NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26353, 7 January 1947, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Founder of Tin Can Mail

Writing to a friend in Dunedin from Nukualofa. Mr W. G. Quensell mentions the volcanic eruption which-led to the evacuation last month of the island of Niuafoou. He states that on September 9 and 10 last some 10 craters broke out, causing damage estimated at about £50,000. “All the Government buildings were destroyed,” Mr Quensell continues,” together with my tin. can mail office, so that this worldfamous service has come to an end. As perhaps you know, I started this service on October 15, 1919, and it terminated on September 9, 1946. I lived on the island for 27 years, but left shortly after the eruption. I certainly consider myself fortunate, as at the very spot where I lived for so long 'one of the craters erupted, burning and burying the whole of the premises.” / ® Centre of Interest ' Rolls-Royce cars are sufficiently scarce to make them objects of interest when they appear. A large model was parked in Princes street last evening, and many people passing by stopped for a second glance. It was far from new, but it had been altered and modernised, and a rakish folding hood had been added. Public Service' Regrading The 1946 general regrading in the public service has been followed by a large number of appeals, and there is every indication that assistance to appellants will be one of the major activities of the national headquarters of the department during the coming year, states the Public Service Journal. After having filled in form P.S.C. 68, an appellant must prepare a detailed case in draft form and submit it to the general secretary for perusal and criticism. The standard of the service the appellant will receive will depend to ’a certain extent upon the early submission of this draft case. Funeral Expenses The allowable deductions in death duties were debts owing by the deceased at the time of death, but funeral expenses were invariably included, said the Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Deeds (Mr W E. Brown) in an address to New Plymouth Rotarians. “In these days, with increased use of crematoriums, it is rather amusing to note the difference in cost before and after cremation,” he added. “It is usual in Taranaki to find that the cost of transportation of the body and the cremation expenses amounts to between £SO and £6O, whereas the’ last item on the accounts submitted is the return of the ashes by post—ls 3d.” Sunshine in Wellington Critics of the capital city’s capricious ( weather will no doubt be silenced and its citizens considerably cheered—by the fact that for the year 1946 Wellington enjoyed 2112.6 hours of sunshine. This • figure constitutes an increase of 72.2 hours above the yearly average of 2040 hours, and is the best total since 1935. The highest maximum temperature recorded during the year was 78.9 degrees in February. The lowest minimum temperature was 34.8 degrees on June 8. The rainfall for the year in Wellington was 48.58 inches, 3.7 inches above the average and a slight increase on the 1940 figures of 48.22 inches. Rain fell on 169 days. Moslem New Year

The Moslem new year starts on March 14. March 14 next will for Mohammedans usher in the year 1365. The difference between the Moslem and the Christian calendars lies in the fact that the Moslem calendar depends upon the moon, while the Christian is based on the sun. The Moslem calendar is based on a system m use by the Arabs in ancient times, and it was modified by Mahomet, the Prophet so as to ensure uniformity in certain of their religious festivals. Like the Christian year, the Moslem year contains 12 months. The length of the months, however, varies, being alternatively 30 and 29 days. So that the first of the month, the new moon of the Mohammedan calendar, should coincide with the actual new moon, it is necessary to add an extra day to the last month once in 11 years. Disturbance in Court

When the cries of the court orderly for “Order in the court” failed to quieten a disturber in the Timaru Magistrate’s Court on Friday, the hurried arrival of a uniformed constable did. The interjector was sitting in the body of the court during the hearing of charges by two Justices of the Peace, and he apparently thought that one defendant was not receiving justice The defendant claimed that he was entitled to a hearing by a magistrate but was informed that two Justices constituted a Magistrate’s Court. This explanation satisfied the defendant, but not the “back bencher.” His protests were drowned by the orders of the orderly and to prevent further disturbances the clerk of the court called for a constable. When the court resumed after an adjournment of half an hour the interjector returned, but made no further attempt to intervene. The Real Values

“In recent years, much has been learnt about the control of money” said the chairman of directors, Mr H. D Giddy, at the annual meeting of the National Bank of Australasia in Melbourne “and war-time conditions have pushed to the surface a wide and, I believe, exaggerated faith in the efficacy of monetary management. Valuable though this knowldege and the new techniques can be, it is obvious that ’ too many are willing to look for the correction of social errors by the application of monetary measures alone. We are treading dangerous ground when in the minds of the people the power of money is given precedence over physical factors and spiritual values. Already our brief post-war experience has made it abundantly clear that, though we may know how to keep monetary incomes at a high level, we are far from knowing how to sustain the real value of these incomes, let alone increase it. Monetary management may be able to produce the incomes, but it cannot, of itself, produce the things which we want to spend them on. For this we have no alternative but to rely upon what we produce at home and what we can purchase from other nations.”