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Otago Witness, Issue 3994, 30 September 1930, Page 3

A number of important works are nowin progress in various parts of Otago Harbour. The new concrete shed at the city end of the Rattray street wharf has been completed, and is now being used for the temporary storage of cargo discharged from vessels which occupy the new berth. The new shed, which is a very substantial structure, completes the line of cargo sheds on the Rattray street wharf. There is noticeable activity at Ravensbourne, where good progress is being made with the erection of the new wharf at which ships carrying fertiliser will berth in the near future in connection with the new works under construction on the Ravensbourne foreshore. The piles for the approach to the wharf are being driven, and most of the cross bean's have been placed in position. It is expected that the wharf will be completed early next year. The dredge Otakou has been engaged for some time increasing the depth of water in the vicinity of the Kitchener street wharf, and at the entrance to the Victoria channel. The spoil will be carried, to sea. The dredger Vulcan is having a new pump and motor installed at the Victoria wharf. When she is ready for service again she will operate at the endowment area. The removal of a rock near the channel bebetween Quarantine and Goat Islands has not yet been started. The necessary plant will be shipped to Port Chalmers * from a northern port very shortly.

The ever interesting story of the Tarawera eruption of June, 1885, one of the worst natural convulsions ever recorded in New Zealand was told to a meeting of the Historical Association last week by hr Holloway, who dealt in graphic fashion with the upheaval that resulted in the destruction of the Pink and White Terraces as well as the death of over 100 people. The lecturer covered many aspects of the visitation, and illustrated the lecture with a remarkable series of pictures which were greatly appreciated. A hearty vote of thanks was tendered to the speaker at the close of his address.

Miss Every, matron of the Batchelor Maternity Hospital, reported to the meeting of the Otago Hospital Board last w-eek, under date August 31, that there were four patients remaining in the institution. “ The past month,” stated the report, “ has been a very quiet one. There were 11 confinements in all—two of which were attended by the doctor. Also the September bookings were light. In view of the appointment of the new stall nurse, this is unfortunate.” Miss Evcjy said the falling off in the number of inmates was not surprising in the face of the extent and the regrettable nature of the publicity being given to the medical student question in women’s periodicals and in the press of the Dominion generally. “ The public mind must be affected by such utterly false impressions regarding the students and our patients,” concluded the report.

As a result of the recent purchase of the assets of the Auckland Sun by New Zealand Newspapers, Ltd., certain erroneous rumours are in circulation. The real facts (says a Press Association telegram from Christchurch) are that the plant, buildings, and such business of the Sun newspaper, Auckland, as it proves possible to transfer, have been purchased. The transaction is confined to Auckland solely, and the New Zealand Newspapers Company’s papers in Christchurch (the Times and Star) are in no way involved or concerned in the deal, nor is the Christchurch paper of the Sun Newspapers, Ltd.

In the House of Representatives on Thursday Mr F. Waite (Reform member for Clutha) gave notice to ask the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr I’. A. de la Perrelle) whether his attention hart been drawn to the statement in the Wellington newspapers that the price of wheat in Victoria was 3s 4d per bushel and the price of bread Is Id per 41b loaf, and whether the House would have an opportunity to discuss the investigations being made in New Zealand. He said that the price of wheat in New Zealand was 6s 2d per bushel and the 41b loaf in Dunedin cost lOd and in Auckland Is.

The lease of a small section near Ophir, section 71, block 11, Tiger Hill survey district, containing 4 acres 3 roods 38 perches, was offered by public auction at the Land Office on Thursday afternoon. The upset capital value was £25, but as. there was keen rivalry between two bidders, the upset realised was £145. Mr John M’Knight, of Ophir, being the purchaser of the lease.

Representatives of the Auckland, Victoria, and Canterbury University Colleges and the Otago University met at Wellington on Thursday to discuss matters affecting the colleges generally and in particular the Education Committee’s report and the system of training of teachers. The colleges are represented as follows: —Otago—Mr W. J. Morrell (vice-chancellor). Sir James Allen, Mr L. D. Ritchie, and Mr 11. Chapman (registrar) ; Canterbury—Mr G. J. Smith, Mr C. T. Aschman, Dr J. Hight, and Mr C. Kemp (registrar) ; Victoria— Mr P. Levi, Professor Rankine Brown, Professor T. Hunter (vice-chancellor of the New Zealand University), and Mr G. S. Robison (registrar); Auckland —Sir George Fowlds, Mr T. U. Wells, Professor Segar, and Mr M. R. O’Shea (registrar).

In anticipation of the commencement of aerial services within the Dominion during the next few months, the Postal Department has decided to issue a special air stamp. The special rate to be charged has also been fixed provisionally. The • department states that it is prepared to forward correspondence offered for despatch by air services within the Dominion on approved routes and run according to approved time tables. For this purpose an air mail postage stamp of the denomination of 3d is being produced. This denomination has been decided upon as it is proposed that the air transit charge within New Zealand is to be 3d per ounce in addition to the ordinary postage proposed. The charge is one-half of the Australian rate.

To have been secretary of the Weedons Cricket Club for 37 consecutive years is the record of Mr J. Curragh, who (says the Christchurch Times), at the club’s jubilee dinner, was presented with a medal to mark the occasion. The president of the club (Mr P. F. Ryan) said that he had been informed that Mr Curragh held'not only the NewZealand record, but probably the world’s record, for length of service with a cricket club. If only two or three attended the annual meeting, Mr Curragh was always one of them, and his hard work in keeping a team together in a scattered country district was a testimony to his zeal and popularity. A remarkable illustration of what the war had cost Great Britain was given by his Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (Mr L. A. Paish) in the course of a lecture at the Otago Officers’ Club last week. Britain’s indebtedness as a result of the war, he .said, amounted to £10,000,000,000, and while other countries had depreciated the value of their currency as a means of avoiding a proportion of their payments, Britain had continued to pay her debts with the £1 at its original value. He asked his audience to imagine the £10,000,000,000 which Britain w-as called upon to pay converted into sovereigns and laid down side by side between Auckland and Wellington. It was difficult to believe, but it was nevertheless true that no fewer than 300 rows would be required. Britain had to find £500,000,000 every year, or 10 times the total value of New Zealand’s exports, to, liquidate her war indebtedness Sir Harry Lauder, the comedian, was 60 years of age on August 4, and he entertained 100 of his old friends to luncheon at Dunnoon, Argyllshire. On the huge birthday cake, which was surmounted by a sugar statuette of Sir Harry, were the words: “May you keep right on to the end of the road. 1870-1930. With best wishes.” Sir Harry Lauder said: “Ye may all think weel o’ the repast ye hae passed down, for it’s the last ye’ll get—until I’m 90. It will take me 30 years to recover the expense. The real things in life are the simple things. I discovered early in my career that there were more buts-and-bens in the world than castles and palaces, and I went with the majority.” Roars of laughter greeted the effort of a member of the New Plymouth Debating Society when, in the enthusiasm of the moment, he demanded, “What happens? It’s like a half-sucked orange, thrown away without a leg to stand on.” The discussion on military training at the meeting of the society had taken a wide range, and speakers had supported their arguments by the introduction of all kinds of weird creatures, ranging from the “ missing link ” to Mussolini. One speaker said, “We have gone back to the missing link,” which evoked the question, “Have you found the missing link?” Like a thrust from a deftly handled rapier came the reply: “Yes; he is looking at me.”

Canada’s loyalty to the British Empire was confirmed in striking manner by Mr A. M'Nicol, of Dannevirke, a member of the New Zealand delegation to the Empire Press Conference held in London earlier in the year, who returned by the Maunganui on Tuesday. “ I was tremendously impressed with the progress and potentialities of Canada,” he said, “and particularly with the spirit of Empire loyalty. I noticed, too, in Canada that there was an undoubted resentment of trade aggression on the part of the United States. This resentment is fairly obvious and is sefen most plainly in the last Budget, which is strongly in favour of British preference.” There -was, moreover, added Mr M'Nicol, an intense feeling throughout Canada that there would be no annexation of Canada by the United States. The proposition w-as regarded quite simply as being outside the realm of practical politics.

Interesting details of massive plant of a special type manufactured in England for the electric power scheme being carried out at Waitaki are given in a recent issue of the British Engineers’ Home and Export Journal. Part of the plant for installation in connection with this undertaking is seven 5500 k.v.a. single-phase 'transformers of special design', manufactured by the British Thomson-Houston Company, Ltd., Rugby. The train on which the machinery was despatched from Rugby had a net load of over 90 tons, the weight of each transformer being 13 tons. The transformers, which are of the oilimmersed water-cooled outdoor type, will form the initial installation of two 16,500 k.v.a. three-phase banks, with one spare, at the Waitaki power station, where ultimately the transformer installation will consist of five banks of the same capacity. Current from the alternators will be taken to the transformers and stepped up from 11,000 volts to 110,000 volts for feeding the transmission lines.

“We are probably sending our children to school at too early an age, thereby doing the children harm and wasting the country’s money,” states a report by Mr N. R. M'Kenzie, senior inspector of schools, New Plymouth, in the September issue of the School Committee Journal. “ The school rolls show, for example, that Maori pupils in Standard VI are older than the white children, but have been at school a shorter time. In writing, spelling and mechanical arithmetic they are, moreover, superior to the Europeans. It has also been found in Canada that children who entered .school at the age of five finished the course only two months earlier, on the average, than those who entered at the age of six. This means that the teachers were paid a year’s salary for two months of effective work. In short, we are wasting time, energy, and money in attempting to instruct children who are not yet ready for formal instruction and who may "actually be injured by our efforts.”

Dr C. E. North, of Dunedin, accompanied by his wife and child, arrived in Wellington by the Maunganui on Tuesday from Sydney on their way home from China. For the past two years (says a Press Association telegram) Dr North has been stationed at the New Zealand Presbyterian Mission’s hospital at Kongchuen, 12 miles north of Canton. Last year 2400 out-patients and 1010 in-patients were dealt with at the institutions, said Dr North in an interview. Some of tne patients came from villages 60 or 70 miles away for treatment. The climate was very unhealthy, very cold in winter and very hot in summer, and it took as heavy a toll of Europeans as any other climate in the world. Most of the Chinese who came to New Zealand were from the nearby districts of Pang-woo and Ah-woo.

Mr Justice Kennedy has granted probate in the estates of the following deceased persons:—Mary Ann Jenkins, of Dunedin (Mr S. C. Hercus); Andrew John Paterson, of Waipiata (Mr J. I. Fraser); Alexander Bathgate (Mr A. Sinclair), and Mabel Miller, of Mosgiei (Mr W. Allan). “ It is sometimes suggested,” states the Public Service Commissioner (Mr P. D. N. Verschaffelt) in his annual report, “ that the non-competitive and more or less sheltered nature of the public service tends to dull the edge of enterprise, and does not provide the incentives that underlie the hope of profit, as in private business. There are State trading departments where the urge of service for profit is just as potent as with private enterprise, and in non-trading departments there is a tradition of disinterested and efficient service which not only commands respect and is itself conducive to the best results. From a close observation of the staffs in either branches of the service I am satisfied that they are equally efficient.”

An account of how the plough was first used in New Zealand was contained in the photograph of a letter written on May 3, 1820, by Mr J. G. Butler, missionary, and presented to the Early Settlers’ and Historical Association byMr Mark Maxton, of Greytown (says a message from Wellington). The Governor-General gave instructions that the photograph should be framed in native wood, the setting being his gift to the association. Mr Butler’s letter, written over 110 years ago, described how the plough had been put into the land at Keri Keri, in the Bay of Islands. “ I felt much pleasure in holding the handles behind a team of six bullocks, which were brought down by the Dromedary,” Mr Butler wrote. “ I trust that this auspicious day will be remembered with gratitude, and its anniversary kept by ages yet unborn. Every heart seemed to rejoice on the occasion. I hope it will still continue to increase, and in a short time produce an abupdant harvest.” The Dromedary mentioned by Mr Butler was a schooner evidently plying along the coast.

Cyril John Lowry, a young Hamilton resident, received intimation on Tuesday that he had won £l5OO in a well-known Australian sweepstake. He drew Gay Crest, which ran second to Paquito at Randwick on September 13. Gay Urest was beaten by a short head only. Had Gay Crest won Lowry would have taken the first prize of £5OOO.

An important addition to the Wellington Hospital, the new Ewart Hospital for tuberculosis eases, is nearing completion, and will be formally- opened in the course of a few weeks. The new- building cost approximately £25,000, and will accommodate about 80 patients.

An announcement was made-at a meeting of the Management Committee of the Wellington Boys’ Institute (says our special correspondent) that Lady Bell had made a donation of £350 to the institute to equip a carpenter’s workshop. The gift has been made by Lady Bell in memory of her son, Ernest Dillon Bell. It is explained by the committee that there is no intention to encroach on any of the existing organisations, such as the Technical College, in the matter of training. The new workshop will be used as a room in which boys may become familiar with the elements of woodwork and the care and use of the tools and equipment provided.

That the prospects for the coming tourist season were excellent was the opinion expressed by Mr R. W. Marshall, district manager of the local Government Tourist Office, in conversation with our representative last week. Mr Marshall said that advice received frffin Australian agents indicated that the number of Australians coming to New Zealand was likely to increase. This was mainly accountable to the extensive publicity campaign initiated by the department, and also to the fact that economic conditions in Australia were tending to induce travellers to take shorter and cheaper holidays this year than was usual. New Zealand was attracting many who, in previous years, had travelled to Europe and Great Britain. The northern offices had also advised that increased numbers of inquiries for Otago resorts had been made. The Milford Track was the leading attraction, but many visitors were contemplating taking the round trip tours embracing Queenstown, Manapouri and Wanaka. Already many of the accommodation houses at Stewart Island and Queenstown were advising that they were fully booked up, especially for the Christmas and New Year period. 'Now that the Bluff Harbour Board had withdrawn from the Stewart Island service, which was being conducted by the Tamatea, there was a fairly considerable change, and Dunedin visitors to the island would now be able to make the whole trip in one day.

When asked a few days ago what in his opinion was likely to be the effect of the steady concentration of gold reserves in the hands of the Federal Reserve Bank in the United States and the Bank of France, Sir Otto Niemeyer said that it added to the temporary maladjustment of the gold supplies in the different countries and caused a stringency of credit. “ It is due to a whole series of economic causes, and the question we are interested in is how soon the United States and France can get rid of it,” he added. “France is a rich country, and I suppose that the Bank of France thinks that the holding of a good deal of gold is an outward sign of wealth. But lam not of that opinion myself. The fact is that the Bank of France holds an enormous sum in gold, which is an unproductive asset. As long as that state of affairs lasts it will get them into trouble. There is, however, a probability of France becoming a lending nation and that they will get rid of the gold in that way.”

Passenger bookings on steamers leaving for England next March are much lighter than they have been in past years. The tourist traffic from New Zealand generally commences in March, as travellers to Great Britain, Europe, or the United States gain the advantage of the northern summer. During the last three or four years there have been heavy bookings in September for vessels leaving New Zealand in the following March or April, but this year there is still plenty of good accommodation available. “It is hard to predict what volume of outward tourist traffic there will be next year,” said the chief passenger clerk of one of the large shipping companies at Auckland (states the New Zealand Herald). “ Early booking is only a comparatively recent development, and there is still plenty of time for bookings to be made. However, it appears to me that the decrease in the bookings is an outcome of the feeling of uncertainty concerning the Dominion’s economic position. People are waiting to see what returns they are likely to receive from the new season’s produce. If they are reasonably satisfactory, I have no doubt that bookings will be quite up to normal.” Even between Auckland and Sydney, it is stated, there has been a decrease in early bookings. A short while ago, most of the accommodation on the Aorangi and the Niagara on their trips from Auckland to Sydney was booked up weeks ahead, but for the last trip of the Niagara there were only about 70 bookings a week before the vessel sailed. However, this number had been doubled by the time of the liner’s departure from Auckland.

A stranger to Auckland, Dr A. J. Ross, ■who recently arrived from Australia, gave away £2OO in bank notes on Monday week in mistake for £2. Next morning a taxi-driver and a shopkeeper, on discovering the mistake, went out to the house he is staying at in St. Helier’s and returned the sum intact—•“ a remarkable example of the honesty of New Zealand people,” as the Australian visitor put it. Dr Ross stated that he was on a health trip and came into the city to make some expensive purchases. He had several £lOO Australian bank notes wrapped up in a handkerchief in his pocket, together with some New Zealand £1 notes. He made several small purchases, and then took a taxi home. “What was my surprise next morning to receive a visit from a taxi-driver and a shopkeeper both returning me £lOO notes which I did not know I had missed,” said Dr Ross. “ New Zealanders must be the most honest people in the world, for I would never have traced unaided the two people to whoiii I gave wrong notes.”

The address in which Mr R. Harrisoi’ outlined the claims of the builders and contractors’ labourers when their application for a new award was heard in thq Arbitration Court last week was modelled on unusual lines, and to illustrate his contention Mr Harrison at times went into questions of economics. The estir mated national wealth, according to thq New Zealand Official Year Book, he stated, was £920,500,000, or £Bl7 per head of the adult population over 20 years of age. To refuse to raise the standard of living of labourers in view of those figures appeared to be unjust. While the national wealth and the volume of production had increased these labourers were still condemned to living on an avert age wage of £3 8s 7d per week. Later he said: “I wish to state that if we as a community have created an Arbitration Court, and appointed a judge to sit bet tween two giants emblematical of Capital and Labour, with a decree that beyond the ebb and flow of wages in relation to the cost of living they should not go, then the institution, in my humble opinion, is nothing more nor less than a farce, an industrial see-saw, and I would willingly express my sympathy anyone who was requested to function in such a manner.” He claimed that wages were but a small factor in the cost of production. Mr Justice Frazer replied that if the building of a house were taker; as an example wages might amount tp 40 per cent, of the cost, but a large pror portion of the remaining 60 per cent, of the cost was also accounted for by labour. For instance there were the cutting and transport of the timber which was used, He w'as quite sure that if it were possible every member of the court would do his best to obtain higher wages and a higher standard of living for all trades. But these economic questions Were not always easy to understand or to express. A few years ago there might have been 50 builders in Dunedin employing 5000 mei) and doing £5,000,000 worth of work in a ’ year. But in a slump period such as the present the amount might be reduced to £1,000,000 with the builders cutting prices down to the bare level to obtain work. How could the court produce an equal amount of work or an equal or greater amount of wages? This would give an idea of the difficult questions which the court was asked to solve. He frankly admitted that he could not find a solution. No doubt the depression would have some good results in the shape of better methods and a reduction in prices.

Some time ago Captain Hayes, of the Marine Department, who has been engaged in research w r ork in reference to whitebait, discovered on the banks of the Manawatu River the parent fish, the inanga, spawning on the low rush flat just at high-water mark, where there were millions of the eggs. He assumes that, after hatching, the little fish find their way to the ocean and return during the season, accounting for the fact that whitebait are seen entering over the bars of tidal rivers early in the season. He hag discovered traces of serious damage to the spawning by stock walking over them and killing many thousands, and he considers this may account for the diminution in supply some years.