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Otago Daily Times, Issue 21308, 13 April 1931, Page 6

A break in the overhead tramway trolley wire occurred about 2.45 o'clock yesterday afternoon near the intersection of King Edward street and Bay View road and caused a temporary disorganisation of tram traffic on the St. Kilda line. The repair wagon and crew were soon on the spot and so expeditiously were repairs effected that the normal service was resumed after about half an hour’s delay. With the exception of a few clips that are being held over until next year and a certain quantity of wool which will be shipped by the growers themselves, Friday’s wool sales effected almost a complete clearance of the wool holdings in the province. A number of growers who had placed a reserve price on their wool prior to the sales found it expedient, in view of the ruling prices, to reduce their reserves, with the result that the passed lots amounted to a very small percentage of the total offerings. One large wool-brok-ing firm, in fact, found that, at the conclusion of the sale,, it had cleared all but approximately 2 per cent, of its catalogue, whilst the percentage of the total offerings left on the hands of the other firms was also comparatively small. Some time between 2.45 and 3 p.m. yesterday a dark blue, single-seater, Morris Cowley motor car, belonging to Mr A. B. Cotton, of Leith Valley, was removed from outside the Public Hospital in King street. The car, which bears the registered number 141-473, has an aluminium band round the back of the dickey seat, and a spare wheel shod with a Goodyear tyre is carried on the front mudguard. Several sharks have been sighted at Napier recently and a number have been caught. The fact that the sharks cruise near the shore is proved by the presence of one on the shingle beach about 100 yards on the breakwater side of the municipal baths. This shark, nearly nine feet in length, came too far inshore and was stranded. Tt lived for many hours after being left high and dry by the receding tide and was an object of interest to hundreds. Another shark just under five feet in length was caught from the breakwater.

The City Fire Brigade received a call at 5.42 p.m. yesterday to a chimney tire at the corner of Albany and Leith streets. Reference to the action of the GovernorGeneral in forgoing 10 per cent, of his salary was made by the Leader of the Legislative Council (Sir Thomas Sidey) when replying to the debate on the second reading of the Finance Bill (says, the Wellington Evening Post). Sir Thomas said that the Prime Minister had received a communication from his Excellency expressing a wish that his salary and allowances should, in view of the present financial stringency, be reduced by 10 per cent, as is being done in the case of the public service. Sir Thomas pointed out that there had been no increase in the salary of the Governor-General as a result of the increased cost of living due to the war. The only increase had been one of £SOO in the amount allowed for the salaries and expenses of his establishment. The council would thus understand that compliance with his Excellency’s desire meant that the emoluments of the office of GovernorGeneral were less than those of pre-war days. Under the Constitution Act any Bill altering the salary of the GovernorGeneral must be reserved for the assent of his Majesty. “It is his Excellency’s wish that the reduction should not attach to the office, but only to himself,” said Sir Thomas.

The employment of married female teachers was a subject briefly touched upon by Mr F. Penlington, of Christchurch, at the Teachers’ Institute on Saturday. Mr Penlington said the institute’s attitude to that matter rested with the greatest benefit to the child. It had always followed the principle that the best teacher should be appointed, whether married or unmarried. Times arose, however, when basic principles had to be put aside, and a diversion from the principle it had hitherto followed might be necessary, namely, that education boards be given discretionary power in making appointments. There was no reason to believe that boards would exercise that power to an unreasonable degree.

A page of views taken on the Upper Hollyford and showing Homer Valley and Gertrude Saddle introduces the illustrated section of the Otago Witness, to be published to-morrow, and, in its natural beauty, stands in contrast to a following page dealing with the progress of the hydro electric construction at Waitaki. Sports and pastimes are widely represented, first by a full page showing events and winners at last week's inter-University athletic and basket ball tournaments, and a group of representatives of the four participating colleges, secondly by winners in the South Island lawn tennis Easter championship tournament, thirdly by the victorious riflemen who competed in the Easter meeting at the Pelichet Bay range, Dunedin, and fourthly by the South Canterbury croquet championships in Tiraaru, the annual bowling tournament conducted by the Dunedin Centre during Easter, and the Timaru Golf Club’s opening day on Highfield links. An interesting half-page deals with the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Tokomairiro School at Milton, and a noticeable strip with the levelling of a damaged building at Napier after the earthquake. One-picture subjects include “ Wizard ” Smith’s new speed car, a Dannevirke glider, the winner of the transTasman ocean yacht race, and the two Dunedin men recently remanded to Dunedin on charges of assault and attempted robbery of a bank. The carelessness shown by Dunedin people in handling large sums of money was the subject of some strong comment by an employee of a large financial institution during a conversation with a Daily Times reporter. He stated that sums amounting to thousands of pounds were carried about the city streets every day by men who were quite without protection. He quoted as an instance of carelessness the case of a man who drew some thousands of pounds from a bank in expectation of the immediate completion of a business deal. The deal did not eventuate, and the money remained in the business man’s possession for 10 days before it was returned to the bank. It was rarely, he stated, that when money changed hands it was counted by the recipient, and the possibility of an error which might cause a great deal of worry was always open. Two men were arrested yesterday afternoon by Detectives Kearton and Taylor, and will appear before the City Police Court this morning on charges of petty theft.

The Winton correspondent of the Southland Times states that a pen of 12 aged ewes realised the total sum of 6s at the Winton stock sale on Thursday last. The initial and only bid was sixpence. Some anxiety is felt concerning the whereabouts of "William George Pinhey, who is well-known in the Wellington district as a seller of men’s wear at cheap rates. During the power failure which occurred at Seatoun on Saturday evening (says a Press Association telegram), he left home saying that he was going across the street to borrow candles. About 9 p.m. the family became anxious when he failed to return, and it was found that he had not called at the opposite house. A search was made throughout yesterday, but it failed to reveal any trace of the missing man.

The waste that at one time was experienced in Christchurch when one local authority had completed gome work and another came along and undid it in part has been forced on the attention of Aucklanders, Board and Council, the New Zealand local authorities’ review, in commenting on recent examples of this class of waste in Auckland, remarked (says the New Zealand Herald), “The city of Christchurch used to be faced with similar conditions of repeated trenching and retrenching of streets, and as a result the Christchurch Public Utilities’ Committee came into being. In the five years since it was formed that body has amply justified its existence. If it has done so in Christchurch there should be proportionately greater scope for useful service by a similar body in Auckland. Although there is but a single example of a Public Utilities’ Committee in New Zealand bodies of this nature are recognised features of civic government in cities in Australia and elsewhere.” The establishment of the Christchurch Public Utilities’ Committee was due largely to the city engineer (Mr A. R. Galbraith), who had had previous experience of such a body in Perth, Western Australia.

When a letter from the Unemployed Board advising that the rates of relief wages had been reduced and that all work was to be suspended from April 11 to 25, was received at a recent meeting of the Heathcote County Council, Mr W. W. Scarff said (reports the Christchurch Times) that under the proposed new relief scheme it was likely that about 1000 men would be cut right out in Christchurch alone. On one job, he said, a man had boasted that he had £2OOO in the banK, and he had heard of another relief worker who had bought a motor car costing £360 and had also given his son £IOO to start him in a business. There were two other men he knew of who were quite unfit for relief work. The letter was received.

That Massey Agricultural College, which is a monument to the enthusiasm and foresight of Sir George Fowlds, was in hie mind years before it actually came into beim* was apparent (says the New Zealand” Herald) from some reminiscences which he gave at a luncheon in his honour in Auckland last week. As far back as 1006, when Minister of Education, Sir George said he visited Lincoln College and spent a day in endeavouring to persuade the governors to develop the institution to a university standard, but all his efforts were in vain. Later he and the late Dr Robert M'Nab tried to establish a dairy school at Palmerston North, but an election intervened, and criticism of Dr M'Nab’s dairy regulations put their author out of Parliament. Many years after, an agreement between Auckland and Victoria University Colleges made the establishment of Massey College possible. Sir George Fowlds cherished the belief that the college, more than any other institution. was destined to make great contributions to the intellectual as well as the material development of New Zealand. As an example, the recently-discovered simple test for the presence of hair in wool was expected in a few years to add £1,000,000 to the annual value of the Dominion s clip.

In spite of all the study that has been given in the past to the habits and characteristics of New Zealand plants, experts in the subject know that so far only the surface of the subject has been scratched (states the New Zealand Herald). Endless questions remain to bo answered and discoveries to be made. The biology department of the Auckland University College aspires to make a worthy contribution to this fascinating branch of knowledge, and with this end in view has been patiently building up a native botanical garden about the college almost ever since the new buildings were opened. An exact count has not been made recently, but the individual plants in the collection number several thousand, and the different species represented are well over 200. Most numerous of all are the veronicas, of which over 70 varieties are included.

The postal authorities advise that th« steamer Ulimaroa, which is due at Wellington to-morrow from Sydney, is bringing 31 bags of Australian mail and 23 parcel receptacles for Dunedin. The mail is expected to reach the local Post Office on Wednesday evening.

A report received by the secretary of the Otago Acclimatisation Society from a Wanaka resident indicates that good fishing has been the rule in that district recently. The quinnat salmon commenced to run at the end of March, and fish ranging from 121 b to 30lb have been taken. The question of bouse rents was raised at a recent meeting of the Unemployment Committee in Christchurch. A member asked how the law stood in the matter. Mr R. T. Bailey said the landlord was entitled to 7 per cent, return on his capital, plus rates and taxes. “Very few people are getting that,” said another member. “ I am not getting that from any property I own, and other people are in the same position.”

Poachers are not the only things the Marine Department has to contend with in protecting the oyster. The most recent report on the fisheries says; “A great effort was made during the past year to get rid of the ‘ borer ’ pest, which is still so abundant as to take considerable toll of young oysters. When the beds are densely stocked with young oysters, the ‘ thinning ’ thus effected may be comparatively negligible, but with sparse reproduction the ‘ borers ’ count as a very considerable adverse factor. A system of paying borer pickers by contract has resulted in a substantial increase in the number destroyed without unduly adding to the cost; but this method is not everywhere applicable. In addition to the common borer (Thais scobina), which is small in size but abundant in numbers, a further gastropod enemy of the oyster is being dealt with. This is the large welk-like mollusc Thais succinta, commonly known by its Maori name ‘ pupu,’ which is able to open an oyster by muscular suction. Over 11,000 of these were gathered and destroyed during the season.” The motor ship Port Hobart, which received slight damage to her hull recently through striking a submerged object, is expected to arrive at Port Chalmers on Thursday from New Plymouth. The vessel will be placed in the Otago dock to undergo repairs. It is expected that the Port Hobart will be ready for sea at the end of this week. She will return to New Plymouth to commence loading for England. The Port Hobart originally came from New York, and her American cargo for Dunedin was discharged at Wellington. The freight was then transhipped to the coastal steamer Calm, and will be landed at Dunedin tomorrow. A general average without deposit has been declared on all cargo on board the Port Hobart at the time of the mishap. Consignees will be required to sign the customary general average bond before delivery of the cargo can be granted.

The cultivation of ragwort in a garden is about the last thing a farmer would expect, yet an instance of this having happened was related at the last meeting of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union executive in Thames (reports an exchange). An amateur gardener in the district had proudly drawn the attention of a visiting farmer to a couple of well-known ragwort plants, which, for beautiful bloom, he asserted, ranked amongst the best in his garden. The astonished visitor, to whom a ragwort plant was like a red rag to a bull, made no bones about disillusioning his host as to the nature of the weed.

Cr W A. Scott will deliver addresses this week as follows:—This evening, Kaikorai Presbyterian Church Hall; to-mor-row evening, South Dunedin Town ttali, and Thursday evening, North-East Valley Town Hall. . , , . A special feature of the address to be given this evening under the auspices or the Workers’ Educational Association by Mr Lloyd Ross will be a comparison between the methods of unemployment relief in the United States and those in Great Britain. The lecture will be preceded by a short play Never before bas Austin had the same opportunity to prove its worth as now. Patriotism, buying British goods, and so on, is all very well, but now, the £1 for fl value of Austin Cars is a real material benefit which no thoughtful buyer can overlook. Austin Motors (Otago), Ltd., 284-6 Princes street; phone 13-215. W. V. Sturmer, G.A.0.C., D. 5.0.1., optician. Consulting room, 2 Octagon, Dunedin. Most modern scientific equipment for sight testing.—Advt. A. E. J. Blakeley and W. E. Bagley, dentists, Bank of Australasia, corner of Bond and Rattray streets (next Telegraph Office). Telephone 12-359. —Advt. Who is Peter Dick? The most reliable Jewellers, Watchmakers,_ and Opticians, 490 Moray place, Dunedin. —Advt.