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Otago Witness, Issue 3594, 30 January 1923, Page 40

At the meeting of the University Senate on Friday the Rev. Dr Cameron moved a hearty vote of thanks to the Chancellor for his very handsome gift to the University by increasing the capital of the Macmillan Brown Prize by £2OO. The mover stated that the capital was now about £350, and the prize would be a very valuable one. Ihe motion, which was seconded by Professor Thompson, was carried with applause. Regulations governing tLe awarding of the prize were agreed to, and it was decided that they should come Jsto operation next year. A disturbance was created in the City Police Court on Friday morning when George M'Ciintock, on being remanded for medical treatment, used insulting language to the Magistrate (Mr H. W. Bundle) and to Senior-sergeant Mathieson. Not satisfied with this, he challenged the constables to take him from the box. The challenge was accepted, and after a desperate struggle the accused was removed. The charge against M'Ciintock was that he was an idle and disorderly person, having insufficient lawful means of support. Senior-ser-geant Mathieson said that the accused had come to Dunedin by boat on the previous day, and had made a nuisance of himself in North-East Valley. It had been sug gested that the accused w’as mentally deficient. The Magistrate: Where do you come from? The Accused: Out of the ground. The Magistrate: Remanded for a week for medical observation. The Accused : All right, Dig. Who are you, anyway ? Turning to the senior-sergeant, he remarked: You’re mentally deficient your self. The Rand Daily Mail’s commissioner, writing on Vrededorp (South African) slums, says: The fact that a dead body is found about once a month in the dam near to Brixton Cemetery affords some indication of the state of affairs prevailing thereabouts. Parcels containing dead babies are periodically picked up in the yards. The parents are always unknown. Nobody knows—and nobody, up to now, seems to have cared much. A disconcerting fact, too, is the tendency (everywhere visible in these places) for many degenerate Europeans to live with natives. In miserable squalor Europeans are often found cohabiting with natives and coloured people. Coloured girls, Chinaman, Europeans, natives, and Indians all live together, it seems, in iniquity. The illicit liquor traffic, too, flourishes. Degenerate Europeans make this possible. It is a well-known fact that thousands of pounds’ worth of liquor is consumed every month in the slums. The unpleasant reaction of motion pictures provides a frequent source of amusement for the spectators, if not for those most intimately concerned. So realistic are the films nowadays that it is even possible to have an attack of inal-de-mer without going to sea. A case in point was related to a Taranaki Herald reporter on Monday by Mr W. H. Skinner, who recently returned from the Science Conference at Wellington. In connection with Sir Arthur Mawson’s address on the Antarctic, he related, a number of very interesting motion pictures of bird life in the icebound regions was shown. But there was one very realistic scene of a ship tossing in a stormy sea. Waves rose mountains high; one minute the vessel was visible, then it would be lost to sight in a greenwalled valley of turbulent water. Suddenly a lady in the audience made a hurried retreat to the vestibule of the Town Hall, where the lecture was being given. The “movies” had proved too much for her; she was sea-sick. A Wellington Press Association reports that the Prime Minister does not favour the holding of the Imperial Economic Conference this year, as most of the countries within the Empire at present are in political difficultes. If, however, it is decided to go o n with it, he believes that the conference will do a great deal of good. New Zealand would be represented, though he was at present unable to say who her representative would be. At a meeting of the Council of Agriculture (states a Wellington Press Association message) a resolution was passed to the effect that the Meat Export Producers’ Board be asked to make further inquiries into the experiments which had been carried out in respect to the freezing of beef and mutton without preliminary cooling, such as had been partly done in England during the war. About half-past one o’clock on Monday afternoon a child got into serious difficulty in the strong current running past the Sumner pier (states the Christchurch Star). r t had been playing with a toy boat when it stepped out too far and was carried into the deep water of the channel under the pier. Unable to swim, the child was carried on an outgoing tide towards Beacon Rock when a lad named Howard Dalton plunged in fully dressed. By this time the mother of the little girl was also endeavouring to help, and very soon all three were in serious trouble, and the woman, who could swim, was forced to make for the shore. At this time a Mr W. E. Green also dived in, and by assisting Dalton enabled all to regain dry land. Mr Green disappeared from the scene of the accident before the thanks of the grateful parent could be offered.

A Press Association message from Wellington reports that as the date originally fixed for the mayoral elections happens to fall this year on Anzac Day, which is observed as a Sunday, the Governor-in-Couneil has decided that the election shall take place on Thursday, April 26. The residents of the Tapanui district propose holding their fourth picnic on February 21 at Black Gully as a jubilee event, the first picnic was held in 1863, the second in 1894, and the third in 1912. Our Roxburgh correspondent reports that 2612 cases of fruit were consigned from Beaumont on Wednesday, representing 45 tons. The following day all previous records were eclipsed, 6677 cases, weighing 93 tons, going forward. The motor lorries have had a strenuous time shifting each day’s picking, as many' as three trips being made by some of them. Mr Veitch, M.P., lias written the Hon. Mr Ca!line (Minister of Railways) strongly dissenting from the policy of spending large sums of public money outside tile dominion for the purchase of locomotives which could be manufactured in New Zealand at acheaper rate (says a Press Association message from Wanganui). He urges the necessity for immediately establishing the necessary plant for the purpose, and characterises it as a grave public scandal that large sums of money should be sent from New Zealand while capable workmen are tramping the roads in search of employment. Preliminary contributions to the Auckland War Memorial Museum Fund and accumulated interest on the amount already paid to the representative Committee now total £140,000 (telegraphs our Auckland correspondent). Of that sum donations represent £134,000 and accrued interest £6OOO. It is claimed that the result, in the circumstances, is a unique achievement, and, really a notable record for the dominion. A comprehensive public appeal has yet to be made. This fact makes the initial effort something to ponder over, since more than half of the estimated sum required for the building of the memorial on the observatory hill in the domain has been obtained by the gentle art of personal appeal to representative firms and individuals. A direct appeal to all the people of a prosperous province should be notably successful. The prices of woollen goods manufactured by New Zealand mills are to be advanced (reports our Christchurch correspondent). Advice to this effect has already been given to retailers. As yet the extent of the advance is largely a matter of surmise, but it is stated that in the case of woollen goods in which merino and the finer wools are used the rise will be considerable. Our Roxburgh correspondent advises that 5420 cases of fruit, weighing 78 tons Bewt, were railed from the Beaumont on Friday. Present indications point to the fact that the Labour Party is going to make a bold bid for representation on the different public bodies at the elections, which will be held in April. At the social given to the Chatham Island children at the S-avoy Lounge on Saturday, Mr J. J. Staples, who represents the Canterbury School Committees’ Association, in the course of a few remarks, said that the proposal to bring some of the islanders to New Zealand had originated with Mr Thomson himself, who had written to a member of the committee with regard to the matter. It had not taken long to raise the 'e-ces-sary money, and the scheme had come to fruition with very profitable results. One important thing the children of New Zealand as a whole could learn from the boys and girls of the Chathams was politeness. The boys would never enter a room before the girls or ladies, and in this respect, and in other little courtesies, they were far ahead of the dominion children. Eleven bankruptcies were notified in the latest issue of the New Zt aland Gazette. Eight of them, involving 10 persons, were in the North Island. A party of 30 girls from the Salvation Army Children’s Home, Anderson’s Bay, left Dunedin on Saturday morning for Invercargill. Ensign Hildreth is in charge of the party, which will give demonstrations of the Army’s work among children at Invercargill, Gore, Balelutha, and Milton. They will return to Dunedin on Friday, and will leave the following morning for Oamaru.