Pictures on Christmas Day

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23058, 8 December 1936, Page 8

Pictures on Christmas Day

Permission to exhibit a programme of pictures on Chriittmas Day was granted by the City/Council at its meeting last night to the management of the Octagon Theatre. The decision was the result of an application by the manager, Mr G. L. Johnston.

Dunedin Drainage Board

Formal business, including the adoption of the reports of the Works and Finance Committees, .engaged the attention last night of tb e meeting of the Dunedin Drainage j and Sewerage Board, over which 'the Mayor (the Rev. E. T. Cox) pre.'iided. "No Good Purpose";

Messrs Stone and. Strain, theatre proprietors, were reijased an application last night by the Mosgiel Borough Council to show pictures in the Mosgiel Picture Theatre oni the evening of Christmas Day. Th'fl Mayor and Crs Smeaton and Wilson voted for the granting of the requpst, and Crs Frew, Hartstonge, Smith ajnd Steven against it. Cr Frew maintained that Christmas Day was held.; in reverence by many of the townspeople and no good purpose could be served by showing pictures on that daiy. If the council granted the request; it would only be the thin end of the wedge for a Similar request for Sundajra.

Scrap Iron for Japa:ti

Thirty tons of old horseshoes were included in a consignment of 180 tons of scrap iron loaded at New Plymouth into the Sydney IMaru, which then sailed for Aucklarid to load wool for Japan. Old cranes, motor cars, and much unrecognisable junk were included in the consignment, which was the first of the ltind to be shipped through the port.; There were two heavy old cranes,lone from the New Plymouth Harbofcr Board and the other from the j Opunake Harbour Board, which once did duty in the building of Westplort Harbour. New Town Clerk !

The Mayor (tr*e Rev. E. T. Cox) suggested at the fmeeting of the City Council last night' that Crs Silverstone, Allen, M'Millan, 'Shepherd, and himself be appointec| a sub-committee to consider the applications received for the position of tciwn clerk of the city, and, if necessary,) to reduce them. The committee woulcl then report to the council. The Mayor's suggestion was approved. ! ,

Infectious Diseases An increase iri the number of cases of infectious diseases has been reported for the week encjed at noon yesterday. At the Dunedin Hospital one erysipelas patient was discharged and there is one patient suffjering from this complaint remaining in the institution. One case of scai*let fever was admitted and a patient suffering from infantile paralysis was i\lso admitted. In the Logan Park Hospital there are still seven patients suffering from scarlet fever, one case having been admitted and one dischairged.

Makura's Last Xrip

The Union £{team Ship Company's vessel Makura, which has been sold to Chinese arrived at Wellington last night on -her last service call. She will leave ;*gain to-day for Sydney, where her arrival on December 12 will signify the abandonment of the San Francisco service, which has been maintained witjh scarcely a break over a long period [of years. The Makura was specially j built for the Sydney-Auckland-Vancouver service in 1908, and took up her running that year, maintaining iit almost continuously for more than! 16 years. The vessel made about 10J3 voyages from Sydney to Vancouver, (via Auckland, and continued on that service until she was replaced by tide Aorangi and entered the San Frantjisco run. The Makura, during her service with the company, has steamed more than 2,300,000 miles. i Wakari Drainage The necessity for the extension of the city drainage system to the Wakari district jwas emphasised at last night's meeting of the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board by Dr D. G. M'Millan, vrhlp asked that the Works Committee of the board should give immediate consideration to the matter, as, if any acti'ion were proposed in the near future, at would save needless expense at the present time in connection with ,the installation of septic lanks. l

Tug Plucky Sunk Stripped otf all metal which could conveniently be disposed of, the hulk of the tug Plucky was towed to the mole yesterday and sunk close to the hulk of Dreclge 222, which suffered a similar fate only a short time ago. The Plucky, j after 50 years of useful service in Otago Harbour, was laid up in Octobetr, 1932, and was acquired some weeks' ago by Messrs D. G. M'Kay and W. Borlase, who removed her engines and fittings to be sold for scrap. Built .'by Messrs W. Denny and Co., at Dumbarton, Scotland, the small vessel arrived here on August 27, 1880, and was immediately placed in service. During the preat War she was used by the military authorities as an examination vessel outside the Heads. Her final task was the survey of the coast from Waikouaiti to Cape Saunders. Business as Usual in Spain An Auckland merchant, who was under the impression that all that interested Spain at the moment was the civil war. received a surprise last week when a Barcelona firm wrote to him as if there was nothing untoward in the current' situation. Without any reference to»' the civil war or its possible outcome, the Barcelona firm mentioned tfiat it had extended its activities and l that it would be glad to know if the Auckland merchant would care to handle its products on the New Zealand market. " I thought they were far too busy with other things to bother aboirt the small volume of trade they could do here." the merchant commented.

Spanish Medical Aid Fund When a grant of £lO was made by the City Council last evening to the Spanish Medical Aid Fund, Cr A. H. Allen said he was heartily in agreement with the idea, but he would like an assurance that the money would ba utilised in a strictly impartial manner. In reply, Cr D. G. M'Millan said that as a member of the Fund Committee he could assure the council that the money collected for the fund would be spent without favour for the benefit of both sides in the Spanish conflict. The fund would be paid over to the New Zealand Red Cross Society to be forwarded to the world headquarters in London. They could have every confidence in the determination of the society to handle the funds in an impartial manner. Reverence for Law

" I believe that the practical genius of our people has evolved as one of their traditions such a respect for the law and the Constitution that it is felt to be an integral part of our lives," said the Attorney-general (Mr H. G. R. Mason), speaking at the opening of the new Lav/ Library at Auckland. "I believe that wherever the English common law prevails we need not fear any of the troubles they have in other countries which are affecting the world so much tp-day. I believe. that our sense of security is due to of our people and their law-abiding instincts, and these have been evolved by the greatness of our judges, to whose labours we largely owe that law."

Impressed by Dominion Visiting Wellington at present is Mr P. C. White, of Sydney, proprietor of the New South Wales Farmer and Settler, a newspaper which is an influence in rural New South Wales. Mr White said that the productiveness of the New Zealand lands struck him as remarkable. "You have over here land that will support four sheep to the acre, while a large part of ours takes four acres to support one sheep." he said. A good deal had been said about filling up the waste spaces of Australia, but the problem was. not, perhaps, so easy as it seemed.' Mr White said there were hundreds of young men, with financial backing, too, who were willing to go on the land, but in New South Wales they had not it to give them—not the class of land they could be expected to make a living from. There was, of course, a quantity of fine river lands within the State, but much of it was held In big blocks. His: paper had for some time past advocated the cutting up of this land for closer settlement. He was pleased to say that the Government was to devote some £2(000,000 to that end. The.lands so acquired would be cut up into farms suitable for dairying.

Impracticable! Since the Government decided that a 40-hour week should be worked in industry, unless it was proved impracticable to do.so, the word "impracticable" has been carefully studied by many people. The Arbitration Court has decided that it would be impracticable to shorten hours because of financial reasons in some cases and because of the limitations of plant in others, but it was given another interpretation of the word " impracticable " "recently, when the service-car drivers of the Dominion asked for a 40-hour week. Mr T. O. Bishop, who opposed the application, quoted Mr Justice Stringer, who dealt with the same word in 1919 and held that it would be impracticable to do a thing if it was "unjust and unreasonable" to do so Great Holiday Planned Thanks to the enterprise of Mr H. A. Kirby, an instructor at the Christchurch Technical College, and the cooperation of the Railways Department in his scheme, more than 40 boys from the college will have a wonderful holiday at Christmas. Arrangements have been made for them to take a trip through the South Island. They will have as their travelling base a - guard's van and a railway carriage, which will be taken from point to point as they wish. All will have bicycles, and a good amount of their trip will be done by road, in places such as the Lakes district and the Eglinton Valley. They will do their own cooking and look for sleeping shelter at the places they visit. The Technical' College Board of Governors congratulated Mr Kirby on his scheme and arrangements, and it was announced that the boys would have brief lessons in cookery before they left. Japanese Strategic Zones

Evidence of the serious determination of the Japanese authorities to prevent any attempt on the part of visitors or others to make notes on particulars of their strategic zones is afforded by a map of the zones on the O.S.K. liner Sydney Maru, which has been, visiting" New Zealand. The notice reads: " Passengers are specially cautioned against violation of the strategic zone regulations, which prohibit surveying, photographing, or sketching the topography of any kind of structure within the strategic and fortified area shown on the map without permission of the proper authorities. Photographing or sketching any vessel belonging to the Imperial Japanese Navy, irrespective of locality, is strictly prohibited."

Divine Dictatorship "The thing that impressed me most was the Oxford Group movement. It has been known here in New Zealand, r.nd I wanted to see what it was. like at first-hand." said Archdeacon K. E. Maclean, of Havelock North, who returned to Wellington from a holiday visit to England by the. Shaw, Savill liner Akaroa from Southampton on Saturday. Archdeacon Maclean said he went to one of the group's house parties at Oxford, and at that time there were four other large housf* parties taking place in other parts of the country. There were about 500 people at Oxford,, and their.personnel was a changing one. There were people present from Germany, France, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, America, South Africa, Canada, Rumania, and practically every European country except Spain and Italy. " What the Oxford Group says is that there is no cure for the ills of the world except the dictatorship of God," he added. The movement seemed to him the most hopeful thing he had seen. Another striking impression was the way in which other peoples looked to England as'the one solid thing in the world. Talking of the Church of England, Archdeacon Maclean said that what one noticed was the extremely frank and wise way the church's archbishops had been speaking out on big world issues. They were held in tremendous respect for the wisdom, sanity, and quality of what they. said.

M. Ernst Alexandre, late of Paris and Vienna, will give a further public lecture at the Theosophical Society lecture hall to-night. M. Alexandre will give demonstrations on psy-

chology and graphology from charts, i and explain why handwriting reveals character. i G. C. Proudfoot forwards £1 for the Dunedin Highland Pipe Band's Uniform Fund. The amount will bo handed to the secretary. Suggestions for the holidays: Fishing Tackle, Torches, Electrical Gifts suitable for Christmas, Wedding Presents, Rogers Radio Sets.—Barth Electric, Ltd.. 30 George street, Dunedin.—Advt. Eye Strain.—For eye comtort or oeiter vision consult Sturmer and Watson, Ltd., opticians. 2 Octagon. Dunedin.— Advt. A. E. J. Blakeley and W. E. Bagtey, dentists. Bank of Australasia, corner of Bond and Rattray streets (next Telegraph Office). Telephone 12-359. Advt.