Overseas Mails

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23857, 11 July 1939, Page 8

Overseas Mails

The A-fvatea left Sydney on Friday for Wellington with 45 bags of Australian afrid Empire mails for Dunedin. The malil is due at the Chief Post Office this evening. St. Clair Beach A.part| from a certain amount of erosion j on the St. Clair beach on the St. Kiliijla side of the groins, not much damage. 1 has resulted from the heavy south-west storm experienced last week. I The Domain Board workmen are noyv'engaged in laying scrub fascines the sand has been swept away, land in building a protective fence on.the edge of the track abutting on to Ithe beach frontage. Tram Concession Ticket!

To-r&orrow is the last day on which the current concession tickets issued by thfi Dunedin City Tramway Department will be valid for use on the trams] for on Thursday the new concession tickets, with a reduction in the nrimber of rides as decided upon by tlie Dunedin City Council, will comei into force. On the previous occasion on which the tram fares were increased in Dunedin a special order-in-cojmcil had to be obtained, and the operation of the new scale of fares was '(delayed for some time until that order was granted. No order.-in-cour4:il is required in the present instance, however, as the cash fares remain unaltered, and the City Council has jthe power to change the concession I fares without further reference to tlie Government. t

Midcllemarch Rop.d Blocked

Advice was received last night that the | Outram-Middlemarch road was still" blocked yesterday, and that it was) not anticipated that the work of clearing away the deep snowdrifts vvoitid be completed by the end of the dayj Men have been engaged on the woiic since Friday, and several large mat pines have also been employed. Skating Championships Postponed Advice has been received that, the Neva Zealand ice skating championshinp at Alexandra have been postponed until July 27, or the first available! subsequent date. The season so far thas been very mild and open, but prospects, have now improved, with snobr on the ground and the surrounding \ hills. Advice will be forwarded frorji Alexandra as soon as th« ice is tiearing.

Mi City Mountaineering

Whoever is responsible for placing the name-plates on street corners has apprpached View street in a mood of sarcastic whimsy. Apparently working on tyie supposition that the mid-city mountaineers about to use View street will isoon be in a semi-horizontal position,! this unknown and possibly unintenlional humourist has shunned the conventional horizontal and has nailed the p-late on the corner post in a perpendicular position. « High [Schools' Board Nominations Nominations of candidates to fill two vacancies on the Otago High Schools' Board' caused by the retirement by l'otatiqn of Messrs F. H. Campbell and J. C. ;H. Somerville, closed at noon yesterday. The only names received were ihose of the two retiring members, yho are therefore automatically re-eleqted to office. Trams; and Bicycles

WitH| the prospect of fewer tram services 3.nd higher fares, many of Dunedin's I pedestrians who have not already !done so are seriously considering serving their transport problems by mejins of a bicycle, and although only ai few machines are usually sold at this- time of the year, there has been si distinctly improved demand since special Tramway Sub-com-mittee its report to the City Council. So appalled was one woman at the Increase in fares that she went to the expense of over £3O to equip her family with bicycles. City dealers, indeed, jtiave had many customers buying machines for the same reason, ?nd stocks ave being augmented as quickly as possible in order to meet the rush of ordehs that is expected in the near future. \"The bicycle still has its best days before it," commented one dealer cheerfully yesterday afternoon.

Schools' Travelling Library Covering an area from Akaroa to Weheka jand from Aniseed Creek to Glenavy, |the travelling library for the rural schools of Canterbury and Westland is nqw serving 157 schools regularly. Schools established at various Public Wjorks camps throughout the Canterbury Education Board's district are benenydng particularly from the scheme. * ( rhe library contains more than 6100 jfoooks, and a 96-page catalogue is ijiow in the hands of the printer. Ni;w books of a high standard are continually coming to hand, and the committee estimates that 7000 books willt be available by the end of the yeai'. The general outlook for the traveling library is distinctly brighter tri,is year, and it is the ambition of tljie committee to see every non-urban j school linked up in the near future..

Transport qf Teams The New; Zealand Rugby Union has forwarded » ruling to the Auckland Union from the Commissioner of Transport itt reference to the use of private care, for the conveyance of teams, which is important in view of the recent case in Otago in which a private car prevented from carrying hockey flayers. The communication stated mat, provided the cars did not ply for 'Jiire, and no charge was made, the practice was in order. It was decided ito circularise the various clubs with this information.

Wedding Presents Removed

The hosts "at a social function in Auckland recently (states the Auckland Star) <fvere reminded sharply that in gathep-ihgs of the sort where the guests ace numerous, with the result that many of them are little known to one; another, there is need to make provision against " gatecrashers." Aflter a wedding over 300 friends and relatives had congregated, by invitation,' at the home of the bride's parents; for the breakfast and reception in a marquee erected on one of the laivns. After the reception the guestsiwere invited to a room in the house wlriere the wedding presents were displayed. The discovery was then mad<j that over a score of the most valuable presents were missing, and inquiries led the hosts to the conclusion tjhat the thefts had been accomplished by " gate-crashers," who had mingled with the company as guests until this reception gave them the opportunity; for a safe visit to the unguarded roono in which the present! were displayed.. Warned by this experience at a fciend's party, the hosts at a similar crowded gathering had the wedding giifts picketed by a private ffuard. l

Fire Brigade Calls Two automatic false alarms, one to the premises of Messrs Andrew Lees, Ltd., George street, at 7.53 a.m., and the other from the premises of Messrs C. B. Smith, Ltd., Stafford street,, at 8.17 a.m., were answered by the City Fire Brigade yesterday. Another call, to a chimney fire in Payrick street,- was answered at 3.17 p.m. At 11.41. p.m. the brigade was called to the lamp room in the railway goods yard in Rattray street, where a slight outbreak of fire destroyed some kerosene and cotton-waste. A Narrow Escape . Entirely regardless or the warning siren and of the rule which provides that traffic shall give way to a fire engine on its way to an outbreak of ' fire, a woman driving a light car drove serenely out of Burlington street yesterday afternoon, and, continuing across the road, made a turn into Lower High street just as a fire engine dashed past. By a particularly skilful piece of steering, the driver of the engine just managed to avoid a smash, and a press cameraman who was standing on the corner of Lower Dowling street, missed a notable " scoop " by a matter of a few feet. Droving of Stock A complaint that stock had been driven through the borough during hours outside those allowed by the regulations was voiced by Cr T. D. B. Roy at the fortnightly meeting of the St. Kilda Borough Council last evening. In many cases, Cr Roy said, the stock was not even under proper control, and was allowed to wander to such an extent that it caused a considerable amount of damage. A councillor mentioned that he had seen stock being driven through the borough at 10 o'clock on a Sunday morning. It was decided to ascertain during what hours, under the regulations, stock might be driven in the borough, and to prosecute all drovers not observing these hours..

Infectious DiseasM

Only one patient suffering from fc notifiable infectious disease was admitted to the Dunedin Hospital during the week ended at noon yesterday, and that was a case pf erysipelas. Another patient suffering from the disease wrs discharged during the period, and thus only one remains in the institution, where a case of typhoid fever is also undergoing treatment. At the Logan Park Hospital there remain one case of scarlet fever and one case 6f measles.

Old Tramshed to Go

One of the last evidences of the old Maori Hill-Roslyn tram service is the large corrugated iron shed at the corner of Highgate and Spylaw street, for the purchase and removal of which tenders have been called by the City Corporation. The only use.to which the shed has been put since the discontinuance of the service, has been to hcuse the trams that once served the district, but, now that these have all been sold, the Tramway Department hss no further use for the building. No decision has yet been come to,-how-ever, as to the disposal of the section on which the shed is built. No Shortage of Skis

Although the liberal fall of snow on Flagstaff at the week-end created a sudden rush for winter sports .material, city shops were prepared'to. meet'tiie demand. A temporary shortage.of skis of. a certain type was experienced, but even in this respect purchasers are likely to be assured of obtaining aii that they require in future. It was stated yesterday that, should, conditions again become favourable for winter sports, no difficulty will be experienced in obtaining skis of all types. Dunedin, is well able to cope -with such a demand, J ifor a local factory, has for some time manufactured these articles and has catered for the needs of' the growing numbers of winter sports enthusiasts in the South Island and also in Wellington.

Had Never Seen the Sea -'.'<■ It is almost Incredible that there should be in New Zealand children 14 years of age who have never seen the sea, yet that is what was disclosed when a party of 16 children from the Tarawera School, on the Napier-Taupo road, were taken to Napier for a day's excursion. Some of the children live less than 40 miles from the coast. Their reaction was expressed in a question asked by one 'if them, "Is it all water?" -Other eights and experiences brought to some members of the party for the first time in their lives were to see a train and a boat and to watch motion pictures. Golf at Mental Hospital

Thanks to a generous response to an appeal by the Auckland Returned Soldiers' Association, many of the.exsoldier patients at the Auckland Mental Hospital have been enabled to take up the game of golf on the new course at the hospital. In addition to over 30 clubs, the association received donations of over 70 golf balls. All had been used, but were still serviceable, a member of the executive reoainting all before they were sent to the hospital. ' \ '' After a Famous Victory

Applauding the military history of the Star Boating Club in Wellington at a recent reunion of members, the club captain impressed on members that they had a duty to preserve their traditions by joining up with the country's defence forces. The president then added sqme comment He was recently told* he said, that a body of young men went along to enlist, and the recruiting officer, not wishing to accept enlistments froiri men who came along out of a spirit of adventure, or because they were carried away through their • fellow members enlisting, wished to make plain exactly what they were taking up. He dwelt on the horrors of war, and said that it was only right that they should know the ruin and destruction that war could cause. Finally, he' said. " I think it is rather hopeless to make you understand it. Nobody can understand exactly the tragedy of a bombing raid who has never seen it. None ot you have, for example, even seen a shelled village." There was a long silence, and one oarsman finally spoke. " No, sir," he said, " but we have seen Picton after a championship regatta;"

New Zealanders in Toronto When the King and Queen visited Toronto in the course of their recent tour of Canada an address was presented to his Majesty by the members of the Australian-New Zealand Club, Toronto. The address took the form of a book approximately nine inches by eleven inches. The covers were hand bound in blue Morocco leather, faced w,ith blue moire silk. On the flyleaf, on a background of gold, was a well-executed painting of the club's crest. The lettering was old English, hand printed, in colours. The Australian-New Zealand Club, made up of Australians and New Zealanders in Toronto, has some 120 members and is purely social. Its president is Mr Douglas G. Moffitt, its vice-presi-dent Mr Arthur J. Carson, and its secretary-treasurer Mr Geoilrey Lewis. The executive consists of Miss Berths M. Chubb, and Messrs Leonard L. Eden, Norman A. Nunn and Stanley C. Rea.