab horses, whrch were sometimes brought back to the city by way of Musselburgh, which was at that time a huge swamp covered with luxuriant grass. In appreciation of his services to the borough of West Harbour during the past 30 years, it has been decided by the West Harbour Council to present Mr H. E. Holler, who has retired from the position of Mayor, with an illuminated minute. The minute is worded as follows: —‘We, the members of the West Harbour Borough Council, representing the ratepayers and residents of this district, take this opportunity of placing on record our sincere appreciation of the successful way in which you have carried out your duties as Mayor of the borough for 21 years, and as a councillor for nine years. You have at all times enjoyed the esteem and confidence, not only of the residents of the borough, but also of all those with whom you have come in contact in the many public positions you hold in the city of Dunedin. We trust you may long be spared to retain your energy and honesty of purpose, which have meant so much to the borough of West Harbour during your long period of years in its service.’’ The minute is signed by all the members of the council

Mrs Leslie Cook, of Playfair street, Caversham, the inventor of the Dorothy stripper, a milking machine attachment designed to do away entirely with hand stripping, recently wrote to the Prince of Wales offering him a gift model of the invention. From the Prince Mrs Cook has received word that her offer has been accepted, and a silver model of tha stripper, made by a Dunedin firm, hat been despatched accordingly. Fine, dry weather, with an ot wind, marked the opening of the shooting season in South Otago on Monday morning, and a number of sportsmen, including several from Dunedin, were out early in search of the feathered game. The ducka are said to have been fajrly numerous, but only small bags appear to have been secured. This is largely accounted for by the fact that the morning was windless, and the duck were flying very high. The best bag so far reported was made by Messrs W. Keen and W. Mason, who shot nine ducks each on the Otanomomo swamp, in the neighbourhood of the Puerua and Waitepeka Streams. Mr Norman Bel] shot six ducks in the same vicinity, and those who visited the Tuakitoto and Kaitangata Lakes report good sport with black swans and pukeko, but state that ducks were not so plentiful as usual. The best bag at the lakes on Monday was secured by _Mr Wilson Elliott and a frend —namely, eight ducks, 14 swans, and a number of pukeko. Mr J. Sinclair (Balclutha) also got a fairly good bag, including five ducks. The swans are said to be particularly plentiful this season. Mr W. Anderson and party had good sport in tha vicinity of the Puerua on opening day, their bag including nine ducks. On Tuesday they visited the lakes, and did considerable execution amongst the swans and pukeko, as well as bagging some ducks. Ranger Campbell, of Owaka, raided the shooting ground in the Otanomomo district on, Monday, the opening day of the season, and caught some nine persona who had tailed to take out the requisite licenses. Prosecutions are expected to follow. In the Taieri district three men who were shooting without licenses came under the notice of Ranger Pellett, and they will probably hear more of the matter. It may be mentioned that there appears to bo some doubt on the part of property-owners on whose land wild fowl are to be found as to who is entitled to shoot without taking out a license. The position is set out in clause 14 (3) of the Animals Protection and Game Act, 1921, which stipulates that: “Anyperson in bona fide occupation of any land, and any son or daughter of such person, may during an open season take or kill on that land without a license (but subject to all other restrictions imposed by or under this Ace) any imported game or native game that may lawfully bo taken or killed under, a license in the district within the boundaries of which such land is situated, or such first-mentioned person may, in writing, appoint some other person to take, or kill such game in his stead during such open season, in which case he shall no* himself take or kill imported game or native game without a license while such appointment remains in force.” The Fire Brigade received a call at 8.25 yesterday morning to a house in Highgate, Roslyn, owned by Mr R. Anthony. On the arrival of the brigade it was found that an attempt to light the copper fire with kerosene had resulted in a slight blaze, which was extinguished before much damage was done. Depend upon Williamsons Alarm Clocks these dark mornings. They will call you promptly. All guaranteed.—3l Princes street. —Advt. Eyes are precious. At first sign of weakness go to the qualified and experienced (20 years) optometrist, W. V. Stumer, D. 5.0.1., G.A.0.V., Octagon, Dunedin. Most up-to-date equipment, including electrically lit testing charts.— Advt. Eczema, Varicose Ulcers, and all skin irritation successfully treated by Hoffman’s Skin Treatment. Write particular* Hoffman’s Pharmacy, 17 Princes street, chemists aqd optometrists (next Begg’s), Dunedin. —Advt. A. E. ,J. Blakeley and W. E. Baglcy. dentists, Bank of Australasia, corner of Bond and Rattrav streets (next Telegraph Office). Telephone 1859.—Advt. Diamond Engagement Kings.—Before purchasing compare our values; large selection just landed; superior quality.— Peter Dick, the most reliable jewellers, watchmakers, and opticians, 490 Moray place, Dunedin.—Advt.