NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27570, 12 December 1950, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Small Boy’s Adventure The guardian angel of a small boy who lives at Dalmore must have had some anxious moments on Sunday evening. Shortly after mid-day, the boy, in company with some of his companions, decided on a closer view of the fire sweeping the hillside above Logan Park and the party made its way to the rifle butts. About 7 p.m., the attention of a housewife living in Opoho road was attracted by cries of “ Help! ”, and on investigating she discovered a small boy, rather the. worse for wear, emerging from the adjoining scrub. It was the little lad from Dalmore who, after his spell of firewatching, and not realising the dangers that lay in his path, had decided to take a “ short cut ” home. After some attention from the housewife and some refreshment, he was set on a safer road. Tree-planting Bequest Under the will of Miss. Christina Mary Mathieson, the Dunedin Amenities Society will receive £SO “for planting trees in the city, or its environs, outside the line of progress so that the trees would not be likely to be cut down in future.” At a meeting of the society yesterday, the chairman, Mr A. C. Cameron, expressed warm appreciation of the bequest. Accession Anniversary Yesterday was the fourteenth anniversary of the accession to the Throne of King George VI. Since the fateful days of 1936, when the drama of the abdication of Edward VIII was enacted, the present King has developed from a quiet, unassuming member of the Royal Family into a monarch who is held in the deepest • affection throughout the British Commonwealth. The King will celebrate his fifty-fifth birthday on Thursday. Assorted Chairmen The Dunedin Development Council meeting yesterday morning was presided over by three chairmen in less than an hour. The Mayor, Mr Wright, was officiating at another meeting, so Mr A. S. Falconer, who was re-elected deputy chairman, led the early deliberations. When he had to leave for another meeting, Mr M. S. Myers presided. Eventually Mr Wright arrived and Mr Myers vacated the chair in his favour. Indian Students The suggestion that Indian students be given an opportunity to attend agricultural- colleges in New Zealand, and perhaps obtain practical experience on ' progressive New Zealand farms, is contained in a letter from the Southland Federated Farmers which is t.o be sent to the Minister of External Affairs, Mr Doidge. The letter emphasises that there is no suggestion of immigration. The value of the scheme would lie in the knowledge that these students would carry back to India. New Banking Practice A new note was struck in banking practice yesterday when the National Bank, Dunedin, opened its doors to its clients, for the staid, conservative and sometimes sombre interior of the counting house had caught the Christmas fever (a virulent infection at this time of the year) from the members of the staff. From cashiers' desks and central pillars to vaulted ceiling, the place was festooned with blue and gold streamers. There was a Christmas tree carrying cheaues to bearer for 365 happy days in the year, while from high up in the ceiling myriads of cellulose strips sparkled and glistened in the light. The whole effect was striking. As g gesture from management and staff, it was highly appreciated. Paid While Learning School teachers were liberally paid while they were learning their profession, said the Minister of Education, Mr Algie, at the breaking-up ceremony of the Wellington Teachers Training College. He described conditions when he was a young teacher. His salary was £9O a year, an with that he paid • for good board and lodgings for his books and more education, and for an annual holiday from Auckland to Otago. “Money went a long way in those days,” said Mr Algie. Today, he said, everybody who wanted it could get free education from the kindergarten to the university. The country was at least entitled to ask that those who benefited would in their turn see that the road was made smoother and better for those who came after. “A Good Burn ” “Notwithstanding the history of former civilisations having perished through the destruction of the plantlife of the country,” says a writer in the Forest and Bird Protection Society’s latest journal, “the white man wherever he has settled in new lands has made his first assault on the native forests. He has done this without knowledge of the special characteristics of the country. New Zealand has proved no exception to the rule. Among the early settlers nothing was hailed with so much satisfaction as a good burn.” The native birds, without which there can be no native forests, were depleted in so many instances by man himself and his imported pests as to become rarities and in some cases even- extinct. The result is that after barely a century of colonisation New Zealand is now faced with serious and , ever-mounting problems of erosion.