Australian Mails

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22505, 25 February 1935, Page 8

Australian Mails

The Marama, which is due at Wellington to-day from Sydney, is bringing 30 bags of Australian mail and eight parcel receptacles for Dunedin. The mail is expected to reach the local Post Office to-morrow afternoon. *' West Coast Floods A Press Association message from Greymouth last night states that the flood damage in the Arahura Valley is more severe than was at first reported. Several farms are covered deeply with silt and little pasture will be available till next season. At Hokitika the water supply is not yet restored. Giant Sunflower* Much interest has been aroused in the abnormal growth of sunflowers this summer and the height to which some of these plants have grown. One slightly over 10 feet in height, with foliage unusually thick and large, was grown by Mr G. A. Martin, formerly of Oamaru and now of Timaru. It has not so many blooms as those reported in the Otago Daily Times recently. Franconia at Auckland One hundred and twenty of the Franconia’s passengers returned to Auckland on Saturday night after a hurried visit to Rotorua by special train. Others (says a Press Association telegram) spent the day sight-seeing in and around the city. The vessel will leave Auckland for Wellington to-night. Yesterday more passengers left by car for Rotorua and the Waitomo Caves. They will rejoin the ship at Wellington.

Fire Brigade Calls In response to an automatic falsa alarm at 9.24 a.m. on Saturday, the City Fire Brigade answered a call to the Hillside Workshops. A detached wooden outhouse in Loyalty street, South Dunedin, caught fire yesterday, the City Brigade receiving a call to the premises at 3.10 p.m. The building, which wag badly damaged, was owned by the M'Devitt estate, and stands on property at present occupied by Mr James Robertson. The insurances were not available last night. The fire was started' by * spark from a copper fire. ..•.■..

Probate Granted Mr Justice Kennedy has granted probate in the following deceased estates:— Ebenezer Piper, retired company secretary, Oamaru; John Ford, farmer, Owaka; Helen Mary Bathgate, spinster, West Taieri; Francis Hiram Hay, farmer, Macrae's Flat; William Joseph Wilson, confectioner, Sawyers' Bay; Ann Mercy Abernethy, married, Dunedin; Agnes Smaillee Begg, married, Roslyn; William Mugford Grant, minister, P.ort Chalmers; and John Todd, carter, Kaitangata. Letters of. administration were granted in the estate of William Lindsay M'Leod, freezing works employee, Greet Island. ,' Vestey's South Island Business - - •There have been rumours from time to time that Messrs Vestey's, Ltd., are desirous of securing a controlling interest in the Makarewa freezing works hear Invercargill. When this was mentioned to a member of the firm, Mr H. Vestey, who is at present staying at. the Grand' Hotel, he said that he had not heard of any such proposal until he himwjlf wa» informed of the rumour in Southland. Mr Vestey added that his firm had no intention of trying to secure an interest. in any South Island freezing works, as they all seemed to be operating at a profit which would make any reasonable offer unattractive. As things were, his firm would be quite content to continue its.present policy of buying f.b.b'. ;"i '.';' ... A Busy Six Hours . Within the space of six hours on Friday morning, 10 vessels of a total gross tonnage of 63,430, . entered Wellington Harbour. Of these, four .were overseas liners. The Monowai arrived, at 6 a.m. from Auckland, and. the Opawa some time" later from Waikokopu. Still later in the morning, the Tainui made her appearance, closely followed by the Northumberland. Both of these ships were from Lyttelton, and had been delayed off the Heads for some time because of the poor visibility. Other vessels to arrive were the auxiliary scow. Echo, from Blenheim, the express steamers Arahura and Rangatira, from Nelson and Lyttelton respectively, the Islands motor ship Maui Pomare, and the' freighter Wainui, both from Lyttelton; and the coastal motor ship Taupata, from Tarakohe. '.;'-:. Educational Research In a pamphlet its objects, the recently-founded Council of Educational Research in New Zealand states that "its chief task is a survey of the organisation and administration of the New i Zealand education system with a view to discovering, first of all, the degree of co-ordina-tion between its parts; and, secondly, the extent to which it is sensitive to the rapidly-changing needs of the community. For mere internal self-consistency means nothing in an education system which- is \

divorced from the realities of a wider civic life."

Railway* Excursions ■ 7 " T Despite the changeable conditions,. prevailing yesterday, a large ; number of people travelled/by the Railways Department's excursion to Invercargill, the two trains, which left at 7.20 a.m. and 7.30 a.m. respectively, carrying an aggregate of over 560 passengers. Some of these stopped, at wayside stations, but the majority made the full journey to the southern centre. The weather in Invercargill was,cold, with scattered showers, but as most of the excursionists had made the trip for the purpose, of. visiting friends, no great, inconvenience;;; was caused by the overhead COTditions. The trains left.lnvercargill at. 5.25 p.m.. and 5.45 p.m. respectively, and ,made the return journey without, incident, , arriving at Dunedin;on scheduled time.. An excursion train also i arrived at Dunedin from Timaru, carrying 450 passengers, in addition' to three ,of the bands which were returning from the contest there. The train arrived at 12.44 and left on the return journey shortly after 5 o'clock.

Destruction of Rabbits Results obtained by the use of strychnine for the destruction of rabbits have been impressed, upon a. Mid-Canterbury farmer. On the advice of the local office of the Department of Agriculture, the farmer bought some strychnine and used it in accordance with the-"instructions given him by the officer in charge. In three days after laying poisoned oats he had collected 500,carcasses, using a dray for the purpose, and buried them. The method adopted was the ploughing of a furrow well away from a gorse fence and the grain was laid at intervals in very small quantities on top of the furrow. By depositing the poison well away from the gorse the rabbits died before they could reach cover and were. easily collected. The farmer expects to gather many more dead-rabbits as a result of his efforts. It is reported that good work is at present being accomplished in the destruction of the pests in other parts of Ashburton County by the use. of poison.

Melting Glacier Affects Fishing The phenomenon of the Tongariro River discolouring every afternoon and clearing again, during the night has been puzzling anglers and residents of Turangi, Lake Taupo,. during the past few weeks. A party set out from Turangi on Tuesday, and it was found that the discoloration originated from a stream on the slopes of Ruapehu. The party followed the stream to its source, and, as they climbed, they noticed that from noon onwards the water .gradually.turned from a milky white to-a muddy colour. Samples of the water were taken by the party at different times, and the sample taken in the late afternoon was full of sediment. It was thought (says the Auckland Star) that, as the stream has its source in the large glacier on the slopes of the moun-. tain, the intense summer heat had caused the snow and ice to thaw. Another stream, which ran out towards Waioruru, was found to have the same discoloration, although several streams with their source on Ngauruhoe were clear. Municipal Organ Recital

The wintry weather conditions in no way affected the attendance in the Town Hall last evening, when the city organist (Dr V. E. Galway) gave an after-church recital, there being a large number present. After, playing a prelude in G, by James Lyon, Dr Galway gave-a delightful tendering of Gluck's dainty Gavotte in A major, following with the finale from the F minor sonata (Rheinberger), which received masterly treatment. The Andante movement from the String Quartet, by Tchaikowsky, was delicately played, a contrasting piece being the "Allegro Molto," by Mendelssohn, the fast tempo giving the organist a chance to show his executive skill. Beethoven's Overture to " Egmont" was brilliantly rendered, and the broad and solemn Elizabeth's Prayer, from Wagner'a " Tannhauser," was a popular number. Dr Galway concluded with Berlioz's bright and sparkling "Hungarian' March." The soloists were Miss Dora Drake, "*Non so Piu" (Figaro), bv Mozart, Mr Murray Hood, who sang "The Diver" (M'Millan), and Miss Nellie Pickett, who played the piano solo, "Toccata," by Saint-Saens. Mrs Ernest Drake played the accompaniment* for the soloists.

** Doctor* of Good Year n "Is this a normal report, or is this just 'soft soap' to bluff the board?" asked a member of the Auckland Hospital Board at its last meeting, when the report of the House Committee was presented. The member referred to a letter written by the housekeeper of the residence at the hospital appreciating the good conduct of the young doctors during the past year. It was mentioned by the chairman (Mr W. Wallace) that in past years the housekeeper had complained of the behaviour. of the young doctors. " They will become known as the doctors of the' good year," remarked a member. "Perhaps the appreciative letter of their conduct could be attached to their testimonials."

Society of Civil Engineers ' At a meeting of- local authorities' engineers in Wellington in March, 1912, it was decided to form an association to be known as the Institute of Local Government Engineers of New Zealand. Commencing with - a membership of. 25, the institute was fairly launched with a membership of" 90 engineers at its second annual meeting! The third annual.meeting, held in Auckland in March, 1914, was attended by 42 members out of a total strength of 102. In the interval, however, the interest of engineers other than those attached to local bodies had been attracted to the movement. Discussions in-which leading Government and other engineers .were intimately concerned ; had resulted in. a majority agreement that a , professional engineers' , institution was needed' in New Zealand, and that, as in Australia .and C ana da, the strength of the profession-should be concentrated in the support of . one. such Dominion institution, and not dissipated amongst smaller local organisations' concerned only with special .branches of engineering. Thus, it came about, that at the.annual meeting of the, Institute of Local Government Engineeers in March, 1914, a resolution was carried—:" That ai society be formed to be incorporated under the Incorporated Societies Act, ,1908, to be called the New Zealand i Society /of Civil Engineers.". This society will celebrate- its coming. of age at a conference in ; Auckland which will be opened to-morrow. A Men's Paradise The island of Bali must conform closely' to the male' idea of ' paradise—where the [\ women do all the work arid the men dispense their favours to the one of many wives who feeds them best.' Mr'H. G. Pendray, of Victoria, British Columbia, who arrived in Dunedin on Saturday, did not put it in' these' words when he described conditions there, but that, seems to be the way it would appeal to masculinity.- From his it was gathered that the chief occupation of the men was resting. Occasionally they turned their hands to a little ploughing, but without any. degree, of enthusiasm.. The women outnumbered the men by four to one, and the. happy arrangement was < : that the women did all the work; while the men, .in European style, killed time by "swapping" stories and discussing those topics which men do discuss. It was natural in -the circumstances, Mr Pendray said, that a : man, should take unto himself three or four wives. The women were able, to earn from lOd to Is a day, and their chief, concern was providing the most palatable dishes for, their .polygam-. "Mb- husbands. The one whose culinary art surpassed, the rest had the honour of sharing her meal with her husband. Each ■ of the wives'had : ;her own home, and the . rivalry among them was both; interesting and amusing../.--. Staffing-of Auckland Hospital ' Complaints of troubles, said to be due "toi linderstafSnng at the Auckland Public Hospital were mentioned by Mrs M. M. ' Preaver at the meeting of the Auckland ''Hospital Board last week.;. Mrs Dreayer - said complaints*had teen made by'members of Parliament regarding various : cases in which patients had required special diet, but had been unable to ob-, ;*-' tain it,"pbßsibly because the hospitsl had 3 -~no' special dietetic" staff! In one case an ?'honorary physician had ordered a patient f iv.special diet; The ward sister, had done 1 her best to, obtain it,' but had failed, and the honorary 'physician had complained ."about the matter.- It Bad been alleged by certain-persons that the hospital needed 30 or : 40 more nurses, but obviously there •; was no ' accommodation for them at " present. Mrs Dreaver moved that the House Committee be requested to ask the medical superintendent and the matron for a report on the general question of staffing. The chairman (Mr W. Wallace) said that the matron had never been refused any staff she asked for. - Mrs Dreayer said she' only knew what, was happening outside., The; motion was • ; earned. ' : '- ,

Rare Timber Milted '' Timber Valuable for transmission poles and very rare in New Zealand has been milled from a plantation on the property of Mr Dudley Richards, at Okuti, part of the. old Kinloch estate at Little River. The property (says the Press) contains seyeral acres of, fine examples of this rare timber—eucalypt eugehioides—which have aroused comment from some of :the Dominion's leading authorities. One specimen was an interesting exhibit 10 years ago at the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin. The stand, at Okuti was ; planted about 40 years ago by an early settler, who had what has been described as the "forestry complex." The original owner and planter was Mr H. D. Buchanan. He planted 68J acres of his property with forest trees, and half this with the eugeniojdes, of which there are now about 4000 trees of magnificent stature, ayerag : ihg mo"re than 100 feet in height;