Chimney Fires

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23810, 17 May 1939, Page 8

Chimney Fires

Machines from the Central Fire Station turned out on three occasions yesterday afternoon to chimney fires. The first was at 12.1 to Princes street south, the second, at 3.26, to Main South road, and the other, at 5.3, to London street.

Motor Vehicle Registration As there are over 300,000 motor vehicles to be relicensed before June 1, motorists will be well-advised to secure their new licences and plates early, otherwise there will be serious congestion and delay at the public counters towards the end of the month. To ascertain how many motorists had taken this timely precaution, the motor registration branch of the Post Office secured details of the licences renewed at a number of important centres covering half the total motor vehicles on the register. Taking the average of these figures, it is evident that in the remaining 18 days of the month 90 per cent, of the Dominion's motor vehicles have still to be relicensed.

Hasty Misjudgments A good example of the habit of lumping to wrong conclusions was given by Mr J. W. Shaw in an address to the Auckland Rotary Club on Monday. For many years, he said, a woman, Miss Bates, had devoted herself to caring for blacks in the interior of Australia and. was regarded by them as almost a goddess. Yet tourists who had happened to see her in townships on the fringe of her district spoke derisively of a "queer" woman who wore old-fashioned clothes and was never seen without gloves. If they had troubled to inquire, they would have learned that she purposely wore dresses like those in which the blacks had first seen her as a young woman, and that, having dreadful jobs to do in a dry country, where little washing was possible, she obtained gloves by the bale and threw them away when soiled. Without such protection she could not do her self-sacrificing work.

Collection of Fossils The gift of a fine collection of fossils has been made to Auckland University College by Professor W. N. Benson, of Otago University, according to a letter from Professor J. A. Bartrum, which came before the Auckland University College Council on Monday. The fossils were collected at Preservation Inlet, South-west Otago, and in Scotland. The gift was accepted by the college council and a letter of thanks is to be sent to Professor Benson.

Prehistoric Man An interesting exhibit on loan from the Otago Museum is at present on display in the Dominion Museum, Wellington. This is a special show case displaying the migrations and advances in civilisation made by prehistoric man in Europe. Diagrams and drawings give a graphic representation of our early ancestors and their environment, and included in the exhibit are flint and other implements which early man fashioned, albeit somewhat rudely. A display of this kind (states the Evening Post) is of far more interest and educative value than the old-fashioned museum idea of just grouping a whole lot of flint implements and the like together in one case with just a single label as to what they are and where they came from, and possibly with a note as to who gave them or how they were acquired. The modern museum display cases tell a real and graphic storv. Comedian and Astronomer It is probable that few of the admirers of the well-known screen and radio star Will Hay are aware that in his spare time he is a keen amateur astronomer. In the course of an address delivered in the Museum lectureroom last evening, Mr M. Geddes, who has been appointed director of the new Carter Observatory at Wellington. mentioned that in 1934 Mr Hay discovered what had come to be known as the "white spot" on the planet Saturn. This spot had also been observed by other astronomers throughout the world, the lecturer said, including one in Wellington, but in scientific circles the credit for its discovery was generally given to Mr Hay.

Military Expert's Tour Flying to Christchurch from Wellington on Monday morning, Majorgeneral P. J. Mackesey, C. 8., D. 5.0., M.C., motored out to Burnham, where he made an informal inspection of the 3rd Composite Infantry Battalion's camp. Almost 900 men from the Nelson, Marlborough and Westland, the Otago and the Southland Regiments are under canvas, and as they carried out their training General Mackesey was shown round by Lieutenant-colonel J. M. Samson, who is in command, and Captain A. P. McCormack, the adjutant. General Mackesey, who represented the British Army at the recent Pacific Defence Conference, is to make a report to the Government on defence. "There are a fine body of men, and I was very glad to have the opportunity of inspecting them," said General Mackesey after his return from the camp. "It was their first working day in camp, but they were very workmanlike."