NEWS ITEMS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16116, 3 May 1923, Page 4

NEWS ITEMS.

TheDunedin"City Council has decided to reduce 1 the price -of. electric light enrrentvby;icH per unit and* the .country charge'from'4s to 35. - " Last year Wai.pori showed! "a profit of £22,000 and this • : year it was" £27,(XX). 'Statistics''recently Issued in England show* that 'there are more 'motor cycles in uso in that country than motor cars, the respective registrations last year being 377,943 and 314,769. In this country motor cars easily out-number

the motor-cycles. 'As a part of'its advertising campaign to further the "Own Your Own Home" movement, a Californian real estate firm recently built a model house on wheels. fThe jminiaturo house w;is built on the chassis of a motor wagon. It was approximately 20 feet long and 10 feet wide, and complete, in every detail. It was furnished with window blinds, and electric lights, which gave a very realistic effect at night. (

Visitors unually find considerable difficulty'is pronouncing Maori place names, and Mi' Julian Grande's pronunciation of Waikaremoana or Paefcakariki should be worth listening to. . During his lecture" at,-, the Wellington Town Hall he essayed' to pronounce only one Maori word, and! a fairly simple one at that. Ho desired to refer to the Tararua Tramping Club, but Tararua tripped" hk tongue badly. Ho called! it "Tow-row-row-row," and obviously dissatisfied with his attempt, he gave it tip. • An official of tho Native Department who for years has worn a bat of the type known-as a "hard-hitter," lost hi.<lieadgear in a recent Wairoa fire, and was compelled to attend a gathering ot natives in a soft felt hat. The natives failed to recognise him at first, and to ensure that there should be no recurrence of the mistake, the chiefs of the tribes represented purchased a new "hard-hitter" which, with due solemnity, was presented to the pakeha visitor. In making the presentation, the spokesman . reminded his, hearers that the oidtime Maori chief \vore, an an indication of the greatness of his niana, a special headdress. Tho mana of the recipient of the gift was in the same way associated with the stylo of hat that he had worn for so many years. The ceremony excited a great deal of merriment. ."Tho medical superintendent recommends the appointment of a dietitian," saidf the member representing the North Shore- boroughs on the Auckland! Hospital Board, "and yet what! had struck him a good! deal in going through the salaries was that the. chef got a lower salary than the.splint maker and the engineer. He had' wondered to himself when we considered an institution the size of a hospital, and', the important part cooking played in the treatment of patients, if tho day was not far distant when the chef wyould be one of the best paid officials in the service of the Board."- The chairman pointed' out that the chef was getting an increase* in salary,- and that, as far as the splint maker was concerned, ho was doing splendid work and' his services were of tho utmost value to the hospital and his appointment had led to efficiency.

, The matter of accidents to children while attending school, and the making of a grant to the parents to meet the medical expenses, was before the Taranaki Education Board at its last meeting (states the Taranaki -News) in connection with a case in which a young girl at one of the country schools had lost the tip of one of her liners owing to the of the school door. The father of the girl said he had been told that the door had been a danger to the ' children for a number of years. lie had lessened the risk after the. accident, by attaching hooks and eyes so that the door 'could be held back. Members oi the board were sympathetic to the application for assistance, but stated that, no matter hj>w strong the father's moral claim on them' might be, they doubted whether they could legally make a grant. It was decided to request the Education. Department to make a compassionate allowance/ '