English and Australian Mails

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21599, 21 March 1932, Page 6

English and Australian Mails

The steamer Wainui, which is due at Bluff to-day from Melbourne, is bringing 80 bags of mails from the United Kingdom and 14 bags of Australian mail for New Zealand. The Dunedin portion is expected to roach the local Post Office this evening. Nine Men Arrested

A carefully planned raid by the police on Saturday, carried out simultaneously in various parts of the city, resulted in nine men being arrested on charges of carrying on the business of»,bookm ailing. Some of the men were arrested in hotels and others in their business offices. At a brief sitting of the Police Court, held during the afternoon, before Messrs J. Wallace and V. Jacobs, Justices of the peace, they were each granted bail of £IOO in their own recognisance, and were remanded to appear in the Police Court this morning. Wireless Broadcasting

Radio station 3ZC (a Christchurch B class . broadcasting plant) has been acquired by the New Zealand banners Co-operative Association, This station will be operated from the association’s premises. Broadcast programmes similar to those put on the air by 3ZC will be continued, and it is also intended to put on the air market reports and other matters of interest to the farming community.

Otago Witness illustrations Morning mist on the hillside at Lake Manapouri and a pleasant view of Luggate, Central Otago, make two charming pictures in the illustrated section of the Otago Witness, to be published to-morrow. In honour of Anniversary Day, next Tuesday, a page showing Dunedin in the sixties, “when the 'city was in swaddling clothes,” has been prepared, and forms an interesting comparison with Dunedin as she is to-day. Efforts of to-day and milestones of the past in connection with the quest for gold offer a subject for another page, the fourth full page being in connection with the activities of the Twelfth Field Battery, N.ZA., in bivouac at Matarae, Central Otago. The other widely-illustrated subjects are “ First Battalion, Southland Regiment, in Camp at Invercargill,” “ Picking the Crop in One of the Largest Hop Gardens of Riwaka, Nelson,” “Winners at the Balclutha Caledonian Society’s. Annual Sports,” “ Crews for the Otago Interclub Eights Championship,” and “ Events at the New Zealand Athletic Championship Meeting at A-Uckland.” One-picture events such as “ Sidey Cup Day at the St. Clair Golf -Club,” “The Port Alma Leaving Dunedin Wharves Last Week,” “One and a-half Tons of Jam,” “Dunedin Boat Driven by Air Propeller,” and portraits including delegates to recent conferences complete the table of contents.

City Police Court Mr J. R. Bartholomew, 5.M.,, presided at a sitting of the City Police Court on Saturday. John William Forrester, charged with drunkenness, was fined 10s, in' default 24 hours’ imprisonment. George O’Fee, charged with failing to maintain his wife and children, was remanded until Monday. Post Office Economy

Economy is now the order of the day in all Government departments, and (says the Christchurch Times) when the district telegraph engineer and his staff shift into their new quarters in the new High street post office building, within the next couple of months, they will have to do the best they can with the old furniture. Usually, when a new Government building is occupied, a considerable amount of expense is entailed in the purchase of modern furniture and office equipment Nowadays, however, the Government cannot afford luxuries of this kind, and the order has gone forth that the best than can be done for the district telegraph engineer’s staff is the renovation of the old furniture that has done service for many years.

Collecting Native Birds That many penguins were being sent to Dunedin from the Nuggets lighthouse was reported at a meeting of the New Zealand Native Bird Protection Society in Wellington on Thursday. The secretary (Captain E. V. Sanderson) said that in response to inquiries it was learnt that the individual to whom the penguins were sent for research purposes had a permit to collect three specimens of the little blue penguin. The following resolution passed by the society is to be sent to the Department of Internal Affairs: “This executive considers that insufficient steps are taken to ensure that collectors do not take more than the number of birds stated; further, that all rangers should be notified when a permit to collect native birds is given and that a ranger should, if possible, accompany the collector at his expense, and finally, that all permits should be gazetted."’’

Young Bird Show The Dunedin Specialists’ Young Bird Club's annual show attracted a. good attendance to the Fuller and Victoria Halls on Saturday, the crowd in the evening being very large. The takings for the two days were, stated a member of the committee, “quite good.” The exhibition was very successful from every point of view, and everything ran smoothly from the opening to the close.

A Smaller Parliament “ That the Farmers’ Union seek the cooperation of all organisations throughout New Zealand to support the recommendation of the Economic Committee that the number of members of the House of Representatives be reduced ” was a remit brought forward at a meeting of the Wanganui executive of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union on Thursday and favoured by all members. It was considered by several speakers that the business of the country could be done more quickly and cheaply if the number of members in the House was reduced. It was alleged that a great number of memberp of Parliament would be unable, to earn £SOO a year in a business of their own. “ The fact that the Labour Party strongly opposed this suggestion when it was brought up in the House a year ago indicated that it was afraid of the idea,” Mr G. B. Moye said. “If the number of members can be_ reduced and the suggestion brought into effect, I think the depression will have been well worth while.”

Breaking of the Ice There arrived a while back at Otaua, near Waiuku. with a letter of introduction from a brother of an Otaua resident the winner of one of the world’s most novel sweeps. Mr J. Nixon, of Chatahika, Yukon, Alaska, related to an interested , ■ gathering at Otaua how he won 40,000 dollars by guessing the correct time of “ the breaking of the ice,’’ Every season the Yukon seethes with excitement as the time draws near when, perhaps, the most important happening of the year takes place—the ice breaks. Thousands flock tb the Yukon and make their entry into y the “sweep.” Rivalling the mechanism ./ by which “Wizard” Smith is - timing his speed records, the exact time in Which the ice breaks is obtained by controls of remarkable intricacy, an attachment by line to the ice recording on a dial to a second the time when the break occurs^ An alarm bell also automatically sounds. The time at which the notable event takes place -varies considerably, and it requires,, a keen observer to guess the exact moment. Mr Dixon, who related a wealth of intriguing anecdotes, has answered the call of the icefields again, and has left on his return voyage to the Yukon.

A Superb Mere , ' ' An exceptionally beautiful large greenstone mere and a finely-carved tiki, both extremely old, have been purchased by the Auckland War Memorial Museum Council. Mr H. E. Vaile, who makes a hobby of Maori curios, said the mere was, in his opinion, the finest in New Zealand, and there was probably not another like it in the world. The history of the two articles was not known, but the mere was said to have been in the possession of George Hempleman nearly a century, ago. Hempieman was one of those roving sailors who came out to New Zealand in the whaling days. He was a German, and lived at Akaroa, where he held sway as a pakeha-Maori of great mana, just in the same way as Judge Maning at Hokianga, but not quite on the same social scale.

Sturdy Independence 31 sturdy old settler of North Taranaki ■ban solved the cost of question. He had previously been farming, and, like many others, had come to grief when prices for produce fell so seriously. But he was not going into a town and pay high rent, etc. He preferred the country, so he arranged to rent a cottage frorn a farmer and work out the rent in grubbing gorse. From the tangle of fern, blackberry, and furze he made a kitchen garden and all the summer he lias had enough vegetables and to spare, and for the winter he has got in some good crops. It costs him 10s a week for flour, sugar, etc., and occasionally, he indulges in meat when hates are scarce. His outside earnings in February were £5, and out of it he was able to put away £3. It shows what can be done when a man of grit and independence is “ up against it.”

Best Form of Help > . “While I have, every sympathy with the humanitarian work done in connection with .the inmates of the prisons, I consider that it is wrong in principle to spend any portion of our funds in providing prisoners with cigarettes, etc.,” said Mr J, I. Goldsmith, J.P., at the annual meeting of the Honorary Justices’ Association in Wellington last week. "The finances of the society could be employed to much better purpose in assisting men _when they, arc finally discharged from an institution. The money now expended on inmates could be better used in paying the levies of exprisoners. According to the rules of the Unemployment' Board a man must be an inmate of an institution during the whole of the month in which any levy falls due. If a man should be committed on, say, the second of the first month in qny quarter, he is not entitled to exemption even though he may serve four complete weeks. It is to assist these men that I propose we should restrict our expenditure in the prisons themselves, and the money saved could be used as suggested."

Flax Research Reporting to the Massey Agricultural College Council last week on the work in the phormium research section, Dr Yeates stated that the season had been an excellent one while the growth of flax had been good. A start had been made with the culling of unsatisfactory varieties in the first area planted. Over 1000 hybrid seedlings had been set out, and were growing well, while artificial cross-pollination during the summer had resulted in about 20,000 hybrid seeds of the same per centage as these seedlings. “ A test of the yield of fibre of several of our strains has shown conclusively the superiority of our more favoured strains in this respect. Dr Yeates said. “ The variety of which over 1000 roots were purchased gave the best yield of fibre, but this variety is susceptible to the yellow leaf disease, and the hybrids mentioned above are between it and a disease resistant strain. Strength tests of fibre have shown especially good strength in two of our varieties, one of which gave a result which outclasses any other phormium tested.”

The Railways Department announces particulars of cheap fares and special train arrangements in connection with sports at Maheno, Waitati, and Waikouaiti, and also the Beaumont races and the A. and P. Show at Middlemarch. Attention is drawn to Parker's motorbody building advertisement on Motor Notes page These firms know where to eo for quality. Bodies of all descriptions, caravans, trailers, cars converted to sleepers, repairs, painting and trimming.—Advl The Austin Light Six. specially designed for the owner-driver. 1932 models at showrooms. —Austin Motors (Otago), Ltd., 284-6 Princes street.—Advt. Save your eyes. Be wise, and consult W. V. Sturmer (optician, 2 Octagon), thus conserving good vision for old age.— A 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. When you buy a watch, buy a Watch. Purchase from Peter Dick, jewellers, watchmakers, and opticians, 490 Moray place, Dunedin.—Advt.