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Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 3 June 1938, Page 12

Mail from Australia The Waitaki left Melbourne on Wednesday with 33 bags of Australian mail for Dunedin. The mail should reach the local office on Monday nightFire Brigade Calls Slight damage to the floor and contents of the oak store at the timber mill of Messrs Hogg and Co., in Buller street, was caused by an outbreak of fire early yesterday morning. The brigade received the call at 2.3. At 7.48 a.m. a machine turned out to a chimney fire in a house in High street. Lorry Collides with Tram When the steering column of a lorry broke yesterday morning, the vehicle, which was owned by Messrs Foote and Co., contractors, collided with a tramcar at Cargill’s Corner. The lorry struck the back of the tram, but neither was badly damaged and the driver was uninjured. Knotty Problem

A problem which exercised lay and legal minds in Invercargill (says the Southland News) was whether Mr H. G. R. Mason laid the foundation stone of the new courthouse in his capacity of Minister of Justice or as Attorneygeneral. Apparently, it was a matter of precedence, and it was stated that at the Christchurch ceremony he was acting as Attorney-general, but even the City of the Plains is not infallible. It was a question of fact rather than one of law T-as they say in the courts—and the fact that the inscription on the foundation stone states that it was laid by the Minister of Justice should put the matter beyond dianut®.

Visit of French Sloop The members of the personnel of the French sloop Rigault de Genouilly, which is at present on a visit to Dunedin, were not engaged in any official activities yesterday, but this morning at 10.30 Captain Plante, the commander of the vessel, and officers will visit the Montecillo Home for disabled soldiers. The ship will be open for public inspection to-morrow afternoon, and in the evening a dance and conversazione for the ship’s complement will be held at St. Margaret’s College. Mild Weather at Homer

Owing to the exceptionally mild season experienced so far, work on the heading tunnel through the Homer Saddle to connect with the road from Milford Sound is progressing steadily at the rate of 35 feet or 40 feet a week. A light fall of snow, amounting to about an inch, took place this week, but the weather has since become clear, so that there is no prospect, for the present at least, of an early cessation of work for the winter. A good comparison between the seasons this year and last year is provided by the fact that although the work is still going on in June this year, the avalanche in which two men were killed took place last year at the beginning of May.

University Council Nomination* Nominations for four members of the council of the University of Otago closed yesterday afternoon, with the result that three retiring members were unopposed, and are thereby declared elected, and three nominations were received for two seats, necessitating an election, which will take place on June 23. The retiring members who we& re-elected unopposed were Mr W. J. Morrell (representing teachers in secondary schools in Otago), Mr L. Deans Ritchie (representing members of school committees in Otago), and Mr John Robertson (representing teachers in primary schools in Otago). The three nominations which were received for two members to represent the District Court of Convocation of Otago were Miss Muriel Wallace Hay, Mr J. W. Howorth, and Mr H. P, Kidson.

Communications Business Brisk The Post Office recently called attention to a greatly-improved volume of telegraphic traffic as evidence that the remarkable popularity of telephone communications has not forced the telegraph side of its business into a decline. On the contrary, there was a good increase for the last financial year, which has been maintained, the April telegraphic figures, with their total of 407,276 messages, showing an improvement compared with the corresponding month of last year of 23,899, which is equal to a rise of 6.23 per cent. April was again an excellent month for the telephone, the toll messages handled reaching a high level, which easily exceeded 1,250,000. It was an improvement compared with April, 1937, of 8.27 per cent. Petrol Tax Allocation

Agreeing that all recipts from motor taxation should be spent on the highways, the executive of the Canterbury Progress League has decided to call a conference of all the organisations in the province which contribute to its •funds, as well as the Automobile Association (Canterbury), so as to gain Dominion-wide support to a request that the .Government amend the present legislation. A report presented to the executive by the Highways Committee said that the total motor taxation in New Zealand from 1936 to 1937 was £5,348,000, and of this £2,333,750 was transferred to the Main Highways Account and £154,625 to borpughs —a total of £2,488,375—f0r road purposes. General purposes of the Government had absorbed £2,880,000. Thus, of the total motor taxation, considerably less than half was used for the roads, while of total motor spirits taxation about 55 per cent, was used for road purposes and 45 per cent for other purposes. New Cargo Steamer The addition of a further unit to the fleet of ships trading between England and New Zealand and Australia was announced in a cablegram from London on Wednesday stating that the Shaw Savill and Albion Line had launched the Waimarama at Belfast. The construction on the Tyne of the 27,000-ton passenger and cargo, liner Dominion Monarch for the Shaw Savill and Albion Line has somewhat obscured the fact that the company had another ship in building, arid even the name of the new vessel, Waimarama, has not been generally known in New Zealand. Built by Harland and Wolff, Ltd., at Belfast, the new vessel is a motor ship of 11,000 tons, end has been described as an improved Waiwera type. The Waimarama has been specially designed for the carriage of refrigerated produce, and will also be able to carry more than 100 tons of chilled beef. Accommodation has been provided for 12 passengers. The ship will be generally similar to the Waiwera, Waipawa, and Wairangi, but will be faster, having the high speed for a cargo ship of 18 knots.

Value of Solar Eclipses One reason why eclipses of the sun are so eagerly waited for by scientists was indicated by Mr I. L, Thomsen, of the Dominion Observatory, in an address on solar physics to the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Mr Thomsen, who had been discussing the use of the in determining the constitution of the sun, said that an eclipse helped greatly in making possible the observation of the sun’s atmosphere. When the bulk of the sun was hidden by the moon in an eclipse its atmosphere could still be seen as a brilliance at the edge of the dark mass. It was then > possible to study this section of the atmosphere of the sun in isolation from its parent body.

West Coast Hotels Twenty-eight convictions against hotel proprietors in the Duller licensing area and 173 against persons caught on their premises after hours with no legal excuse, unsatisfactory accommodation, inadequate furnishing, and poor sanitary arrangements at many of the hotels, were matters strongly commented on by Mr Raymond Ferner, S.M., at the annual meeting of the Duller Licensing Committee. He said that observations for the last 12 months had been made by the committee, and members considered the whole position of hotel management as being very unsatisfactory, falling much below the standard of most other districts in New Zealand. He added that the slack practices of the past definitely had to stop, and a better conduct of hotels in the Duller district was desirable. Saving by Machinery An indication of the saving in time and cost resulting from the use of machines was given by the Minister of Public Works (Mr R. Semple), speaking at Wanganui. Mr Semple said that when the Wellington City Council decided to make Rongotai the site of the Centennial Exhibition in 1940, they prepared an estimate of the cost of levelling the area of land selected. It was £SBOO. The estimated time to carry out the work with manual labour—as it was proposed to do —was 12 months. The council called on him with a request that his department should carry out the work, said Mr Semple. He had refused to agree to this, but he had made arrangements for the council to make use of certain machines purchased by the Public Works Department at a rental. “ The work was carried out in 25 working days, at a total cost of £6OO, or a saving of £5200 to the council Mr Semple said.

Respect for Cenotaph “The Sydney people appear to respect their cenotaph far more than we >; do,” remarked Mr W. F. Forrester, at the Diggers’ gathering at the Returned Soldiers’ Association rooms ! ' last night. “The men all raise their hats when they pass it. One Australian I met who had visited Dunedin told me he could not understand why we allowed people to lounge about on the steps of our cenotaph.” In Mr Forrester’s opinion, the Australians treat their commemoration services more reverently than New Zealanders do. Dot’s Little Folk will hold their ‘annual ball on Monday, as advertised i* this issue. Eye Strain.—For eye comfort or better vision consult Sturmer and Watson, Ltd., opticians. 2 Octagon. Dunedin.— i Advt. A. E. J. Blakeley and W. E. Bagley, dentists, Bank of Australasia, corner of Bond and Rattray streets. Telephone 12-359. —Advt. For rings, watches, and jewellery, try Peter Dick, jewellers and opticians, 8# Princes street, Dunedin*—Advi