NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27291, 18 January 1950, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

High-priced Car Just how much will be paid for certain types of used cars seems to depend largely on bringing the right car and the right buyer together at the right time. When that occurs, the sky is evidently the limit. As an example, a 1939 Chevrolet sedan in good order and with about 30,000 miles on the speedometer was sold for cash by a local dealer recently for £llOO. The price of the car new 11 years ago was less than £SOO. Although the practice is legally prohibited, it is reported that exorbitant sums have changed hands in deals on post-war Canadian cars. The popular method of circumventing the law is to trade in another car_at a give-away price.

Sheep By Air Further consignments of stud sheep bought at northern fairs were brought south by two NAC freighters yesterday. The total consignment comprised over 40 sheep, and they were sent on to their buyers in the south by truck. One of the aircraft was to load fruit at Harewood on its way north.

Mayoral Gift A handsome brief case which the Mayor, Sir Donald Cameron, was carrying at the civic reception in his honour last evening was the first gift given to him on his recent visit to the United Kingdom. It had been waiting for him on his arrival in Edinburgh and had come from the ex-servicemen of the small Dunedin Leather Company, of Edinburgh. “It was one of the many gifts which I received during the tour, but there are few I value more.” said Sir Donald.

Mediocre Radio Plays New Zealand radio plays are consistently mediocre, according to Professor G. Musgrove, professor of English at Auckland University College. The Broadcasting Service, he said, seemed to be going in for “ soap operas ” and serials in a big way. The demand for radio plays was so great that indiscriminate importation was the order of the day. Against this, the New Zealand playwright found it hard to contend. He felt, however, that the lack of subject matter in this country was another contributing factor to mediocrity. His Honor Pleased

Two small boys were struggling along a North Island road laden with a sack and a large suitcase. Thinking they had broken camp and were on their way to catch a bus, a visitor stopped his car and ottered the boys a ride. They accepted eagerly, and asked to be driven to an hotel in the nearest town. There, with a tell-tale clinking, they unloaded their luggage (which proved to contain several dozen empty bottles, with a penny to collect on each), blissfully unaware that their helper was the Chief Justice, Sir Humphrey O’Leary, who was spending a holiday in the town.

Greek Book Stolen A book much valued because it was in the original Alexander Turnbull collection, was stolen from the Turnbull Library, Wellington, last week. The missing volume is a Greek "incunabula,” which is a library term for fifteenth century printing. It was printed in Greek by Aldus Manutius at Venice in 1495, and is entitled “ Eclogues of Theocritus.” The “ Eclogues ” were exhibited in a case with other examples of famous printing. Its value is between £lO and £ls, oniy a fraction of the value of other books which were left behind.

Returned By The Sea A pair of spectacles lost by a woman in the sea off Awatoto, Napier, was recovered nearly three weeks later by her husband, who was fishing with a met. The woman was paddling in the sea on Christmas Day when she lost her spectacles, which were washed out to sea. Last week her husband was fishing from a boat with a net off the beach. After emptying the fish from the net he left the net on the beach to dry, and when bringing it in later he found the spectacles in the mesh, little the worse for immersion in the sea. Glow Worms At Te Anau The glow worm caves at Te Anau are steadily increasing in popularity. About 100 tourists, many of them from the North Island, visited the caves on Sunday last. A number who have visited the Waitomo caves, considered the Te Anau caves superior to the northern attraction. Experience has shown that there is a marked variation in illumination from the worms during the year. Sunday was a particularly good day, and so bright was the lighting that the guides were able to look down the passage, pick out file wire rope for negotiating the boats and distinguish the expression on the visitors’ faces.

Television Prospects Television should be an established fact in New Zealand in little more than three years if the Government adopts the right policy. This is the opinion of Mr C. G. Scrymgeour, formerly of the New Zealand Broadcasting Service, who arrived in Auckland by air on Saturday. Television rightly belonged to the people, and could only be established satisfactorily by the State, said Mr Scrymgeour. Commercial aid was. however, necessary. Ethical objections to commercialism in television were even more silly than in broadcasting, because television was a much more expensive service to run and needed all the assistance it could get. Australia would have television in three years. Mr Scrymgeour said. Novel House Hunt

Desperate measures to deal with a desperate house-hunting situation have been adopted by Mr John L. Checkley, a young returned serviceman from Christchurch. On Monday he paraded up Lambton quay and in Courtenay place, Wellington, with a sandwich board slung from his shoulders offering £5 reward for information about a flat or a house. The results were not encouraging. Facetious remarks and broad smiles greeted him in his progress; one self-styled wit offered a penny and information was proffered concerning a house, the rent of which was too high for his purse. Mr Checkley explained that the idea occurred to* him when he \yias studying advertising in New York’ last year.