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Taranaki Daily News, 19 August 1933, Page 6

The sixtieth anniversary of the turning of the . first sod of the New Ply-mouth-Wanganui railway will fall on Monday. On August 21, 1873, Mrs. Henderson performed the ceremony at Brougham Street, New Plymouth. Mrs. Henderson, who is now 87 years of age, is residing at Wanganui. She is a daughter of Mr. F. A. Carrington.'

At the Central Police Station at Christchurch there are nearly 300 bicycles awaiting claimants. They have been lost or stolen, and represent the “hang-over,” so to speak, of the work of the bicycle department. Many of these bicycles will be traced to their owners, and many will find their way to the periodical auction held by the police.

There is every prospect of an early start being made with the Waikato Land Settlement Scheme launched by Mr. D. V. Bryant and involving the expenditure of £20,000 in settling families and single men on the land (says the Waikato Times). Negotiations are in ,teain for the purchase of a large block of land in the vicinity' of Hamilton. If the deal is completed the area will shortly be subdivided in accordance with the provisions of the scheme. ' “The boys at school to-day are much, smaller than they used to be,” said Mr. A. K. Anderson, headmaster of St. Andrew’s College, at the annual reunion of College old boys this week. “Perhaps it is because the biggest boys generally come from the country, and at present the number of farmers’ sons at the college is very small. However,” he added, amidst laughter, “when the wool cheques get higher, there may be a return of big boys.”

Speaking in the Supreme Court at Auckland on behalf of two young Maoris from the North who had admitted breaking into a shop at night, their counsel, Mr. Noble, made a comparison between the Maoris and the Scots, and quoted Lord Macaulay as having stated that only 250 years ago to steal was not regarded as a disgrace among the Highlanders. As if to guard against misunderstanding Mr. Noble added: “Of course, I am not saying that all Scotsmen are thieves.” He was at once reminded by. Mr. Justice Herdman that “all Scotsmen are not Highlanders.” Counsel went on to make his point that it takes a long time for a primitive race to progress beyond its long-accustomed standards.

Advice has been received at Auckland that very drastic action is to be taken against stowaways who are landed on the Hawaiian Islands, according to a recent Act passed by the Legislature of Hawaii. The Act states that if any stowaway fails, after 48 hours after disembarkation at Hawaii, to pay the minimum first-class fare from the port at which he embarked to the port of Hawaii where he disembarks, he will be subject to a fine “>f not more than 1090 dollars (£250 at. par), or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or by both fine and imprisonment. “The seed crop of New Zealand represents a concentrated product equal to butter, cheese, lamb or wool, and, when we consider the time necessary to take the crop, infinitely more valuable than these products,” said Mr. E. Bruce Levy, of the Plant Research Station, when addressing the conference of the New Zealand Grassland Association at Christchurch.' “Big money has been spasmodically made in the past from seeds even under the haphazard methods of seed production that have ruled. I think it is safe to say that during the last three years the growing of certified seeds has paid better than wheat, wool, lamb and butter-fat.”

“There is nothing in the literature of Germany giving a survey of the economic organisation of New Zealand,” said Dr. Heinz Krause, of the Institute of Agricultural Economy of the University of Jena, at Christchurch recently. “Before I leave New Zealand I intend to write for publication in Germany a small book—really a pamphlet—to supply this need. It will not be a complete scientific work, but merely a description of salient features, for I have no time to undertake anything of a larger scope. Even with these limitations, however, I hope it will be of some assistance to thosa persons in Germany who are interested in New Zealand and who at present find it practically impossible to obtain any of the information they need.”

The following pieces have been chosen as the test solos for the 1934 New Zealand bands championship contest at Palmerston North in February;—E flat soprano, “Silver Threads Among the Gold (W. Rimmer); B flat cornet, “Mermaid’s Song” (Alex. Owen); flugel horn, ‘On the Banks of Allan Water” (J. Hartmann); E flat horn, “Chanson Rustique’ (Cyril Jenkins); B flat baritone, “When the Swallows Homeward Fly” (Round); euphonium, “Pretty Jane” (J. Hartmann); E flat or EE bass, “The Ash Grove” (H. Round); B flat or BB flat bass, “Te Anau” tOrd Hume); tenor trombone, “In Cellar Cool” (W. Rimmer); bass trombone, “Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep” (W. Rimmer); quartet, “A Veteran’s Song” (W. Rimmer): trombone trio, “The Three Trombonists” (T. H. Clough), to be accompanied. The test pieces for the A and B grade bands have been ordered from England, and are expected to arrive at any time, but under the i-ules of the contest they cannot be announced until three months before the start.