Untitled

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21362, 16 June 1931, Page 6

The following are the returns of infectious diseases at the Dunedin, Fever, and Wakari Hospitals for the week ended at noon yesterday:—Scarlet fever—admitted 15, discharged 6, remaining 34; diphtheria—admitted 1, discharged 11, remaining 19; ophthalmia neonatorum —remaining 1; paratyphoid fever—remaining 8. Totals: Admitted IC, discharged 17, remaining 62. A wooden house in Church street, Green Island, owned by Mr F. Freeman, of Wanaka, and occupied by Mr Walter Smellie, wae completely destroyed by fire on Saturday evening. There was no one at home at the time of the outbreak, and the flames were first noticed by a neighbour. Efforts were made ,to quell the fire with buckets of water and a garden hose, but without result, and the building was burned to the ground within an hour. The cause of the outbreak is unknown. No insurances were available last night. The brigade was called obt at 1.30 o'clock this morning to the premises in Mason’ street of M'Gregor and Co., Ltd., engineers and ironfounders, where a stack of coal heaped near a furance had caught fire. - Two machines were quickly on the scene, and in a few minutes the situation was under control. Only slight damage was done. In memory of the four men who lost their lives on May 1, when the Progress was driven on the rocks at Ohiro Bay (says a Press Association telegram from Wellington), a tablet was unveiled on Sunday evening at the Sailors’ Friends’ Society Church by the Mayoress (Mrs T. C. A. Hielop). It bore the inscription, “ Erected by friends in loving memory of those who were drowned from the s.s. Progress in Island Bay on May 1, 1931.” When. the suggestion was made to Mr Walter Nash, M.P., at a meeting at Avonside on Sunday night that capitalism had failed, Mr Nash replied that the present form of capitalism was on the decline, but it had not failed. Capitalism, in its present form, had made some great contributions to the world, he said, but the trouble to-day was that it did not make a fair distribution of profits. What had to be achieved was some form of co-operative system in which all would share.

A large -wooden box, said to contain a savings bank book and other contents, to the value of over £2OO, was the subject of an action in Auckland last week. The box was the property of a woman who died a few days after her marriage a year ago, and it was claimed by the husband from a woman friend, to whom it was entrusted by the owner shortly before her marriage. The plaintiff was Benjamin Herzog, administrator in the estate of EmilyHerzog, and the defendant Mrs Sarah Billings. It was claimed that the plaintiff, on May 20, married Emily Carbines, a widow, who died on June 5 following. Prior to her marriage, Mrs Carbines entrusted the box, with securities and cash valued at £215, to Mrs Billings for safe keeping while she was in hospital, to be re-delivered to her. The defendant had retained possession of the box, and the plaintiff asked either for its return or the payment of £215, in eluding £2OO shown in the savings bank book. The defence was that the box was a gift made in contemplation of death. The plaintiff denied that there was difficulty in getting a parson to marry them while the wife was sitting up in bed in hospital. Before her marriage to him, his wife was known as Madame Duke, a t fortune-teller. The plaintiff (a wine salesman) admitted that he now sometimes went by the name of Duke. The case was adjourned. An address 'on the political situation was given by Mr J. G. Coates (Leader of the Opposition) at Waipu last week. Mr Coates said he was definitely opposed to the offer of fusion with the United Party, and the Government must either fall or resign if unable to give effect to its policy. The Reform Party had a history of 40 years, with a record of which no one need be ashamed, and the proposal of fusion did not appeal to the rank and file of the Reform Party. In reference to the 10 per cent, reduction in wages, Mr Coates said he thought that married men unable to meet the curtailment should not suffer. The Labour Party was diametrically, opposed to Reform, and the Labour Party’s promises were not possible of fulfilment. The Country Party was evidently an off-shoot of the Auckland Farmers’ Union. In continuing, Mr Coates said the Government should place thousands of unemployed, preferably single men, on undeveloped land, in preference to the present relief asking the people not to become pessimistic, Mr Coates assured them of his belief that the country would come through with flying colours. The serious position of the Teachers’ Superannuation Fund was referred to by Mr F. A. Garry, a member of the Teachers’ Superannuation Board, at a meeting of Auckland members of the New Zealand Federation of Teachers on Friday evening. It was known, he said, that the state of the fund had been growing worse within recent years, but members of the board refrained from making the position public. At the last meeting, however, an alarming statement was submitted by the secretary. For the first time in the history of the fund the capital had been eaten into to meet commitments. “The state of the fund is going from bad to worse,” he said. “If the present position continues, in 15 years, when the peak of the payments is reached, there will be no more capital, and the fund will practically cease to exist.” It was decided to set up a committee to investigate the position of the fund and report to a later meeting. A debating team is at present on its way to New Zealand to hold contests against Otago University, and Auckland, Victoria, and Canterbury University Colleges. It is a team representing the Oregon University of the United States of America and will probably consist of three members. The actual personnel of the team will not be known, however, until it arrives in New Zealand. All the arrangements are in the hands of the National Union of Students’ Standing Committee for debating, at Wellington. Another projected tour was from a team representing the Honolulu University, but nothing further has been heard from the authorities there.

“No one knows just what we have had to suffer at Karamea,” a victim o£ last year’s floods said a few days ago. “Neither public nor Government appear# to be aware of the extent of the damage, and while we are still hoping for relief we have to face the «fact that the authorities are more concerned with providing money for the earthquake-smitten areas. Pasture land at Karamea has been wiped out and much serious damage done to the farms along the river banks. Some of the settlers, including myself, have been trying to sell their stock, and we have not had one offer. My 40 head of dairy cattle are still there, and I have not much feed for the stock. It is 65 miles to Westport and over 100 to Nelson, and it is impossible to drive the stock over .the roads in the hope of selling an odd one or two. Nearby farmers are ail stocked up. We are hoping devoutly that the Government will realise our plight.”

An unusual accident occurred at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening at Ngaere, near Stratford, when a horse became maddened by a garden rake which got caught in its tail. The animal dashed along the main road, and a car proceeding to Stratford, driven by Mr F. Shaw, got off the road in time, escaping a collision by inches. Mr Austin Yarndley, manager of Messrs Newton King, Ltd., was following in a car, and seeing that a collision was inevitable, stopped his car. The horse dashed into the radiator, and landing on top of the sunshield, was thrown right over the ear, being killed instantly. Another car from the opposite direction at this moment just missed striking the dead horse. Mr Yarndfey’s car was damaged, but he and Mrs Yarndley and their son escaped injury.

Thirteen young people got into a lift meant for nine in Christchurch on Saturday night—and Saturday was the thirteenth day of the month, f'- The combination (says the Christchurch Times) was too much for the lift, which, when it reached the ground floor, went a foot or two further before stopping, and thirteen young people were locked in. The young folk had been holding a supper party in a restaurant on the top floor of the building and towards midnight they decided to go home. Six of them got into the lift to descend and—this was their only lucky move—refused admission to the seventh, who forthwith went down on foot' by the stairs. When the six got to the bottom, the bell rang’ from the top floor, so the six decided to have a joy ride up again. At the top there were seven other persons anxious to descend. As the six already in declined to get out, the seven who were out decided to ge in, and they did so, at * squeeze. It was then that the- lift entered its protest. It is one of those modern . affairs whose doors open only where they should open, and as, it came to rest a foot or two below the proper station, the doors refused to function. The 13 were clearly uncomfortable by reason of the lack of space, and now they began to get anxious. In the meantime the fourteenth member of the party was kicking 'his heels on the sidewalk, waiting for his companions, and as they came not he determined to investigate. He thus became the medium of their communication with the outside world. He could find no one on the premises competent to release the prisoners and therefore he had to seek help from outside. First he rang friends for advice; then he rang the Municipal Electricity Department. By this time Sunday, the fourteenth, had arrived, but even that did not break the spell, and it was an hour later before the arrival of someone who knew all about lifts gave the prisoners their release.

“There are many thansands of faithful, true, and honest men .who never go near a church; they are men who do not hate Christianity, but who have an intense dislike for ■ organised Christianity," said Archbishop Julius, preaching atSt. Barnabas Church, Fendalton, on Sunday morning. The lofty ideals contained in the Sermon on the Mount are very beautiful, but they cannot be carried out by men to-day. If we honestly tried to live up to them in their true 'sense we would be beggars in a month.” The Disciples, , said the archbishop, tried hard to attain to the example set for them by Christ, but they fell short. They got into dire straits, financially and otherwise, and what followed was a “dilution of a doctrine that was too fine and too high for them in its aims.” One would like to see the apparently impossible become possible for man. In the thirteenth" century St. Francis and his followers lived as nearly as possible to the ideals set by the Master, but as soon as organisation had to be carried out trouble came, “We all feel that the Church is not what she should be, but to see her at her best one must look at the mission work that is being done by her people,” said the archbishop. “In the mission field the workers are unhampered by the financial and other questions which it is the duty of the Church to undertake. . Organisation is that work which, though very necessary, has a tendeency to lower ideals. I confess that if there is any soul-destroying thing in the world it is a church committee, bat we must have it. In Russia the Church has been rooted out, but I am confident that it will spring up again. * To-day the world needs more of spirit and less of statecraft —a keener conception of the value of spiritual things contrasted with pure materialism." . The opinion that there will be a dissolution during the coming session of Parliament was expressed by Mr James O’Brien, M.P. (Westland), in the course of an address in the Town Hall at Greymouth on Saturday night. Mr O’Brien dealt with the Labour Party’s attitude in opposing wages reductions, and stated that there was not a working man in New Zealand who was not prepared to take his share of the country’s burden. The legislation recently passed had placed the bulk of that burden on the poorer paid people, whilst those better able to pay were not shouldering as much of the burden as they should. There was no equality of sacrifice whatsoever. Mr O’Brien also referred to the present stagnation in the timber industry and unemployment generally, and stated that no attempt had been made by the Government to help Dominion industries. Mr O’Brien stated that in his opinion there would be a dissolution of Parliament during the coming session. In the event of a motion of no confidence being made by the Reform Party, the Labour Party as a whole would support it. In answer to a question whether he would be in favour of a State lottery, such as was conducted in Ireland, Mr O’Brien replied that he thought there was too much betting in New Zealand, and he was not in favour of encouraging gambling. If the people wanted a lottery it would be better to carry it on openly and legalise it. He was not in favour of a State lottery for the hospitals.