Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 3672, 29 July 1924, Page 44

The issue of the Natal Mercury constituted a record in South African journalism, for the ordinary publication of 12 pages was accompanied by a historical supplement of 72 pages, commemorative of the fact that the centenary of Natal is being celebrated this year. It is appropriate that the credit of producing the largest issue of a daily paper ever published in South Africa should belong to the Natal Mercury, for apart from being one of the leading dailies published in the Union of South Africa, it is the oldest established newspaper in Durban, and its most distinguished editor-in-chief, the late Sir John Robinson, led the campaign for Responsible Government and formed the first Responsible Government Ministry. The issue is a remarkable achievement and is indicative of the progressiveness of our Durban contemporary. In refusing an application for discharge from bankruptcy of Hans Peter Morten sen, Mr Justice Stringer said the assignee’s report showed that after the assets had been realised the liabilities were £7045 and the assets £3O. During the past five years Mortensen had systematically gambled in land. He appeared to have put through 22 transactions, his capital being an equity in a property. lie had kept no books. Such a man wag not fit to carry on business on his own account and to incur liability.

So far special instructional courses for territorial officers and n.c.o’s. have, not been held, and the want -of them has been much felt by those concerned. They are now about to be started right throughout New Zealand, and the first of them will begin at Burnham on August 1. Some 50 or 60 officers and n.c.o. s from all over the South Island will attend there to receive special instruction in mounted rifle duties. They will be quartered and mess in buildings. Any officers on the reserve may, if they so chose, do their annual training at these instructional courses. Members of male choruses are perturbed because they fear that they are not to be engaged for musical productions by Messrs J. C. Williamson, Ltd. (says the Melbourne Argus). The management says that they are unduly alarmed; but. it would not be surpri-ing if this form of “employment” were soon to disappear. After all, gambolling about a stage in fantastic costume, merely to supply the requisite atmosphere for persons possessing greater talent, is not an occupation a man should be proud of, especially when the atmosphere can be supplied in a more suitable and picturesque fashion by young women. That is an aspect of the abolition of male choruses which may be treated lightly. Another one is that the men who have, through court awards, compelled the theatrical proprietors to pay increased wages should not be surprised at the intimation given that then services are no longer required. There is certainly no ground for complaint, and the Theatrical Alliance, instead of trying to invent one, should tell the men frankly that their best course is to seek suitable work If it be work of the kind that will help in the development of Australia, so much the better. The later accounts relative to the Nev Zealand Court at the Empire Exhibition are much more favourable than those which were based on early inspections. Sir George Fenwick writes in a letter received by the mail this week: —“l spent to-day at the Exhibition, and a good part of the time at the New Zealand Court, which has now got well settled down, and looks extremely well. There is a very great difference in its appearance now as compared with what it was when 1 saw it a month ago. It now makes a very- creditable show indeed in most of its principal sections, and New Zealand has nothing to be ashamed of, although it is of course a small court compared with those of Australia and Canada. I really think our frozen meat exhibit is the best of the exhibits of that primary industry. The meat is far better looking than that, of Australia. Our wool exhibit, two, is splendid.” His Honor Mr Justice Sim, sitting in Chambers in the Supreme Court, Wellington, has granted probate in the following deceased estates: —Robert Forbes (Portobello), Johanna Houston (Roslyn), William Thompson Glasgow (Dunedin), John Fleming (Dunedin), Colin Allan M'Lachlan f:\fihiwaka), Thomas Devaney (Dunedin), Helen Millar Forsyth (Dunedin), John Hanna (Roslyn), William Taylor (Dunedin), and Agnes Read (Dunedin). Letters of administration have been granted in the following estates: —Ernest \\ alker (Otekaike), Christina Chisholm (Opoho), Alexander Mitchell (Burnside), and Henry Alfred Dovey (Oamaru).

A farmer worked out a clever method of sending seeds to a friend in the North Island. Walking into a country post office, he asked the postmaster for the loan. of the office scales, and proceeded to weigh two bags of seed, making them exactly 281 b each. These he presented to the postmaster, and requested that they be mailed to the address inscribed. The postmaster was astonished, and the postage cleared the availacle supply of stamps. When asked why he did not rail the seeds the farmer said: “If I railed them my friend would have to travel about 10 miles to take delivery. By posting them I save him that journey, as the seeds are delivered to his house.” A joke that rebounded on the perpetrator comes from 11 a were, A New Plymouth motor garage was inadvertently left open one evening, and the fact was discovered by a director of the firm, who, with the intention-of combining a joke with a lesson, took one of the cars and stowed it in another garage. Next morning he told the manager that a car was missing, and 'be manager informed the police. The number and description of the ear were immediately sent to all the police stations in Taranaki, and probably further afield. Later in the day the director drove the missing car to Hawera, but when he was leaving the town the number of the car was noticed by the police. The Normanby station was informed, and a Hawera constable was sent out in pursuit on a motor cycle. The car was overtaken, but. the driver’s explanation did not at all impress the constable, and fie was escorted back to Hawera, where it took him some time to establish his bona fides. With one or two exceptions the New South Wales Government has provided the Sydney City Council with everything it has asked for, in the Sydney Corporation Amending Bill which is to come before Parliament. The wider powers granted to the council (says our Sydney correspondent) if assented to by the Legislature, will include the registration of undertakers and their vehicles, the control and management of mortuaries, the control of stables, the control and inspection of lavatories in hotels and shops, the regulations and control of boardinghouses, the inspection and regulation of barbers’ shops, and provisions empowering the council to license, control, and regulate restaurants, cafes, tearooms, and eating-houses. A far-reaching provision is that empowering the council to compel persons suffering from a notifiable disease, and employed in food shops or in the delivery of articles of food, to submit: to aexamination by medical practitioners. Other powers deal with the control of smoke nuisances, noises, poultry, washhouses, etc. Many of the powers now exercised by tin council are obsolete.

The local Defence Office reports that the Lady Godley Cup for D Company, 2nd Cadet Battalion, has been awarded to Cadet A. E. Soper (now Trooper Soper of the sth Mounted Rifles), who has won the senior cup, and to Cadet M. E. J. Walsh, tho winner of the junior cup. In conversation with a reporter on Friday, Superintendent Napier, of the Dunedin Fire Brigade, said that there seemed to be an impression abroad that unless a man were able to afford it he was denied the use of an ambulance. “This,” said the superintendent, “is altogether an erroneous idea, and a man who is in need of transport has only to ask and, if he is not in a position to pay, he will get the ambulance absolutely free of cost. These ambulances are maintained by public support, and only those who are well able to afford it are asked to contribute anything.”