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Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18387, 3 May 1934, Page 4

The management committee of_ tho Palmerston North Young Women’s Christian Association lias decided to close its hostel as tho expenses are now in excess of the receipts. The cutter Mvth has returned to Bluff from the South Cape mutton-bird islands with a large consignment of ‘‘birds, which are more plentiful than they have been for many seasons. “Who can say whether.a Government department is efficient!” said Professor A. 11. Toeker in his inaugural address to the Public Service Administration Society at Christchurch. ‘‘The. only test is by competition, and public services do not usually have to face competition.” There had been cases where a public service, like the railways, bad been put to the test and had not liked it very much, he added. No child attending the Gisborne Central School is required to spend more than half an hour per nuight on homework. A statement to this effect was made at the meeting of householders last night by tho headmaster, Mr. J. Shimmiu, in reply to a lady questioner, who complained of the amount oi homework her girl of 11 years of age had to do on several subjects. Mr. Shiminin said that if tho girl did half an hour each night, more would not be expected. The chairman, Mr. J. H. Sunderland, stated that it had been the practice at the Gisborne Central School to give very little homework, except in the case of children who were backward in any particular subject.

A proposal advanced by Mr. 0. H. Seddon at the annual meeting of householders at the Kaiti School last evening, to the effect tlxat the school should hold its own sports meeting annually in the school grounds, was warmly welcomed. Mr. Seddon pointed out that this sports fixture could be made the occasion for bringing the parents of pupils into closer touch with the school, and also for promoting social as well as athletic intercourse. The annual meetings sponsored by the Primary Schools’ Sports Association were admirably conducted, he added, but they did not furnish the same opportunities of developing prowess and school spirit that smaller gatherings at the individual schools would do. The suggestion was endorsed by several speakers, and it was recommended to the incoming committee for adoption. It was also proposed that each of the district schools should hold individual sports meetings, and that these gatherings l>e made the occasion of selecting representatives to compete at the combined meeting under the Primary Schools Sports Association. After only a brief retirement by Mr. Justice Frazer and the assessors, Messrs. W. Cecil Prime and A. L. Monteith, judgment was given in the Arbitration Court last evening in the case in which Tawa Porter claimed £l3l 11s compensation from David A. Kirkpatrick for an injury received to bis hand while cutting scrub for the defendant. After reviewing the medical evidence, His Honor announced that the court had come to the conclusion that the, wasting in the plaintiff’s hand and wrist referred to was duo to disuse. At the same time the court was satisfied that the plaintiff was genuinely suffering from hysteria resulting from the accident, from which he probably would not recover until the case was settled, and for which ho was entitled to compensation. The court gave judgment for full compensation to dato and for a further period of 13 weeks, with costs £8 Bs, and medical and other witnesses’ expenses. _ His Honor added that the, court was satisfied that at the end of the 13 weeks the plaintiff would not then be suffering any loss of earning power, though the hand might not function as completely as before. Mr. J. S. Wauchop, instructed by Mr. S. V. Benufov, appeared for the plaintiff and Mr. L. T. Bumard for the defendant.

Interest was shown by the Hon, .1. Bitchener, Minister of Public Works, while travelling through the Hokianga County, in the reclamation works being carried out on the fringes ot the lloki anga harbor. Many hundreds ot acres of mangrove swamp are being encircled by stopbanks. Experience with other tidal Huts lias shown that within live or six years such areas can he converted into fertile dairy country.

The holding of a honeymoon month at Margate from May 18 to June 30 has, says the London Times, been officially sanctioned by the town council. It provides for free entertainments, games and other attractions for couples spending their honeymoon in that town during that period. They will be received privately by the Mayor and given a souvenir of their visit and a complimentary pass. Sir John Simon. British Secretary for Foreign Affairs, addressing the National Council of Evangelical Free Churches at Birkenhead recently, observed : —“lf I were to say anything more about shirts someone would suggest 1 ought to he appointed mistress of the robes. .1 think sometimes that perhaps the greatest problem in the modern world is whether or not the greatly improved technique of bullying is going to succeed. It never succeeded in tlie old days. The martyr got the best of it in the end.’’ People who can’t find money are frequently met with, but money that cannot find the -people to whom it belongs is rather rare. But there is more than a thousand pounds of it in the coffers of the Sydney electricity department. Recently the • general manager of the department (Mr. 11. Maekay) reported to a meeting of the electricity committee of the Sydney City Council that the department holds £1356, representing unclaimed balances of consumers’ security deposits. Although the accounts concerned have been closed for at least seven years, applications for the refund of these deposits have not been made. Every effort had; been made to trace the depositors, but without result. He suggested that the amount should be transferred to revenue. A list of the deposits would be kept, and no person would be precluded from obtaining a refund. The committee recommended that the council should adopt the suggestion.

The possibility of establishing a shipbuilding industry at Wellington was mentioned by Mr. J. H. Biles, of London, a retired consulting naval architect, and formerly of the firm of Sir J. H. Biles and Company, shipbuilders of London and Glasgow. Mr. Biles was greatly impressed with the potentialities of Wellington .harbor as a shipbuilding centre. He said that shipping and shipbuilding generally went hand in hand, and that Wellington, equipped with a building industry, would probably develop in time to be as important a centre in one respect as in the other. Ho understood that there would be difficulties in the way and that the chief of these would he the distance of the city from adequate steel works, but lie was sure that these could be overcome in some way or other. He would not suggest the ways and means of establishing shipbuilding yards in Wellington—New Zealanders would be more capable of doing that —but as a visitor to the country he offered the advice for what it was worth.