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Otago Daily Times, Issue 21837, 27 December 1932, Page 6

Australian Mail The MonoAvai left Sydney for Auckland on Friday Avith 11 bags of Australian mail and three parcel receptacles for Dunedin. The mail is due locally 10-morrOAV afternoon. Sister Liners to Meet Two 19,000-tou sister ships, the Monterey and Lurline, will be in port at Auckland together on February 14. The Monterey, Avhich is regularly engaged Avith the Mariposa in the Matson Company’s Pacific service, is clue from Sydney, on her Avay to San Francisco, and the Lurline, the last of the three Avhite sisters to be launched, is scheduled to arrive at Auckland on that date in the course of her combined maiden voyage and Pacific cruise. The Monterey will remain in port for only 12 hours, but the Lurline Avill make a stay of tAvo and a-half days. On the day following the departure of the Lurline the Cunard liner Carinthia, which has made tAvo visits to Auckland previously, Avill arrive in harbour. Like the Lurline, she Avill be in the course of a Pacific tourist cruise. After three days here she will go to Wellington, and thence on to Melbourne and Sydney.

Visit of H.M.S. Diomede The Mayor (Mr R. S. Black) haa received advice from Commodore C. BurgesWatson that the H.M.S, Diomede will visit Dunedin in March. The vessel will arrive on Tuesday, March 14, and will sail on Wednesday, March 22, Commodore Burges-Watson suggested that, as on former occasions, the usual formal calls should be sufficient, and that special entertainments should be reduced to a minimum. A Grass Fire A grass fire at Abbotsford claimed the attention of the Green Island Brigade shortly after 5 p.m. on Sunday. No damage was done.

Municipal Organ Recital The city organist (Dr Y. E. Galway) will give an organ recital in the Town Hall to-morrow night at 8 o’clock. Dr Galway has prepared a very interesting programme for this occasion, and visitors to the city will no doubt welcome an opportunity of hearing this magnificent organ. The principal item on the programme is Mendelssohn’s brilliant Sonata in F minor, other items being Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, Grieg’s popular Peer Gyut Suite, “A Safe Stronghold” (Faulkes), “At Evening” (Buck), and a Romance by Beethoven, the programme concluding with the overture to “The Merry Wives of Windsor” (Nicolai). The assisting vocalist will be Mr John T. Leech, who requires no introduction to Dunedin audiences. Mr Leech will sing “Where’er You Walk” (Handel), “Sacrament” (M'Dermott), and “Afton Water” and “Duna” (by M'Gill).

New Corporation Bus Members of the City Council were afforded an opportunity on Saturday morning of testing the new Leyland bus which is to be added to the City Corporation’s fleet. The chassis of this bus was purchased for £990, and the body was built at the Tramway Department’s workshops, the cost being in the vicinity of £6OO. Provision has been made for' the seating of 31 passengers. The interior fittings of the bus are such as have not been seen in Dunedin previously. The seats have been constructed of cane with moquettino covering and leather facings, and special attention has been paid to the comfort of the passengers, the springing of the seats being all that could be desired. This has been achieved in a measure by the introduction of a special stuffing consisting of horsehair dipped in liquid rubber, which gives a remarkable degree of spring. It is considered that the moquettino covering, which has double the intensity of ordinary moquette, and the cane frame of the seats will give additional length of wear, and meet all the requirements of daily service. The bus, it is understood, will be employed on special work, which will consist largely of observation tours in and around the city. Those who took part in the special trip on Saturday morning were Crs Wil son, MTndoe, Marlow, and Scott, Messrs W. H. Mackenzie (manager of the Tramways Department), W. D. Richards (engineer), and W. Logan (foreman of the carpenter’s shop). The route followed lay along George street, up Pitt street, and along the Drive. The bus then travelled to St. Clair, via Forbury road, and returned to the city, via Victoria and Anderson’s Bay roads. At the conclusion of the trip the members of the council expressed complete satisfaction with the performance of the vehicle and with its suitability for the purpose for which it was designed.

Songster Identified A report that a nightingale had been heard singing at Balmoral road, Mount Eden, in the locality between Dominion road and Pine street, was investigated a few nights ago by a number of interested people,, including Mr R. A. Falla, ornithologist at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. At the expected time and place —an acacia tree in the front garden of a house fronting Balmoral road—the bird burst into song. Mr Falla identified it as a white-eye, a small bird of greenish plumage which is fairly widely known also under the names of blight-bird or wax-eye. The strange part of it is (says the Auckland Star) that the white-eye has no reputation as a songster. Its plaintive cheep as it flits to and from trees and shrubs in gardens is well known. According to authorities not one in a thousand sings, and its song has only been recorded in very dry summers. But for the fact of identification by Mr Falla the Balmoral white-eye would certainly have been classified in the locality as a nightingale. Its notes sounded to the listeners like the trilling of a canary, and Mr Falla said it was the nearest approach that one could have to the song of the nightingale.

A New Lily Considerable interest has been aroused among Christchurch horticulturists in a new species of lily grown by Mr R. Christensen, gardener for Mr E. F. Stead, of “Ham.” The flower is a cross between Lilium regale and Lilium chalcedonicum, or “Turk’s Cap.” The seedling (says the Christchurch Times) is almost pure white, with a creamy-yellow throat, and its size is midway between that of the two parents. The chief interest centres in the fact that the flower is much more graceful than either parent and is considerably more slender. A bright future is predicted for the lily, which will be sent to England for the opinion of the Lily Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, where its salient features, including the lack of dark foliage, will be noted and reported upon.

Tour of English Schoolboys To make preliminary arrangements for the tour of New Zealand by a party of about 30 English public schoolboys Captain A. J. Wilson, formerly of the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, arrived at Auckland by the Rangitata last week. The party will arrive at Auckland by the Rotorua on February 8 and will take part in the tenth Empire tour arranged by the Public School Empire Tour Committee. “The boys will come from most of the famous English schools, such as Eton, Harrow, Charterhouse, and Marlborough,” Captain Wilson said. “The object, of course, is educational, and the tour is really regarded as a first-class * finishing school.’ Some of the boys may decide to make their homes in New Zealand; others may enter public life in England; but all will have a knowledge of Imperial conditions which will be of inestimable value to them in after life.” The West Kent Regiment, to .which Captain Wilson was attached, is allied with the Canterbury Regiment in New Zealand, and Captain Wilson is conveying to the Canterbury Regiment a letter of greetings from the colonel commanding the West Kents, together with a photograph of the officers.

Town and Country Interests In conversation with a representative of the Southland Times the Postmastergeneral (Mr A. Hamilton) said he expected to sec an interesting session when Parliament met towards the end of January. One of the most difficult things in political life to-day was to prevent a spilt between country and town interests. He had always held that the safest form of political life was a healthy mixture of town and country interests, and it was to be hoped that each would see that the other was entitled to a similar reward for labour and capital as himself. “It is difficult to forecast what the coming year has in store for us unless a speedy adjustment is made in the value of money to allow debtors a reasonable chance of paying debts,” he added. “This problem today is exercising the minds of responsible people in almost every country of the world. In the meantime, however, though our economic system has got out of gear. Nature in New Zealand, and especially in Southland, is giving of her best.^

Palmerston North Bankruptcies The bankruptcies recorded in the large Palmerston North district, which extends from Levin to beyond Feilding, numbered 30 this year, being fewer (says a. Press Association telegram) than for any year since 1926 except 1929, when they were only one fewer.'

City Police Court At the City Police Court on Saturday a first offender, charged with drunkenness, appeared before Messrs T. D. B. Paterson, J.P., and A. D. Sutherland, J.P., and was convicted and discharged conditional on his paying 10s, the value of a -window broken by him at the South Dunedin Police Station.

Survival of the Huia “It is believed that huias still exist in this back country of the Kaimanawa Ranges,” said Mr A. J. Banks, of Wanganui, recently, on his return from a fortnight’s hunting and exploring trip in the ranges. “I spoke to men who have lived most of their lives up there and they are fairly firm in that belief. It is thought that the birds breed on the southeastern side of the Hauringi at. Black Hill, right back on the Ruahines on the southern side of the Taihape-Napier road. The bush there is almost impassable. One of the station hands at Ngamatea who has spent over 30 years in that part of the country, told me that they used to get huias in the back of the Kaimanawae about 25 years ago, and that he has heard them recently in the block of bush south of the Taihape-Napier road. The only practicable access to this country is through the Mangaoehane Station owned by Mr Bernard Chambers.”

Nurses Dismissed On the recommendation of the Central Committee, which had conducted a full inquiry, the Wairarapa Hospital Board decided on Friday morning to dismiss immediately two senior nurses who were absent from the hospital without leave after II p.m., and to reprimand a junior nurse who was with them. The board also decided to advise the solicitors for a fourth nurse who had been concerned in the matter, but had resigned voluntarily, that it could not accede to a request for a testimonial for her. The committee stated in its report that it viewed the matter seriously, as the action of these nurses was prejudicial to the discipline of the institution. The committee also reported that at its last meeting it had agreed that “glass frames be placed over the bolts in the fire doors at the Nurses’ Home, Masterton.”

As the result, of an error in the. published report of the university degree examination results on December ' 23, the name of A. L. Cannon, in education I, second 8.A., was wrongly given as A. L„ Hannon. The Railways Department announces particulars of the, train service to Wingatui in connection with the Dunedin Jockey Club’s races to-day. The Railways Department advertises particulars of train arrangements in connection with races at Wyndham on January 2. Your repairs will be quickly done by really good mechanics at Austin Motors (Otago), Ltd., 284/6 Princes street.. Phone 13-215.—Advt, ■ Save your eyes. Be wise, and consult W. V. Stumer, optician (2 Octagon), thus conserving good vhiion for old age.— , Advt. Give something Electrical this Christmas. —Barth Electrical Supplies, Ltd., 56 Princes street, Dunedin.—Advt. A. E. J. Blakeley and W. E. Bagley, dentists, Bank of Australasia, cornet of Bond and Rattray streets (next Telegraph Office). Telephone 12-359.—Advt. Buy that Christmas Gift you require from Peter Dick, jewellers .and opticians, 490 Moray place. Dunedin.—Advt.