TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 22492, 29 January 1935, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

English Women’s Health. A warning regarding the health of the women of England was given recently by Sir George Newman t Chief Medical Officer to the Ministry of Health, at a display of gymnastics and national dancing at the Albert Hall. Although women’s health was good it was not as good as it should be, stud Sir George. There was an excess of sickness among insured women which was largely preventable; there was much more fatigue, weakness and lassitude among girls and women than was their normal share; the great social disease of tuberculosis was more prevalent among young women than young men; there was too much preventable anaemia in girls and women; and it had been found by inquiry that among 12-year-old girls as many as 42 per cent, showed defects of posture and carriage, as compared with 31 per cent, in boys of the same age. There were also, he said, the risks of motherhood, which were not being reduced as they should be in the light of modem knowledge. “There is one primary and fundamental answer to these problems,” declared Sir George. “It is that we must train and educate our children in the physical art of good living, for their problems cannot be solved without that. I do not say that English girlhood is not still the best upon earth, but I do say that there is indisputable evidence which proves that there is need for the. national development of physical training, culture and guidance for all girls of all classes in this country.”

British Trade With Spain. A British mission representing the Overseas Trade Development Council, the Department of Mines and the Federation of British Industries recently went to Spain in the hope of increasing the volume of British exports to that country. In the first nine months of last year British purchases from Spain, consisting very largely of winter oranges, and other agricultural products, were more than double Spain’s purchases of British goods, the difference amounting to £4,555,000. This state of affairs has existed for some years, and the position generally is far worse from the British standpoint than it was a decade ago. The British iron and steel, coal, cotton and woollen industries have been among the worst sufferers, but the Spanish market for British motor cars and one or two other products has improved. Sales of cotton goods to Spain are now only about a quarter of what they were six years ago. Exceptionally high import duties, charged on a gold basis, and the development of Spanish industries are the chief problems facing exporters of heavy goods. Many imported commodities are subjected to an ad valorem duty of 100 per cent., and two or three British concerns have recently established factories on Spanish soil to overcome this barrier. Not so long ago Spain also established a system of foreign exchange control which has caused some serious delays in the settlement of British accounts. Hopes of a substantial increase in the declining exports of coal to Spain were dashed by an announcement that work would be resumed in the Asturian mines on December 12, after the strike early in October. However, at latest advices it was hoped that the mission would be able to effect some improvement in trade conditions.

Last evening the Dominion Meteorologist issued the following information: An anti-cyclone of slight intensity covers the North Tasman Sea, but a series of moderate westerly depressions is moving over the South Tasman and southern New Zealand. Forecast: Winds variable at first in the Cook Strait area, otherwise moderate, but freshening westerly to northerly prevailing. Seas in New Zealand waters smooth to moderate. Eastern Tasman Sea: Light and variable winds in the northern portion, and moderate to fresh northwesterlies in the southern portion, backing later to southerly; seas smooth to moderate. Weather for the most part fair to cloudy, but some scattered showers likely, mainly in districts with a westerly aspect.

In the Police Court yesterday, before Mr M. Miller, Justice of the Peace, a statutory first offender for drunkenness, who did not appear, was convicted and discharged.

New regulations are to hand whereby sons of New Zealand soldiers can now be accepted for a period of farm training at Flock House. As there are a number of vacancies at Flock House for suitable boys with a bias for country life, immediate application should be made to either the secretary of the Invercargill Returned Soldiers* Association, or the secretary, Southland War Funds Association, where full par-; ticulars may be obtained.

Oysters dredged from Foveaux Strait, the principal source of supply for the South Island, may be a little dearer in the season commencing next week (says the Evening Star). The retailers can give a sound reason for the advance if such is decided upon, for the Bluff catchers have notified that the price will be 5/- per sack above that of last year, a sack containing about sixty dozen. A fair inference from the notification is that the price-cutting at Bluff has come to an end.

Drinking water was the subject of a memorandum received by the Auckland Education Board from the Education Department at its meeting last week. The department suggested that in view of complaints received by the Department of Health about the condition of drinking water supplied to children, especially where school tanks were in use, the attention of school committees should be called to the necessity of seeing that all tanks were thoroughly cleaned before the beginning of the next school term. The department gave the opinion that that course was especially advisable in view of the recent period of hot dry weather. “That is all right, but who is going to refill the tanks while this dry spell continues?” a member asked. The board decided to issue a circular to scfoopl cqmffiittees. s

Something of a record was established at a recent Putaruru stock sale, when a fairly old Jersey dairy cow was sold for 1/- (states the Press), the auctioneer appeared shocked, but the purchaser, a man from Te Pol, was well satisfied.

It has often been said that tourists in New Zealand see more of the country than is known to a great many New Zealanders, but an amusing example of the naive indifference of a native to the beauties of his own district was given by Dr Ewart Duthie, of Johannesburg, South Africa, who has just completed a tour of the west Coast. Dr Duthie was talking with a resident of Murchison, who made the casual remark, among others, They tell me the Buller gorge is very fine. I’ve never been down to it myself.

Tales of the almost unbelievable prices backblock Australians will pay to see stage entertainments were told to a Sun reporter by Miss Irene Stone, a Christchurch girl who has just returned home after eight years of constant stage work with the leading Australian companies. Miss Stone said that while touring with one company in Queensland Italians working in the sugar plantations had paid as much as £5 for a seat at one performance. It was given in a desertecj church, and the less fortunate patrons paid as much as 10/- to sit on boxes outside the building and watch proceedings through the open windows.

Explained by the president, Mr C. R. Ford, as being a means of bringing art into the community, the first of a series of films which has been secured by the Auckland Society of Arts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, was shown at a luncheon held at the society’s clubrooms. The subject was “The Making of a Bronze Statue,” the equestrain statue of Theodore Roosevelt. The film illustrated the various processes from the time a figure is conceived in the mind of the sculptor—the rough drawing which determines the outline, and the stages from clay to plaster, plaster to wax, and finally to bronze.

On Friday next week the Auckland section of the world Olympic contract bridge tournament, directed from America, will be decided. At various other centres in New Zealand tournaments will also be held, and on the results at the various centres the New Zealand winners will be decided. In 1933 an Auckland quartet—Messrs Parkinson, Bruce-Smith, Tucker and Watkins —were the New Zealand winners, and last year the prizes went to Wellington and Christchurch players. Already there are so many entries in Auckland as to indicate that the number of players will be considerably more than in the 1934 tournament, when there were 32 competitors. The entries are made in pairs.

A mystery attaching to the destination of two mongooses on the Narbada has been solved. The animals are consigned to the “Dunedin Zoo,” but as there is no zoo in Dunedin, those not in what now turns out to be a joke were puzzled as to who were to take delivery of them (states the Otago Daily Times). It now appears that a representative of an Eastern tea firm who makes periodical visits to the Dominion was jocularly asked by a Dunedin friend why he did not send him out a mongoose or two. The Dunedin man, who resides at Musselburgh, and is well known in football and bowling circles throughout the Dominion, is a great lover of animals and birds, and has several at his home. Thus the address the “Dunedin Zoo.” Advice has been received that the mongooses will not be permitted to land in New Zealand, so if the Eastern tea merchant has to bear the cost of sending them to New Zealand and back again to their port of shipment, the joke will not only have reacted on himself, but also be a rather expensive one. The Musselburgh resident is highly amused over the whole affair.

Back to school soon. Mothers get best Values in Girls’ Vests, Bloomers and Hosiery at Wicks’ Ltd., Cash Drapers, Invercargill and Gore.—Advt.

Sales prices for navy college coats 27 to 36 inch 30/- to 34/-. Panamas with navy band 2/11 and 3/11 at Miss Noble’s, The Baby Shop, Dee street.— Advt.

Orders by post from all over the country are pouring into Thomson and Beattie—who have just issued 13,500 copies of an interesting eight-page sale catalogue. You may order with confidence from this publication. Stocks are sufficient —in most cases—to fill all mail orders.—Advt.

SNAPSHOTS that are pictures. Brown, The Chemist, will produce the best possible results. GEORGE H. BROWN,. Chemist, 125 Dee Street.— Advt.

Super quality School Hose 2/6, all sizes. All schools, including Technical and High Boys’ School. Shirts 1/9, all sizes; School Belts 9d; Boys’ Singlets lid, and many other bargains at Carter’s Stock Reducing Sale. See advert Front Page.—Advt.

PRINTS that will not fade, discolour, or lose their first day brilliance. That’s the kind we make. GEORGE H. BROWN, Chemist, 125 Dee Street. —Advt.

There is nothing you can give HER that she will appreciate more than a nice Fur Necklet or Stole. We have the finest quality Fur Goods in Southland at Prices so low that you will find it easy to shop here. The Mutual Fur Company, Tay street.—Advt.