NEWS OF THE DAY

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1934, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

A fairly heavy surf has washed the beaches of New Plymouth during the past two days of bad weather. When the municipal baths were re-filled yesterday the clean water coming in was more discoloured than that going out.

Two magpies are nesting on the property of Messrs. Cocksedge and Hickford, Dover Road, Okato. It is stated that this is the first occasion these birds have shown signs of settling in the district, though occasionally a single magpie is peen on the coast.

His visit to Samoa gave him the pleasure of renewing his personal association with the Administrator of Western Samoa, Brgadier-General Hart, Dr. Home told the New Plymouth Rotary Club yesterday. When Dr. Home was a medical officer of the Wellington Battalion on active service General Hart was then second in command of the battalion, and he and Dr. Home had shared the same quarters for some time.

The housing scheme for workers as submitted to the previous meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council by the New Plymouth branch of the New Zealand Labour Party was rejected at the council meeting last night on the recommendation of - the works committee. It was stated that the borough did not feel disposed to undertake any such scheme at the present moment. It was rather a strange experience to be sitting dressed in very light clothing in Apia in September and hearing a wireless announcement that the temperature in Christchurch that day had struggled up to 42 degrees, Dr. Home stated to the New Plymouth Rotary Club yesterday. The temperature at Christchurch was just half the degree reached at Apia, which had been 84 the day the radio message came through. A working model 34 inches long of a steam launch has been constructed by a young boy named Loesch of Nelson and formerly of Opunake. The model is now in the possession of Mr. H. Parkes, Opunake, and has been tried out on the power board lake. The small craft is neatly constructed and finished, the steam being heated by a methylated spirit lamp. The small engine is creditably built and propels the model at a fair speed.

The anniversary of the murder .of Samuel Pender Lakey and his wife, Christabel Lakey, at Ruawaro last year, fell yesterday. The tragedy was not discovered until the nest day. Subsequently, a neighbouring farmer, William Alfred Bayly, was found guilty and executed. Early in the morning of the same day a taxi-driver, James Hunter Blair, was found dying from a blow on the head in his cab at Auckland. In spite of extensive inquiries by the police no trace of the murderer has been found. Two records broken at the Cathedral Grammar School sports at Christchurch were quoted by Bishop West-Watson, in his address after the meeting, as evidence against the theory that members of the younger generation were not able to attain to the standard of their parents. Older people were apt, he said, to think that the present generation of young people was much weaker than theirs, but he was glad that there had been performances at this meeting which would dispense with that idea. ‘‘There will be no order for the suppression of the names; there are a great many applications in this district for the suppression of names, and I do not consider that it should follow as a matter of course,” commented Mr. R. M. Watson, S.M., in the Napier Magistrate’s Court in reply to an application for the suppression of the names of two young men who had been. convicted of the theft of benzine and oil at Taupo. ‘‘Suppression of names applies only in the rarest of cases,” he added.

“I ask you whether you think the chairman of the reserves committee is a fit and proper person to judge whether bathing costumes conform with the morals laid down by the council, said Councillor L. McKenzie, amidst laughter, at question-time at the Wellington City Council meeting last week. “I do not want to remove from the chairman of the reserves committee jurisdiction in any of the matters in which he takes a great deal of interest,” replied the Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop), “but I do not know that the matter you mention comes within his jurisdiction.”

At Suva, Dr. G. Home told the New Plymouth Rotary Club yesterday, he and other visitors from New Zealand were met by the local band in uniforms that had as many colours as the plumage of a bird of Paradise. At Levuka, the former capital, they were also met by a band, but in this case the uniform was more sombre. It consisted chiefly of black streamers floating from the head, waist and ankles—and little more. The scantiness of the costume did not, however, detract from the vigour of the playing, and the use of the instruments was distinctly emphatic. It was a rather remarkable fact, Dr. G. Home told the New Plymouth Rotary Club yesterday, that no great leader of mankind had ever come from the tropics. Some scientists averred that it was the pushing up of the Mongolian tableland in Asia that made man struggle against the forces of nature and thus develop his muscles and his brain-power. The heroes of the old days who came from the highlands had found no difficulty in overcoming the "softer” people of the lowlands. Perhaps, added Dr. Home, it was the climate of Scotland that had developed the combination of caution and enterprise for which Scots were noted. Thirty tons of pins are made every week by seven manufacturers in Birmingham, Mr. G. A. Laughton, an English business man who is on a tour of New Zealand, told a reporter at Christchurch. Mr. Laughton’s firm produces three tons of pins a week, which represents about 10 per cent, of the total output. Tne pins are shipped to all parts of the world. The manufacturers find that the demand for hairpins is nearly as great now as when women wore their hair long, although the design of the pin has changed. One reason for this, said Mr. Laughton, was that hairpins were inclined to fall out of short hair and more were lost. >

In order to “spruce up” the Wellington town hall, in view of the coming visit of the Duke of Gloucester, it is being treated to two coats of paint—one of white and the second of fight buff approaching cream. One builder of long experience, in commenting on the painting of a cement-finished brick building, ventured to doubt the wisdom of the council’s act. “Once it has painted a building of this class a fight colour, he said, “the council will have to paint it every three or four years, as the paint will not remain clean very long through the action of the weather and the g r^n e of the city. It would be much better if the building as it stands were cleaned up with a solution which removes the dirt and makes it look like a new building. The repainting will be an everrecurring expense to the ratepayers.

Concern at the extensive use made of butter substitutes was expressed by speakers at the meeting of the Dominion executive of the Farmers’ Union last week, and a motion was carried asking the Government to inquire into the position both as to local manufacturers and possible importations. The chairman (Mr. H. E. Blyde) said that a far wider use was made of butter substitutes in the Dominion than most people r eaßse «> and although the position was regulated so that they would not be confused with butter the competition with tne genuine product was considerable. The substitutes were used largely m the cities by pastry-cooks, and he understood that in some homes they were replacing butter on the tables. Some other speakers considered that the competition was not as severe as had been suggested, but it was agreed that inquiries should be made in the interests of the dairying industry.

Although the total tonnage of sailing ships amounts to only 2 per cent, of the world tonnage, a Swedish writer in a Stockholm monthly argues that the day of the windjammer is not past, and never will be. He quotes the case of a Finland Swede, Captain Erikson, who is the largest owner of sailing vessels in the world, having under his flag no fewer than 28 sailing ships, aggregating over 70,000 tons. Captain Erikson, moreover, succeeds where many others have failed, by making his vessels pay, and so certain is he of sailing ships. being more profitable that he adds to his neat by purchasing ships that are destined for the shipbreaker. Amongst the different nations, the United States has the greatest tonnage of sailing ships, and Finland comes next because of Captain Erikson’s belief in sail. In many quarters it is argued that the only, training in real seamanship is to be had in sailing vessels, and it is significant that naval authorities in several countries have recently made a time in sail a necessity in naval education. To illustrate that swimming was practised in prehistoric times Mr. H. H. Lock, chairman of the central executive of the Royal Life-Saving Society, stated in an address at Auckland that in the British Museum there was a plaque dating back at least 3000 years 8.C., and exhibiting a style closely resembling the modem crawl stroke. He added that all through the<ages there were, from time to time, references to swimming. Tracing the history of the lifesaving movement, Mr. Lock said that not until 50 years ago had it occurred to people that the many thousands of deaths could be considerably reduced if they knew how to help others in distress. The first body formed was the Life-Savers’ Guild, and 30 people had qualified in its first year. Since then the movement had spread to all parts of the (British Empire, and, indeed, the society’s methods had been either adopted or copied in every civilised country. Recently, for instance ,an application had been received from Japan for permission to translate the society s handbook into Japanese.