City Fire Calls

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23882, 9 August 1939, Page 8

City Fire Calls

Three automatic false alarms and two chimney fires were responded to by the City Fire Brigade yesterday. The three automatic alarms were from Messrs Wardells, George street, at 11.2 a.m., Messrs John Chambers and Son, Limited, Stuart street, at 12.12 p.m., and from Messrs Mackintosh, Caley, Phoenix, Ltd., Maclaggan street, at 2.49 p.m. At 5.13 the brigade attended to a chimney fire in Kirriemuir street, and at' 5.32 was called to a chimney fire in Royal terrace. Decline in School Population "The prosperity of this institution depends on the prosperity of the city," said Mr H. P. Kidson, speaking at the opening function in connection with the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of the King Edward Technical College last night, "and it is disturbing to me, as it must be to others, that the school population of Dunedin is growing smaller. If this means the start of a decline in this city, which has always been prominent in educational matters in New Zealand, then it is a great pity indeed."

Sunshine at Lake Tekapo The following are the meteorological figures for Lake Tekapo for July, 1939: The sun shone on 26 days, the sunshine for the month totalling 112.6 hours. The daily average for the month was 3.6 hours. The total sunshine to date for the year amounts to 1375.7 hours and the daily average for the year 6.4 hours. Rain fell on 10 days, the rainfall for the month totalling 1.05 in. The rainfall for the year is 5.84 in.

Universities Compared "In most fields of post-graduate study American universities have more to offer New Zealanders than English universities," said Dr A. Martyn Finlay, who arrived at Auckland by the Monterey on his return after two years' study in England and the United States. He found the critical quality of the teaching in America higher than in English universities but so far few New Zealanders had taken advantage of the opportunities offered. Cadets of Early Days Referring to the school's cadet corps, Mr John Murray, at the annual dinner of the Wellington branch of the Otago High School Old Boys' Society, said that a recent edition of the school magazine had had a very interesting history. It was recorded that in 1864, in the second year of the school's existence, some 40 boys had petitioned the Government to be recognised as part of the Dominion's volunteer forces. "I think," said Mr Murray, "that at the present time that is something to be remembered."

Rental of a Shilling a Year A formal resolution leasing to the Exhibition Company the land at Miramar on which the Exhibition buildings stand was adopted by the Wellington City Council at a recent meeting. The Mayor (Mr T. C. A. Hislop) said that the resolution should have gone through long ago. The buildings had been erected, but the company as yet had no legal right other than the right of occupation. Cr T. Brindle: "What is the term of the lease? " The Mayor: "A shilling per annum, up to October 1, 1940, but there will also be the demolition period. There will have to be careful salvaging, otherwise the loss might be £30,000 or £40,000. We have a scheme for this salvage work. We hope not to commit the error that was made in another place, where they lost heavily." The expiry date of the lease was fixed at May 31, 1941.

No Trace of Yacht After a lapse of a week, no trace of the missing yacht Titi and her owner, Mr Gordon Morice, of Gisborne, has been discovered. Every agency available has been employed in a vain quest to establish the fate of the boat. Hopes were raised on Saturday, when it was reported that a ketch-rigged vessel answering to the general description of the Titi had been sighted at Whale Island, in the Bay of Plenty, but a special launch trip from Whakatane undertaken by a brother of Mr Morice resulted in disappointment. Shipping masters have been maintaining a watch all along the coast, especially to the northward of Whakatane.

What's a Generation? "It's 50 years since I left school— I was going to say a generation had passed," said Mr John Murray in proposing the toast of "The School" at the annual dinner of the Wellington branch of the Otago High School Old Boys' Society. "This, however, would not be quite correct." He remembered that one day at school a master had asked what a generation was. The boys did not know, but they guessed. One said 100 years, another said 50 years, and a third 60 years. "Well," the master had replied, "if you ever start an insurance company on those lines you won't go very far."

The Name " Marina H The use of "Marina," the Christian name of the Duchess of Kent, for trade mark purposes, has been prohibited by the Federal Government of Australia, in anticipation of its wide commercial popularity. A proclamation declares that, under section 18 of the Trade Marks Act, the word "Marina" or " any word so nearly resembling it as to be likely to deceive" shall be prohibited. The use of "Marina" in the names of companies or firms, it is believed, will probably also be prevented by State legislation. The Commonwealth Government's action will prevent the trade marking of such names as " Marina chocolates" and "Marina hats," which would probably have otherwise been widely used throughout Australia for describing large varieties of goods.

Country Girls' Week An interesting and enjoyable time was spent yesterday by the visiting country girls who are taking part in the annual educational week conducted by the Otago Provincial Council of the Women's Division of the Farmers' Union. In the morning they visited First Church, and were conducted through it by the Rev. W. Allen Stevely, who explained the various points of interest. He referred to the history of the church and the part played in the early days by the Rev. Dr Burns. Mr Stevely later gave a short address on " Citizenship." The party was photographed and later listened to an address on "Emergencies and Remedies in the Country Home" by Sister Spillman. In the afternoon the girls paid a visit to the Roslyn Woollen Mills. Chinese and English

A Chinese caused some amusement in the Police Court at Auckland, when charged before Mr W. R. McKean, S.M., with having opium in his possession. The charge was read, and accused was asked how he pleaded. He did not reply, but shook his head. Detective Sergeant P. Nalder, who prosecuted, said the accused had been in New Zealand some timo and could speak English. The magistrate then asked the accused if he knew English, to which accused replied, "No." The accused then went on to say in English that another, man had put the opium in his pocket.

Dangerous Climbing Preliminary steps with a view to obtaining legislation to prevent solo climbing and other forms of indiscriminate and dangerous climbing on Mount Egmont were taken by the Egmont National Park Board at its quarterly meeting. It was decided to invite representatives of various Taranaki alpine clubs to meet the executive of the board to formulate proposals for the control of climbing. "We should strongly support th? alpine clubs and mountain committees in their efforts to prevent solo climbing and all forms of risky climbing by visitors to the mountain," said the chairman (Mr W. C. Weston). "The question of preventing solo climbing has come before the south committee of the board, but we find that we cannot enforce anything," said Mr G. J. Bayley. "The alpine clubs are doing all they can to prevent dangerous climbing." Mr T. R. Anderson, whose proposal to seek power by legislation was agreed to, considered alpine club members would be doing a great service if they gave public lectures on dangerous climbing. ,

New Hydro-electric Works Financial authority to enable the Lake Tekapo hydro-electric development to proceed will be made by the Cabinet within the next week, the Minister of Public Works (Mr R. Semple) said in an interview at Christchurch. " The job has got to go on," Mr Semple declared. "The position, so far as power demand is concerned, and future requirements, make the development at Tekapo inevitable." All arrangements for an early start on the work were made, the Minister said. Once the Cabinet approved of the expenditure, the work would be taken in hand. Although the Minister was unable to give details of the cost of the project, he said that tests already made had satisfied the Public Works Department that the ground through which the tunnel was to be bored would provide no difficulties, but further test bores were to be carried out before the boring was begun.