In Town And Out

Southland Times, Issue 23178, 20 April 1937, Page 8

In Town And Out

New Lighthouse Work on the new lighthouse on Pearl Island, at the entrance to Port Pegasus, Stewart Island, has been completed by the Government steamer Matai. The lighthouse, which is of the automatic type, is now working and shows a white flash of three-fifths of a second every 10 seconds. Conciliation Council

The Conciliation Commissioner (Mr S. Ritchie) sat in Invercargill yesterday to hear the dispute between the Invercargill journalists and the Southland Times Co., Ltd., and the Southland Daily News Co., Ltd. No agreement was reached on the major points in dispute and the council was adjourned sine die.

A Definition of the State A definition of the State was given by the Leader of the National Party (Mr Adam Hamilton) in an address at Ashburton. He said his view was: “The State is a centralized authority of human persons, mainly for the purpose of preserving peace and order in society; for attending to the duties and the rights of its members and allowing for the full development of the mental, physical, and moral well-being of the people. The persons comprising the State must always remain superior to the State itself.” “Rubber-necks”?

“Rubber-necks” is the term applied by Americans to those people who take delight in watching any unusual happening in the street. The aptness of the term would have been obvious to anyone who was disinterested enough to observe the crowd which gathered in Dee street about 5.30 yesterday afternoon to watch some neon signs being placed in position on a building over the entrance to a city garage. Those who watched made up a cosmopolitan crowd. Office boys jostled staid business men, shoppers matched stares with shop assistants, and newsboys used their eyes instead of their voices. Life Without Money

“Without money, how could a dentist get a living, except by drawing, say, three teeth in exchange for a bag of potatoes, or a small tooth for a couple of pounds of sausages,” said Mr P. L. Porter, addressing the Canterbury Economic Society. “Life without money would indeed soon be reduced to its simplest and most primitive terms. A slave State could conceivably exist without a means of exchange, the slaves having no opportunity of exercising freedom of choice. A completely Communistic State would also have no need of money, all needs being supplied by the central authority, and each person receiving according to the dictates of those in control—again no freedom of choice. Dominion Produce Overseas

In welcoming back the engineer and general manager (Mr E. F. Hollands) at tile meeting of the Hutt Valley Electric Power Board, the chairman (Mr J. J. Maher) said that Mr Hollands had made inquiries about New Zealand produce overseas. When he had asked for New Zealand cheese at the big hotel opposite New Zealand House the head waiter said they did not keep foreign cheese there. In Northumberland they hardly knew'what New Zealand cheese was. However, he had received glowing reports about New Zealand lamb. The reason for this, Mr Maher said, was that there were no means of tampering with New Zealand lamb as there was in the way of blending with both butter and cheese.

Training Of Teachers. Criticism of the lack in the Dominion’s education system of a separate training system for secondary school teachers was expressed by Mr T. H. McCombs, M.P., in an address to the Canterbury School Committees’ Association (reports The Press). “There is no proper organization for training secondary school teachers in New Zealand,” said Mr McCombs. “Professor Shelley and some others were actually brought to New Zealand to train secondary school teachers, but the system has never been begun. There is. a definite need for such an organization. Pupils when they began at a primary school could not even read, and their early teaching had to be oral. Secondary school pupils were taught to use books, and their primary education was a background for the secondary teachers to work on. He would not say that primary school teachers could not become good secondary school teachers. Some of them did very well. “But you cannot train school teachers by shoving them through a training system designed for primary schools, Mr McCombs said. The Court’s Privilege

Opposition to a request by a traffic inspector to withdraw an information against a motorist who had defective brakes on his vehicle, and who had had the defect rectified at considerable expense since the charge was laid was expressed by Mr F. H. Levien S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, at Paeroa. The Court alone should be the person to exercise discretion, he said, for if the Traffic Department withdrew this particular information, every person similarly charged could ask for the withdrawal of an information if they had had their vehicle brought up to standard before the date of the healing. If this were to be the intention of the authorities, it should be in the regulations. The inspectors had discretionary power, but once an information was laid the Court alone should deal with it according to the law. If any other practice were followed there would be chaos, for the position would be the same as that of a thief who was caught with the stolen property in his possession. He could say: “Here, take the goods back. Now that no one has lost anything, withdraw the charge.” The Parish Public House

Considerable interest was taken in the statement made at General Synod at Hamilton by the Bishop of Wellington (the Rt. Rev. B. St. Barbe Holland), that for seven years he had conducted a public house, in the management of which the element of private profit was removed. Bishop Holland said that at the village of Hampden Lucy, which was half-way between Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon, there was a public house named Ball’s Head. The house was part of the glebe of the benefice of Hampton Lucy, which meant that it was the personal property of the rector, who also owned the post office. About 60 years ago the house was noted for the excessive drinking and drunkenness that were permitted. The then rector determined to take the unprecedented step of assuming the management of the business himself. The result was that during the last 60 years the public house had been conducted by the rector. A suitable manager was placed in charge, and he was paid a monthly salary and was permitted to keep the profits of the sale of soft drinks. Only beer and cider were sold in the public house, and the profits were received by the rector and devoted to charitable and other objects intended to promote the welfare of the villagers.