City Licensing Committee

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22204, 6 March 1934, Page 8

City Licensing Committee

As there was no business to transact, the quarterly meeting of the City Licensing Committee was not held yesterday.

Infectious Diseases

There were no cases of infectious diseases at the Dunedin Public Hospital during the' week ended at noon yesterday. One. scarlet fever patient was discharged from the Logan Park Hospital during the week, leaving four still in the institution.

Assessment Court Business At the annual sitting of the Assessment Court for the City of Dunedin* which was presided over by Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., yesterday, there were 23 objectors. Of these 13 objections were withdrawn and seven were struck out, while two assessments were sustained and one was reduced.

Story of a Pet Thrush An unusual story of a pet thrush with a nice taste in-drinks was told to a Daily Times reporter, yesterday by his owner, Miss Winifred Gilmour, a resident of .Musselburgh. It was about a year and nine months ago that Leckie, the thrush, opened his eyes, and he made a very bad start in life since one of the first things he saw was a white rat —a white rat, moreover, for which he was intended by a small boy to form a meal. Fortunately, Leckie was rescued from that fate, and was installed in a cage, where, on a diet of egg and, biscuit, washed down with ginger beer (his favourite drink), he soon became a firm favourite by reason of the unusual beauty of his song, which in time came to be compared with that of the nightingale. Visitors came from far and near to hear this extraordinary thrush, which never failed to sing when a per formance was desired; indeed,, measures had sometimes to be taken to-silence him as late as 10.30 at night, and before long he, had built up a , reputation that extended well beyond the borders of the locality in which he lived. One day, however, when several friends had called to listen to Leckie’s song he was nowhere to be found, and at nightfall his cage was still empty. When some days had passed without a sign of him, it was thought that he had flown away for ever, and with the passing of several months he was almost forgotten; but one day, six months after his disappearance, Leckie returned. He immediately went to the room where he had been kept, sought out his own cage, and, having satisfied himself that everything there was all right, made a rapid survey of all Kis favourite spots in the room. Leckie has not wandered since that time. His song is as sweet as ever, and he still thoroughly enjoys a drink of ginger beer.

Monowai’* Fast Trip By ' margin- the Union Company’s intercolonial steamer Monowai failed to break the Sydney-Wellingtbu record on her last-.trip, which finished at Wellington yesterday. The Monowai completed the journey from wharf to wharf (says a. Press Association telegram) in 68 hours 43 minutes, and from heads to heads in 66 hours three minutes. Her best time was established on March 6, 1633, when she made the crossing from heads to heads in- 63 hours 10 minutes. Her average speed on the whole of the present journey was 10 knots, the speed through Cook Strait being 19.8 knots. On her record trip her average speed was 19.5 knots. -

New Railway Engines : The commission of 30 of the new K class locomotives for various sections of the railways in the North Island has freed a number of class A “Pacific.” engines for heavy duty service in the Christchurch area (says the Press), and these will be used to replace older types of locomotives, which are to be scrapped. The A class engines will be a very useful addition to the locomotives in the Christchurch area. They are similar in appearance to the well-known AB engines, except that they hate a flat-topped tender instead of the distinctive Vandernilt cylindrical tender. They were used to draw expresses in the Christchurch area as early as 1916, but except for some in the Invercargill district there have been few in operation in the South Island for some time. The new contingent was taken by steamer to Dunedin for unloading. Among the engines to be scrapped in Christchurch are several of the Baldwin UB type, which first came into service, in 1898, and one each of the Brockets and Richmond ÜB’s.

Customs Examinations A request that the disembarkation of passengers arriving by intercolonial vessels, should be expedited by some modification of the system, of .Customs and immigration scrutiny was contained in a letter which was approved at a recent meeting of the council of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce for despatch to the Minister of Customs. The letter said that the Minister was no doubt aware that the medical authorities had agreed to modify their inspection of passengers arriving by intercolonial vessels to expedite disembarkation. This development had been highly appreciated by numbers of citizens, and the chamber now requested some modification of the Customs scrutiny to improve the position still further. “We realise the necessity for maintaining a proper check,” the letter concluded, “particularly as regards aliens, but we fee! quite sure your department • will be able to devise, 'some scheme, say, of inspection by the ship’s officers prior to arrival, and the distribution of clearance cards to British subjects travelling on intercolonial vessels, so that these need not lie delayed in. going ashore because a few aliens or others might necessitate a more close scrutiny and inspection,” the letter concluded. Voices of the Past

A great voice from out the Victorian past is soon to speak to the world again. The voice of Gladstone has been found tueked away in ah old mahogany box on a dusty shelf at the London offices of the Edison Bell Company. On one of a dozen old wax cylinder records, 50 years old and labelled in faded yellow ink, is recorded a message addressed to Liberals in America in the usual impressive and dignified manner by the famous English statesman. The old mahogany box has yielded up other treasures. Florence Nightingale, H. M. Stanley,' Disraeli, Tennyson, and Robert Browning also succumbed to the fascination of the then new-fangled - talking machine. Their voices also are on the shelf, mingled with the dust of years. Disraeli, unfortunately, cannot be reproduced. He is silenced for ever. But Florence Nightingale will speak again of her war experiences in the Crimea.

Lottery Prize-winner* A'dvice has been received in Auckland (sayg a Press Association telegram) that New' Zealand subscribers won the first, third, and ninth prizes in the £12,000 consultation drawn at Hobart yesterday. The winner of the £12,000 prize was the “Lucky Triers*' Syndicate, care J. 11., Albert street, Auckland. The third prize of £1250 was won by “ (Soon Can/’ care of “Mrs M.,” Hillsboro terrace, Hamilton. The winner of the ninth prize of £250 was “ Lucky Syndicate,” care of “A. L. 8.,” Haven road. Nelson.

An Odd Nickname Few seamen are troubled with 100 strong a sense of the importance of persons, and exalted rank, outside the profession of the sea, means little to them, according to a story told by Sir Hubert Wilkins, the explorer, at the St. James Theatre, Christchurch, on Saturday night. He explained that on one voyage a member of the Crew was a genial Liverpool Irishman who had a habit of calling all and sundry by their Christian names. Sir Hubert did not mind, but the Irishman carried it too far and addressed an .archbishop who was among the passengers by his Christian name. On being remonstrated with, the sailor, nothing abashed, used the easy and friendly nickname of “Archie”!

Cow’s Dying Attack Mr Joseph' Orr, farmer, of Wardville, and a well-known Cordon cricketer, had a narrow escape from serious injury at the Matamata saleyards last week He was heading some cattle, and was near a high barbed-wire fence alongside a water trough when a . warning cry caused ,Him to look round. A charging cow was almost on top of him. The fence at tins point is nearly six feet high. Mr Orr had placed one foot on the ■ fence when the animal caught him and lifted him over the wires. He escaped with a wound in one leg caused by a horn and severe bruises and a badly-damaged . suit of clothes. Having deposited Mr Orr over the fence, the maddened cow tried to get at him, through the fence. Shortly afterwards it lay clown and died. It is thought that it was;poisoned, and that pain caused its sudden attack.

English Hospital, System ' , Changes tha.t had taken place in English hospitals in the last seven years were mentioned to a 1 representative of the T.imaru Herald by Dr J, Campbell M'Keniie, medical superintendent of Timaru Hospital, who has, returned from a visit' to the Homeland. , Dr M'Kenzie said that the. old poor law system had now. been jettisoned; and all the great hospitals had .passed into the control of county councils and municipal bodies. London to-day now had a number -of up-to-date municipal hospitals./ Side by side was the voluntary hospital system developed to cater for the totally indigent, and this voluntary system , retained its pre-eminent place in medical research and training, and commanded;, the Confidence of the public more than, any other system.. It spoke voluriies for' the .generosity of the more wealthy Britisher that during the slump the voluntary hospitals had been able to continue theirwark, and that a surprising number of them had added to buildingsandequipment, wen during ' the worat phases Of • the deprev sion.' The provision of paying wards In the voluntary hospitals had been a successful move, and any . new buildings now planned included . this provision a« a matter of course.' "It would appear,".he said, “ that the problem of hospital treatment .for the middle classes is neater eolation in Britain than in most countries." Aerial Survey After making an aerial survey to investigate. the* possibilities of constructing a touript road tor connect the acejnic sorts of South Westland and: Central Otago and Southland, Messrs Johir Ufood and T. B. Ball; engineers of 'the Public Works Department. returned to Christchurch on Saturday afternoon.. They were flown over South Westland by Mr J, Q. Mercer, and Mr A. Lester, who piloted Canterbury Aero Club machines. It is understood that a report on the observations of the engineers will he made to the Minister of Employment (Mr A. Hamilton). -

Tariff Commission’* Report - "It looks a* if it had been, so Ion? delayed as to make it impossible for the Government to base any legislation on it, and I think that is the general impression,” said the leader of the Opposition (Mr Mi J. Savage),, who arrived in Christchurch on * Sunday, when asked whether he thought the delay in the furnishing of the Tariff Commission's report was indicative of. Parliament not resuming until June.. "It \ooka as though the commission’s report is. to be, the excuse for not calling Parliament together sooner than June.” he continued. " I could never understand ■ why- Parliament was not called together before June, as there is no reasonable excuse for hot starting earlier; The excuse has been made that the departmental reports are not available, but the financial year , closes on March Stand'there seems to be ample time fo prepare the Budget.” }. .

The Wellington Waterfront Yesterday’s berthage list, at Wellington shows easily the greatest tonnage of ships in port this year. Yesterday morning (reports our special correspondent) there were at the. wharves no fewer than nine overseas ships, including two large tankers. The two light cruisers Diomede and Dnnedin were also in port, and besides these the berthage list showed no fewer than 21 other vessels. The. total tonnage of ships in port was 107,734. There should be increased activity on the waterfront for some time to come, as several vessels are . expected within the next week.