Overseas Mails

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23364, 2 December 1937, Page 10

Overseas Mails

The postal authorities advise that the Vancouver mails despatched by the Niagara on October 30 from Dunedin reached London on November 29. The Karetu left Sydney yesterday with 17 bags of Australian mail for Dunedin, which should be to hand on Monday evening next.

Fire Brigade Calls The Roslyn Fire Brigade turned out at 12.29 p.m. yesterday to attend a chimney fire in a house in Burwood avenue, Maori Hill, and at 1.10 an automatic false alarm was received from Ellis’s mattress factory, Kaikorai. At 10.7 last night machines attended a grass fire in the vicinity of the Northern Cemetery.

Burnside Stock Sale There was a general easing in values at the Burnside stock sale yesterday, all classes being in over-supply. This was probably due to the dry conditions in the country and the lack of feed for stock. There were 307 head of fat cattle forward, including a fair proportion of good quality. The demand at the start was good for best quality, but later a marked easing occurred, the depreciation amounting to about £2 a head. Extra prime bullocks made to £2O 12s 6d: prime, £l6 5s to £l7 12s fid: medium, £l2 10s to £l3 15s; light, down to £9 12s fid; prime heavy cows and heifers, to £l2 2s fid; medium, £7 2s fid to £8 15s; and light, down to £4 17s fid. The price per 1001 b also eased very considerably. Extra prime bullocks were worth £1 19s; prime, £1 16s: prime cows and heifers, £1 15s; and poorer quality, about £1 Bs. From £8 to £9 was paid for some three and four-year stores, most other sorts being below recent values. Only a few consignments of heavy grades were included in the yarding of fat sheep. The total entry was 3072. Wethers eased by 8s to 10s and ewes by 6s to Bs, and passings were frequent. Prime heavy wethers made to £1 11s 3d; prime, £1 6s fid to £1 8s; medium, £1 3s to £1 4s fid: light, down to £1 Is; extra prime heavy ewes, £1 5s to £1 7s 3d; prime, £1 Is fid to £1 3s fid; medium, 18s fid to £1; and light, and aged, down to 10s fid. There were 200 fat lambs forward, and prices were firm at late rates. Best lambs brought to £1 7s fid and unfinished from 13s 3d. In a large entry of fat pigs, baconers had a disappointing sale, porkers remaining firm. The best price for the former was £4, with an average price of about £3 ss, porkers making up to £3. Lighter sorts were worth from £2 5s to £2 15s. Large stores were sold at about £1 10s. Caught the Christmas Mail

Post Office advice about the last opportunities of catching mails which could be delivered in Britain before Christmas was so well circulated through New Zealand by the newspapers that the last three despatches for this purpose contained a particularly heavy weight of mail matter. The Karamea, from Napier on November 11, the Mariposa from Auckland on November 15, and the Eangitiki from Napier three days later, took between them over 700,000 letters. The heaviest section of the despatches was that of postal packets other than parcels or letters. These amounted to 120,7261 b, including many thousands of “ the penny rolls,” a popular description of a postal concession which enables New Zealand periodicals to be sent to Britain by direct steamer for Id per copy, with no limitation in respect to weight. The parcel mails totalled 98451 b,

Art Society Exhibition Comprising about 420 oils, watercolours, dry-point etchings, sketches, and photographs, the Art Society’s exhibition, which is at present open to the public in the Pioneer Hall, is one that should be of considerable value to art lovers and students. The work displayed is of a uniformly high standard. The exhibition will remain open until Saturday evening. A Second Dunedin

Everybody is not aware that there are two Dunedins in the world. Situated on a small lanlocked bay about midway up the eastern or Gulf coast of the peninsula of Florida, United States of America, is the town of Dunedin, which is only about one-fourth the size of its New Zealand namesake. There is, however, at least one point of similarity, and that is in the ahcestry of the pioneering stock, for the Dunedin of America was founded by a party of wandering Scots in 1875. The town faces the sunset and the ever-blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and is one of the many popular resorts along that favoured shore. Its climate, of course, is warmer than that of Otago’s chief city, being practically sub-tropi-cal. The Otago Expansion League hias been in communication with the younger Dunedin, and intends to develop this connection by further correspondence.

Cable Car Fares Increased The fares on the Mornington, Roslyn, and Stuart street cable lines were increased yesterday to conform with the new scale adopted on the city lines earlier in the year. When concession tickets were issued recently under the old scale, they were stamped with varying dates, the latest up to which they were to be available- being December 4, but the City Corporation has issued instructions that concession tickets with date marks stamped on them will be accepted until further notice. The tickets issued by the Kaikorai Tramway Company up to the operation of the new scale of fares have borne no date.

Remarkable Bowling Feat A remarkable feat of bowling was performed by a schoolboy in a primary schools’ cricket match between NorthEast Valley and Musselburgh at the Oval yesterday, when he dismissed the whole of the Musselburgh side himself. The youngster responsible for the debacle was I. Longworth, and his 10 wickets were secured for the ridiculously small total of 10 runs, eight of the batsmen being clean bowled.

Custody of a Child The custody of a girl aged three years and a-half formed the subject of a dispute between the parents heard before Mr Justice Callan in the Hamilton Supreme Court on Tuesday. In an oral decision, his Honor said the, paramount consideration in the case was what course was likely to be in the best interests of the child. There was no evidence against the mother's character. She was living in a position of some responsibility in a good home, and was giving every satisfaction to her employer She had shown affection for the child, and her employer had encouraged her to obtain its custody. His Honor said he unhesitatingly agreed with those judges who had said that if the mother had the ordinary maternal affection for a baby girl and was a woman of reasonably good character, then the scales were weighed in favour of the mother. In the present case the contest was not really between the parents, but was between the child’s mother and the child’s paternal grandmother, with whom the child now lived. Its father lived elsewhere. Grandmotherly affection could be only an imperfect substitute for maternal care. An order giving the custody of the child to the mother was made.

Hospital Systems "Regarding the accommodation and comfort of patients, I would say that the standard of our hospitals maintained entirely from public funds is higher than in Victoria and in New South Wales, but very few hospitals in New Zealand have reached the standard of accommodation being provided in the most recent additions to hospitals in Melbourne and Sydney,” said Mr A. J. Phillipps, managing secretary of the Palmerston North Hospital, who has returned from a visit to Australia, where he spent about six weeks inquiring into hospital work. Mr Phillipps added that the most modem of Melbourne’s hospital institutions exhibited many features Which would be desirable in the New Zealand institutions if they could be introduced at a reasonable cost.

Europe “Armed to the Teeth ” “ In Europe you notice each change of country by a change in uniform these days,” said Mr H. W. Whyte, an officer of the National Bank of New Zealand, who returned recently after a visit of 16 months to England under a scheme for the exchange of bank officers. During his leave he made a comprehensive tour of the Continent, and he said that the main impression of any visitor was that all countries were armed to the teeth. “ Since I arrived in England about 16 months ago the attitude of the British people has changed in a marked manner ” said Mr Whyte. “In 1936 the general opinion was that peace was to be maintained at any price, regardless of any concessions that might have to be made, but now there is an air of preparedness that cannot be mistaken. The stories about the German people being half-starved that seem to have been circulated are not at all authenticated from what I saw.”

Cadet Training The new syllabus for the training of secondary school cadets was commented on by Mr W. A. Armour, headmaster of Wellington College, at a meeting of the Wellington College Board of Governors. When it was first announced that the specialist sections of the senior cadets were to be abolished, Mr Armour said, he had been disappointed. He had not been disturbed to think that the artillery and machine-gun branches were to go. but he had thought it an unwise move to reduce the whole scheme of training to infantry exercises. The new training, he said, was to consist of physical training drill and rifle exercises, rifle training, and rifle shooting for boys over 15, first aid and resuscitation of the apparently drowned, signalling, map-reading, engineering, and minor tactics. “Altogether, the new programme has my most cordial approval,” said Mr Armour. “I think that it retains all the good features of the recent system, will work in well with school schemes of physical education. and gives scope for splendid mental as well as bodily activity.” A Despicable Theft

“I think this theft was a despicable one,” said Mr W. F. Stillwell, S.M., when a young man appeared before him in the Magistrate’s Court at Wellington on Tuesday, charged with stealing her pension from' a widow with seven children. He inflicted a sentence of 14 days’ imprisonment. The accused was John Francis McGrath, a labourer, aged 20. He was charged with stealing £5 in money from Irene Helen Killaher. Detective Sergeant P. Doyle said that on the evening of November 24 McGrath was a guest of Mrs Kellaher, who was a widow with seven young children. During the evening McGrath went into the sitting room to fetch a chair; he was alone there for some time, and after the guests departed £5 was missed from the widow’s purse. It was her pension. McGrath at first denied taking the money, but later decided to plead guilty, said the detective sergeant. The £5 was not the only sum of money missed that night. McGrath denied any knowledge of the other thefts, but the police were not inclined to believe his story. Restitution of the £5 had since been made.

The Camping Season Anxiety has been expressed by some motorists regarding the restrictive effect of the camping ground regulations introduced last year under the Health Act, 1920. It has been feared that the regulations might seriously interfere with the freedom of motor camping parties, but the president of the Automobile Association (Auckland), Mr F. G. Farrell, expresses the opinion that the apprehension is due to a misunderstanding. The regulations, Mr Farrell says, were brought down by the Health Department with a view to safeguarding public health in areas on which numbers of motorists camped without appropriate attention to sanitation. The Touring Department of the association advised that the regulations would not interfere with a family party intending to camp at any selected site, or with a party of two or more cars, provided that the Idnd used was not intended for rent, hire, or reward. Naturally, such campers were expected to leave the site clean of all refuse on vacating. “ I think,” Mr Farrell added, “ that the private motorist who elects to pitch his tent or park his caravan on some favourite site in the countryside remote from the centres of population may be assured that there will be no interference with his privileges, provided he maintains the ordinary standards that he would observe at his own home.”

Particulars are advertised in this issue of a presentation to be given on Saturday by the junior pupils of Miss Florence Pacey. We have received from Elizabeth Jane £1 for the St. John Ambulance Building Fund and £1 for the Karitane Hospital Building Fund. We stock the best and highest class Fishing Tackle, Electrical Supplies of every description, Wireless Valves and Accessories. We keep a competent staff of electricians for electrical jobbing and contracting.—Barth Electric, Ltd., 36 George street, Dunedin.—Advt. Eye Strain.—For eye comfort or better vision consult Sturmer and Watson. Ltd., opticians. 2 Octagon. Dunedin.— Advt. A. E. J. Blakeley and W. E. Bagley dentists, Bank of Australasia, corner of Bond and Rattray streets (next Telegraph Office). Telephone 12-359 Advt.