NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26596, 20 October 1947, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Sales of Pictures Sales of pictures shown in the current exhibition of the Otago Art Society are as follows:—“ Inlet, Purakanui,” by R. T. Little; “ Wind and Tide,” R. Wallwork; “The Girl in the Pink Overall,” I. G. Fyfe; “ Pine Trees,” J. A. Johnstone; “ Wild Ducks,” Miss Andrew; “ Central Otago,” I. E. Todd; “Nelson,” a lino cut by D. Lusk; 11 Lady of the Snow," Roy Dickison; Pohutukawa,” W. A. Sutton; “ Shoulder, Mount Cargill,” H. V. Miller; “ Lake Hawea,” M. Kirkpatrick; and “Southern Alps,” K. Airini Vane. Unusual Effect

The new moon provided an unusual spectacle last night. Appearing over Flagstaff, it was for quite a long time surrounded by a peculiar luminosity which gave the effect of a ball of fire. To-day’s Wool Sale Because of the large catalogue, which is almost double that of last year, the first Dunedin wool sale of the season will start to-day at 11 a.m. in the Orphans’ Club, King street, instead of 2 p.m., as was originally intended. A total of 1£,815 bales will be offered, made up entirely of new wool. Prolific Ewe

A Romney ewe owned by Mr T. G. Herbert, Pongaroa, Hawke’s Bay, has produced 16 lambs in five years. This sheep, which is now eight years old, has had four sets of triplets and one of quadruplets. This season three lambs were born, two being fostermothered because of the age of the parent ewe. Mr Herbert claimed that the ewe had set a lambing record. Defence of Communism

Following at least partially in the tracks of Mr Randolph Churchill is the national organiser of the Communist Party of New Zealand, Mr Victor G. Wilcox, who is at present in Wellington. Mr Wilcox, whose headquarters are at Auckland, has as his primary objective the answering of Mr Churchill’s criticisms of Communism and Communists. He proposes to hold an opposition meeting to Mr Churchill at Palmerston North this evening, when Mr Churchill is scheduled to speak there. Change for Better Most Dunedin people must have entertained the dreary prospect of a complete week-end indoors on Saturday, when heavy downpours of rain persisted and the outlook was bleak and uninviting. A number of sports were postponed and many programmes were upset. Yesterday, however, brought a complete contrast, with a baking north-west wind and high temperatures (the highest recorded was 70.5 deg). All of the popular resorts, including the Gardens and the beaches, were crowded with people taking full advantage of the summer-like day. Teachers’ Houses The difficulty of securing houses for teachers on transfer to country districts, due to the houses being occupied by other people, was emphasised by the chairman of the Appointments Committee (Mr A. E. Lawrence) at the monthly meeting of the Canterbury Education Board last week. He said the Fair Rents Act should be modified so that the board's houses should be used for the purpose for which they were built. The board no longer allowed teachers to live in other houses and take rent for the school houses. Letting of the houses was now not allowed.

New Zealand Vodka “New Zealand vodka is, strangely enough, the best I have tasted,” said Mr R. R. Livingstone in an address to the annual meeting of the Canterbury Junior Chamber of Commerce last week. He said he had sampled New Zealand vodka with the former Russian Ambassador to the Dominion (M. Ivan Ziabkin) on his return from Europe. Polish vodka, said Mr Livingstone, was the worst, and other types varied up to the standard he had tasted in this country. He related an incident in Russia when some vodka, thrown on a fire, had exploded. Higher Furniture Prices Comment on the effect of the removal of sales tax on certain articles of furniture is made in the annual report of the Wellington Furniture and Furnishing Trades Industrial Union of Employers. “It is to be regretted,” it states, “ that in spite of the good intentions to reduce the costs of those items, rising costs caused mainly through increased labour costs and through the higher costs of materials have completely nullified the effect of the reduction of sales tax. With the recent further increases in wages, costs must again be expected to increase considerably.”

Embarrassing Hospitality The New Zealand delegates of the Church of Christ who visited the United States to attend a world convention of the churches found the hospitality of the Americans almost embarrassing, said Mr R. A. Blampied, addressing the Nelson Rotary Club. In granting a permit to the delegates to go to America the New Zealand Government limited the amount of money which could be taken out of the country. The Americans, learning ot this, set out to take care of the New Zealanders. A delegate would go to a hairdresser for a haircut and tender the dollar or dollar and a half required and the barber would refuse, saying that he had received a telephone message saying that the payment would be arranged for. The same applied to taxis and restaurant meals. Two delegates had been met by a millionaire who had offered them a blank cheque, felling them to fill in the amount that they required.