The Otago Witness

Otago Witness, Issue 3969, 8 April 1930, Page 3

The Otago Witness

No. 3969—Estab. 1851

DUNEDIN N.Z.:

TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1930.

Civis.

(The Otago Witness is registered at the General Post Office, London, as transmissible through the post in the United Kingdom at the newspaper rate of postage )

I PRICE NINEPENCE.

At a largely attended meeting of the congregation of Knox Church a proposal was carried, with only one dissenting voice, to proceed with a call to the Rev. D. C. Herron, of St. David’s Presbyterian Church, Auckland, to the pastorate of the church. Some 50 farmers from Southland arrived in Dunedin by train and motor car last week. The purpose of the visit was to inspect the works of the Dominion Fertiliser Comnany, Ltd., an invitation to do so having been extended to them by the directors of the company. The visitors were received by:the works manager (Mr H. D. Kerr), and were taken on a tour of inspection through the premises. Later in the day the factory of Messrs Cadbury Fry and Hudeon, Ltd,, was also visited.

For some time Wairoa residents have been agitating for closer settlement and action on the part of the Government in opening up some of the large estates (says the Poverty Bay Herald). It must be welcome news to them, therefore, that the Government has acquired 672 acres of the Awamate Station at Frasertown. This area comprises the flat portion o the property, which is held by Mr J. S. Jessep, and is on the -western bank of the Wairoa River. The river flat is in good permanent pasture, and the contention that it should make ideal dairying country is supported by the fact that on adjoining property Mr Turei Carroll conducts a successful dairy farm. The property is served by a good road from Wairoa, but, for the purposes of the subdivision into six or eight farms, a little further reading may be necessary. On a conservative estimate, the 672 acres should yield approximately 30 tons of butter annually.

“ I quite agree with the English farmer who complained that our beef was not up to the standard of the British articles,” (writes a correspondent of the Dominion). “ During the four or five months I spent in England, I and my wife must have partaken of meals in hundreds of restaurants and hotels, and our uniform experience was the excellence of the beef. In any good restaurant in London a steak is a joy. Never once was there the slightest excuse for a comnlaint as to its toughness. The fretful defence of New Zealand people to the criticism is, from my point of view, all out of joint. Naturally. I was not able to say whether the beef I was eating in England was Homegrown or from the Argentina, but I am given to understand that the Homegrown article is negligible in quantity compared t’ 1 " chilled beef from Argentina. I visited Smitlffi'-’-’ in company with Mr Forsyth, the representative of the New Zealand Meat Board, and was there shown a magnificent display of beef from Argentina. No doubt Englishgrown beef is good, but most of the beef consumed in England is from South America. New Zealand does not profess to grow beef as it is understood in North and South America. We have always centred on lamb and mutton, and have excelled in its production. To get the best beef, farmers have to breed for it; whilst we have always bred the other way, for dairying cattle. In my opinion the English farmer’s criticism was in order. He was only speaking the truth.”

The Citizens’ Day Nursery, for which an energetic committee of Dunedin ladies has been working for the past five years, came into actual being with the formal opening ceremony last -week, which was performed by the Mayoress (Mrs R. S. Black) in.the presence of a gathering that filled the rooms to overflowing. The nursery is situated at 219 Moray place, neatly opposite the Moray Place School, in the premises recently occupied by the 4YA radio station, and is excellently equipped in every way. The greater proportion of the appointments consists of free gifts from local firms and citizens, and much of the furnishing was provided for in a similar fashion. It is hoped to accommodate as many as 50 children in the rooms at one time when the nursery is properly established, and although at the present time the staff comprises one ntyse, an appeal will be made for assistance in the form of voluntary workers. Dr Marion Whyte has consented to act in the capacity of honorary physician, and as the rooms are provided with everything necessary to the comfort and good health of the child, mothers will be able to leave their babies there with every confidence.

A good story is going the rounds concerning a practical joke played on a well-known Napier citizen (says the Telegraph). This resident recently received a parcel from Taupo, done up in manuka and flax in the orthodox way, but there was no indication on the parcel as to who had been the generous sender. The recipient, being at present “ baching ” through his wife being on holiday, telephoned his father-in-law, stating that he had received a trout from Taupo, but could not use it himself, so the father-in-law could have it if he wished. That worthy willingly -accepted the gift with many expressions of thanks, and the parcel was delivered. There was consternation, however, when the parcel was opened and found to contain a vegetable marrow. It is stated that explanations have been the order of the day ever since, the father-in-law still having suspicions of his relative’s gift, while the son-in-law looks darkly at all his friends, suspecting each in turn of making him the victim of a clever hoax.

A new 10-ton dragline dredge, imported by the Land Drainage Department for the maintenance and cleaning of small canals is being used in the cleaning of drains in the Kerepeehi land settlement block. Its 40-foot boom deepens, cleans and lifts spoil from drains at the rate of one cubic yard per minute. The caterpillar wheels enable it to turn in its own length, and the satisfactory way it has worked has convinced settlers that such a machine has revolutionised previous methods of cleaning and deepening drains, which are usually let on contract to Indian and Dalmatian workers by manual labour. Although the capital cost is beyond the means of the average drainage board, there is not the slightest doubt that the problem of cleaning hundieds of miles of outlet drains in the southern part of the province would be greatly simplified by the employment of such an efficient type of dredger.

During a discussion of the conditions of employment of female apprentices at the Conciliation Council hearing of the hairdressers and tobacconists dispute on Tuesday, Mr A. S. Cookson referred to the fact that girls did not address themselves to their work with the intention of making a life-calling of it. Their one aim was to get married as soon as possible. Mr W. W. Batchelor objected to this on the grounds that girls to-day were not prepaied to -enter the married state younger than 25 or 30 years. That gave the female apprentice at least 10 years’ employment in the trade.

Reference to the calendar will show that Good Friday and Anzac Day fall on successive Fridays. This means that retailers are deprived of their late shopping night for two weeks in succession. The Shop Closing Act provides for the appointment of another day in each week as late night. In this connection it should be of interest to the public generally to know that Thursday, April 17, and Thursday, April 24-, will be observed as late nights by city and suburban retailers in lieu of Friday, April 18, and Friday, April 25.

The Governor-General (Lord Bledisloe) announced at the civic welcome to him in Auckland on Tuesday night that as an old member of the Council 7.pf the British Association he . had, with the consent of the Government of this Dominion, despatched a cablegram asking that the association should hold its annual meeting in New Zealand in 1934. He explained that he had taken this step in recognition of the work that was being done in many branches of science in this country. He had every reason to believe that the invitation would be accepted.

The first batch of new railway carriages for use in the South Island will be°in commission shortly (says the Christchurch Times). Seven of these carriages, under construction at the Addington workshops, are rapidly nearing completion. Embodying many improvements and modern principles, the new carriages will introduce new features of comfort for passengers, and will also show a distinct advance in appearance over the carriages at present in use. Although slightly behind schedule, owing to concentration on thq construction of goods trucks to meet the demand of producers, the department is now pressing on with its programme of improving the passenger rolling stock.

A contract has been let to the Fletcher Construction Company, of Wellington, for the erection of the first portion of the new block at the Nelson Girls’ College. Reinforced concrete will be used to minimise the danger of damage by future earthquakes. . When a motion for a decree absolute was being considered by Mr Justice Ostler in the Supreme Court at Wellington, counsel for tho wife, whose cross-petition for divorce had been successful, urged that before the decree was made her maintenance should be ensured in case the husband married again. “ I submit that before he gets off with the old love and on with the new the question of permanent alimony should be settled,” he said. “We may have trouble in getting anything out of him if he re-marries.” His Honor: “You won’t have any difficulty in getting the order.” Counsel: “ It may be a question of the amount. He may come to court and say that he has got a new wife and can’t afford to pay alimony.” His Honor: “I want him to understand now through counsel that it won’t make the slightest difference.”

Messrs Philip Myers and M. M. Heinemann, president and treasurer respectively of the Wellington Hebrew congregation, paid a visit to Government House, Wellington, to present an address of welcome, of loyalty, and respect from the Hebrew congregation of the four centres of New Zealand. The address read as follows:—“We respectfully ask to be permitted, on behalf of the Hebrew congregations of the principal cities, to tender to you and her Excellency this word of welcome on your arrival in the Dominion to undertake the duties of the high office of Governor-General, and to assure you of the loyalty and devotion of the Jewish communities to the Throne and person of his Gracious Majesty the King. We desire also to express our sincere hope that your Excellency’s period of office m New Zealand may be attended by prosperity and good health to your Excellencies and your family. We have the honour to be, your obedient servants, Philip Myers, president of the Wellington Hebrew congregation; N. Alfred Nathan, president of the Auckland Hebrew congregation; P. Selig, president of the Canterbury Hebrew congregation, and D. E. Theomin, president of the Otago Hebrew congregation.” His Excellency voiced his pleasure on receiving the address, and returned his thanks to Messrs Myers and Heinemann.

“ Don’t use the word ‘ peasant ’ when you mean the Irish farmer,” said an Irishman in Auckland the other day. The man he was addressing had quite innocently spoken of the industry of the “ Irish peasantry.” “ Peasant,” went on the Irishman, “is an offensive word to apply to such a case. It is one of those words that are so commonly misused or misunderstood. It really means a country labourer, and has nothing to do with the ownership of the land. In Ireland we speak of the ‘ smallholder ’ or the ‘ small farmer ’; we object to the word ‘ peasant.’ ” A dictionary which was consulted gave the meaning of peasant as being “ country labourer,” while another gave it as “ a rustic, especially one of the lowest class of tillers of the soil in European countries.” “ Another word that is almost invariably misused,” continued the Irishman, “is ' anon.’ Nine people out of ten will tell you it means ‘ later on,’ and that is the sense in which it is used to-day, but its real meaning is ‘ immediately,’ and as such it is used by Shakespeare and other old writers, in whose day it was a word in common use.” When a dictionary was consulted, the Irishman was found in this instance to be only partly right. Webster gives three meanings: (1) Straight away; (2) soon, in a little while, and (3) at another time, then, again. Like many other words, “ anon ” has been so carelessly handled that it threatens to end up by meaning just the reverse of what it did when it started out in life.

When visiting New Zealand in 1875, Lord Balfour bought 8000 acres of land near Pahiatua, in the heart of what was then the famous Forty Mile Bush. After so many years the place still carries sheep registered in the name of their late owner. In the sheep owners’ return of 1929 the record is as follows: —“ Balfour, A. J. Balfour Estate, Pahiatua, 4269 sheep.” The property must have paid for itself many times over, and Earl Balfour had, as he once confided to Mr Massey, the greatest respect and admiration for New Zealand, because it was the scene of his most successful investment.

“Is the blowing of a church organ an industry? ” This question was raised at the Devonport Borough Council the other evening (says the New Zealand Herald), when the vestry of Holy Trinity Church asked for a reduction on the water account on the ground that the quantity used "was over 100,000 gallons per halfyear, and that therefore they qualified for a special discount given to manufacturers and industries. The council demurred to the suggestion, and expressed the opinion that there was a difference between the community value of using water to produce musical sounds and employing it as an agent to make bricks or wash clothes. They suggested the advisability of installing an electric motor, pointing out the municipality’s main concern was not the selling of water, but its conservation. The vestry replied that its difficulty was a financial one, and so long as it had to pay full rates for water it could not consider the purchase of a motor. “ It’s all a matter of raising the wind,” commented a councillor, and a motion to adhere to the standard charge of Is 6d per 1000 gallons was carried. . , _____

The big steamer Matakana, which sailed on Tuesday from Port Chalmers for London via Panama, is the first of three Shaw, Savill steamers making Otago Harbour their final port of departure this month from New Zealand. The Matakana’s loading, besides large consignments of wool, cheese, beef, and mutton, includes about 50,000 cases of New Zealand apples. The vessel is commanded by Captain H. P. Thurston, who is a very reliable shipmaster. The other vessels of the company to make this the final loading port is the Raranga, which will sail about the 11th for London via Montevideo, and the Zealandic about the 25th for London by way of Panama. Other Shaw, Savill vessels calling here this month are the lonic about the 18th and the Tairoa about the 25th, both of them to discharge and also to load. The recent dredging done by the new dredge Otakou has deepened the approach to the wharves at Port Chalmers, an improvement that is said to be appreciated by the masters of deeply laden steamers.

As the result of Labour’s defeat at the Christchurch City Council by-election on Tuesday it is suggested that Labour may decide to go into opposition on the council, being definitely in the minority. The Citizens’ Association nominees would then have an opportunity of undertaking the administration. The modern trend towards women occupying executive positions and controlling their own interests is further shown in the annual report of the Manawatu Ladies’ Hockey Association. “ The controlling body, the English Ladies’ Hockey Association, has for some time insisted that ladies’ hockey should be under the control of their own sex,” reads the report. “ The New Zealand body is slowly moving into line, and it will not be long before it will be compulsory. Your executive therefore recommends that all executive positions be filled by ladies, and if it is considered desirable an advisory committee of three members of your old executive could be set up to assist the new officers in their work for the first year if called upon to do so. This advisory committee would not attend executive meetings, but can be called upon for assistance or advice if required.” In order to meet the drop in the value of hemp the Northern Flaxmillers’ Association made a request to the Government to establish an equalisation fund out of which the growers could be subsidised when prices were low and into which the growers would pay when the market improved. By this means prices would be stabilised and the workers kept in continuous employment. The matter was considered by Cabinet last week, and a proposal for a subsidy was rejected, but the question has been reopened and further consideration is to be given to the matter this week.