City Police Court

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22963, 19 August 1936, Page 8

City Police Court

There was a clean sheet at the City Police Court yesterday morning. The Wahine A Press Association message from Wellington states that the Wahine came off the dock yesterday and was taken to Evans Bay, where she will remain for some months while some of her boilers are renewed. Lincoln Ellsworth’s Plans According to a Pittsburg newspaper that has been received by a Dunedin resident, Mr Lincoln Ellsworth stated in an interview on July 20 that he was planning to launch another ship and aeroplane expedition to the Antarctic, “ I want to fly in from Enderby Land/' the intrepid explorer said, “ and approach the Bay of Whales (Little America) from the other side. Antarctica covers approximately 5,000,000 square miles. It is a bigger continent than all Europe. At least half is still uncharted. Three hundred miles from the South Pole there are 100 miles of coal seams 40 feet thick. A flight might divulge the presence of the precious metals.” Tourists Coming

Already the Government Tourist Department has had a number of inquirics from overseas concerning itineraries to be arranged during the coming summer. There has been one big booking from a London business man who is commencing his tour in December and is covering the whole of New Zealand, his itinerary embracing all of the South Island resorts. The prospects are very promising concerning visitors from Australia, the inquiries so far being for itineraries in December and January.

“ Teaching Men to Loaf ” “For the last four years we have been teaching men to loaf, not to work.” said the Minister of Public Works (Mr R. Semple), in an address in Christchurch on Monday. The trouble was that, now the Government had given the men an incentive to work, a small proportion thought that they could still malinger, he said. He would not tolerate such men. He was not a ” nigger driver,” but he expected a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. He was aware that his recent statements on the subject had been resented by the Communists. As a matter of fact, the Tories of the country were now co-operating with the Communists in a common effort to try to abuse him “ That is a hell of an alliance.” he added.

An Exodus of Pupils A report that the demands of industry for youthful workers had resulted in a considerable exodus of pupils from the Otahuhu Technical High School was presented at the last meeting of the school committee. The principal (Mr F. W. Martin) stated that a considerable number of pupils of 15 and 16 years of age had recently left school to take up employment. In many cases the pupils had plannned to remain longer at school to complete senior courses, but the present conditions of employment apparently created a fear that they might lose their chances of getting work if they remained longer at school. “From an educational point of view, it is more than regrettable that a boy’s chances of getting the full benefit of a secondary education should thus be sacrificed, but it is an undoubted fact that conditions imposed in trade and industries to-day make it impossible for young employees to complete any but a primary education," continued the report. “ The great majority of our young citizens are forced into the narrowing groove of industry before the age when their critical and reflective faculties are developed, and the ideal of an educated democracy remains as remote as ever.”

Employment of Young People Concern regarding the immediate 1 prospect of providing employment for young people was expressed last evening at the annual meeting of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce by Mr J. Sutherland Ross, president of the Dunedin Manufacturers’ Association. The youth question, he said, had become serious. All employers were anxious to place youngsters wherever possible, but if they had to pay them wages which were out of all proportion to the value they could give, he did not see how employment could be provided. He sincerely hoped that the Government would give consideration to this aspect of the economic situation.

Fight with a Cow A tragedy was narrowly averted a few days ago by the pluck and endurance of a farmer living between Woodville and the Manawatu Gorge. Walking across a paddock, he was passing a usually quiet cow near the track when she tosssed her head and charged him. Knowing his danger, and the best means of defence, he seized the cow by the nostrils with one hand and by the horns with the other. After an hour's desperate struggle he was rescued in an exhausted condition by a Power Board official. The secret of the cow’s vigorous resentment appeared shortly after in the form of a frisky day-old calf at her heels.

Maoris at Coronation Miss Ana Hato’s Maori choir, which has returned to Rotorua after performing in Taranaki, may attend the Coronation at London next year. The decision has not yet been definitely made, but if the choir goes it will leave New Zealand next March and be supplemented by other Natives.

Smoking by Nurses Banned To prevent nurses smoking in their bedrooms in the Nurses’ Home at Napier, drastic action has been threatened by the Hawke’s Bay Hospital Board. Dismissal or at least suspension until the board has considered breaches of its by-law forbidding nurses smoking in their bedrooms is promised for offenders. This action is stated to be the outcome of a recent minor outbreak of fire in the nurses’ quarters, caused by a cigarette butt. Fearing a larger outbreak, the board has now given instructions for notice boards to be erected warning members of the staff of the threatened punishment for any offenders apprehended. The board holds the view that the sitting rooms in the home give nurses ample opportunity for smoking. The Nurses Home is a wooden building housing 80 nurses, erected after the earthquake, to replace the fine building destroyed in 1931. Armour on Their Backs

During the course of an address on the changes in the Government’s financial policy which he delivered last evening at the annual meeting of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, Mr W. Downie Stewart expressed the opinion that the Government had now reached that stage depicted by Macaulay in his “ Lays of Ancient Rome” where he wrote, “Those behind cried forward, and those before cried back.” In fact, Mr Stewart added, it had been said that the leaders carried their armour on their backs. A “ Stop-work Meeting ”

At a recent meeting of the Nelson Education Board the Buller branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute was refused permission to hold a meeting on a Friday. Commenting on the letter, the board chairman (Mr W. H. MTntyre, M.L.C.) said that a Friday meeting would be tantamount to a stop-work meeting. The Buller teachers forwarded to the monthly meeting of the board a protest against the chairman’s remarks. “That is only a quibble,” said Mr MTntyre. “ There is no difference between an educational institute stopping work to hold a meeting and waterside workers doing the same thing, except that waterside workers are not paid while they are off work. The Minister of Public Works has said that he would not countenance any employees holding meetings on working days, as they had Saturdays and Sundays when they could meet, and in my opinion teachers can do the same,” added Mr MTntyre. The letter was received.

Conciliation Procedure The view that by reason of the increased importance now being attached to industrial disputes, and the fact that greater interest was being taken in them, there should be a return to the practice of holding sittings of the conciliation commissioners in the various centres so that as many as possible of the parties concerned could be given a chance of putting forward their evidence, was expressed by the conciliation commissioner (Mr M. J. Reardon) at the conclusion of a sitting of a Conciliation Council in Hastings. The policy of having the commissioner and assessors in a dispute visiting various centres in the district concerned to hear evidence had gone out of practice. he said, and he felt the time _ was now opportune for it to be revived. •‘I feel sure the Minister' of Labour would give a sympathetic hearing to such a proposal,” the commissioner concluded. Auckland Expects . . . Mixing hopefulness and audacity in equal parts, the citizens of Auckland have agreed to solicit national charity. Sydney has a harbour bridge and San Francisco is building one. It is clearly time, therefore (says the Dominion), that the taxpayers of New Zealand did something for Auckland. Yet hitherto the taxpayers have held back, needlessly apprehensive: we are all a littie reluctant to offer alms, lest we should hurt the pride of those to whom we give. No fear of that in Auckland’s case! She needs a bridge, it has been decided, and the Government shall pay for it! A deputation Will be coming down to tell Mr Nash how much to put on the Estimates, and Mr Semple when to begin the job. Will Mr Sullivan please see that free railway passes are issued? It will be such a waste of time if the deputation has to walk.