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Otago Witness, Issue 3662, 20 May 1924, Page 3

“Anzac Day is becoming more and more a holiday.” That was the reason advanced by. the Christchurch employers in a Conciliation Council dispute on the 12th for their objection against the inclusion of Anzac Day as a holiday. “A lot of people,” said Mr W. G oss, “use Anzac Day as a picnic day and have departed right away from its spirit. The day ought to be observed by the general public in the spirit m which the day was established. An endeavour is being made to have Anzac Day observed on the nearest Sunday, and by excluding the day as a holiday from awards it will further the project of transferring it to a Sunday.” A drapery merger of considerable importance has just been completed (says the I.3 ; tr,elton Times), the firms concerned being Messrs Beath and Co., Cashel street, and Messrs Carey’s (Ltd.), Colombo street. The terms of the merger have not been disclosed, but it is understood that Beath and Co. will carry on the business in tho Colombo street premises for some time, taking over in eight or ten days. Important changes, it is said, will be made subsequently, but these will be the subject of a later announcement. The firms are both well-known and old-established ones in Christchurch. Beath and Co. have been in business in Christchurch for 64 years, and Messrs Carey’s (Ltd.) for 35 years. Vigorous and definite views on the place of the Bible in education are evidently held by Dr Lawson, the new professor of education at Otago University. Addressing a public meeting in Trinity Church on tho 12th he said we had never made the use of the Bible in our schools that we ought to have made. We had done our schools great harm by keeping it out. He believed that if we had an anthology of selections from.the Bible made solely with a view to its literary quality with only verbal explanations and no attempt made to give any setting to dogma, the inherent vitality of the Book would work its own reformation in the human heart. He spoke feelingly on this because he knew from long experience as a teacher and as a lover of literature that nothing outside the essence of religion itself would so elevate the mind as daily contact with the highest minds, be they pagan or Christian. Young people who acquired the habit of reading the Bible would unconsciously acquire an aversion to the tawdry, the mean, the secondrate, the showy in literature. “If we put the best before our young people,” he said, “and teach it to them as literature, they will love it and enjoy it and it will work its own reformation.” The Government Statistician’s report, published in the Monthly Abstract of Statistics, states that the index number for the three food groups combined as at March 15 showed an increase of 11 points aa compared with that for the previous month, and an increase of 49.63 per cent, as compared with the figure for July, 1914. Prices in the groceries groups had remained practically stationary, the index number for March being one point less than that for February. A rise of 46 points in the dairy products group was caused by a rise in the price of milk in |:e of the larger towns and a considerable increase in the price of eggs in most towns. Very little movement had been recorded in prices in the meat group, a rise of 2 points being due to increases in one or two minor items.

It is a healthy sign for the community generally that building is brisk in Dunedin at the present time. Most of the work in hand may be described as good class residential work, hut many business places have schemes in hand for alterations end additions. For handsome and substantial homes Anderson’s Bay and Maori Hill continue to be the. most popular suburbs. Local architects and builders are being kept busy, and there is a keen demand for all competent builders’ labourers. The Victoria College Council on Thursday discussed the question whether tiie university colleges should now he made separate universities, and anpointed a committee to go into the matter. During the debate Mr M'Calium said it would be time enough to raise the subject £0 years bonce, when New Zealand had sufficient population.

In view of the approach of Winter Show week, arrangements are being made by the secret ary of the Ot ago Expansion League (-jlr W. B. Steel) for the reception and billeting of a number of school children from the distant parts of the province whose chances of seeing Dunedin would otherwise be small. The idea is to extend lo the pupils of baekblock schools, during their term holidays, a similar opportunity to tnat which was given D the children from the Chatham Islands of seeing a modern town with all tire resources of civilisation which it contains. The proposal, which is a kindly one, merits both approval and support, and Mr Steel hopes that the people of Dunedin will gladly open their doors to the young folk from the country and assist in giving them a good time.

The electric power for the city was cut off on Wednesday from 10 minutes to 1 till 2.44 p.m. The two Diesel oil engines were, however, quickly brought into operation, and after a little delay the tramcars were run from this plant. The breakdown at Waipori, though at first looking rather serious, was fortunately not attended by any grave consequences. Workmen at Waipori are engaged in putting iji a branch tunnel, to tap the main tunnel, for the purpose of supplying water to the new surge chamber and then to the new No. 4 pipe. This branch tunnel is about 100 ft long, and it had reached within 2ft of the main tunnel. The breaking through was to have been carried out some Sunday morning when the work On the new surge chamber -and the No. 4 pipe had been completed. On Wednesday, however, the pressure of the water broke through the 2ft wall, flooded the branch tunnel, and ran through the surge chamber down the side of the hill, washing out some of the embankment on which the No. 4 pipe is laid. The men working in the branch tunnel had to make a hurried escape. A telephone message from the men at the outlet of the tunnel was at once sent to the men at the inlet, and the water was shut off at the weir. The work of sealing the exits in the now surge chamber was expeditiously carried out, and the water brought under control. As a result of this the ordinary electric power service again came into operation. There was an exceptionally large yarding of fat cattle at Burnside on Wednesday, the entry totalling 379 head, as compared with 320 at the previous sale. On the whole the quality was decidedly good. The number of extra prime bullocks forward was greater than usual, and a large portion cf the entry consisted of prime steers and heifers from Central Otago and Southland. Owing to the large entry, prices were somewhat easier. Extra heavy bullocks realised 33s per 1001 b, light bullocks 32s sd, prime heifers 255, and cows and light heifers from 18s fid to 20s. There was again a large entry of store cattle, the yarding numbering about 360 head as compared with about 350 last week. The entry was made up chiefly of medium-weight cows and heifers, with nothing of outstanding quality. The demand was not very keen, and prices generally showed a decline from the. rates realised a week previously. Best cows fetched up to £6, steers to £7, and aged cows from £1 (o £2 10s. There were about 40 dairy cows forward—-a slight increase on the number offered last week. The entry included several animals of good quality, for which competition was fairly keen. Best cows realised up to £lO 10s, heifers from £8 to £9. and aged cows from £3 to £4. The entry of fat sheep was not quite equal to that of last week, totalling 2755 as compared with 2889 at the previous sale. There were several pens of well-finished wethers and a large proportion of ewes. Anything suitable for export was in good demand, and for these sorts prices were firm at last week’s rates, but heavy-weights were a shade easier. Extra heavy wethers realised from 6|d to 6|d per lb, prime light wethers 7d, extra prime ewes sd, and aged ewes 4d to 4|d. There were about 950 fat lambs forward—an increase of about 259 as compared with last week’s entry. The quality was better than usual. Export buyers and butchers competed keenly for all suitable lines, and as a result prices showed an advance of several shillings per head on last week’s rates. Prime lambs brought from lOd to IC-jd per lb and medium quality 91,<1. There was a medium yarding of pig's, all classes of which were represented. Competition was good, and prime sorts showed an advance of about 5s per head. After many resultless discussions on the question of liydro-electric power, Cromwell has at last made a move which promises to materialise. At a largely-attended public meeting held last week a proposal to link up with the Central Otago Power Board and take power from the Teviot scheme was fully discussed, and a motion in favour of this course was carried. A committee was appointed to enter into the preliminaries of circulating a petition and afterwards to take a poll if the petition is favourable. The area t*o be served includes Cromwell, Lowburn, Bannockburn and Ripponvale. An interesting proposal at present being discussed among various local sports clubs and other societies is that they should join together to erect an extensive common building containing club rooms, stadium, concert hall, offices for secretaries, and so lorth. An important part of the scheme is a hall suitable for dancing or skating and large enough to provide seating accommodation for 1400 people. The proposal is still quite indefinite and “in the air.” but those chiefly interested have had tentative plans drawn up of a building to cost about £15.000, and they have been considering a site for it in St. Andrew street. -As the first of June falls on a Sunday this year the season for the taking and killing of opossums in Olago and Southland will open on Saturday, May 31. It closes on June 30. A bona fide occupier of land or one son or daughter of his may kill opossums on that land during the open season without a license, but everyone else must have a license to kill. A new regulation coming into force this year requires that anyone intending to take or kill opossums on his own land must first of all notify the secretary of the Acclimatisation Society of his intention to do so, giving full particulars of his property. Probate in the estates of the following persons has been granted by his Honor Mr Justice Reed: —Barbara Graham Callander (Mornington), Euphemia Meehlie M’Donakl (Dunedin), Sidney Tasso Burton? (Dunedin), William Downton Davis (Kuikorai), William Cross (Oamaru), Joseph Ileid Bremner (Dunedin), David Scrymgeour (Mornington). Isabella Gow (Woodside), Robert Valpy Fulton (Dunedin), Elizabeth Murphy (Milton), and David Ronaldson Erinson (Oamaru). Letters of administration have been granted in the estates of John Grant (Outram) and Jessie Loudon (Fairfield).

The following fixtures were made by Mr Justice Reed in the Supreme Court yesterday:—Wednesday, May 28, John Stewart Wilson v. the New Zealand Express Company, claim £1351 12s damages for the loss of furniture and effects; Thursday, May 29, Robert Cunningham Miller v. Cygnet, Ltd., claim £252 17s, balance of moneys due; Friday, May 30 (in chambers), Otocial Assignee v. T. B. Spinks, motion to declare certain instruments null and void; Monday, June 2 (in chambers), originating summons under the Family Protection Act for maintenance for the widow of Wesley Turton. A conference of music teachers will be opened in Wellington to-day. beginning with a public meeting in the Concert Cnamber of the Town Hall. It is 13 years since the last New Zealand Conference was held and there are many matters of importance to discuss. Not the least of these is that of the registration of music teachers. In its present form the proposed Act, entitles the registration (a) all members of existing societies of musicians throughout the dominion, (b) every person who can produce evidence that he has been habitually engaged in teaching music for a period of five years or upwards, and (c) every per son who possesses a degree or other proof that he has passed an examination in music recognised by the council. It is also provided that all applicants must be 21 years of age or upwards. The Society of Musicians of Otago will bo represented by at least one delegate, but the conference will be open to all teachers of music, in addition to the official delegates from the different societies.

W hat was probably the most sensational runaway ever seen in Blenheim occurred on Tuesday afternoon in the centre of the town. It was performed by three horses attached to a lorry. The turnout was standing unattended in Queen street, and the horses taking fright, it is said, at the sight of a company of college cadets on the march, bolted up the street at full gallop. scattering pedestrians in all directions. After cannoning off a motor car standing near the Post Office, the team continued its mad career and finally charged into and clean through the plate glass window of Mr F. W. Adams’s cycle shop, smashing it to fragments and damaged a considerable amount of stock. The lorry was practically wrecked. The horses were extricated from tho debris with much difficulty. Two of them were considerably cut about. The motor, which was owned by Mr G. W. Mills, of the Bristol Piano Co., Wellington, who is visiting Blenheim was much damaged, one wheel being completely smashed. The Waitaki Acclimatisation Society (says the Oamaru Mail) has received a communication from tho Department of Internal Affairs, stating that advice has been received through the State Forest Department that deer are extremely numerous in the Hopkins and Dobson Valleys, and arc committing a great amount of damage and suggested that protection should be removed on a specified area. A sub-commit-tee, consisting of Messrs Ongley, Dewar, Martyn, Swinard, and the secretary, haa been set up by tho society to forward a reply to the Minister.

It will be remembered that the Rev. William Murray, Presbyterian minister of Normanby, was lost on Mount Egmont in January, 1923. Against the advice of his companions, Mr Murray persisted in descending a precipitous gorge on the western side, of the summit, and was never again seen. When working in the bed of Stony River last Friday some Taranaki County Council workmen discovered a tweed sac coat, and a few feet further down stream was the skeleton of a human foot, in boot and sock. The theory is held that the remains are those of Mr Murray. The Rev. E. J. Orange, of Eltham, who was a member of the party, states that at the time he believed Mr Murray was swept over Dawson Falls into Stony River. Mr Murray was wearing a dark tweed suit, similar to the one found. The theory that the remains are those, of Mr Murray is based on the fact that no one else has been reported as missing on the mountain since he disappeared. Mr Murray and his companions were making their .way over the summit from Dawson’s Falls house to the North Egmont house. The need for new hymns was strongly urged by Professor Lawson in the course of an address which ho gave on the subject cf “Christian Education for the Twentieth Century.” We were living in a new ago, he said, and there was a new spirit abroad. We should have men with that new vision giving us hymns enhodying the hopes and longings of to-day. Too many of our hymns belonged to the far past and dealt with the struggles of the early Christians depicting life as a “vale of tears.” We needed hymns that were virile and hopeful, and that looked forward to the new day vivified and kept alive by Christian belief. The Lyttelton Times states that the rumour is current among railwaymen that the executive of the A.S.R.S. has accepted the Government’s offer to restore the superannuation if the A.S.R.S. withdraws its affiliation with the Alliance of Labour. If this is correct it will mean great financial loss to the Alliance of Labour, as they will lose from £2OO to £3OO per annum in levies. Mr M. J. Mack, general secretary of the. A.S R.S., is at the present time president of the Alliance of Labour. “I certainly think the girl’s bravery is deserving of recognition and I intend to bring the ease before the next meeting of the board of directors.” These were the remarks made by Mr R. C. Bishop, president of the Royal Humane Society, when seen by a Lyttelton Times reporter on Monday in connection with the action of Isabel Burns, a girl of 10, in making heroic efforts to rescue her three young brothers and young sisters from the perilous position they found themselves in in a boat at Adderley Head. Mr Bishop added that he had only returned from Wellington on Sunday morning, but he would ascertain the full facts of the case and place them before the society. Have you not looked with alarm on the prospect of the bringing out of yet another pest to the fair shores of New Zealand? (says a correspondent of the Auckland Star). We already have gorse, blackberry, mosquitoes, and flies but the earwigs will beat the lot out. I have come from the Old Country and know what they are like. They will swarm in millions. They are creepy, vicious, horrible things, and a sting or bite, from one is not easily forgotten. Evpry article that has been left out to dry overnight is black underneath with them in the morning, and if you forget to shake the article well, you bring them into tho bouse. There will be no peace of mind for campers, as the vicious things will be in your beds, on your clothes, and everywhere. It will not be wise, to put a baby in a pram or push cart out under a tree, as they will get into the blankets, and perhaps into its ears. And what about verandah beds ? You will think of them with dread in the future. You must search them thoroughly before you get in. Frequent fires kindled after dark will kill more orchard pests than all the earwigs in Christendom Archbishoo Julius told a good story when he opened the new St. Saviour’s Home for Babies at Sumner (says the Lytteltoq Times). “I am very fond of babies,” he told those present, “only,” he added, “I like them a little larger.” To prove that he was fond of babies he told a story of what had happened some years ago. “I found myself,” he said, “alone among a big Maori congregation in this diocese, and, before the service started, a Maori came to me and asked me if I would baptise an infant. I replied that I would and asked what the child’s name was to be.. The name was given to me on a piece of paper. It was atrociously written, and consisted of three, long Maori words. I could not read the writing, and knew that I would not have been able to pronounce the name if I could. And I knew that from Maori lips it would roll forth eloquently and I would never be able to understand it. I did not know what to do. ‘What is the name of this child?’ I asked, and the reply came as I knew it would in a long eloquent roll that I could not understand. And just then I remembered an experience that I bad had as a curate many years before. I pinched the baby hard. It sent up a wail to high heaven, and, under cover of the noise I christened it by the. first name that came into my mind.” Mars will approach the earth within 31.000,000 miles in the coming summer, and will then be nearer to us by 20,000,000 miles than it has been for nearly a century. Astronomers, equipped with the latest telescopes and cameras, are preparing to try to solve some of the mysteries that have long baffled mankind. M. Camille Flammarion, the French astronomer and authority on Martian geography, in a recent article discusses the possibility of life on our neighbour planet and the likelihood that men may some day communicate with its inhabitants.

At the Supreme Court on Thursday Mr Justice Reed heard an undefended divorce case in which Daisy Blanche Edwards (Mr T. O’Shea) sought a dissolution of her marriage with John Edwards on the grounds of adultery, the co-respondent being Jean Wiiford. There was one child of the marriage. A private detective gave evidence as to seeing the respondent and co-re-spondent in a compromising position. Later lie obtained a written confession from the latter as to cohabiting with respondent. A decree nisi was granted, petitioner being given the interim custody of the child. Costs on the lowest scale were allowed against the respondent. The old wooden mole at the Heads has been greatly damaged by fire lately. Owing to the action of the sea during the past 40 years the mole had' been considerably damaged, but the remaining portion was still serving a useful purpose in deflecting tide-stirred sand from the navig-able channels. The irresponsible setting fire to the mole at the shore end is said to have caused the destruction of 600 ft of the woodwork. At the conclusion of Sir Frederick Young’s lecture’ to the Officers’ Club on Wednesday evening, one of the speakers claimed haif-seriousiy that the evolution of the submarine commenced in Otago Harbour and described a cigar-shaped boat that was constructed by the Otago Submarine Mining Company with the object of securing gold from the bed of the Molyneux River. This craft was built 51 years ago by Messrs Sparrow and Co., and was launched from the then Rattray street wharf in December, 1873, being subsequently moored near the end of ttie Pelichet Bay jetty. After detail work had been completed a trial was made and with eight men enclosed the vessel was submerged about where the Milbnrn Company’s W’orks now stand. The air pumps worked all right, but no means of talking to the men below was provided. Matters did not develop satisfactorily inside, and there was a delay of several hours in returning to the surface, the craft finally being towed by a small steamer into shallower water and the crew released much lo the relief of themselves and their friends. The boat, which was named “The Platypus,” w'as never again submerged, and lay for many years on the foreshore. Curiously enough she was purchased in recent times (for £10) by a man who was present at the lecture. He had her cut into three sections and sent to the Barewood Reefs where at least one of the portions is used as a water tank by a Local farmer. A return showing the progress of civil aviation in New Zealand has been prepared by the New Zealand Air Board During the month of April, 217 flights were made in the dominion, 413 passengers were carried, and the total time spent in the air was 40hr 23min; 3087 miles were covered, the average mileage per flight being 14.2. Details of the civil flying done are as follow:—New Zealand Government Air Services, Wigram Aerodrome. —Passe" gers carried, 53; hours flown, 7hr 50min; approximate machine mileage, 734; number of flights, 34; average mileage per flight, 21.3. Captain L. 11. Brake, East Coast, North Island: Passengers carried, 69; hours flown, Bhr 3min; approximate machine mileage, 538; number of flights, 40 ; average mileage per flight, 13.4. Captain W. M. Buckley. West Coast, South Island: Passengers carried, 3286 ; hours flown, 24hr 30min ; approximate machine mileage 1815 ; number of flights, 143; average mileage per flight, 12.6 In the course of his lecture on “Salvage in War Time” at the Otago Officers’ Club Sir Frederick Young raised a hearty laugh by screening a cartoon which showed a shipwrecked bluejacket on a rickety-looking raft which was composed mainly of a couple of oil drums. The only other living occupant was a. black eat, which appeared to be scanning the horizon with a hopeful intentness, thus giving the picture its title—“A Black Outlook.” Sir Frederick elaborated the joke by repeating the sailor’s remarks: “If I don’t kill the blessed cat I die of starvation, and if I do kill it I lose me blooming luck.” Tho total population of New Zealand at March 31 last, according to the estimate of the Government Statistician, was 1,347,754 —687,893 males and 659,761 females, The Maori population was estimated at 53,820, and that of the Cook Islands, Niue, and the mandated territory of Western Samoa, as at December 31, 50,560. The total increase of population in the dominion proper for the quarter ended March 31, 1524-,' waa 4733 (including Maoris), comprising a gain of 4716 by natural increase and of 17 by migration The former, comments the Statistician, is about a normal increase, but the latter is much below normal. At the last fortnightly meeting of the St. Kilda Borough Council the DeputyMayor (Mr J. W. Dove) submitted a resolution proposing that the council should take the necessary steps to have estimates prepared for the completion of all the roads and footpaths in the borough, with a view to obtaining the sanction of the ratepayers to borrow a sum not exceeding £45,000, spread over a period "of three years. After a lengthy discussion the motion was lost by six votes to four.