Ranfurly Shield Traffic

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23866, 21 July 1939, Page 8

Ranfurly Shield Traffic

So heavy has been the demand for seating accommodation on the trains for Invercargill on Friday and Saturday next that the local traffic office of the Railways Department has decided to despatch still another special train for the south on Friday, and this will leave Dunedin at 4,55 p.m. The 4.40 p.m. through express on the Friday will leave Dunedin with a full load, and no further bookings will be accepted for this train. A Freak Lamb

“A lamb with six legs and two tails was born at Pukahu on Wednesday (says a Hastings Press Association message), and lived until late at night The mother, a Southdown ewe. fully normal, was destroyed later. Freaks are not uncommon, but it is extremely rare to find a combination of six logs and two tails.

Busy Airport Already the busiest aerodrome in New Zealand, and said to rank fifth in the British Empire, Rongolai. Wellington, is expected to cope with more than 30,000 air travellers this year. Commercial air lines using the aerodrome are planning additional services to cope with the extra volume of traffic expected to follow the opening of (lie Few Zealand Centennial Exhibition in November. Last year a record number of passengers—27,ooo—passed through Rongotai, and during the Christmas and New Year holiday period the aerodrome was busier than ever before in its history. Indicating that Rongotai is growing rapidly in importance, the figures for last Easter showed a further substantial rise in the number of passengers. Because the present accommodation is inadequate, it is hoped that alterations to the administration building will be completed before the opening of the Exhibition.

Fire Brigade Calls The City Fire Brigade was called out to Messrs Irvine and Stevenson’s premises in Filleul street, at 2.3 p.m. yesterday by an automatic false alarm. At 4.37 p.m. a call was received to a chimney fire in St. Andrew street.

Late Entry to School For the purpose of ascertaining the relative scholastic progress made by the five-year-old and the six-year-old entrants, the New Zealand Council for Educational Research is conducting a series of investigations designed to discover the effects of the late entry to school. This investigation has the approval of the Education Department, and the Wellington Education Board was requested at a recent meeting to grant facilities for furthering the inquiry. Several speakers stressed the value of the work.

Public Service Cadets Wanted “ There is an indication that something must be done amongst the schools to publicise the Public Service as a career,” said Mr S. T. Barnett, of the Public Service Commissioner’s Office, during a public lecture at Victoria College, Wellington, when commenting on the lack of qualified boys suitable for first appointment to the service. “We have advertised and circularised each matriculated boy in the country,” he continued, “but it appears that we must point the way to the Public Service by much more effective methods.”

Report on Road Conditions The roads throughout Otago are now generally clear, according to the latest reports of the Automobile Association (Otago), but drivers are advised to use care and to carry chains. The road surfaces are still wet on the hills and in shaded portions and, with the nightly frosts, these will become dangerous. The Pigroot still carries some snow and there have been heavy frosts. Some cars have negotiated the Outram route without chains but others have been involved in trouble. The road to Central Otago from Milton is in fairly good order, and the main roads north and south should not present much difficulty. The route from Flagstaff to Where Flat is fairly deep in snow, and is regarded as impassable. The spreading of screenings on bitumen surfaces in dangerous spots has considerably helped motorists, but stretches over Mount Cargill and the Kilmog are wet and, after last night’s frost, should be treated with every caution. Some of the hill roads in the city were slippery yesterday morning, and in spite of the screenings there were several cases of alarming skids. In Elgin road one car skidded badly and struck an elderly pedestrian, but fortunately he did not suffer any more than a severe shaking.

High Prices for Potatoes The notato market at Christchurch is still firming. Prices now are at £l4 on trucks for prompt delivery and £ 15 for August. These are probably the highest prices that have ever ruled for potatoes in Christchurch at this time of the year. Merchants said that £ls had been paid in other years in October, about the end of the season, but they could not remember prices as high as those ruling now being paid in July, when the season is little more than halfway through.

A Hopeless Case “This foolish man seems to be a hopeless drunkard, and I am afraid we shall have to face up to the position and keep him under restraint,” said Senior Sergeant Claasen when Albert Joseph Bell, aged 58, appeared before Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M., in the City Police Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to a. charge of drunkenness and to one of procuring liquor during the currency of a prohibition order. Bell, the senior sergeant fold the court, was making his ninety-fifth appearance, most of the charges arising out of drunkenness. He had been charged with drunkenness two days previously, and had been convicted and discharged on condition, that he went to work in the country. He was put on the train, but he got only as far as Waikouaiti, where he had made a nuisance of himself. He had been ■ drinking methylated spirits, and it now seemed a case for imprisonment or committal to an institution. Remarking that the defendant had been in Roto-Roa, which seemed to have done him no good, the magistrate imposed a sentence of two months’ imprisonment on the charge of drunkenness and entered a conviction on the other. Tasman Air Service

The possibility of land aeroplanes being used for the Tasman air service three or four years after its starting, and Milson Aerodrome, Palmerston North, becoming the terminal of the service, were mentioned by the chairman of the Wellington Harbour Board (Mr M. A. Eliott), in an address to the Palmerston North Rotary Club. When in Australia recently, Mr Eliott said, he had talked about the service with an official of Imperial Airways, who was of opinion land machines would ultimately be used. “He is of the opinion that the Milson Aerodrome will be used for the terminal when this happens, and not anywhere else in New Zealand,” said Mr Eliott. "He knows the situations in New Zealand, and is of the opinion that the New Plymouth airport is too risky because Mount Egmont in heavy weather would be a potential source of danger In clear weather it would be a landmark, and he contended that in that case it would bo just as easy to come on to Palmerston North.” Women’s Cheap Hats

The women of New Zealand wear approximately three times as many hats of Dominion manufacture as men, yet they pay about half as much for them as men do. This was one of a number of interesting disclosures relating to the hat manufacturing industry in New Zealand made by Mr W. E. Barnard. M.P., when speaking at a ceremony to mark the expansion of a Napier hat and cap factory. Mr Barnard said the production of women's hats in the Dominion had grown from 6300 dozen in 1932-33 to 126,925 dozen in 1937-38, and of hats for men and boys from 34,396 dozen to 34,893 dozen. The total number of hats and caps made in New Zealand in 1937-38 was 161,818 dozen. Over a period of six years the number of hats manufactured in New Zealand was 7.413,120 for women and 2,039,304 for men. Women, as compared with men, had hats at the rate of more than three to one. yet the total money spent by women on their hats was only about half that spent bv men.

Salary Scales

The salary scale in the Public Service was con pared with that ottered by outside employment by Mr S. T. Barnett, of the Public Service Commissioner’s office, in a public lecture at Victoria College, Wellington. “Is it impertinent to inquire,” he said “if there is any good reason why a town clerk is paid as in.ch as the directorgeneral .if the Post and Telegraph Department, or why a city engineer should enjoy the same emoluments as the engineer-in-chief of the Public Works Department, or, again, why the manager of a municipal electricity department be equally rewarded with the chief electrical engineer, Public Works Department—the man who reticulates and peddles electricity in one scheme on a parity with the man who is responsible for the whole country’s electricity output and the main reticulation of it? ”

Proposed Anglican Weekly A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that a proposal to establish a weekly Church of England! newspaper of Dominion-wide circula- . tion and so increase the influence of the church was laid before the Wellington Diocesan Synod yesterday. Arch- ' deacon J. R. Young said that here was ' an opportunity for the church to make I some impact upon people in larger I numbers than could be achieved by their present organised religious teaching and diocesan magazines. Such a paper, he said, would be widely read by all kinds of unexpected people. It would present a chance of influencing their thought, improving their knowledge, and stimulating their will for better things. “I believe in it so strongly that I think it will be a tragedy if this proposal is not taken up,” he said. Discussion of the project was deferred.

Footpath for Fairfield Negotiations between the Main Highways Board and the Taieri County Council regarding finance for the construction of a proper footpath at Fairfield have been finalised, and work will be commenced shortly by the Public Works Department. It is proposed to construct a bitumen footpath four feet wide from the Green Island boundary to the “Coach and Horses.” and, needless to say, the local residents are highly gratified at 'this decision. The projected work' has been surveyed and pegged out, and when it is completed pedestrians who promenade through this suburb, especially at the week-ends, will have no excuse to be on the roadway. It will also be a decided boon to motorists and to the Walton School children, who at present must walk to and from school on the roadway at several points, where, as one small boy expressed it, “ the footpath isn’t.”

Restriction on Rent*

The question of rent restriction Is to be brought before the Government by the National Council of the Federation of Labour. It is suggested that the Rent Restriction Act should be put into force covering all houses, and should be made retrospective to a certain date in the case of new houses, which it does not at present affect. The federation believes that the influx of visitors to Wellington during the Exhibition will make it impossible for people to get acconir modation at a reasonable cost..

Saving of £25,000 a Year By operating its own workshop at Temuka, where all mechanical equipment used on the big undertakings in Canterbury is repaired, the Public Works Department is making a saving of £25,000 annually over the cost of the parts which would otherwise have to be imported. This was stated, on Wednesday by the Minister of Public Works (Mr R. Semple). Ninety men are employed there, and only four were skilled fitters when the workshops were opened two years ago. Apart from the saving in actual money, sn unassessable amount is saved by the workshops in enabling repairs, to be made without delay, giving continuity of service of. all machines. All except the finest precision spare parts are being made, the Minister said. “I invite any critic —politician, mechanical engineer, or Nosey Parker —to visit the workshop and see what is being done,” Mr Semple said.

Naming of Buffalo Grass An interesting version of how buffalo grass got its name was given by an Australian visitor during question time after a lecture to the Auckland Botanical Society. The name, he said, was given because the grass first reached Australia in the ballast of the ship Buffalo. It was pointed out that the grass which grows under that name in Australia and New Zealand is not the buffalo grass of the United States.

Fish with Three Eye* A deep-water sole with three eyes has been received by the Auckland War Memorial Museum. It is the only example of a fish with a third eye known by the assistant director dnd eonchologist, Mr W. B. Powell, who said that all three eyes were fully developed. The specimen was caught in the Bay of Plenty by a fishing vessel when trawling.

A Barrister** Defence

Verbal sparring, to the amusement of all in the court, was a feature of the cross-examination of a Crown witness in a trial for breaking and entering in the Supreme Court, Wellington, on Wednesday. Witness had already been convicted of breaking and entering a house into which he said prisoner had invited him at a stop on a motor car journey. Prisoner’s counsel asked him if he were not suspicious in such circumstances. “Not unless you are a legal gentleman and looking for trouble,” witness answered. “We do not get you into trouble, vie get you out of it,” retorted counsel. Child’s Narrow Escapa

To escape unhurt after a fall of 20ft nver«a bank in a baker’s delivery van which crashed through a fence at the foot of a blind street, Point .Chevalier, Auckland, was the experience of a five, year-old boy who tried to drive t'vehicle. Climbing into the driving seat when the van was standing on a steep slope near the foot of Walmer road, the boy released the hand brake and pulled the gear lever out of reverse. where it had been left as am additional safeguard. Gathering speed rapidly, the van smashed through a stout fence at the foot of the street and landed on its wheels in swampy ground a few feet from a creek, the front of the vehicle being damaged. The child did not realise the narrowness of his escape and coolly asked witnesses of the accident. who had gone to his help to push the van back to the road. The vehicle was later removed by a breakdown wagon.

Workers’ Advocate

Realising the importance of the Royal Commission set up by the Government to investigate the sheep farming industry, the New Zealand Workers’ Union has decided to engage the services of IVtr James Roberts-'as advocate, states the Labour papbr, the Standard. The commission opened its sittings in Wellington on July 11. Sir Francis Frazer is president, and the other members are Messrs H. M. Christie, R. A. Rodger, Dickson Jardine, and Arthur Cook. “Mr Roberts has been recognised for many years as the outstanding pleader on behalf of the trade unions in the courts of this country,” adds the Standard. “He has no equal in the preparation of the workers’ case and in the examination of witnesses.”