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Otago Daily Times, Issue 22246, 26 April 1934, Page 8

Ascent of Mount Aspiring

1 Three weeks ago a party of alpinists consisting of Messrs Alastair Duthie, of Dunedin, Kurt Outer, late of the Franz Josef staff, and Mr Robert Finney; of England, left for the Matukituki Valley hoping that if the weather experienced during Easter held good for another week, they might succeed in climbing Mount Aspiring. Almost as soon as they reached the lakes district, however, conditions changed, and although the party had a month’s provisions it was generally considered by those who know the locality that the lateness of the season and the weather conditions would make the task impossible. A wireless message received later by Mr R. Ellis from Mr I. Aspinall advised the successful ascent of the mountain. The party was then camped at the Cascade hut. Rain was falling heavily, and the rivers were swollen, but if the weather cleared later, the party hoped to reach Dunedin in a few days, via the Ree s and Dart Valley, Glenorctiy, and Queenstown. In the event of rain continuing, they will return via the Shotover.

City Police Court In the City Police Court on Tuesday, before Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., Allan Muir Weir’ was fined 14s, in default 24 hours’ imprisonment, for drunkenness, John Mackie was charged with obtaining from James Gibson, at Peebles, on March 19, the sum of £2 5s by falsely representing that he had authority from Stanley Stewart Kelly to collect the money. Chief Detective Young, in asking for a remand for a week, said that there was another similar charge against the accused. The remand was granted. Street Speaking

When the General Committee’s report was under discussion at the meeting of the City Council on Tuesday evening, Cr M. Silverstone replied to a recommendation by the committee that the Communist Party should not be allowed to bold street meetings by asking what the council’s policy was with regard to street speaking. Mr J. L. M'lndoe said only religious bodies were granted the privilege, and in this the council was guided by police advice. The Mayor (the Rev. E. T. Cox) said the police had issued a definite instruction in this respect. Cr Silverstone said the public should know that the council actually had no powers in the matter. Personally, he would watch with keen interest in future to see whether only religious speakers were allowed to speak in public streets. Australian Railway Deficits

Since 1929 no railway system in Australia has reported a surplus except Queensland,'which reported a railway surplus of £57.000 in 19,"3. That surplus followed the writing-down of capital by £28.000,000. The deficits were:. New South Wales: 1932, £4.564,005; 1933, £3.300,482. Victoria, £970,351 and £095,790; South Australia, £910.030 and £088,072; Western Australia, £190,009 and £175.081; Tasmania, £209,546 and £250,140; CommomvcaKh, £084,159 and £447,611. In 1932 Queensland had a deficit of £20.730.

War on Stray Cats . A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that a war on stray cats is to bo declared in Wellington, not on ordinary cats, (ho pets of thousands of households, but on scores of wanton strays that roam the city, and foremost in the offensive will be the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “The cats need a elcan-np in this town,” declared the inspector of the society, Mr R. A. Nieol. “There are thousands of strays roaming the city.” Characterising diseased and stray animals-as a menace to the community, Sir Nieol declared that the society was going to prosecute all people who abandoned cats and dogs.

Burnside Stock Sals There were smaller entries in all sections at Burnside sale on Tuesday. The fat cattle offering totalled 222 head. Very few consignments of heavy bullocks were included, and for these there was good competition, up to £l2 12s 6d being obtained. This class appreciated in value fully 10a per head. Odd consignments of good quality heifers met good competition, but the yarding generally comprised plain cattle, and no material alteration in prices took place. Values were: Extra prime heavy bullocks to £l2 12s 6cl; prime heavy, £9 to £lO 12s Gd; medium, £7 5s to £8 12s Gd; light, down to £5 10s; extra prime heifers, to £7 12s Gd; extra prime cows, to £5 2s Cd. The fat sheep forward numbered 1700. There were a few trucks of good quality wethers and ewes. On account of butchers purchasing over-supplies at last week’s sale, lower rates of fully Is per head had to be accepted. For medium quality wethers the drop in value was even more pronounced; Freezing competition had the effect of keeping values firm for lightweight' ewes and wethers suitable for export. Values were: Extra prime heavy wethers, to 30s; prime heavy, 25s to 27s 9d; medium, 22s 6d to 24s 6d; extra prime heavy young ewes, to 23 s 3d; prime heavy, 17s to 19s Cd; medium, 15s to 16s 6d; light, down to 12s. There were 700 lambs penned, ami this included several trucks of outstanding quality. Butchers and exporters were operating keenly, and late rates were fully maintained. Value s were: Extra prime heavy butchers’ lambs, to 31s; prime heavy, 25s to 28s Gd; medium, 23s to 24s Cd; light, down to 20s Cd. There were 78 pigs forward in the fat pig section. This included only a small percentage of baconers, and thr.se realised up to 655. Porkers met a better market, values rising fully 3s per head, and this class sold to £2 ss. The 85 store pig's penned proved in excess of requirements, and sales were difficult to effect, even at reduced rates. There was a considerable falling off in the number of store cattle for Tuesday’s sale, and the smallest yarding for some time was penned, only 182 head being submitted to auction. Buyers were purchasing sparingly, and a line of well bred three and four-year-old steers sold from £4 17s Cd to £5 15s. Prices for graziers’ cows showed a distinct drop, while boning cows remained firm at late rates. The small entry in the dairy section comprised several cows close to profit. Any sorts showing quality attracted keen competition, the top price in this section being £8 2s Cd. Spring calvers and old cows were not wanted. Bread and Games Stressing the fact that at a certain critical period in Roman history the Caesar found it necessary to give the people bread and games, the Mayor (the Rev. E. T. Cox) at Tuesday night’s meeting of the City Council warned that body against any action that would deprive any section of the community of one of those great essentials. The Government by its action was depriving a large section of the community of bread, but the City Council should take heed lest it add to communal deprivation by robbing many people of sport. The comparison comprised one of the speaker’s arguments against the Reserves Committee’s proposal to increase the charges for playing fields from £5 to £7 10s per annum.

Akaroa Aground As the result of being struck by a strong southerly squall as she was abreast of the Mole at the harbour entrance yesterday morning, the Shaw, Savill liner Akaroa, bound from Port Chalmers to Wellington, went aground on the sand bottom and was not refloated until about two hours later. The vessel left the wharf at Port Chalmers about 8.30 a.m., and all went well until she was opposite the Mole about 9 o’clock. An unusually strong gust of wind then struck the ship, and swung her off the middle channel course on to a sandbank practically abreast of the sunken steamer Palooaa, which lies alongside the Mole. In order to regain her position in the channel it was necessary for the Akaroa to go astern, but she was unable to get clear, and a message was sent for the tug Dunedin to proceed to her assistance. The tug passed a line aboard about a quarter past 10, and with the aid of a flowing tide and the ship’s engines running astern the Akaroa was clear again about half past 11. She grounded only very lightly,’ and suffered no damage from the mishap.

Need for More Spending “Although I wpuld not suggest that it is desirable to have no thought for the morrow, I am inclined to think that in New Zealand the average man in the street is so concerned about the morrow that he is restricting his spending to an unnecessary degree/’ said Mr W. Reid, of Melbourne, chairman of directors of Gollin and Company Proprietary, Ltd., who is visiting Auckland in the course of a brief tour of the Dominion, and will leave shortly on his return to Australia. Compared with New Zealand, said Mr Reid, Australia had suffered a longer period of distressing conditions. Australians therefore were now accepting conditions as they were. They were not saving their money with the thought that things would be worse, but were spending in the full anticipation that they were going to be better. In the earlier stages everyone in Australia was intent on considering every penny that could be saved, and people,were going to the extremes of economy. These conditions were definitely past and the community was spending again. People realised that the only way of improving conditions was to spend.

New Judge’s Appreciation On the appointment recently of Mr A. Fair, K.C., to the Supreme Court Bench to succeed Mr Justice MacGregor, the Mayor of Westport, Mr J. Kilkenny, sent the new judge a telegram of congratulation. The Westport Times reports that the following letter has been received from his Honor in reply:—“l have to thank you very much for your kind telegram of congratulation forwarded on behalf of the citizens of Westport. I appreciate very deeply the high honour that the Government has done me by selecting me for this appointment, and it is pleasant to know that that appreciation is shared by the people of my native town. Of course, I was not born in Westport, but in Charleston (a mining settlement, near Westport). Still I spent many happy years of my boyhood in Westport, and my father spent most of the years of his life there. Although I have not been able to visit it in recent years, I entertain the warmest feeling towards it, hope to see it restored to prosperity, and wish it all good things for the future.”

Christchurch Milk Scheme A Hill to provide for the regulation of the milk supply of Christchurch by a council similar to that which operates in Auckland will be prepared immediately by the Christchurch Dairymen’s Association. The Bill (says a Press Association telegram) will be submitted to the City Council and other local bodies, and when an agreement is reached on its provisions will be submitted to the House of Representatives. This decision was made at a conference of the association held on Tuesday night.

A Question of Motives Grave doubts concerning the motives of the Otago Rugby Union in the prosecution of the cause of the game were expressed by Dr Borrie at the meeting of the City Council on Tuesday evening, when the matter of ground charges were under discussion. The speaker said the Rugby Union did not want 1000' players every week, but rather 60 performers, 30 in each match at Carisbrook, and a crowd of 100,000 spectators on the banks. The union was working for gates, and the grounds the council provided for it were assisting it to educate people up to a love of the game which would prove very lucrative to tlie union. He thought they should stick to the' principle that the user should pay. .

New Band Appears The Auzac Day parade yesterday marked the first public appearance of the new military band which has been formed by students of the Otago University. The band, which is attached to the University Medical Corps, was formed at the end of last year, and has since been practising regularly. The combination played a number of selections yesterday while the parade was on the march and acquitted itself with credit, not only from a musical point of view, but also by the smartness of its turn-out generally.

School Entrance Age At a well-attended meeting of householders at the Maori Hill School on Monday the following resolution was carried unanimously:—“ That although the raising of the school age from five years to six years was introduced as an economy measure, this meeting of householders of the Maori Hill School is strongly of the opinion that it is not in the best interests of the children nor of the school, and that the secretary be directed to communicate with the Department.of Education urging it to revert to the system of permitting the admission of five-year-old children to the schools. We also recommend that the School Committees’ Association be asked to take up the matter with the department.”

Remarkable Operations In the newspapers a little over a week ago reference Was made to an operation which was performed in Auckland for the removal of a piece of shrapnel which had lodged in a man’s hip as a result of a war injury 18 years ago. A more remarkable case (says the Evening Post) occurred in Wellington towards the end of last year. Mr F. L. Stewart, of Northland, received a head wound while serving ou the Somme in 1916, and aa a result of the injury 'he lost one of his eyes. Last year he consulted a wellknown Wellington doctor as he was suffering apparently from chronic nasal trouble. An X-ray examination revealed a piece of metal lodged in a nasal cavity on the inner side of the socket from which the eye had been taken out. The foreign body was removed by an operation through the jaw, and it proved to be a piece of a high explosive shell which, had been in Mr Stewart’s head, for 18 years.

The United Starr-Bowkett Building Society will this evening dispose of ;f2OOO.

Attention is directed to an advertisement in this issue notifying the commencement of the new Kiwi taxis, operating from up-to-date and central premises in Manse street. “ Expamet ” (Expanded Metal) —indispensable to builders, bricklayers, and plasterers’ earthquake . requirements.— Donald Stuart, Ltd., 82 Bond street, factory Representatives and all Builders’ Merchants.—Advt.

A. E J. Blakeley and W. E. Bagley, dentists, Bank of Australasia, corner ot Bonn and Rattray streets, next Telegraph Office) Telephone 12-359.—Advt. Save your eyes. Be wise, and consult W. V Sturmer, optician (2 Octagon), thus conserving good vision for old age.— Advt.