NEWS OF THE DAY

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 62, 10 October 1930, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Dairy Produce Hoard. Dairy factories in the South TV airarapa have dissociated themselves with the petition to Parliament asking for a referendum as to whether the Dairy Board should be continued, and strong exception was taken to the name of Martinborough being associated with the petition. The Kiwi. New Zealanders, states the Auckland Star, have always fondly imagined that the kiwi was exclusively their own, but perhaps they are wrong, for the man who makes the crossword puzzles for a big London daily newspaper gravely asks for a “Polish bird,” an‘d the solution Is kiwi. Londoners, we fear, would derive littl e assistance from books on the bird life of Poland. Fire Brigade Competition. Yesterday afternoon the Fire Brigade held the final run for th e Summerfield Winter Cup, which goes to the team recording the three fastest times out of four runs. Following is the result of the competition, the third time quoted being that of yesterdays competition: Fireman E. BrockJebank’s team, 27sec, 2Ssec, 24 3-ssec—79 3-ssec; Superintendent Davis’ team, 27 4-ssec, 27sec, 26sec—--80 4-ssec; Fireman C. Fawcett’s team, 30 l-ssec, 30sec, 25sec—S3 1-17 sec; Foreman W. Brocklebank’g team 37 3-ssec, 29 3-ssec, 27 4-ssec—9s sec. The Wrong Name. An interesting parrot story is in circulation, and we are assured that the facts are correct (says the Dannevirke News). The bird has been in possession of a Dannevirke resident for about 23 years, and was known by the name of Joseph. Recently its feonduct during the afternoon became most unusual, and fears were entertained for it s physical well-being, so much so that it was consoled by word and sympathetically stroked by its anxious owner. It was left alon e for a time, and later when being examined the startling discovery was made that it. had laid an egg—said to be the first in 25 years. Naturally such a feat necessitated a rechrislening, and the bird’s name has now been altered to Josephine—all on account of one egg.

The Defence System, In the course of an address at a reunion of returned soldiers in Nelson last week. Sir Andrew Russell, in touching briefly on th e defence question, said every member of the Returned Soldiers’ Association* had a right and a duty to take an interest in the defence of the country. They had already played their part and would be the first to say that the youth of the country should go through a certain amount of preparation. Personally, he was. doing his best, quite outside of any organisation, to bring this matter before the people of New Zealand, and interest them as to the necessity of an efficient system of defence. Military training had a certain educative value in the bringing up of young people, in that it involved lessons of discipline. Sir Andrew said he hoped individual members of the association which had always lent its weight to the defence of the country, would not hesitate when the time came to let their opinion be known.'

Eastern Commerce. “Ail Eastern commodities are down, said Air S. T. Williamson, of the Williamson Shipping Line, Hongkong, who i s visiting Wellington. "Rubber, copra and silk have all depreciated. Th e exchange in silver has depreciated from 6s in 1929 to Is 4d to-day, so that anyone buying goods outside has now to send away over four times as much currency. All this makes trade difficult. There is plenty of money in Hongkong, but it is not being so freely spent outside.” Attracting Tourists. “One of the ways in which New Zealand could enormously increase its tourist traffic is to see that more luxurious steamer services to its shores r,r e provided,” an American tourist told a Christchurch Sun reporter. “The Dutch are filling Java with tourists because the magnificent boats that take them there are so well-known and so restful. This country has more than any other country to offer, but it must bring tourists here in the most comfortable possible way. The Dutch service gives all journalist a 25 per cent reduction in fare, which seems to be a very good idea.” Long Daily Walk. An eight-year-old lad attends the Marlon Junction School (says the Chronicle). He walks five miles and a half to get there and passes a school on his way. During medical inspection, Dr. Elizabeth Gunn asked him why and was told: “I went to the school for a couple of days, but they put me into the primers, and I am in Standard I — a fella couldn’t stand that.” The doctor agreed with him that “no fella could,” so lie continues to trudge his five miles and a half. He told the doctor that he did have an' old white horse, but “it died on him.’ His school fellows are hoping that some farmer may spare a horse for him, which is fit for no harder work than to carry this eight-year-old to school. Turks in Trouble. The Young Turks are having terrible bother with their language. It took them years of forcible compulsion to alter their alphabet and to devise a new spelling, which would adapt their india-rubber vowel s t(f the limited signs of the Latin script. And now they are up against their grammar. The construction of the longest German sentence is a mere copybook maxim compared to the tortured twistings of the 'Turkish tongue. It is all conceived on a complicated gerundive basis, and the absence of easy relative clauses renders any descriptive sentence a crossword puzzle. Perhaps the Ghazi, having altered the alphabet (says a recent writer), will be as successful with the gerund, but" it is doubtful. For the Turkish syntax is, in fact, expressive of th« Turkish mind—fortuous, involved, obscure, unintelligent, and not without a certain strength.