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Otago Daily Times, Issue 21650, 21 May 1932, Page 10

Consumption of Gas 1 The gas engineer's summary of the carbonising returns obtained at tlie works for April indicate a decrease in the gas sent out of 643,000 cubic feet, compared with the corresponding month last year. The Tramways The tramway manager’s statement of the traffic returns for the last fortnightly period indicate a decrease in the revenue of £320, compared with the corresponding period of last year. The total decrease since the commencement of the financial year amounts to £469- '

——————— _ i > Public Library During April no fewer than 18,262 persons visited the newspaper and magazine rooms of the Public Library, while't36s9 persons used the reference library.' The number of adult tickets issued for the lending library is 8408, and of juvenile tickets 1247. • The number of books issued for home reading waS 30,060. , , _ Commemorative Plate Authority has ■ been' granted to the Early Settlers’ Association to set in the footway in Water street a plate to mark the spot where the pioneer settlers of the province landed in 1848. This plate, which is 31 inches in length by 21 inches in width, is made of the same material as is used for drain cover plates. The inscription on the plate will read: —“On this spot the pioneer settlers landed from a boat off the John Wickliffe on the 23rd day of March, 1848, to found this city and province.” , A Hedge Fire The City Fire Brigade received a., call at 11.11 a.m. yesterday to 13 Gamma street, .Roslyn, where it extinguished a hedge fire before much damage was done. Hill Residence Robbed - Early on Thursday evening the residence of Mr F. A. King, Lynn street, Maori Hill, was entered during the absence of the owner, £2l in notes, and about 10s in silver being stolen from.; a cash box in one of the bedrooms. Mr King went, out I to a neighbour’s house for tea; about 6 I o’clock, leaving all doors and windows securely, fastened. On his. return, .about two hours later, he found that a pane of glass in the backdoor’ had been broken so that the key could be turned,‘further investigation revealing that the rooms had been searched and the cash.box forced and rifled. Stamp Collection In connection with an effort which is .now being made to form a complete collection of the stamps of the Dominion and its dependencies for the M c Nab Library, application was made to the Postmaster-general (Mr A,- Hamilton) recently for his assistance in completing the set. The application ’ was readily granted, Mr Hamilton having forwarded a very handsome donation of stamps, which includes early Queen Victoria, King Edward, ’and King George stamps, together -with- a very fine collection of,, old and new issues of Samoa, Cook and other Pacific Islands. A letter has been' sent to the Postmaster-general by the Library Committee conveying thanks for his very valuable assistance; Assistance in the matter of completing the set of . stamps is also being given by the Dunedin Philatelic Society. ' Flock House Scheme Four further applications- for training at the Flock House Station have been approved by the local committee, making a total of six applications,'dealt with in Dunedin. Sir James Allen, who has been appointed to the committee,' has offered to finance one trainee, and the, committee has under consideration a proposal to make an appeal for funds to ‘pay for the training of youths who desire to undertake the course, but whose parents are not able to pay. ■ Mr M.' A. .Kinney (Hyde) has been appointed to • represent the Provincial Council of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union on the committee,, and Mrs J. F. Drake (Berwick), president of the Women’s Division, Farmers’ Union, has also been added to.the body. Anderson’s Bay Tram K ~ . /

The Tramways Committee of the City Council has given consideration to a request from a resident of Anderson’s Bay that the time is opportune to; extend the tram service to the cemetery;, The suggestion was also made that the , present terminufe- should be moved to another location. The writer has been advised that the suggestions have been noted,' and that it is. not possible in existing conditions to consider proposals for any extensions to the system which would involve the'expenditure of fresh capital. New Post Office. Site As a result of an inspection made by the town clerk and the‘city'engineer, in conjunction with the district 1 engineer, Public Works Department, of- the streets surrounding the new Post Office site,’ the following proposals have been agreed to: In • Liverpool and Water streets the hoardings are to. remain in their present positions. In Bond street the existing convenience at Water street corner is to be removed and the hoarding to be set back to the outside of the basement, light foundations to provide about a sixfoot footway along the frqntage. < The Princes street hoarding is to remain in the present position. The hoardings are to be all put in good repair,, closely cramped up, straightened :i where required, and finished flush on top. Reinstatements of .the .footways, kerbs, and channels are to be’ carried out by - the council in all four streets at a total estimated cost of £212 10s,. to which amount the Public Works Department has been asked to contribute. Nelson and Marlborough Railways It is rumoured in Blenheim, (the Marlborough Express states) that, despite the Railways Board’s efforts to. improve the financial position of the Nelson section, it continues to'go from bad to worse, and that there is every likelihood of the line being closed down in the immediate future. On the other hand, the economies and reorganisation effected on the Picton section are said to have had the effect of so improving the financial outlook that the line is more or less paying its way, and it is understood that the officials in Wellington are well satisfied, so far, with the improvement, which is believed to indicate that a little more reorganisation and development of the services would result in the section more than balancing its budget. , i ■ Deer Stalking in South Westland Mr Colin D. Smith, of Juca-Juca, Morwee, New South Wales, and Mr Keith Richards, of Rotorua, with Vick Keen as guide, have had a very successful stalking trip in South Westland. Seven of the- best heads were brought back, although more were secured. The best was a 15-pointer. Mr Smith, who has shot and travelled in most parts of the world, considers Westland, in places, very like the Canadian Rockies, and, as for scenic beauties, those of West : laud are among the finest in the world. Methods of Communism Addressing members of the Legacy Club in Sydney recently, Sir Robert Garran, ex-Solicitor-general for the Commonwealth, uncompromisingly denounced the activities of those elements in the community which advocated a dictatorship of the proletariat. “Of Communism in the abstract,” he said, “I bays. nothing to say except that Communism in itself, as a theory of government for an Weal humanity, is just as respectable as any other Utopian ideal. It merely denotes, the collective ownership of all property by the community. If the Communist Party proposed to persuade the electors of the merits of this theory, and to establish it by constitutional. means, we could have no quarrel with them. But their programme is very different. They do not propose to begin by converting_us to Communism. They tell their followers that the road to Communism lies. through revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Dictatorship of the Proletariat, in plain English, is nothing more nor jess than, the Red Terror. - It is to be prepared for by the secret-or open stirring up of industrial strife at every opportunity; it is to be established by armed revolution; and it is to' be maintained by the; butchery of all who, ■ have strength and courage to resist, and by the cowing of the rest into abject submission. The proletariat—the revolutionary mob— : are to ‘ dictate ’ at their own sweet and arbitrary will, with'rifle, knife, and halter; and the ‘bourgeoisie’ —everyone else—are to bleed, or swine, or cower-”

Severs Disciplinary Action The character ’ and tone of recent articles and correspondence in The Critic, a publication edited and published at the University by students, have recently given rise to deep concern among members of the University Council and -the Professorial Board. Attacks have been made on the administration of the University, and also upon the staff, with particular reference to recent decisions of the Council in respect of the Capping Carnival, and at its last meeting the council took official notice of certain issues of the paper. After the matter had been discussed in committee at considerable length, it 'was decided that a special meeting should be held. Thi# took place yesterday afternoon, when the question of what action should be taken was further discussed. At the conclusion of the meeting, from which press representatives were excluded, it was announced by the registrar '(Mr H. Chapman) that he had been authorised to report merely that severe disciplinary action had been taken by the council with regard to certain recent issues of The Critic. The World of Thought * At a meeting of the Dunedin Philosophical Club last evening Mr J. C. Begg related some of his experiences in Great Britain and America during a recent

visit. At the British Association and other geatherings he had seen and heard many notable men who had left their mark upon'the world of thought. Among these were Sir James Jeans, Sir Arthur Eddington' Sir Oliver Lodge, General Smuts, Dean Inge, and others, including foreign thinkers. Modern physical theory was becoming so abstruce that the very nature of truth was becoming' a matter of wide discussion and ' interest, the repercussions on philosophical thought * being enormous. New physics had passed , beyond the conception of determinism and universal causation. This had revived the ancient problem of man’s freedom, although, in Mr Begg’s opinion, the relation between the two things had been exaggerated. Freedom of choice was a simple fact, superior to theory. Speaking of America, he expressed the opinion that, in, dominant feeling, while Great Britain might be said to integrate itself with the past, America tended to integ- , rate with the future* as envisaged in the national outlook. Fundamentalism was doubtless a sectional reaction. A Taranaki Farm Deal Farmers can still laugh. Any doubt regarding this was removed at the annual conference of the South Taranaki Provincial Executive of the Farmers' Union when the secretary (Mr E. h Cameron) was reviewing the work of the year. He mentioned the visit of the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, to a certain /South Taranaki farm., “ Since then,”'he said, “it has been sold, we are told, for £B2 an acre! " A voice asked ' plaintively if the union could get the Governor-General to pay another visit, but when the laughter had abated (states the Taranaki Daily News), the secretary shook his head and said he feared his Excellency . would be inundated with otters to visit farms. V . Tax Anomalies The Executive Coriamittee-of the New • Zealand- Society of Accountants, at a recent meeting, decided to communicate with the Minister of Employment, pointing out what appears to be an anomaly in the legislation covering the payment . of unemployment tax and by the anomaly imposing a serious' hardship on professional men. Whereas the person in receipt of salary or wages pays unemployment tax on the amount he actually receives, the professional man is required to render a return and pay tax on a past year. In most cases the income during the 1931 year was much in excess of the income which will be earned in the present year, and it was felt that professional men ■ and others were suffer■H big a hardship by ’having to pay tax on a basis of income darned in a prior, year. The 1 society has already pointed out to, the Minister of Employment that a person in business on his own. account tip to March 31, 1931, and thereafter in employment is called upon to pay tax , both on the income to March 31, 1931, and on the salary or wages which he was in receipt of as from August 1, 1931, Tendering for Public Works Strong support was given' by the Mastertori Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday to representations by the Associated Chambers urging that public works should be carried out in‘ this country by private contract under fair conditions, and that the Public Works Department should be made a merely 'supervisory body. Several circulars from the Associated Chambers were read, pointing out, amongst other things, that in the aggregate the actual cost of works carried qut by the Public Works Department had exceeded by millions its own estimates. It was emphasised also that competition by private contractors had largely been excluded by the imposition of Harsh . and unfair conditions — i amongst others, that the department accepted no responsibility for the accuracy .of its own schedules, plans, and specifications. On the motion of Mr E. M. Hodder, it was agreed to support strongly the representations of the Associated Chambers, and to urge that all public works in this country should be carried out by private contract in fair conditions. Orchard Frost* A warning against any use of a scheme for combating frosts in orchards by pumping warm air from above and blowing it out amongst the trees, has been received by the Canterbury Fruitgrowers’ Association from Dr E. Kidson, director of the Meteorological Office, Dr Kidson stated that he had seen through a press cutting that machines for pumping the air were being advocated in Canterbury. Many such schemes had been exploited in California and had resulted in substantial losses to fruitgrowers. The natural tendency was for the warm air pumped down to ascend again rapidly with comparaV tively little mixing with the cold air on the ground. To spread the warm air anv distance over ( the ground required a strong draught from the fan, and this had been sufficient in the case of some of the machines to damhge the nearby trees. Each machine could affect only a small area The initial cost and the maintenance of the machines was likely to be great. " The American authorities have repeatedly issued warnings against such schemes,” concludes the letter, “and before they are adopted in Canterbury it would be well for growers to get independent expert advice.” Monopoly or Competition; When delivering a reserved judgment in Palmerston North on Tuesday as chairman of the Transport Appeal Board, Mr Justice Frazer remarked on what he termed “ uni economic, unrestricted, wasteful competition.” His Honor said experience would reveal that unrestricted competition might be a dangerous matter, as was shown by the experience of several American cities in which the tramcars, motor omnibuses, and taxis almost bankrupted themselves in competition. Mr Frazer was prompted to make these remarks by counsel for ati appellant stating that monopoly was dangerous. In his opinion, said his Honor, there were some services that could be carried on best under a monoply. The Transport Act was not for the purpose of wiping out competition altogether, and a monopoly created when it was felt that there was not room for two services on the same route. A monopoly was then given in the interests of public services; but the services were severely controlled by means of the time table and fares, while a periodical inspection of the vehicles used was made.

A Generous Sportsman At the meeting of the Temuka Borough Council on Wednesday night a letter was read from Mr E. E. D. Clarke, the wellknown Victorian sportsman, inviting the council to sell his hut property at Milford Lagoon and devote the proceeds to charity. For some 20 years Mr Clarke was a regular visitor to the fishing localities of the Dominion, and always included Temuka in his itinerary. During the past two seasons, however, he has not paid Temuka a visit, and as 'his health has been indifferent, it is surmised this is the reason of his decision to present his property to charity. It may be recalled that when the three-year-old Trivalve won the Melbourne Cup of 1927 Mr Clarke was on a visit to the Dominion. The Railways Department advertises in this issue particulars of the issue of excursion fares in connection with “ Come to Dunedin ’’ Week. A. Frank Anderson, dental surgeon, Princes street, Dunedin, will visit Waipiata Thursday, May 26; Ranfurly and Patearoa, Friday, May 27. —Advt. Four Austin car or any make of car tuned and repaired.—Austin Motors (Otago) Ltd., 284-6 Princes street, and Hope street. —Advt. Messrs Sundstrura and Thompson, dentists, Dunedin, will visit Waipiata and Ranfurly Monday, May 30, 1932; Naseby. Tuesday, May 31, 1932.—Advt. Save your eyes. Be wise, and consult W. V. Stumer (optician, 2 Octagon), thus conserving good .vision for old age.— Advt. Heat by Wire: We have Radiators at all prices.—Barth Electrical Supplies, Ltd., 36 Princes street, Dunedin.—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.