NEWS OF THE DAY

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 498, 21 July 1932, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Liberation of Pheasants A total of 297 pheasants were lib] orated last week by the Taurangai Acclimatisation Society in the Tail. ranga, Te Puke and Katikati districts. Not to be Pressed The Wellington Lawn Tennis Asso-j ciation is not to be pressed for the, payment of the £2OOO owing to the: City Council for twelve months. This; was decided at a meeting of the Well-j ington City Council, the Mayor, Mr. j T. C. A. Hislop, stating that there was, 1 reason to believe that the association: would probably share in the proceeds of the next art union.

Meat for Export Nearly 1,000,000 carcases of mutton ! and lambs were dealt with at the; freezing works in the Auckland district in the year ended June 30, 1932.! Of this large total, lamb carcases num-i bered 755,000, an increase o» almost'; 150,000 compared with the previous; season. Mutton killings of 207,000 j showed an increase of nearly 100 perl cent, on the previous year, accounted I for principally by the greater number] of ewes killed. \

Prospectors Reticent Reports received in Dunodin on Saturday stated that there was a good deal of reticence on the part of prospectors to declare the amount of gold won since the closing of the Kawarau dam, owing to the fear that some of the winnings would be claimed by the companies interested in the locality, but it was believed that quite a lot of gold had been taken from the stream and that a good deal more would bo won. When the whole story was told it would be found that the Kawarau and Molyneux were great assets to the province. Good Advice "Fathers nowadays have to provide for a growing spirit of independence in their children," stated Rev. D. J. Davies at the Palmerston North Citizens' Lunch Club. "They cannot expect to have ther sons tied to their braces any more than to the mother's apron strings. It has been said that children sometimes show greater wisdom than their parents, and that fathers only begin to give good advice when they are too old t»o show a bad example."

Permit for Theatre Refused Advice has been received that the Minister of Industries and Customs, Hon R. Masters, has decided to refuse the issue of. a permit for building a new picture theatre in Rotorua. The Minister states that the existing theatres adequately provide for local requirements. The Minister's decision under regulations may at any time be revoked if the existing theatres fail to provide adequately for the normal requirements of a locality as to quality of films, theatre accomnu dation, or prices charged for admission.

Local Body System Commenting on the present investi- j Ration by the Minister of Internal Af-1 fairs, Hon. A. Hamilton, on the local j government system, members of the j executive of the Associated Chambers j of Commerce have expressed the firm j opinion that any experimental system | that was dependent on voluntary cooperation by local bodies was fore-; doomed to failure. Proper local go-j vernrrient reform demanded an inde-l pendent investigation by a commission and the reinforcement, of its re- j commendations by compulsory legis-j latton. A commission, if appointed j now, could investigate the position in | the recess and report to the next ses-j sion of Parliament.

Swans "Iced In" Cyclists and pedestrians who passed through Hagley Park, Christehurch. early on Saturday morning, were treated to a strange sight. Victoria Lake had a coating of ice, and two swans were "iced in." They were con. fined tr about two square yards of water till as late as 9.45. Evidently stales the Star, they had moved but a little during the night, and the water had frozen about the mas they slept. A. thin coating of ice was all over the lakes, Victoria Lake, and the smaller one near by. This is the first time (his winter that the lakes have been coated, and it certainly was a heavy frost The thermometer read 10.8 decrees, 15.2 degrees of first. This is 1.2 degrees heavier than Friday's frost which was the heaviest to date. The Farmer Elsewhere A Wanganui business man received: a. letter from an American farmer by I the last mail. "Crops are good," he; states, "especially wheat, but 1 won't; be able to sell much of it. In fact it is really a waste of time putting in, crops these days, but one doesn't like | to see one's land lying idle even if there is no market. Cattle are almost down to nothing and the sheepmen j can't sell their wool. What little they ; have sold only brought six cents per j

pound—the cheapest it has ever been sold at. Although this is midsummer, unemployment is worse than ever. We elect a new President this fall, but don't think that will make any difference. The farmers are hoping that prohibition will be repealed, and then they will be able to sell some of their crops." "Hello, Ginger." The Australian cockatoo has been known to live to a ripe old age in captivity. As a. matter of fact, there is one in Wanganui over 50 years of age, which originally was brought from Nelson. Rather a strange meeting took place between the bird and a Nelson resident. The Nelson resident is on a holiday and is staying with some relatives. The latter happened to mention to him that a friend had this cockatoo, and he remarked: "By jove! I wonder if that's Ginger." As a boy he used to play with Ginger. He was | taken to the house where Ginger is located in Wanganui, and the first remark to the cockatoo was, "Hello, Ginger." The latter fluttered around as if greatly excited and replied, "Hello j Ginger." It was very obvious that the I cockatoo remembered him again after j all those years. As a matter of fact, the present owners, who had the bird in their possession for many years, | had never previously heard him utter the word "Ginger."

[Value of Herd.testing That, he was often asked how testing I results compared with figures from I the factory, was a statement of Mr. W. Rumball at the annual meeting cf (he Toko group of the Taranaki Cooperative Herd-testing Association on Tuesday. His own herd, he said, had nrodnced according to the test 25,720 lb of fat, and the returns fflcm the factory indicated that 25,200 had been delivered. He kept a considerable amount of new milk for feeding calves and for the house, which just about made up the difference of 5201 b between the two returns.

i The Railways Board | ' As Minister of Railways, Mr. G. W. i Forbes is very pleased with the work I being done by the Railways Board, j which has now had complete charge of (he working railways of New ZeaI land ftr just over 12 months. "The j Hoard is tackling its job in a very practical way," said Mr. Forbes. "It is | there studying the convenience and | requirements of the travelling public jand also of the shippers of goods. j While there will always be a certain , • amount of complaint in a service of j j tbe size tf the railways, the board is j ! doing its best to serve tho community ] las a whole and to keep within the j | bounds in regard to finance. Un. j i doubtcdly, the action of the Govern- i I ment in placing the railways under a ; board of business men has been a j i great advantage. I speak with know- j i ledge .cf the railways under the poli. j j tical system and under the present J j system, and the way in which the i j work is being done by these practical- ; j minded men is quite a pleasure to see;" >. Acting in Emergences j A humorist has suggested that there j v'is nothing very remarkable about] the bitth Kf the child on the North i I Island Limited express, as a very av. j i erage stork could overtake any New j | Zealand train. But there was some. I ] thing remarkable in the fact that an j ; eminent doctor and a Plunket nurse j j were on the spot, and this fact, states , j the Christchurch Star, arouses the I 1 speculation as to whether doctors, j called upon tD act in such emergenc- j ies, ever hear in after life from the \ patients or from the juveniles they j have ushered into the world. A i Christchurch doctor who had to act in an emergency at sea, with the help merely of a stewardess who knew no- ■ thing cf midwifery, got nothing for I his pains, although there was a father i in the background who expected to j pay him for the job. Very often there j is no medical help at hand, and a i case is on record of a confinement on I top cf a London omnibus, where the ! accoucheur was a young constable i on the beat for the first time. And j one of the Dunedin professors tells of I a difficult case in which he was asked to help aboard ship, where he was' operating with one hand and shooing • children away from the cabin door i with the other. j