Mails by Awatea

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23501, 16 May 1938, Page 8

Mails by Awatea

The Awatea left Sydney for Wellington on Friday with 37 bags of Australian mail and the London air mails of April 28 and May 1. The air mails should be to hand this afternoon and the balance of the mails to-morrow evening. The Coronation Robes

It is reported from Hamilton that when the Coronation robes were displayed there on Friday 6000 persons saw the exhibition. Conscience Money

The Treasury acknowledges receipt ot the following amounts forwarded oy persons unknown as consciencemoney to the New Zealand Government: —3d and £4 to the Post and Telegraph Department: 6d and Is to the Railways Department: £1 5s and 10s to the Treasury; £1 10s to the Pensions Department: 2d to the Customs Department; £5 10s to the Land and Income Tax Department.

Theft at Mosgiel Some time during Friday night the premises of the Mosgiel Co-operative Industrial Society in Gordon- road. Mosgiel, were entered and a considerable quantity of cigarette.-, valued at about £lO, was stolen. Entry to the shop was gained through a lavatory window.

Lunar Eclipse Obscured A heavily-overcast sky on Saturday evening effectively prevented any observation in Dunedin of the eclipse of the moon which occurred between 6.30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Including the penumbral stage, which commenced at 5.14 p.m., the eclipse lasted for about exactly six hours, but at no time did the canopy of clouds break or thin sufficiently to enable any portion of the eclipse to be observed locally.

Coast Defence There has been a good response to the Defence Department’s call for recruits to undertake special training in coast defence. Since the inception of the scheme last August, 500 men have been trained with very satisfactory results. The third batch of young men as special reservists is now in training. It numbers 200 men. They will carry out three months’ training, after which they will be passed to the reserve for three years, during which they will be called up for 10 days’ training each year. Outstanding features of the training in coast defence have been the • splendid physique of the recruits and their enthusiasm. Accidents at Dusk

To help to reduce accidents to school children going home at dusk after winter sports at the schools, the Masterton branch of the New Zealand Technical School Teachers’ Association placed a remit before the annual conference of the association in Wellington suggesting that the Government should consider making daylight saving extend over the year. A member pointed out that the same advantage could be obtained by starting and finishing .school half an hour earlier. The remit had its supporters, but it was lost. Missionaries in China

In a letter written on April 8 at Kong Chuen Hospital, just out of Canton, Dr Owen Eaton, Knox Church’s “own missionary” in China, says:— “The newspapers have just reported a speech of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, in which she refers to the heroism of the missionaries in North China and Central China, where they have proved beyond all criticism the worth of Christian missions and shown that the spirit of such as Livingstone and Morrison still lives. She announced that the generalissimo has been able to get the Government to rescind a law that has forbidden the teaching of the Bible or of Christianity in any form during the regular hours of school work in all registered schools. It opens up the way again for more fruitful work in mission schools. When this struggle is over, Christianity will be in a position to advance as never before.”

Fire Brigade Calls No fewer than six calls, three of which-were to chimney fires, were received by the City Fire Brigade on Saturday. The first outbreak occurred at 11.34 a.m., when a detached outhouse and washhouse at the rear of a dwelling in Kaikorai Valley was badly damaged, the wall of a neighbouring house being also slightly damaged. Two chimney fires, one at 3.45 p.m. in Moray place, and the other at 5.7 p.m. in Arthur street, were attended to, and at 6.5 p.m. the Roslyn section of the brigade turned out to a grass fire in the tramway cutting above Arthur street. Another chimney fire, in Main South road, Caversham, was dealt with at 7.35 p.m., and at 11.3 p.m. the South Dunedin brigade was called to a house in Waverley, occupied by Mr J. Gorman, where, a fire had been caused by a defective hearth. A leaking gas pipe in a house at Liberton owned by the Love Construction Company, resulted in a small outbreak to which the brigade was summoned at 5.36 p.m. yesterday, its first call to the new housing area. No damage was done. A Common Misconception

Many people believe that it is a definite convention that side-face portraits of ruling monarchs, reproduced on postage stamps, must face towards the left. This is a fallacious idea. Undoubtedly on the stamps of the majority of British colonies, Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, and King George V faced to the left. Canada was an exception, for in the first issue of that dominion’s stamps Queen Victoria faced to the right. Already one of the new sets of stamps has appeared with King George VI looking to the right. Use of Wood Waste

Good progress is being made with the erection of the buildings of Amalgamated Chemicals Industries, Ltd., at Waipango, about seven miles from Riverton. The extraction of chemicals from the wood waste of the Southland beech will be carried out at the company’s plant. Work has been in progress for more than a month, and it is hoped to complete the building within six months. It has been estimated that 80,000 tons of sawmill and bush waste is discarded every year in the Southland beech industry.

American Message Relayed to China

An unusual request was recently received by radio from the United States by the experimental radio station ZL2KS, operated by Mr J S. Furness, of Blenheim. While working on the 40-melre short-wave band, Mr Furness was called by the American station 6IXY, Berkeley, California, the operator of which asked if Mr Furness would be good enough to relay two personal messages to China to Mr Clarke and Mr Barnes, of the British Municipal ' Council Tientsin. The Blenheim operator promised to do what he could, and after concluding a Morse code conversation with the American, put over a general call to China. This was picked up by the Chinese station XU2UG, the operator of which promised to hand the messages on to the two persons concerned. It appears that this roundabout method of communication was adopted because letters had failed to keep relatives in touch with the two men in China.

■—-*■ A Pacific Cruise A six months’ pleasure cruise in the Pacific began on Saturday morning (says a Press Association telegram) with the departure from Auckland of the 34-foot ketch-rigged yacht Seaward. The vessel, which is owned by Mr D. Wellington, of Auckland, cleared port for the Bay of Islands to wait for fair weather before leaving for Norfolk Island. The cruise will be continued to Noumea and possibly to the New Hebrides. Later, the Seaward will sail for the Great Barrier Reef, and will return to Auckland by the end of October, via Sydney and Lord Howe Island. Police Document in Civil Case The question whether a police statement taken from one of the parties involved in a motor collision should be produced in a civil case was raised in the Supreme Court at Hamilton when Constable J. J. Quirke, of Rotorua, said he took a statement from one of the defendants. In answer to counsel, witness said the inspector of police had directed him that if the court ordered the statement to be produced he could produce it. He had left the statement at the Hamilton police station. The Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers) said the parties in the case had agreed that the statement should be produced. It was quite clear that the public interest could not be prejudiced by its production. There was no question of the public interest being involved. There was no need for the court to give a ruling or he would do so. His Honor directed the witness to obtain the statement and produce it. The witness retired, and a little later produced the statement required. Farmers’ Resentment

Resentment was expressed at a meeting of the Ruawai (North Auckland) branch of the Farmers’ Union concerning statements made by the Prime Minister (Mr Savage) and other members of the Government that the farmer was satisfied with the guaran-. teed price, that the legislation had enabled the farmer to purchase more fertilisers, tractors, and motor cars than ever before, and that the farmer now had a greater feeling of security. The guaranteed price for 1936-37, it was pointed out by the meeting, was less than id per lb above the amount realised on the London market, against which were extra costs, at a conservative estimate, amounting, to 2d per lb. It was considered that the farmers could have purchased more fertilisers, tractors, and cars if they had been allowed to market their own butter. These factors, combined with the shortage of farm labour and the delay in receiving manures, had left the farmer far from being satisfied.

Must Join Union “ Surely it would be easier for one man to come out than for 60 men to go to town.” remarked Mr F. W. Gray, at a meeting of the Otahuhu Borough Council, when a letter was received from the Auckland Local Bodies Labourers’ Union • advising that all men engaged on council works would be required to travel to the union’s office and become members. The letter stated that this must be dona within 14 days, and the council would be held responsible for the employment of non-members after that period expired. The Mayor (Mr C. R. Petrie, M.P.) said he could not understand the position. In the past the union officers had always comfe to enrol the men, and it seemed a hardship to insist on personal attendance at the office in the city. “ It means that the 60 men have to spend £6 in bus fare to satisfy the officials.” Mr Gray said. It was decided to receive the latter and advise the men of the position. Native Birds

“Our native birds, in spite of the steady cutting of our native trees, are still numerous and find considerable sustenance in the honey, berries,, and leaves of imported trees and shrubs,” says the annual report of the Southland Acclimatisation Society. “No doubt assisted by the wonderful weather during the last year, tuis, bellbirds, and waxeyes in particular appeared in large numbers in the environs of Invercargill and many, of the country towns, especially in the hard winter months, when food was scarce, and it is pleasant to note the increasing love of our native birds by the many residents who reguarly attract them to their homes by daily feeding them with honey, treacle, apples, and other artificial foods. An Invercargill resident reported that when he was cutting his hawthorn hedge late in the spring he discovered a'bellbird’s nest with three young ones which in due course reached maturity and have remained all the summer in and around his garden.”

Terminal Project Revived , The definite prospect of the South Island Main Trunk railway being completed within two years has led to a revival of discussion on the possibility of making the northern terminus at Clifford Bay, near Cape Campbell, and the construction of a harbour there to accommodate ferry steamers from Wellington. Interested organisations in the northern part of the South Island are actively discussing the project which, when it was first mooted in 1931, caused a mild sensation. The proposal, which was thoroughly investigated, was to construct a line from Clifford Bay to Hanwas, a station on the present line near Ward as the line runs to Blenheim and on to Picton. This would involve a six-mile deviation, but would shorten the distance of the journey from Christchurch to the northern termines by live miles. Clifford Bay is well sheltered in most weathers, and is said to be capable of meeting shipping needs if a breakwater could be constructed. The bay is 40 miles from Wellington, and it is estimated that the journey from Christchurch to Wellington, via Clifford Bay, would take seven hours, compared with 11 hours by the existing steamer express service. The Clifford Bay-Wellington ferry run, as proposed, would take two hours.

Returns of income for the year ended March 31, 1938, should be completed and forwarded to the Commissioner of Taxes, Wellington, on or before June 1. All persons whose income exceeds £2OO and all business companies are required to furnish returns. 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. Teleohone 12-359.—Advt.

For rings, watches, and jewellery, try Peter Dick, jewellers and opticians. S 9 Princes street. Dunedin.—Advt.