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Otago Witness, Issue 4041, 25 August 1931, Page 3

The full name of the little girl who disappeared from her home at Tomahawk on Tuesday afternoon is Valda Shirley Eggers. The police, assisted by a number of civilians and schoolboys, continued their search on Thursday, but dragging operations on the Tomahawk Lagoon and an exhaustive patrol of the sandhills failed to reveal any trace of the child. When last seen she was wearing a pink dress, a blue knitted hat, and black shoes and stockings.

Faced with having to report to the House of Representatives on Thursday on a number of Maori petitions which had been dealt with by the Native Affairs Committee, the chairman (Mr C. H. Clinkard) sought (says our parliamentary reporter) to escape the pronunciation of the petitioners’ names by referring to the petitions by number. His effort, however, was unsuccessful, and Mr Clinkard had to struggle through about a score of Maori names as best he could. “ I have a number of recommendations on Maori petitions to present,” said Sir Clinkard. “ There is no chance of the House understanding my pronunciation of the names of the Maori petitioners, and I intend to refer to the petitions by their numbers.” Mr J. A. Young (Hamilton) immediately rose to a point of order, but before he had an opportunity to explain it Mr Speaker remarked that he was afraid numbers would be meaningless to the House. “ Very well, I will do my best,” remarked Mr Clinkard, and he did, much to the amusement of members.

Whether a bank manager should divulge a confidential stock return given him by a farmer was a question decided by Mr Justice Blair i n the Supreme Court at Wanganui. The point came before the court when the- manager of the Bank of New Zealand at Palmerston North was giving evidence. Opposing counsel questioned whether such evidence could be asked of the witness. Counsel stated that the Bankers Act required an order of the court for the production of bank books. The records of the bank, it was held, as between themselves and their clients, were part of those books which could thus not be produced without the order of the court. If the books and records could not be produced, that protection could not be overcome by asking a bank manager to come to court and tell what was in those books. After referring to the law on the point, his Honor said that the law stated that a banker could not be asked to produce his “ books.” It was also stated by counsel that Phipson on Evidence made a statement about giving confidential information, but the point would not be pressed. His Honor: I do not see how you can successfully press it. It looks as if there is no privilege at all. I think the manager will be compelled to give that information. Counsel: I am not asking the manager to disclose his client’s account. His Honor, to witness: It seems to me that you have not the same privileges as a Father Confessor. But I appreciate your position. The law, as it is, is to stop the “ books ” or the ledgers of a bank being hawked about the country, perhaps to stay there for the best part of a week, thus holding up the bank’s business. The question was put, ■ and the witness replied.

“Evidently she has nothing to hide,” commented the secretary of the Auckland Education Board (Mr D. W. Dunlop) an Wednesday morning, when an Otago woman teacher who had failed to supply her age when applying for a position wrote forwarding the required particular. The applicant, whose age was given at 28, and she did not anticipate that minor details would seriously influence the board in determining positions. She thought that grading marks were, the deciding factor. Mr H. S. W. King considered the letter was not couched in a very nice spirit, ft was decided to appoint the teacher to the position for which she had applied, but to inform her that in future her application would be declined if irregular.

There were 15 fewer deaths from cancer in the past year than in the preceding 12 months. “The New Zealand branch of the British Empire Cancer Campaign Society,” states the Director-general of Health in his annual report, "is proving a very active force in dealing with this too prevalent disease. The public have generously subscribed to this organisation, and thanks are due to them for their liberal support. The research work being carried out by Dr A. M. Begg at the Medical School, Dunedin, under the control of a central committee of the society , is steadily adding to the knowledge of this disease in New Zealand, and leadI hope, to its ultimate conquest. Through newspaper articles and displays of posters at post offices throughout the Dominion, the department is endeavouring to educate the public as to the signs of cancer and as to the value of early treatment.

The kauri, native of New Zealand, by its sheer magnificence, its great height and size, and distinguished by dignified peculiarities that make it an object of special interest, is marked out as a true monarch among trees. In New Zealand it is certainly the “ king of all trees.” At one time, huge kauri forests covered the northern part of the Dominion, but the white man —blind and ruthless destroyer of Nature’s resources and of his own future welfare—settled all that; and today only a meagre few thousand acres remain to draw attention to the passing of this aristocrat of the timber kingdom (says the Timber Growers’ Quarterly Review). Its peculiar smooth, symmetrical trunk, disappearing almost straight down iuto the earth, looking as though a root system like that of ordinary trees were beneath its dignity, its bunchy crown of branches, and its dominance of all the other flora of the forest, make it one of the most interesting of trees. But while man destroys and wastes his natural heritage, he also learns; and so in New Zealand, as a living monument to his enterprise, probably the finest artificial softwood stands in the world are growing up to replace the now almost disappeared kauri.

Though British airship building suffered a check after the tragic RlOl disaster, the United States Navy is pressing on with the construction of the two largest airships the world has seen. The Akron, the first of two craft of 6.500,000 cubic feet capacity, ordered in 1928, is rapidly approaching completion. This monstrous aerial ark is expected to have a cruising range of 10,580 miles, at a speed of 83 miles an hour. Gun nests will be carried in the nose and the tail. Even more striking tha n their immense size is the fact that each dirigible is to carry five aeroplanes of her own. The launching of the planes will be the least difficult part of their operation, for the speed of the airship will render this a simple performance. But when returning home to roost the planes will have to make contact with a trapeze arrangement, which may present serious difficulties in bad weather. Presumably, the effect on the trim of the airship of releasing and gathering back five planes and their occupants will be so marked that the operation will be possible only in favourable conditions. Naval experts consider it debatable whether the airship equipped with its own planes for reconnaissance and defence is more effective than the sea-going aircraft carrier. While the airship can travel four times as fast under favourable conditions, the carrier can despatch a larger number of planes to scout the ocean in all directions.

The Presbyterian Synod of Otago and Southland will meet in Invercargill on August 26. The synod has been in existence for over 65 years, but this will be the first occasion on which the annual meeting will he held outside Dunedin. There are 115 ministers on the roll, besides elders, about 60 in number, but only a flucuating proportion can attend the yearly gatherings.

“I am not concerned in the defence of bankers and financiers —they are quite capable of defending themselves,” said Mr James Begg i n the course of his address on “ The Cause of the Economic Depression and Suggested Remedies ” to members of the Workers’ Educational Association on Wednesday evening. To their credit it could be said, remarked Mr Begg, that, in Britain at any rate, it was against their wishes, that the Government persisted in ; the course it had adopted. Bankers; indeed, took full advantage of the conditions that were created, but were they not all equally guilty in-that respect? Every section of the community joined in the scramble, and the fervid enthusiasm and will to make sacrifices that pervaded every section at the beginning of the war were replaced by the sordid race between costs, wages, prices, profits, and taxes. Something might be said for the British Government, insomuch as it did raise a small portion of the cost of the war by taxation, while France and Germany relied entirely upon loans. The point was that governments and not financiers or bankers were responsible for the methods adopted. Endless excuses could, of course, be made for them. They were all faced with desperate emergencies, their countries were threatened with defeat, and their whole energies were required to meet the crises which daily confronted them; but their handling of a difficult situation showed clearly that governments could not be trusted with the management of currency in times of emergency. In the course of his address on “ The Cause of the Economic Depression and Suggested Remedies ’’ before members of the Workers’ Educational Association last week, Mr James Begg said the frantic efforts that were being made to-day to save the financial fabric of the world from complete collapse were the result of reckless and ignorant Government control of currencies. Their intentions were not criminal, but they were absorbed w’ith the overwhelming events of the moment, • and they took the line of least resistance, with the result that was seen today. The irony of these events was that these efforts in finance doubled and possibly trebled the cost of the war, while greatly discounting the effort that the nation was capable of making. The effort that it was possible for any nation to make was never increased by internal borrowing. This method did not lessen the necessary sacrifices —it merely deferred them, and in the meantime distributed them in a grossly unjust manner, enabling a minority to make fortunes at | the expense of the unfortunate majority. ( The milk supply of the city is a subject touched on in the annual report of the town clerk, wh'o states: “On two occasions during the year representations were made to the council on the subject of the establishment of a municipal milk supply. The committee reported that legislation would be needed to give the council a virtual monopoly, that considerable capital would be needed to establish the business, that the existing supplies are plentiful, and that there had been an absence of complaint as to the existing system. In view particularly of the financial aspert, and the policy of the council to avoid borrowing on the general account wherever possible, it was decided that no action be taken with regard to the proposal meantime.’’ Gratifying indeed to the bakers in particular and the public generally is the information that the 1931 M.C.M. Cup, offered annually at the Auckland Winter Exhibition for the best commercial loaf of bread, has been won by a local baker. In open competition with the leading bakers of New Zealand, Mr H. Gardiner, of Cumberland street, Dunedin, has been successful in winning this coveted trophy. Class No. 2 Championship, also competed for at the Auckland Winter Exhibition, has been won this year by Messrs J. G. Laurens&n and Son, bakers, Dunedin.

The proposal that, on the occasion of the conference of the Empire Chambers of Commerce, -which is to take place in New Zealand in 1933, a member of the Royal House should be invited to visit the Dominion was put forward at the meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday evening by Mr A. Jacobs, who suggested that possibly the Prince of Wales might be able to come. The suggestion was heartily endorsed, and is to be forwarded to the Associated Chambers of Commerce.

The annual meeting of the Otago Presbyterian Synod will be held in Invercargill this week, commencing to-morrow morning.

Just on 11,000 miles were steamed by the Melanesian Mission yacht Southern Cross, which returned to Auckland on Tuesday night after an absence of 19 weeks. It was the longest trip ever made by the steamer during the many years she has been engaged in the work of the mission. At two places visited in New Britain the natives had never seen a steamer before, and most of them were very nervous and declined to come on to the beach to welcome the ship. Later some of them plucked up courage and came o n board. The natives at these places had never before seen a white woman, and when Mrs Burgess, wife of the captain, went ashore she was regarded with the greatest astonishment.

The number of cremations at the City Cermatorium during the year was 21, as compared with 19 for the previous year. The expenditure was £62 3s Bd, and the revenue £ll4 9s.

Dr Adams reports that the New Zealand Astronomical Society has received advice by cable from the International Astronomical Union at Copenhagen of the discovery of a bright comet of fourth magnitude on August 14, 9hr s 29min, Greenwich mean time. The comet s position at its discovery was Shrs 4min right ascension, and 22 degrees 46min declension. The comet, which can be seen with the naked eye, should be visible in the eastern sky in the morning, as it rises about one hour before the sun. It is not known by ■whom the comet was discovered. It is an entirely new visitor, and a distinct object in the sky.

Reference is made by the tow n clerk, in his annual report, to the subject of voting at municipal elections. He states: A perusal of the informal voting papers indicated that in the great majority the voter had ‘ left untouched ’ the names of more than the required number to fill the requisite vacancies. In the case of the council paper, where 12 candidates were called for, 13, 14, and up to 18 names out of the 25 were left intact, and the only conclusion that seems possible, unsatisfactory though it be, is that the voters in such cases were guilty of inexcusable carelessness. I would once again record the opinion that where a fairly large list of candidates is up for selection the repealed method of placing a cross opposite the name of the selected candidate offers much less opportunity for the exercise of carelessness than does the erasing of the requisite number of names as now in vogue. Under the existing method the paper becomes informal, not from what the voter does to it, but from what he neglects to do. The position as it stands to-day is anything but satisfactory, and the time is overdue to revert to the cross method of recording the vote. The only objection to it that I ever entertained was due to the fact that it was not in use at parliamentary elections. My view was, and still is, that the method of recording the vote should be uniform at all elections, and should Parliament elect to authorise a return to the cross system at local elections it is to be hoped that a like change will be made in respect of the parliamentary contests.”

“A New Zealander, Bishop Stewart, laid down the foundations of the church in Persia,” said the Rev. W. W. Cash, in an address at Wellington. When the speaker was in Persia in 1928 he saw the Stewart Memorial College, which Sir Arnold Wilson, chairman of the AngloPersian Oil Company, had termed “ the finest college in Persia.” A memorial to the work which the man from New Zealand had done, it comprised'hospitals, a college, and a church.

Motor spirit is now being sold in various parts of Dunedin at Is lOd and Is 9d per gallon for first and second grade respectively. At the prices which are being quoted by some firms, the petrol retailers will be making only a very small profit, and some of the dealers whose turnover is not large are afraid that they will be seriously affected by the competition of firms which are more able to afford to cut their prices.

Because the chairman of the Mount Roskill Road Board, Charles Michael M'Cullough, spoke and voted for a proposal that a telephone be installed in his private residence he must forfeit his seat, according to the decision of the magistrate, who said he was reluctantly compelled to enter a conviction.' It might be that the prosecution was trivial, but he was forced to hold that triviality had nothing to do with it.

It was stated at the meeting of the Otago Electric Power Board on Tuesday that complaints had been received .of interference with wireless, reception by power leaks. It was decided that a portable battery should be procured in an endeavour tq rectify the trouble.

The- amount of ■ petrol tax received by the City Council during the present financial year as its share of the petrol tax allocation was £8406 12s Bd, as compared with 171Q1 18s 8d for the previous year. With the sanction of the council the amount was allocated for expenditure on (a) the North road, (b) the South road, and (c) Anderson’s Bay road.

Christchurch now has a woman taxi driver who (says the Times) will ply for hire from a special stand to be allotted to her by the City Council, She has been a taxi-driver in Dunedin for some time, but she decided to start business in Christchurch, and a license was granted to her at 1 a meeting of the of the City Council on Monday ■-afternoon. She will not be associated with any of the taxi firms at present doing business in the city, but will drive her own car. About 12 years ago there were two or three women taxi-drivers in Christchurch, but since then this occupation has been left exclusively to men. “ I claim that in art we are entitled to provide the same encouragement in educa tion which in another branch led to the discovery of Lord Rutherford,” said Dr E. B. Gunson in the course of a luncheon talk at Auckland. Was Rutherford’s prelim inary education wasted? Yet who w-ould expect him to return to New Zealand? We had not yet achieved a Rutherford in art, but we had achieved a representative group of artists resident abroad which was at once'a credit to this country and an indication that art talent was by no means wasted. In this connection, the names of Harry Rountree, Sidney Thompson, Heber Thompson, S. Hellaby, F. J. Porter, and Oswald Birley, who had just completed a portrait of the King, were mentioned.

The problem of foreign maritime competition with New Zealand ships trading between British possessions in the Pacific was referred to by several speakers at the annual reunion of the New Zealand Company of Master Mariners in Wellington on Saturday evening. Mr W. P. Endean, M.P., said that if we allowed our merchant ships to be swept away by unfair competition of heavily subsidised foreign shipping it would spell ruin to the Empire. Something should be done in co-operation with Australia and Canada and other parts of the Empire to see that this did not happen. Captain J. W. Keane said the United States would have a mercantile marine just as long as the money lasted and there were signs that it would not last for ever. There was no need for panic. The British Mercantile Marino had always met and mastered competition, and it would continue to do so. There was no need to fear the competition of United States ships. The recent merger with thc C.P.R. meant that backed by the immense resources of this powerful company, the Dominion’s shipping services on the Pacific would continue to hold their own. Captain W. Stuart said that British shipping today was second to none. The instant success of the luxury liner Empress of Britain showed that Britain was second to none in naval architecture. The Cunard Line had accepted the challenge of foreign shipping, and at a cost of £6,000,000 was building a 70,000-ton liner, to be named Princess Elizabeth, to wrest back the Blue Riband of the Atlantic. That typified the spirit of the British Mercantile Marine.

“ In connection with the economic position of New Zealand as part of a worldwide problem, I should like to say that the existing conditions are a challenge and a menace to our civilisation,” said Sii George Fowlds, president of the Auckland University College, at the graduation ceremony on Friday. “It is a reflection on human intelligence and education that in a world that has so vastly developed its capacity for production of the good things of life as to glut the storehouses of the world, the system of distributing should be so defective that millions of men and women are deprived of the opportunity of getting a reasonable supply of food and clothing.”

What is said to be the largest flag in the world was completed in Sydney recently for a city theatre in connection with a new production. It is an Australian emblem, 76ft in length and 66ft tn width at one end and 30ft at the other, and contains 480yds of calico. The white stripes in the Union Jack in the corner are lOJin in width, while the largest star is nearly sft long. Before it was painted the calico was heavy enough to require two men to carry it. Now it is considerably heavier, for 18 gallons of red dye were used, together with several gallons of white and blue. It took about four days to complete. Figures compiled by the Government Statistician for the Royal Life Saving Society show that the risk of death by drowning has been reduced by 44 per cent, since the society was established in New Zealand. “It is evident,” states a clause in the annual report, "that, taking New Zealand as a whole, over 100 lives a year are being saved as a result of the work that has been done. Thus the community is under a deep debt of gratitude to all those who have learnt to swim and. to save life, and to those who have taught them. In this connection it is well that we should recognise the splendid educational work of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association, which every year issues some thousands of certificates to school children learning to swim.”

The wholesale price of all brands of butter, has been increased by one penny per pound.

An excellently constructed model of the first school at Waitepeka, the work of Mr J. A. Somerville, who presented it, has been received by the Otago Early Settlers’ Association. The materials used in the model are clay and tussock grass, the roof being thatched with the latter. The original was a characteristic “ wattle and daub ” structure, and was built about the end of 1867 by Messrs James Marshall and William Harry. It was opened in 1868, the secretary of the Early Settlers’ Association (Mr 'W. Paterson) recalling that he rode about nine miles on an extremely wet night in order to be present at the function. The cost of the construction of the building was raised by the settlers, and the school opened with nine pupils, the number quickly rising to 46 in a fortnight. At the end of the year 1870 the Otago Education Board decided to build a new wooden school, and for some years afterwards'the-old one-roomed structure was used as a residence by nev arrivals in the district. The first teacher at Waitepeka was the late Mr John Porteous. who filled the position for 273 years without a break, and afterwards spent a considerable time in the service of the Waikouaiti County Council as clerk. At the monthly meeting of the Rural Intermediate Credit Board, held in Wellington, a return of arrears of interest and instalments as at June 30 was presented. This’ showed that, although it had been necessary to grant concessions to borrowers in a number of cases owing to the conditions which have been ruling in the farming community and the financial stringency which the Dominion is experiencing, the concessions have related almost exclusively 'to principal repayments, the interest payments having been made practically in full.

A large cargo of bananas was brought by the Government motor ship Maui Pomare, which arrived at Dunedin on Tuesday morning from Apia and Niue Island. The cargo comprised 7000 cases, and the fruit arrived in splendid condition. About 2600 cases were landed here. The balance of the freight will be discharged at Lyttelton, 'Wellington, and Auckland. The Maui Pomare experienced bad weather on the voyage, and her arrival was delayed several hours in consequence.

“ Both the Minister of Education (Mr H. Atmore) and the Education Department realise the importance of technical education to primary and secondary industries, and there is not the slightest risk of technical education suffering through amalgamations,” said the Director of Education, Mr T. B. Strong to a Christchurch Press reporter,- referring to proposals for the amalgama--tipn of Technical College and High School Boards. Mr Strong has attended meetings in Ashburton, where “the amalgamation of the Ashburton High School with the Technical College was discussed. The High School Board, he said, was in favour of the amalgamation, but the Technical College Board could not support the proposal at the present time. He had given reasons, he said, showing why amalgamation would further the interests of economy and efficiency and also the interests of the pupil. The proposals were for the amalgamation of post-primary schools in the smaller centres of population, and in Hamilton the two boards were in complete agreement on the merits of the scheme, and it had already been brought about in Nelson, New Plymouth, and Napier. There was no risk of a submergence of technical education in academic interests under the amalgamation system.

Giving a Canadian point of view of Mr Forbes’s attitude toward the tariff question, an ex-New Zealander writes from Vancouver to a friend in the Dominion. Part of the letter reads as follows:—“Mr Forbes seems to make rather foolish utterances on the question of New ZealandCanadian trade. We had a big front page heading in our papers the other night, ' New Zealand Premier says he is not going to crawl around for trade agreements.’ This was quoting a statement he made to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. He doesn’t seem to understand that it takes a good deal of patient negotiation not only on New Zealand’s part, but also on Canada’s part with her own provinces. Such a huge country as this is naturally made up of a great diversity of interests that have to be reconciled. The maritime provinces, East to "West want one thing, the prairie provinces an other, and Ontario and Quebec still others Mr Forbes is making New Zealand ridiculous.”

The Gazette issued last week contains regulations under the Stock Act, 1908, for the prevention of the introduction into New Zealand of diseases affecting stock.

One of our townsmen on Thursday re» ceived a letter from his sister, now resii dent at Southsea, Portsmouth, England, who writes as follows:—“To-day, July 10, is that old gentleman St. Swithin’s Day, and as the patron saint of rain he haa risen to the occasion, for it is literally pouring *in torrents all. The low-lying parts of the town will all be flooded out. We have had a most dreadful season, and all the drapers have lost very heavily, airy fairy garments hanging in the win-* dows and no buyers forthcoming. We have had about 10 days’ fine weather, and that was last week when New Zealand visitors came to see us for a week. Fortunately, it was lovely weather, and they went off for day excursions all the time. They greatly enjoyed their visit after the rush of London. The strawberry season has been a record one. I have had them all the time every day. Heaps of them may be bought from at first 8d to 33d a lb,and to-day I made 61b of jam for Is 6d, sugar included. Two baskets cost 4d, each 21b. I have never seen so many strawberries—millions of 21b and 31b baskets alone, so you can guess what the crop has been like. The growers ran .out of baskets, and then the foreign pulp has been dumped in. To-day’s dreadful storms would ruin the raspberries. Food has never been cheaper than at present. I always buy and always have bought New Zealand produce. At present butter is Is 2d a lb, honey Is 3Jd a jar, cheese 7d and 8d a lb, lamb from Is 4d to lOd. Mr Forbes spoke up right manfully, but this Government is ruining the country, and we are taxed in every direction. Our little car costa £2O a year in tax and compulsory insurance before we start to run it. Land values have been all reassessed; gas is up, and so are electric light and the water rate. The poor rate and, of_ course, the income tax are always with us. This haa gone on ever since the war began, so we should be used to it.”

New Zealand has been first in the field with many things, and, according to Mr A. S. Mitchell, of Wellington, it produced one of the earliest historical documents in English on the subject of building to withstand earthquake shocks. Mr Mitchell was lecturing on this subject to the Wei- • lington Philosophical Society, and remarked that it was interesting to note that, arising from the Wellington earthquake of 1848, which was responsible for the death of Sergeant Lovell and two of his children, a committee was appointed to report on the best type of building to withstand earthquakes, this report being the one to which he had referred as the pioneer of its kind.

An audacious burglary which, however, ended in the panic flight of the intruder without his booty, occurred at a house in Mac Murray road, Remuera, during' the week-end. One of two women who shared a bedroom was partly awakened early in the morning by sounds as of someone moving about and by a light such as 'might have come from an electric torch. Then the household was awakened by a loud crash at the back door, followed by footsteps of a man running down the drive. The burglar had entered through the back door, which had been left unlocked. He had gone into the bedroom where the man of the house was sleeping and after gathering up his clothes had taken them into the bathroom arul gone through them for money. This yielded him nothing, for the owner had emptied all the pockets before going to sleep. The intruder had then entered the bedroom of the two women and taken a purse containing some silver. When one of the sleepers began to wake he had hurried out of the room and rushed to the back door. He had evidently left this partly open, for he crashed into it and slammed it shut, dropping the purse and its contents. Hurriedly opening it again he had fled.