Overseas Mails

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23704, 11 January 1939, Page 8

Overseas Mails

The English letter mails despatched on December 16 and 17 reached London on December 31 and January 3 respectively. The mails despatched on December 21 reached London on January 5.

Fire Brigade Calls Caused no doubt by the strong wind which prevailed, several chimney fires were attended by the Central Brigade yesterday, the first being at 9.14 a.m. at 24 Valpy street. Similar calls were answered at S.B p.m, at 18 North View terrace, and at 6.27 p.m. at 125 Main South road.

City Council Meetings The first meeting for 1939 of the Dunedin City Council will be held on Monday, January 30. Meetings of committees will commence almost a fortnight before that date, however, so that it will be necessary for members of the council to be in harness again after the Christmas and New Year recess within the next week or so.

Appropriate Warning Whether the Transport Department officer who distributed the posters in Invercargill has a sense of humour or whether it was done accidentally, the warning to motorists which is displayed in a window at the Courthouse is (says the Southland News) certainly appropriate to its surroundings. II bears a reproduction of a clock, with the words, in large letters, “ Take Time, Not Life.” Bad Weather at Lake*

A report that bad weather was being experienced in the Queenstown and Te Anau districts was received late yesterday afternoon by the Otago Automobile Association. Rain was falling at both Queenstown and Te Anau, it was stated, and there was snow on the hills, while snow was falling in the Eglinton Valley. So far, the secretary of the association (Mr P. F. Harre) stated, the roads had not been affected in any way by the weather, but motorists were not advised to travel up the Eglinton Valley in snow because driving conditions would be extremely unpleasant.

The British Museum A letter containing some entertaining sidelights and interesting impressions of his tour abroad has been written to a Wellington friend by Mr C. C. Sheath, a New Zealander now in business in Sydney, who has a bent for statistics. He has crammed into his letter many interesting facts relating to London and its institutions. One of these, with which he was particularly impressed, was the massive British Museum, which, he says, is very much smoke-stained. “ Its contents,” the letter continues, “ are valued at one hundred million pounds, and over a million and a-quarter people pass through it each year. Visitors are never out of sight of the attendants. There are half a million coins, and not one has ever been stolen. The library and reading room contain over four million books on 96 miles of shelves. In the library there is every book and paper ever printed, including ‘ penny dreadfuls ’; no one knows what the future historians may want. Forty men are employed for dusting purposes only.” Would-be Settlers in Waikato A description of the work of the Waikato Land Settlement Society, written by Mr F. A. de la Mare, of Hamilton, and appearing in the Rotarian. has resulted in the founder of the society, Mr D. V. Bryant, of Hamilton, receiving inquiries from England, Australia and Holland, written by men anxious to take up land in New Zealand. One of the inquirers, a Belgian living in Holland, said he had assets valued at £II,OOO, which he was prepared to realise on and come to New Zealand. He asked for other information concerning the practicability of moving to New Zealand and taking up land here. Correspondents from London and Australia, with £2500 and £ISOO capital respectively, have also expressed their interest in land settlement in New Zealand, and have asked Mr Bryant for his advice. Mr Bryant intends to consult the Government before replying.

Memento of Penang's Visit An interesting series of pictures illustrating the visit of the sailing vessel Penang to Otago Harbour is at present on view in Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs’s display window. The enlarged photographs, 33 in number, have been collected by Mr G. C. Thomson, of Thomsons’, Ltd., and are handsomely mounted in two sets. The photographs commence with a striking view of the ship under full sail in Foveaux Strait, and conclude with two views of the vessel disappearing to sea off Otago Heads after her long stay. Other pictures show the ship after the damage to the main royal yard and the top gallant on June 1, when she was some 500 miles east of Stewart Island, the arrival in port, the repair work, various functions at which the men were entertained, and the ship being towed out to the Heads. At the head of the main group of photographs is the small replica of the Finnish emblem which was presented to Mr Thomson. The display also includes a handsome framed reproduction in colour of the compass which was autographed by the captain and the crew of the vessel as a souvenir of their visit, and an excellent little scale model of the Penang. This is the work of Mr M. G. Harraway, of Belleknowes, and is carved from a portion of the main royal yard which was broken in the accident. The model is a neat piece of work, and is complete in detail. It is intended at a later date to lend the photographs to schools for their educational interest.

Railway Extension Criticised “It is just as sensible for a Government to build sailing ships to-day as it is for the New Zealand Government to proceed with the construction of the South Island Main Trunk railway from Parnassus to Picton,” said Dr S. J. Mathieson, of Denver, Colorado, in conversation with an Otago Daily Times reporter yesterday. “I cannot understand its policy at all. The railways in the United States are practically bankrupt to-day owing to the competition of buses. Huge sums of money are being spent on improving the highways, and comfortable, fast buses are gaining in popularity everywhere. They have practically all the facilities of the trains, and travelling by them is much more enjoyable. And yet the Labour Government Is pushing ahead this huge undertaking, which involves great cuttings and tunnels. If they want to absorb some of the country’s unemployed why do not they spend the money on the roads instead? I can’t understand it. All the world is trying to get away from railways except New Zealand.”

Hotels in New Zealand Although one heard criticism about New Zealand hotels, they were, generally speaking, up to the standard of the hotels in the larger cities abroad, said Mr D. I. Macdonald, of Christchurch, who has returned from a trip abroad. On the price basis, the New Zealand hotels were better than those abroad. The New Zealand hotels were not able to give the same service because of the restricted hours of work, and in his opinion this was the only way in which they fell short of those overseas. One paid as much for bed and breakfast in a good hotel abroad as one did for a whole day in one in New Zealand.

Surgery in England “In England the particular class of surgery in which I am interested is of the highest standard,” said Mr W. A. Fairclough, of Auckland, a prominent ophthalmic surgeon, who returned by the Niagara on Monday after a tour abroad. “ There are many men in London doing the most excellent work,” he said. “ The too-widely held belief that it Is necessary to go to Germany for instruction is definitely discounted."

New Zealand’s First Refuge# New Zealand’s first political exile came here in 1839 on board the New Zealand Company’s advance expedition ship Tory. He was Dr Ernst Dieffenbach. The son of a Lutheran pastor, he had fled to England to avoid persecution for his political opinions in his native Germany. In London he got in touch with the New Zealand Company, and was engaged as naturalist on their expedition going out under Colonel William Wakefield to spy out the new land. Dieffenbach was a qualified doctor. He proved himself a geologist and explorer. He made the first ascent of Mount Egmont, visited the thermal regions, the Chatham Islands, and the country north of Auckland. He compiled a workmanlike Maori grammar - and vocabularies. He returned to England in 1842, and the next year published his two interesting volumes of travels.

A Busman’s Holiday In his “ Christmas holidays,” the newly-appointed Minister of Labour (Mr P. C. Webb) has travelled New Zealand on departmental business from Hamilton to Auckland in the north to Invercargill and Queenstown in the south. In each town he has visited he has addressed meetings of employers and workers on the new plan of forming industrial councils, and he told a Christchurch Press reporter that in each case the idea had been given a warm reception. The Minister is travelling without staff, because his secretaries and typists are on holiday. He explained that he made the trip over the holidays because then there was a freedom from the normal pressure of departmental business. In some towns, he said, he had taken time off for race meetings in the afternoon, but on such days he had usually held a conference in the morning. New Zealand Train*

The view that railway carriages In New Zealand, in spite of improvements in recent years, will not stand comparison with modern railway coaches in the United States, is held by Mr Llewellyn Owen, who is re-visiting Auckland from Oakland, California, after an absence of over 50 years. Mr Owen, who is a retired railwayman, came to New Zealand from Wales in 1883 and resided in Onehunga. He left New Zealand in 1888 for California and for many years was employed by the Southern Pacific Railway. “Until the narrow gauge system in the Dominion is replaced by a broader one, your railways will always be at a grave disadvantage,” Mr Owen said. “While some of the New Zealand carriages are fairly comfortable, their construction has not kept pace with modern developments in comfort. There have been big improvements in America in dining carriages and sleepers and also in stream-lined trains.

Attention is drawn to the Railways Department’s advertisement appearing in this issue giving particulars of tram arramrements in connection with the Bluest A. and P. Show at Waitati on The Dunedin Working Men s bocial nub will hold - a special meeting at the club rooms. 14 Dowling street, tomrot° rin"gf wttcS and Jewallery.'try Peter Dick, jewellers and opticians, 59 Princes street. Dunedin.-Advt.