Untitled

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22710, 24 October 1935, Page 10

Air Mail to London A Press Association telegram from Wellington reports that the air mail despatched from New Zealand on October 4 by the Australian-Singapore route, arrived in London on October 21. Motor Car Damaged When travelling north from the direction of Fairfield last evening an Austin motor car struck an obstacle on the Main road. The car swerved off the thoroughfare and capsized near a fence. The driver fortunately escaped serious injury, one of his hands being lacerated. The car, however, was badly damaged. Malicious False Alarm A malicious false alarm, registered from the corner of Opoho road and Arden street, was responsible for the City Brigade turning out at 12.37 p.m. yesterday. Arrowtown Irrigation Scheme The Government has authorised an extension of the Arrowtown irrigation scheme to, Lake Hayes through Bendemeer. This will have the effect (says our parliamentary reporter), of bringing within the operation of the scheme approximately another 1000 acres of land. City Council Meeting In ordinary circumstances the next fortnightly meeting of the City Council would have been held on Monday night, but as Monday is a holiday it has been decided to postpone the meeting till the evening of Friday, November 1. Dunedin Water Works The scheme under which it was originally planned to provide Dunedin with a domestic supply of water has been mentioned on various occasions under the heading " Seventy-one years ago " in our issues. A revised prospectus of the Dunedin Water Works Company, which bore the date of February 17, 1863, has this week been brought under our notice. The capital of the company was £40,000, in 8000 shares, and the prospectus stated that there were "no engineering difficulties whatever to prevent the works being completed within 12 months, and the remunerative character of the undertaking as an investment is beyond a doubt." The object of the company was described in the prospectus as that of obtaining a supply of pure water " from springs issuing from Flagstaff Hill, equal to about 700.000 gallons per day—a quantity sufficient for the requirements of 23.000 inhabitants at the rate of 30 gallons each per day." An analysis of the water had resulted in its beinsr pronounced essentially "soft and comparatively pure," and it had been estimated that a sum of £34.000 would be required to carry out the designed works. The company was duly formed, but in 1574 the City Council acquired its assets An Interjector Squashed " There is no unemployment in Russia,'' remarked an interjector when Mr F. W. Doidge, Independent candidate for the Rotorua seat, was addressing his audience at the Lyric Hall the other night. " Well, that is true, but there is no unemployment in Mount Eden gaol either," was the prompt reply of the candidate. Trade with China " New Zealand has not yet begun to realise the potentialities of China as a market for its goods," said the Rev. J. M. M'Kenzie, i former missionary in China, in an address at a Rotary Club luncheon in Christchurch. Before the market could properly be appreciated New Zealand would need to have able representation ;n China, he said, so that a first-hand study could be made of the needs and conditions of the country, and before even that was done there would have to be created a feeling of neighbourliness —a realisation that difference never meant inferiority.

A Mean Theft The Grange Cricket Club has been the victim of a theft of a particularly mean type. To protect its wicket on the North Ground, which, as a public reserve, is an open area, it' has been obliged to provide a temporary fence round a small portion of the playing field, and for this purpose it recently purchased 110 yards of wire. On visiting the ground a few mornings ago, a club official discovered that the whole of the new length of wire had been removed from the standards and carried oil' during the night. Burnside Stock Sal»» Larger entries were forward in the beef and mutton sections at the Burnside snle yesterday. The entry of fat caftle numbered 330, including several consignmerits 'of prime bullocks from Canterbury. The larger supply had a detrimental effect on prices, and values generally eased to the extent of 30s to £2 per head. In the fat sheep section the entry of 1600 comprised principally medium quality sheep, with several pens of light and unfinished sorts. The wethers forward were not up to recent standard, and the demand was weaker for all classes, prices receding about 2s per head. There was a smaller penning of spring lambs, these meeting with a brisk demand and selling to 30s 3d. The store cattle market attracted an entry of 272, including several consignments of well-bred steers. A line of four-year-old well-grown bullocks from Waokouaiti showed excellent breeding*and realised the satisfactory average of £7 10s, the top price for one pen being £8 7s. Other lines of steers throughout the ontry were also in request. Good-con-ditioned cows barely met late rates, while grazier sorts made late values. The dairy cow entry numbered 47, mostly of ipdifferent quality. ' As usual, buyers showed a preference for good young sorts, close to profit, which sold to £7 12s 6d. The entry of 142 in the fat pig section proved to be in excess of requirements, and values eased fully 5s per head for both baconers and porkers. The entry of 141 store pigs was in keen demand, and was readily disposed of at satisfactory rates. Locomotive Shed for Wellington The tender ■>! the Fletcher Construction Company has been accepted for the erection of the new locomotive shed that is to be constructed at the Kaiwarra end of the new Thorndon reclamation, Wellington, for the Railways Department. The new shed will be a very large structure, about 200 feet square, to be erected in concrete, with a steel frame. The foundations, of bluegum piles, have already been sunk by the Railways Department, so that the work entrusted to the Fletcher Construction Company will be wholly on top of the ground. The contract price is about £37,000. The work is expected to take nearly 12 months. A Varying Measure "I was about 12 paces away," said a woman witness in the Magistrate's Court at Hastings. The magistrate, Mr J. Miller, said he supposed she reckoned a pace as one yard. After some thought she replied that she did not think bo. A pace, she thought, would be about a foot. Actually, the military pace is 30 inches, but a geometrical pace is the distance between the successive stationarypositions of the same foot in walking, or 60 inches. But the geometrical pace is" reckoned by some authorities not a« five feet at all, but as 4.4 feet. The ancient Roman pace, a thousandth of a Roman mile, was 58.1 English inches. The Welsh pace is two feet and a-quarter, 0r.27 inches, perhaps because the Welshman is a smallish fellow. Protection of Birds A chart showing in natural colours the eggs of the more common birds found in New Zealand, together with notes on the characteristics of the birds has been forwarded to county councils by the Forest. and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand. The purpose of this action is to ensure as far as possible that the eggs of those birds which are of great economic value to man, may not be included and taken with those of the few species which may at some season do more harm than good. Many of the eggs collected and paid for belong to species which are entirely beneficial, as they feed exclusively on insects the whole year round. A circular letter issued with the chart points out that it has been stated by scientists after long and careful study of the habits of birds, that man could not exist on the earth for a longer period than nine years, but for the activities of birds, because harmful insects, propagating at the prodigious rate they do, would, within a few years, destroy all vegetation, and man, unable to subsist solely on fish, would perish. Nearly all laud birds, including the sparrow, feed their young entirely on insects, and a fledgling bird can consume something like three times its own weight daily. If, therefore, we visualise the many hundreds of thousands of fledglings reared annually in New Zealand, which have to be led on insects, we can form some meagre idea of the mighty toll taken. Plays for Dominion A visit to the United States in search of new plays and artists is being made by Mr E. J. Tait, a director of Messrs J. C. Williamson, Ltd.,' and Mr F. J. Blackman, the company's musical director, who passed through Auckland on the Mariposa on Saturday. Mr Tait said he hoped to return to Australia early in the new year with some firstclass productions. Referring to productions that would be seen in New Zealand in the near future, Mr Tait said it was the intention of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., to present " White Horse Inn in Auckland during the Christmas season. The company was at present playing in Perth, after appearing in Melbourne and Sydney for seasons oi: 16 weeks each. It was a most elaborate production, comparing with "Rose Marie." The company consisted of 120 artists and the equipment included two revolving stages, one of which was always sent forward for erection at the next centre to be playea in. In addition to "White Horse Inn," Mr Tait said New Zealand audiences would be provided with first-class entertainment by a Gilbert and Sullivan Company, which would arrive in the Dominion early -a the new year. This company had also had most successful seasons" in Melbourne and Sydney. Ao indication of the revival of the legitimate theatre, Mr Tait said, was the fact that last year was the most successful J. C. Williamson, Ltd., had experienced in the past five years. The United Starr-Bowkett Building Societv will hold its thirty-sixth annual general meeting to-night. During .the evening £3500 will be disposed of by sale and ballot. The Commissioner of laxes draws the attention of taxpayers to the notification appearing in to-day's issue that the due dat of payment of land tax for the current year is on November 7, 1935, and that the demands will be posted on or . about October 31. The Public Works Department advertises in this issue inviting tenders for the supply of post and A.B.S, insulators and lead-covered cable. The Railways Department advertises in this issue calling tenders for the wiring of railway houses. The Railways Department advertises m this issue particulars of special excursion fares and train arrangements in connection with the races at Gore on October 28 and 29. The final meeting of the series arranged by the Dunedin Presbytery for social study will be held to-night in the Knox Sunday School. The subject will be " The Christian Social Conscience and a Programme of Chance," and the speaker will be the Rev. J. M. Bates. Mr Bates has a reputation as an original thinker, and presents his case in a convincing style. • See eayy, see well, see Sturmer and Watson, Opticians, 2 Octagon, Dunedin.— Advt. m „ . A. E J Blakeley and W E Bagley, dentists. Bank of Australasia, corner oi Bond and Rattray streets (next .Telegraph Olhce) Telephone 12-359.—Advi