LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 17 August 1933, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Magic throughout the ages was the subject of an address delivered by Mr. J. C. Tollerton, Auckland, to the New Plymouth Round Table Club at the weekly luncheon yesterday. The address followed the same lines as tliat given to the Rotary Club recently, and at its conclusion Mr. Tollerton gave a convincing demonstration of the art.

Primary school teachers who are relying upon drawing their salaries for August at the end of the second term this week to cover their holiday expenses will be disappointed. Notification was received by the Taranaki Education Board from the Education Department yesterday that lodgements with the bank were not. being made yet and salaries would not be payable until August 31. The announcement made by the act-ing-Minister of Education (Mr. J. Bitcbener) that payment for telephones installed in schools could not be made out of capitation grants met with only a brief comment at yesterday’s meeting of the Taranaki Education Board. The de-puty-chairman .(Mir. J. A. Valentine) pointed out that though the Minister recommended that in emergencies arrangements might be made to use neighbouring telephones such action was not allowed by the Post and Telegraph Department.

Appreciation of the presence of two or three ladies at the annual meeting of suppliers of the Bell Block Dairy Company for the first time in its history was expressed last night by the chairman. Mr. L. J. Rundle, who complimented the ladies on the interest taken in the affairs of the company. The ladies occupied the role, of interested listeners until the business of the meeting was nearly concluded, when Mrs., Western suggested that the company should hold an annual social, a suggestion that, when put in the form of a motion, was carried without a dissentient voice.

That farmers were definitely benefiting by the increased exchange was affirmed by Mr. L. J. Rundle, chairman of directors, at the annual meeting of the Bell Block Dairy Company last night. It had often been stated that farmers were not getting any benefit from the rise in the rate of exchange, he said, but while not saying that the raising of. exchange was the correct solution, he showed that it had enabled tlie company to pay to its suppliers an additional £6OOO. The company was paying that night a bonus of £6099, a coincidence that Mr. J. S. Jones commented on.

The opinion that there was a surprising lack of knowledge of dairy science on the part of pupils of country schools who lived on farms was expressed by the acting-senior inspector of schools in Taranaki (Mr. J. A. Henry) before the Education Board yesterday. However, it was pleasing to see the benefit being derived from the instruction being given. The agriculture instructor (Mr. D. Mackay) reported that daily science instruction continued to arouse keen interest and pupils were gaining an understanding of the practical work in connection with dairy farming, particularly in the care and need for cleanliness in milk, the value of milk as a ’ food, the rearing of calves and the method of fat assessment.

A plea that a load of timber had absorbed rain water and thus caused the load to be excessive was submitted by a firm of timber merchants, when charged in the Otahuhu Magistrates s Court on Monday with carrying a load in excess of ,the licensed weight. A fine of 30s and 10s costs was imposed. “It was also raining that day,” said the inspector when the next case was being heard. The defendants had had a load of hides 19cwt. in excess of the limit. “The rain would scarcely affect that load;” replied Mr. F. H. Levien, S.M, in imposing a fine of 50s and 10s costs. An operator of a heavy traffic vehicle was fined £3 10s and 10s costs for carrying a load over one ton in excess. The inspector stated that the defendant when challenged as to his load had said the difference was accounted for by his own weight and that of his wife, who was travelling with him.

Notification that the Education Department was unable to allow school holidays or at least some part of the holidays to be counted as part of the previous term in connection with the admission of children under six years of age to schools was received by the Taranaki Education Board yesterday in response to further representations made by the board. The board was referred to a clause of the regulations for attendance registers, which provided that it was only for the purpose of recording attendances that the school year was divided into terms. No attendances, were recorded during the vacations and therefore there was no reason for including the vacation on the school term. “There is one thing about the Education Act,” said the chairman (Mr. S. G. Smith, M.P.), “and that is that they always have among the many thousand of regulations one that they can quote to prove we are wrong.” A suggestion was made by Captain F. A. Macindoe at the smoke concert of the New Zealand Company of Master Mariners in Wellington on Saturday night, that master mariners should be given a chance to steer the ship of State, and later in the evening Mr. J. S. Barton, S.M., in proposing the toast of “The Mercantile Marine,” elaborated on this suggestion. Mr. Barton said that the training of a master mariner eminently fitted a man for statesmanship. A master mariner realised the importance of internationalism, and was capable of meticulous care coupled with a willingness to take risks, if necessary. ’.‘lt makes me think what a fine thing it would be if our legislators were all at sea for a year or two,” he remarked, amidst a storm of laughter. But sailors were a shy race, he continued, and would open their minds only amongst themselves. That was one of the reasons why they would never come forward to displace the legislators. Another was that the qualities called out by the training of a master mariner brought about a state of mind quite inconsistent with leadership in a modern democracy, for sailors were not good in talking about their performances. It is a long way back in the history of this country since Sir William Fox, who was four times Premier, last held that office. Sir William knew pioneering as few Premiers did. The recent death at New Plymouth of Mrs. Emily Morgan, at the age of 85, brings to mind the hospitality of the Morgan homestead in the old coaching days. Mrs. Morgan came to New Zealand when she was two years old, and married the late Mr. E. M. Morgan in 1870. They settled at the mouth of the Manawapou River, half-way between Patea and Hawera. The coach road ran along the beach past the Morgans’ farm, and they often offered the hospitality of their home to the passengers of Cobb and Co.’s coach when high tides at the mouth of the river held them up. It was while travelling by that route, before the main roads were made, that Sir William Fox was delayed for hours at the Morgan homestead because of an exceptionally high tide. Sir William had been on the box seat, and was very wet. Before a roaring fire the distinguished though homely guest was able to dry his clothes. He was a staunch teetotaller, and it is related that he refused a glass of hot grog. Right up to the end of his days Sir William never forgot that tedious coach journey on the West Coast, and always spoke with gratitude of the Morgans’ hospitality. There was no finer type of pioneer settlers than the Morgans.