NEWS OF THE DAY

Taranaki Daily News, 13 October 1934, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Between lines of gaping pedestrians a woman motorist honked along Powderham Street, New Plymouth, yesterday. Apparently the device was jammed so tightly that all the struggles of the embarrassed driver were unavailing. She headed for a garage and there a last raucous blare signalised the end of her ear-splitting experience.

A huge bowl of water, a stump of candle and a little coloured tin motorboat provide material for an evening s amusement. A crowd outside a shop in Devon Street, New Plymouth, last night watched the sport with great interest, not at all diminished by the fact that one boat flooded with water and wet the candle, necessitating a delay of ten minutes and considerable patience before it would continue its travels round the bowl.

After long discussion in committee, the Dominion executive of the New Zealand Farmers* Union at the continuation of its quarterly meeting in Wellington on Thursdav approved the following Auckland branch remit: “That the Farmer’s Union reaffirms its condemnation of any system of quotas or levies as a means of raising prices, and requests that every effort be made to effect a free entry of British goods into New Zealand in return for an unrestricted market for our dairy produce." At a dental conference Mr. R. C. ScottDow, Edinburgh, told the story of how a Dundee dentist who had rooms opposite the Salvation Army noticed that some patients who came to have gas sat down in the chair, looked out of the window, and then changed their minds, saying they would not have gas that day. The dentist did not discover the reason until one day he sat in the chair, and, looking through the window, saw painted on the opposite wall in big letters, “Prepare to meet thy God.” It is stated that a mistake was made recently in. the published report concerning the absence of the name Marina among New Zealand babies. Apparently a little Marina was “playing possum” in New Plymouth at the very moment that the papers were being printed. The name is Marina George, and it belongs to a pet baby opossum whose owners are at present unsure of its sex. However, should the little neuter be. proved to be a male his name will be altered to George Marina.

When the Duke of Gloucester lays the foundation stone of the new Dunedin Post Office his trowel will rest on a block of Bluff granite, a stone which Is being freely used in the construction of the imposing building, states the Southland News. Not only was the foundation stone cut from the quarry at Bluff, but the services of a young polisher at the works were requisitioned to put the necessary finish on this portion of the structure, he being regarded as the most expert granite polisher in . the Dominion,

One speaker at the annual re-union of the P- and T. Employees’ Association gald that conditions had altered considerably since the formation of the association 44 years ago. A foundation _ member had told the speaker that in the early years of its existence the association was forced to carry on its deliberations behind closed doors owing to the hostility it had encountered from the State. Now the association was a recognised body, and all the benefits enjoyed by members were directly due to the work of the executives who had struggled so bravely through years of antipathy on the part of their employer and apathy on the part of the employees.

After the medical profession, in conference at Malvern, England, a short time ago, had expressed opinions on health topics, the ordinary man would be in utter confusion. One authority urged that there should be only two meals a day, one of which should be in the evening, while another of equal standing affirmed that the proper diet should be five light meals a day, with the main meal in the middle of the day. Again it was advocated that nothing should be drunk at meals, a contention that was nullified by another expert advising people to drink plenty of water at meals. Still another recommended a little alcohol at meals to aid digestion. “Knowing what I do, I think that the New Zealand Government has been justified in adopting the attitude it has taken up over the embargo on- Australian fruit," said Mr. E. Mueller, representative in New Zealand of the South Australian citrus fruit growers’ organisation. when discussing the quotas at Christchurch. “If it were not for the controversy over oranges New Zealanders would to a man be behind their Government.” Mr. Mueller said that the New Zealand Government was trying to extract from the Australian Government only what was its due. He felt that eventually the people of New Zealand would know the full facts, and would thank the Government for the stand it had taken. “I visited mental hospitals in the course of my duties several times each week for 30 years, and I think I can say that the inmates are the happiest people in New Zealand. It is the relatives and friends who do all the worrying,” declared Mr. H. A. Young, S.M., in an address to the Canterbury Justices Association. Mr. Young said that the public should realise that early treatment of mental cases was just as important as in cases of disease. Far too often relatives were reluctant to allow persons who were slightly mental to be committed to an institution. Mr. Young said that mental patients needed expert treatment. At the mental hospitals patients were given the greatest care, and indeed were better looked after than nine-tenths of those who lived in their own homes. A very large proportion of mental patients was discharged cured.

A judgment debtor who was examined at the Inglewood Court yesterday proved unusually and refreshingly frank. The debt was for board and defendant, who stated that he was single and employed by a farmer 13 miles out at 25s per Week out of which he had to keep himself, admitted that when he came to Inglewood once every six weeks, he on an average 10s each time on intoxicating liquor. Sometimes he might go back home with 3s in his pocket. To the magistrate’s query as to whether on those occasions other people shared in his generosity, witness replied, “It’s 50-50, sir.” The constable agreed that the judgment debtor came into town of a Saturday morning occasionally, had a beano and returned to his work the same night. In ordering him to make a monthly reduction of the debt the magistrate advised him that it would be preferable for him not to make a trip to town to pay the amount.

In an address to members of the Wanganui Rotary Club on Monday Mr. T. C. Brash, secretary of the New Zealand Dairy Produce Control Board, stressed the importance of advertising the Dominion’s dairy produce in Britain. He said that since 1920-21, the board had spent nearly £200,000 in that direction. Last season the expenditure was £41,500. Mr. Brash praised the Press as a means of advertising, and said it had played an important part in the board’s programme. The British Press had been most sympathetic to New Zealand and her problems. As an instance of what others were doing, Mr. Brash quoted the proprietors of Stork margarine, whose Press advertising amounted to £lO,OOO a month. He also outlined what the board was doing to interest the British public in the Dominion’s dairy produce.