Fire Calls

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23687, 20 December 1938, Page 10

Fire Calls

Shortly after 4 o'clock yesterday morning, the Roslyn Fire Brigade, dealt with a hedge fire in Garfield street. The brigade received a further call at noon to Messrs Ellis's flock mills in Kaikorai Valley, where a machine had caught fire. The blaze was extinguished before much damage was done. Loan Poll

Ratepayers will shortly be asked to vote on the proposal of the City Council to raise a loan of £IOO,OOO for works and £50,000 for waterworks. The council at its meeting last night approved of February 23 as a tentative date for the poll to be taken.

Cape Saunders Road The Automobile Association of Otago has been advised that the Cape Saunders road, which was blocked by slips during the recent heavy rains, is now open for traffic. Rhodes Scholarships According to the annual statement of the Rhodes Trust, 65 Rhodes scholars took up their scholarships for the first time during the 1937-1938 academic year. The number of scholars regularly In residence for either the whole or some part of the academic year was 181. Ninety-two of these were from the British Empire, 84 from the United States, and five from Germany.

Road Safety Week The opinion that Cr Henderson, chairman of the General Committee, the members of the committee, and Chief Traffic Inspector Avery should be complimented on the success of Road Safety Week in Dunedin was expressed by Cr Cameron at the meeting of the City Council last night. He thought the thanks of the -council were due to all who had assisted in any 'way towards the success of the week. Thefts of Sheep

Measures incorporated In the Stock Amendment Act, 1938, for the prevention of the theft of sheep and lambs from farms were outlined by Mr G. E. T. Dorman, secretary of the Southland Lorry Owners' Association, to a meeting of the Southland Provincial Executive of the Farmers' Union a few days ago. He said that lorry .drivers would henceforth carry a consignment book which would have to be signed by the farmer, the driver and the freezing works authorities, for each load of stock. Cartage of stock at night would be permitted, but there was a heavy penalty for any neglect to have the consignment notes in order.

Celebration of Christmas A flat refusal was given by Cr Taverner, chairman of the Finance Committee, when Cr McMillan requested, at the meeting of the City Council last night, that council employees should be allowed to cease work at mid-day on Friday in order to facilitate the celebration of Christmas. Cr McMillan -said it might be argued that that would be difficult, since Friday was pay day, but when the Town Hall staff was going off for the afternoon there did not seem to be any difficulty about paying out in the morning. " I cannot hold out any hope of the Finance Committee agreeing to any such proposal," Cr Taverner replied. Naturalisation of Aliens Notification of the issue of certificates of naturalisation contained in the current issue of the New Zealand Gazette show that when tension in Europe was at its height before the signing of the Munich agreement there was an unusually large number of applications from aliens in the Dominion to acquire the status of British citizenship. From the beginning ot August 188 certificates of naturalisation have been granted, and all but 10 of those affected owned allegiance to countries in Europe. By far the largest proportion were nationals of Yugoslavia, 84 being in this category. Auckland is the home of all but a few of these, and only one is located in the South Island. Fifteen Italians acquired British citizenship, 14 Germans, 12 Danes, 10 Swedes, 8 Greeks, 6 Norwegians, 4 Russians, 4 Americans, 3 Finns and 3 Rumanians. Three nationals from Lebanon changed their status, and also 3 Tongans. In the period mentioned 83 women lodged applications to acquire British nationality, and 17 women who had married aliens made declarations of the desire to retain, while in New Zealand, the right" of a British subject. What Happened to the Pew? Something of a problem was propounded by Cr Brent, at the conclusion of the meeting of the St. Kiida Borough Council last night, when he said he would like to give publicity to a particularly mean theft which had taken place in the borough. He stated that on the Sunday morning after the heavy rainstorm which took place in Dunedin and the suburbs recently, members of the St. Kilda Methodist Church had placed a pew across a water channel to enable the congregation to walk dry-footed into ths church. When the service had concluded, however, and the congregation was preparing to leave, it was discovered that the pew was gone. Cr Brent added that he realised that tha theft was not really a matter for the council, but he thought mention should be made of it. " Maybe it was washed away." drily remarked a councillor, and there was no further discussion.

New Traffic Plan

The new traffic control plan, which was adopted by the City. Council at its meeting a fortnight ago, will not come into operation until February 1. This decision was made at the meeting of the council last night, when it was explained that a great deal of preparatory work, such as the erecting of signs, would have to be done before the plan became operative. It was also considered that the traffic control system of the city should not 'be changed until after the holidays.

Light Apple Crop The export of apples from Hawjce*g Bay this season is likely to be a small one, in view of the light crops growers are experiencing. The yield last season was a record one, following severe loss in the previous year, when practically the whole apple crop was destroyed by frost. The smaller number of apples on the trees will tend to increase the sizes considerably; in fact, much fruit produced in Hawke's Bay this season will, it is expected,' be too large for export. It seems probable that the greater part of the crops will be consumed by the local market. The yield of pears promises to be well above the average, and, definitely higher than last season. A. successful export season for pears seems assured.

Concealing Losses The adoption of the recommendation of the Electric Power and Lighting Committee to reduce. ; tramway power charges at the request of the Tramways Committee was described by Cr McMillan at last night's meeting of the City Council as merely a backdoor way of subsidising the trams. "The whole thing is designed to conceal from the public the heavy losses that the tramways are incurring," he said. "We are simply taking money out of one pocket and putting It in another." On the subject of the discontinuance of contributions to the renewal funds for the Diesel engines, Gr McMillan asked who was going to-pay them. The Mayor (Mr A. H. Allen) explained that there was already sufficient money in the fund to replace the' plant, so that further contributions would not be necessary. New Zealand-made' Good* ...

A yellow painted sign on the engln# of the through express from Invercargill to Christchurch yesterday which could not fail to catch the eye read, " Buy New Zealand-made Goods." Mr Wilson Brown, advertising representative of the railways in Otago and Southland, informed a Daily Times reporter that this was an effort on the part of the Minister of Industries (Mr D. G. Sullivan) to create an increased demand, especially during the Christmas period, for New Zealand manufactured goods. It was the intention of the department, he said, to have these signs painted on all engines throughout .the Dominion. Mr Brown added that this form of advertising was only part of the extensive campaign which was being, carried, out by the Government to assist the sale of New Zealand-made goods. House Numbers

The suggestion that action should 'be taken to secure uniformity ; of housenumbering in the.city was made by Cr Borrie at the meeting of the City Council last night., Cr Borrie said that at present a great many people painted the numbers the same colour as the portion of the housef or gate to which they were attached, with the result that It was difficult, particularly at night, to distinguish them. It was desirable also that all numbers should be clearly visible on gates. Cr Wilson, chairman of the Works Committee, said the only thing would be to ask householders to meet the council by providing extra.numbers to be placed on their gates by council workmen.

Grant for Beach Patrols At the meeting of the City Council last night it fwas decided to make a grant of £35 to the Otago; branch-of the New Zealand Surf Life-Saving Association for providing beach patrols at St. Clair for a period of eight weeks. Cr Taverner, chairman of the Finance Committee, explained that the figure of £3O previously published had been inserted* in the committee's report in error. : V':\ ' \"

Girls and Homework " Realising that the girls In general have little leisure to. develop.sidelines and ffeeling that homework four nights a week should be sufficient, I have given them freedom from homework in the week-end," said Miss M. E. Baker, principal of the Wanganui Girls Collegiate College, at the breaking-up ceremony. " I feel sure," she continued, "that parents will encourage their daughters to make the right use of this by taking up some hobby or reading good books." New Zealand Credit

"New Zealand's credit. In London today is not what it was; I do not care what is said to the contrary." , This statement was made by Mr W. T. Ritchie, of Timaru, who returned on Saturday from a visit overseas. " The test will come when New Zealand has to renew her loans in England/' he said. Stockbrokers to whom he had spoken had a feeling that New Zealand might repudiate. He did his best to allay those fears, and had emphasised that whatever happened in the Dominion there would.be no repudiation. Brokers, he said, were definitely advising their clients not to buy'New Zealand bonds. They had a disturbed feeling that New Zealand could not carry on under her present financial policy, and that she was going the pace too fast. The feeling in London was that the test would come when New Zealand had to renew her loans, said Mr Ritchie. People might disagree with his opinions in the matter,' but his observations had been based, on what he had been told by stockbrokers. They looked on New Zealand as ■ an experimental country, and were watching the experiment very closely., *'-' ]

Dairy Factory Secretaries Negotiations between representatives of the dairy factory companies in Southland and secretaries for a new agreement on the salary scale have been in progress for several months. Several of the companies, hbwever, have expressed a fear that an increase in the scale is likely to add to the cost? in the industry and the Dairy Committee of the Southland Provincial Executive of the Farmers' Union has brought forward a proposal that the executive investigate the possibility Of establishing a co-operative organisation to handle all the secretarial work of the industry in the province. It is expected that a conference will be called in the near future to discuss this proposal. ' .'"'.. The Railways Department advertises in this issue particulars of excursion fares and train arrangements in connection with the Dunedin Jockey Club's races at Wingatui next Monday and Tuesday. . . . _- The Railways Department advertises in this issue particulars of excursion fares and train arrangements in connection with the trotting meeting at Gore on Monday. For al) yoiii requirements in Fishing l'ackle. Electrical Appliances. Electrical Repairs Contracts and Jobbing call at Barth Elertric Ltd 36 George street Dunedin Fishing CataloeuPS *tilJ available -Advt A. E. J Blakeley and W E. flagley, dentists. Bank of Australasia, corner of Bond and Rattrav streets. Teleohone 12-359.—Advt .'; -