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Otago Daily Times, Issue 20611, 9 January 1929, Page 6

The postal authorities advise that nine parcel receptacles, ex the steamer Northumberland from Liverpool, are expected to reach Dunedin to-day, and parcel receptacles, ex the steamer Wafruna, from San Francisco, should reach Dunedin on Saturday.,

A local angler, who has just returned from. Central' Otago, reports that the Manorburn dam is. very low at present, but, despite this, it seems to be affording fishermen good catches. Two Southland anglers who fished the dam for two days at Christmas secured. 60 fish ranging in weight from one to four pounds, all in good condition. Lake Hawea has been visited by numbers of fishermen-.during the holidays, . many of them camping on its shores. Though no exceptional catches have been reported, the majority of the anglers are well satisfied with the results obtained.

Although 56 civil actions were filed for heal’ing in the Supreme Court during the past year, only nine came before the court, the others being settled without the aid of the judge. The total amount involved in the nine actions was £13,216, and the amount recovered £11,776.

The number of petitions for divorce filed in the Supreme Court in Dunedin during the past year totalled 47. In 31 of the cases a decree nisi was granted; and the remainder will come before the court in due course. In 1927, 43 petitions for divorce were filed and dealt with.

There has been a marked increase in the number of registrations at the Labour Department’s office during the past week, and the roll of unemployed now stands at 274, compared with 190 a week ago. New applications during the week numbered 116, 19 men being placed on relief work with the City Corporation and three in private employment. In addition,- five men were assisted to go.to work in the country, and 40 names were purged from the roll. - '

... Faced with idleness and dwindling resources, two-Palmerston North painters heard of a '.job in Napier which would bring them in £3 10s. Setting out on their bicycles at 9.30 p.m. on Tuesday of last week, they rode through the night, and by 10.30 a.m. had completed the 120mile ride to Napier. After collecting the materials which they had consigned by rail, they were ready to commence painting the roof of the house at 8.30 a.m. on the Thursday morning. They gave the root one thick coat of paint and finished the job at 1.30 p.m. An hour later they were on the road for home, pushing into wind and rain which developed during the night., It was a long and weary journey (says an exchange), and not till 10.40 a.m. on the Friday morning did the travelweary pair ride into Palmerston North. The whole journey, including the time spent in Napier, had taken 61 hours, 13 hours being spent on the outward trip and over 20 hours on the return. The journey of 240 road miles wag done without mishap, although the travellers had one or two adventurous experiences.

Tourist traffic during the Christmas and New Year holidays was considerably in advance of the heavy rush last year, and it has only been bettered by the' Exhibition period. It ,is considered, however, that .‘the Dunedin public has never previously travelled as much as in the holiday period which .has just passed; -The new Milford hostel was in a large measure responsible for. the" increase. From the present time until the end of next month overseas tourists will' be more numerous, as January and February have always been their favourite months.

The Postmaster-general announces (says a Press Association, message from Auckland) that the postal administration of Canada has.requested that letters posted in Canada , for delivery in New Zealand and prepaid at the rate of two cents per ounce be accepted by .the New, Zealand administration..; The request, which meaus that -Canada has adopted,’penny postage, has been acceded to. :: ;" '

Motorists are Still; complaining of the bad state of the Lower Harbour road- between Port Chalmers and the Spit. No metal has been put on the road since it was ; structurally • improved and widened. The recent wet weather has softened the clay surface and increased, the number of ruts. Some ,of the unemployed are at present widening a cutting at Otafalo Point, and ■ when-’ that' is completed next week the men will be found work elsewhere.: •’' ■

Captain Pearson, of the Anchor Company, ;Wil|;ieay.e Wellington next-week for Scotland ; (reportß a;; Press ’ Association telegram) to bring out the company’s new steamer Rata. ‘ The Vessel, which is to have a dead-weight .carrying • capacity of 1000 tons, will leave early in April via Panama. ' 1 The motor crash on the Rimutaka hills, by which Miss Esther Walker was killed through the Car driven' by her' brother (Mr T. H. Walker), of Hawera, crashing over the bank,; has brought to light ; a story of family ill-luck (says a Stratford correspondent). : Misfortune has doggedthe family during the - past three’ years, ■and the . present fatality is the third untoward death’ during that time',’; - First a daughter , died,..an’d’lhon a, son,. Loss and anxiety were Also-suffered On account of the ' recent, fire in the West Coast • Refrigerating Company’s store, at Hawera, where •Mr Walker had a large store of bacon. The late Miss Esther Walker was well known in . Hawera,' where' she followed the occupation of dressmaking. Several years ago she commenced business on her own account in Woodville. She had joined the motoring party at Woodville on a holiday tour on-the day of, her death.

, A correspondent of.the, Auckland Star writes:—When people talk about the wireless hews, taking the place of newspapers, . and the. talking-pictures taking Abe - place of- the simple'movies, they forget how very unreliable sound :is compared with the written word or the picture. The telephone, is the greatest fraud of the lot when it comes -to accuracy. No- matter how excellent: the machine and the wiring,- it takes a person of remarkable ’ intelligence and singularly acute . hearing to take down correctly a conversation over the telephone. There are So many sounds in the English language that sound alike, or nearly so when slurred over so slightly, that no man.who has had. much experience over the wire would guarantee that he had heard l correctly. For instance, the letters * f ” and ' “ ssound precisely the same nine times out of 10 over the telephone. It is the shine with "p ’’ and “b ’’ and many other pairs. That is why yop see a man’s, initials given as W. F. when you know they are W. 8., and dozens of similar instances must be familiar, to most readers. Some people, in telephoning, are singularly dense, and get quite confused when you cross-question them on the lines of the old post office custom by spelling by names. For instance, the word;"get” becomes “,G” for George, E for Edward, T for Thomas,” and other words arc dealt with in the same masher. It -is tedious, but ’much safer. In the' army they get over the difficulty by renaming the ocafiising letters—hence ak, emma, beer, don,, and so on, ridiculous ■ sounds : that bring hack mixed memories ti> all -Diggers, ■ \ Three narrow escapes from drowning occurred in. the Clarence River, at South Grafton, New South, Wales,- on December 27. Winifred Gibson, aged 19, .displayed great heroism, and nearly lost her life. Two boys, Noel and Kevin King, visitors from Cessnock,’went to the river to bathe with Misses Gibson. and Irene Weatherstoh. ■ The boys got .into deep water, and Miss Gibson swam, oht and brought Kevin to the shore and then returned for .the other boy. He threw his arms around her neck, leaving her powerless. Meanwhile, Verdi Schwihghammer came along ’and swam out to their assistance. Mr H. F. Davis also saSv what was happening and seized an inflated motor tyre with which he had been teaching his children to swim, and swam out to the woman and the boy. The woman grabbed the tyre and, Sehwinghammer and Davis swam back with the party to the shore.

There wcf r e no cases for bearing at the City Police Court yesterday. .. .

- “If that had been done on One of the big vessels crossing the Atlantic there would- have been columns' in the< papers,” said a nautical man to an Auckland Star reporter, the. other morning. He was telling of an incident that happened on the last voyage Home of the Federal cargo steamer Northumberland, which, it will be remembered, once struck a mysterious rock on the -way to Gisborne and was after■wards repaired in Auckland. When the. vessel was a couple or three days out from Wellington, bound for London, something went wrong with " St. Michael,” which happens, to. he the pet name, of the port engine. Its twin, named, ofcouree, “ St. George," kept oii. It was found that some of the blades of the turbine had been stripped. What should be done.?. Should they return to Wellington, which . would halve meant-delay, expense, and bo oh? No, the engineers pleaded for a chance to tackle the job. The heavy top casing of the turbine, weighing several tons, was lifted off —and there was a heavy sea all the time—-the defective blades were taken off, the top was replaced, and “St. ■Michael,” if not himself again, worked as well as when he was fully decorated, and the missing ring of blades on that particular turbine has not been replaced to this-day. Only engineers could appreciate thy task of the Northumberland’s staff, hut the Ifindsman will appreciate the point if it is stated that- the job meant three , days’ hard toil,, day and night.

The opinion is expressed by the financial correspondent in New York of the London Daily Telegraph that America owes her industrial position to-day, whether it be for good or evil, to her expansion while supplying the world with materials during the war, and to the postwar necessity to catch up with the shortage created at home. . The feyer of production, justified then, ,bas continued more • or less steadily until tO;day in almost every important line of business there is complaint of over-production. .Too many coal mines, oil wells, cotton mills, steel mills, and motor car factories, all producing at capacity, eventually resulted in competition so keen that prices were cut and great amalgamations were formed in an effort to reduce costs. Still greater production and installation of most modern machinery have accomplished wonders in this direction, but while the great combines, ■ because of their tremendous output, have succeeded in piling up huge profits, the mortality among the small business units has been heavy. Employment in the manufacturing industries of the United States .has declined about 12 per cent, since 1923, despite the. fact that the industrial output has increased by at least 9 per cent, and the explanation is that improved machinery is always displacing man-power. The writer thinks it conceivable that in the long run, when production keeps pace with the normal rather .than the abnormal rate of consumption, the change through which American business is now passing will be beneficial.

The inclement- weather during : the Christmas holidays'had a disastrous effect upon., the tramway receipts in Auckland (says our special correspondent).' Reporting to the Transport Board, the manager (Mr,A. E. Ford) stated that £26,120 was taken, diiring the 13 days ended January 2, compared with £20,520 during the. corresponding period of the previous year, a decrease.: of £3403. There was a heavy falling off in the amount-of race and excursion traffic.’.

A plea for the preservation of that most interesting bird, the weka, is made by Mr E. V. Sanderson, secretary of the New Zealand ’Native Bird - Protection .Society.' “The wekaj” writes Mr Sanderson, ■“ is considered by those who have given the matter steady and careful observation to be one, if not the most important, of cur indigenous birds that attend...to the; destruction and therefore of pests inhabiting the ground. Careful. tests : of this, bird’s habits will demonstrate how extremely active he is in destroying snails, wood lice, and all manner of pests; With his strong beak he is able to turn over quite large pieces of-wood-and debris in order to gain access to .the concealed food, while in the forests his; destruction of rats is highly, praised!” From the observations -and. experiences of recent - New Zealand visitors it would appear that in regard, to mails/New Zealand does not get a fair run in Sydney, no£ anything, like the .run we give Australian mails in New Zealand. No one here has to wait more than a.few hours, at the -very, outside, for their letters after the mail bags are ashore, but a recent New Zealand visitor to Sydney, .noting -that a steamer had arrived .from Wellington early one morning, called at the General Post Office that'afternoon, andinquired for ‘letters from New Zealand.’ “Call to■morrow! was the advice given him; “ But,” he protested, “ the mail arrived this morning! ” “ That is so, but you see, there was a big English mail to sort, and ■■we-leave the New Zealand mail over'until that is cleared,” . So he:did.not get his mail until, the next day. That is not how things are done here. Every letter -mail is dealt with on equal terms, and all mails are; cleared :ahd sorted On the day of arrival, work being. ' continued in shifts through the night, if necessary. - It is said that the postal authorities cannot get the men to work like that in Sydney, and so delays arc of frequent occurrence. '.Another complaint made is that the notice board at the G.P.0., Sydney, detailing the hours of the closing of mails, regularly omits the name's of the-New Zealand mail boats, and details as.-to the closing time of Dominion mails.

Attention is directed to the railway advertisement appearing-in this issue giving particulars of train, arrangements in connection with the’ Blueskin A. and P. Show at Waitati on Saturday. Mark:, 1929 r with ; a “Williamson” Watch. Tested and guaranteed by practical tradesman,- Next -Bristol Piano 1 Company ,~Advt., A good remedy for Couglis I ‘iColds,.Bron- ’ chitis. etc., is a household necessity at this period ol the ; year. Be prepared, i Get-a bottle of Pearson’s Cough-Balsam to-day; Is 6d and 2s 6d.—Pearson’s Pharmacy, Prince Albert, road, St. Kilda.— Advt . V

Touring parties should be equipped with Field Glasses.’a splendid range of which are stocked by W. V. Sturmer, : Optician, Octagon,, at half the usual prices. No more suitable Christinas present;—Advt. A. E. J. Blakeley and ,W. S, Bagtey. dentists. Bank -of Australasia;-corner of Bond and' Rattray streets' (next Telegraph . Office ) . Telephone 12-359.—Advt. Diamond Engagement i Sings.—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. v ■ ■■