NEWS OF THE DAY

Taranaki Daily News, 28 June 1934, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Sporting notes which are usually published in the Daily News on Thursday morning will this week be published on Friday morning.

Carried by the high wind, sparks from a railway engine ignited some birds’ nests in the eaves of the Terminus Hotel, New Plymouth, yesterday morning. The flames caught the eastern end of the balcony, facing St. Aubyn Street, but ■were extinguished by the brigade, using water and chemicals.

During the progress of a dance in the Bell Block hall last night the electric light suddenly failed. Immediately two or three electric torches were pressed into service and the dance and euchre tournament proceeded. The torches were soon supplemented by candles and a hurricane lamp, and matters were kept moving merrily until some time later the electric light suddenly functioned again.

Preparations are well in hand on the Kaituna River, near Maketu, Bay of Plenty, for the whitebait season which opens next Monday. Over 50 men and women, mostly natives, will be engaged during the season. Most of the stands on the banks of the river have been selected and a busy time has been experienced getting the gear ready for the opening day. The river is still running high after recent floods in the district. Several good runs of whitebait have been seen during the past few days and the prospects for the season are good. j If there were among the audience, which heard a lecture by Dr. W. A. Macky at Dunedin University, any theorists who claimed that wireless has an effect upon the weather, they must have hasily discarded that view before the lecture. closed (says the Otago Daily Times). Dr. Macky stated that at any given moment 100 flashes of lightning per second were occurring somewhere in the world, so 13,000,000 horse-power of electricity was continually going to waste. At the conclusion of the lecture Dr. R. Jack referred to the figures quoted, and stated that for anyone, in the face of them, to suggest that the comparatively small amount of electricity involved in the use of wireless could have any 'eflect upon the weather was ridiculous.

Scanlan's great mid-winter sale at the Melbourne Comer sets the pace for sensational bargain-giving. Join the crowds of keen shoppers. Here s a sale that permits you to “dress beyond you* income yet live within your means. See special bargains in windows.* Men’s felt hats cleaned and re-blocked for 2/6. We also renovate suits, costumes, dresses, etc., at J. K. Hawkins, Dyers and Dry Cleaners, comer Devon and Liardet Streets, New Plymouth. ’Phone 685. We collect and deliver.*

The Japanese are to place a motorcar on tire Indian market which, after duty has been paid, should be purchaseable at £5O. It has a striking resemblance to an English model, and it is claimed will give 45 miles to the gallon. The maximum speed will be about 45 miles an hour.

Tire net profit at the recent rodeo held by the Poverty Bay Agricultural and Pastrol Association on the King’s Birthday was £272, which, with the subsidy offered by the patron, Mr. H. G. Tucker, would bring the sum up to £4OB. It was decided to make the rodeo an annual fixture.

A place where there is no income tax, where the best cigarettes are 50 for a shilling, petrol 101 a gallon, Scotch whisky 4s 6d a bottle, and where cabbages grow four feet high, was described to the Christchurch branch of the Workers’ Educational Association by Dr. W. Bryden. This was the island of Jersey, where, he said, the climate was good, the sea warm, and everything cheap. The long cabbage stalks were treated and sold as Jersey walking sticks.

A good deal of the wheat which it was planned to sow in the whiter may have to be held over until the spring (says the Christchurch Times), owing to the sodden nature of the land in Canterbury. Heavy rains have repeatedly delayed the sowing of autumn and winter wheat and there has been so much moisture that the ground can hold little more. Any rain now lies on the surface, and if the land does not, in the next week or so, dry sufficiently to allow the drill on to it, sowing will have to be suspended until the spring.

“I affirm that the Australians have the cream of the brass bands of the world, and we are going there to test ourselves out 1 against diem,” said Mr. R. J. Estall, conductor of the Woolston Brass Band, at the annual meeting of the band on Saturday evening. He emphasised that one man not pulling his full weight meant that the band was suffering, and the selection of 24 men to play at Melbourne from the 35 who comprised the band was all the more difficult. The Australians, he added, made full use of professionals, whereas the Woolston Band was composed entirely of amateurs. Changes in the by-laws for the election of the Canterbury University College Council are notified in the current issue of the Gazette. Two main alterations are made. The first provides that for the parliamentary teachers’ and school committee’s electoral rolls the residential qualifiication is changed from the Canterbury Provincial district to the Canterbury University district, thereby extending the residential area to include the West Coast. The second changes the electoral qualification for the graduates’ roll, so that instead of only graduates of Canterbury College being entitled to vote, this right is now extended to include graduates of any of the university colleges who are on the books of the Canterbury District Court of Convocation.

As a sidelight upon Parliamentary procedure which he considered rather staggering, Mr. A. J. Stallworthy, M.P. for Eden, quoted to a meeting of electors figures of the attendances of Government members in the House during the progress'of important debates. While the Reserve Bank Bill was being debated, for instance, he noted at various times attendances out of 47 Government members of 13, 15, 18, 14 and 16, rising as high as 23 and falling as low as six at 11.30 one night. While the Prime Minister was speaking there were 12 present. “Yet at the ringing of the bell,” said Mr. Stallworthy, “these men come from anywhere and everywhere except their seats, where they might have heard the debate and come to an intelligent conclusion upon what they are going to vote about.”

The s.s. Atrato,, the first steamer to make the trip from England to New Zealand, arrived at Port Chalmers in June, 60 years ago. It left Port Chalmers at 4 'p.m. on June 18, 1874, arriving at Lyttelton on June 20, coming to anchorage at 1 p.m. The immigrants were brought ashore to the immigrant barracks by the s.s. Mullogh. The voyage out occupied about six months, owing to a breakdown in the engine near the Cape of Good Hope, after which the vessel put back to Plymouth, under sail, for repairs. A Christchurch resident, Mrs. Howey, recalls the voyage out, made when she was 14 years old. Mrs. Howey said that the huge paddle wheels, which propelled the ship, churned up the sea, and the sun playing on the foam held the attention of the children for hours at a time. For those days the ship was large, 3300 tons. Captain Husband was in command. When Mrs. Howey’s family reached New Zealand, they lived in Christchurch for some years, and later in Timaru. One of her brothers, Mr. Benskin, drove the first train from Christchurch to Timaru, on February 4, 1876. What do we call an improvement in business methods? It is something that instead of doing the work of 100 men does that of 500 men. All these so-called advances we are making are in the direction of reducing labour, and throwing men out of work,” said Dr. F. W. Norwood, of the City Temple London, in the course of his address in Napier. “For a long time the slack was taken up by men going out of one trade into others,” he went on. “Now all the avenues have been taken up. We are making men unemployed and calling it progress. Are machines bad things? No; Have we saturated all our markets? No! It is just that the people cannot buy our manufactures. Can we justify the appalling anomaly of precious foods being thrown into the sea when thousands are starving? Some New Zealand formers have put large quantities of their milk down the drains. The consumption of milk in New Zealand is exceptionally low. What’s the matter? Don’t you like milk? I do not know why you are not selling milk in the streets of your town. In Syndey milk bars are exceedingly common, and the people are beginning to find that they like milk very much indeed.”

Something of a rarity in Southern waters and certainly strange enough in appearance to arouse curiosity, a fish of the species known as the elephant fish attracted much attention when it was exhibited in a shop window in Invercargill last week. Over 3ft. 6in. in length, the fish has a large head, with eyes placed high, a domed forehead, and an elongated nose not unlike the trunk of an elephant. The markings on the side of the face further strengthen the resemblance to an elephant. The “trunk” is bent towards the mouth at a sharp angle, and is flattened at the end into a kind of tongue, which is covered with tiny holes, and appears to be used for absorbing minute articles of food, such as insects. Tire mouth is large, but has no teeth. There are two sets of fins at the sides, the front ones being about lOin. long and the rear ones about 4in, a long tail coming to a fine point like whip lash, and sharp fins on the back. The markings and shades of colour on the skin, which is mostly a bright silvery grey, are rather striking. A peculiar feature of the fish’s structure is that it has no bones, only an elastic gristle, which can be easily cut. This specimen was caught at Bluff. Elephant fish are fairly common in the north, but are seldom seen in southern waters.

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