NEWS OF THE DAY

Taranaki Daily News, 5 June 1935, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Inglewood Main Highways. The Inglewood County Council at its meeting yesterday decided to renew its application to have the Tariki and Otaraoa roads declared main highways. Scouts Plant Native Trees.

Twenty-ohe native trees are to bo planted by Boy Stouts at New Plymouth as a King’s jubilee good turn. The holes have already been dug and the trees will be planted within a few days in the Fillis Street extenSidn of Pukekuta Park. Coincidence on Mountain.

A fairly large tree fell across the track leading to Dawson’s Fall hostel about 8 p.m. on Saturday, blocking the thoroughfare. A car that was proceeding to the mountain house was held up until the caretaker was advised and he arrived and removed the obstacle. A car had passed the spot only a few minutes previously, the occupants being unaware of any subsequent blockage. It is a coincidence that a few weeks ago a similar incident occurred in exactly similar circumstances, there being two cars going up the track, one passing before the fall of the tree and one being blocked. On both occasions there was no wind.

£5O for Cancer Research. The trustees of the New Plymouth Savings Bank yesterday announced a decision to contribute £5O to the cancer research fund. Sports Queen Breaks Arm. The sports queen of the Hurworth carnival, Yolande Campbell, aged four years, received a broken forearm yesterday when she fell from a sledge. She was taken to the New Plymouth public hospital, where the bones were set. Her condition last night was satisfactory. New Skeet Road Factory. Construction of a new dairy factory at Skeet Road for the Pihama Dairy Company is to begin soon to replace the building recently destroyed by fire. The tender of Boon Bros. Ltd., New Plymouth, has been accepted at between £5OOO and £6OOO. The architect is Mr. T. H. Bates, New Plymouth. Station Yard Accident. As the result of a carriage running back of its own accord along a siding on to which it had previously been shunted in the Stratford station yard a collision occurred yesterday between t e carriage and a van on a shunting tram. The carriage had run so close to a set of points before it stopped that there was insufficient clearance and the van struck the end carriage. The shunting train was moving only slowly and while the bogey on the carriage was derailed, the damage was not extensive and repairs were quickly made. Maori “King” Honoured.

About 600 Maoris were present at a gathering at the Te Kuiti pa on Monday in honour of the annual visit of King Koroki. Included in the party were Maoris from the Huntly and Ngaruawahia pas, while visitors attended from Mokai, Taupo, Taumarunui and other parts of the King Country. After the official party left a meeting was held to discuss matters affecting native welfare. Confiscated lands and the rating questions were the principal points dealt with. Too Many “Boards.”

Mere mention of the words ‘ a national board” brought a loud chorus of disapproval at the interprovincial conference of the Farmers’ Union at Palmerston North, when it was suggest-' ed that Some such organisation should be set up to control noxious weeds. Delegates made it clear that they did not want to hear of any more boards, and the suggestion received such a cold reception that not even a seconder could be secured for the motion.

“Up Against It.” The statement that his client had been working as a farm labourer for his keep and a tin of tobacco a week was made by counsel in the Magistrate’s Court at Invercargill, when pleading for a man who had admitted stealing a fishing-net and selling it to a second-hand dealer for 15s. Defendant, counsel said, had been absolutely up against it. Mr. W. H. Freeman, S.M., expressed surprise that defendant had consented to work under those circumstances. Electric Power Cheaper.

Reductions from 7d to 6d for domestic and commercial lighting and from 4d to 3d for special lighting, were made at a special meeting of the Waitomo Power Board. Charges for shed water heaters were reduced from £4 16s to £4 a year for 600-watt elements, and from £6 to £5 for 750-watt elements. It was decided also that if the number of street lights were increased to give the board its present revenue, a reduction from £2 15s to £2 10s would be made. The estimated cost of tire reductions is £7OO.

School Below Freezing Point. Though there have been complaints against the recent cold snap experienced in Canterbury, those temperatures would be relished by the children attending the Burke’s Pass school, says the Press. It is not an unusual thing for them to have to melt their ink before they can do any writing, and the temperature in the schoolroom during the working hours has been known to fall as low as 23 degrees Fahrenheit. Winter days in the schoolroom are always cold, as there are no windows facing the north, and no sunlight can come in to thaw the chilly air. Theatre Statistics.

“It may surprise the average person to learn that of the 61,000 picture theatres in the world 32,000 are in Soviet Russia,” said Dr. A. L. Lewis, formerly of Hollywood, who is visiting New Zealand on a Search for talent for comedy productions in Australia. “The Russians have used the cinema to a tremendous extent,” he said, “in the dissemination of propaganda and in satisfying the demand of the proletariat for amusement. Entertainment is one sure way of keeping people occupied.” Dr. Lewis said that in New Zealand and Australia there were 1500 theatres, in Great Britain 5150 and in Canada and the United States together 16,000. The number in Great Britain was increasing rapidly, one new theatre being opened at London practically every day. Australia and the East.

The importance to Australia of trade with Eastern countries is indicated, by the devotion to this subject of a special section of the official year book of the Commonwealth f6r 1934, which has just been published. In 1932-33, the last year for which figures are given, the trade represented a total value of £17,830,400 sterling, or £22,402,733 in Australian currency, an increase bf more than £1,000,000 on the previous year’s total. Wheat and Wool each represented £8,000,000 of the total, flour £2,500,000 and butter £577,000. Japan took £11,500,000 worth of goods, China £7,000,000 worth, India £1,100,000 worth, and the Dutch East Indies £1,200,000 worth. These exports to Eastern countries Counted to half the value of the imports, those to Japan being £3,500,000. The year book gives comprehensive information about Australian trade, public finance and farming and other industries.

Post Office Linguists. The staff of the New Zealand post office is well equipped to deal with all language complications -which arise .in connection with world-wide activities. Its correspondence displays great variety in this respect. New Zealand is a member of the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union, and the post office uses French exclusively in communications with that organisation. “L’Union Postale,” the Postal Union’s monthly journal, demonstrates the international character of its scope by publishing all the articles in French, English, Spanish ahd German. There are lingual experts in the post office capable of translating most modem languages, and thd post office translates correspondence for many other Government departments in languages which they may not be able to translate for themselves. An interesting feature of the work of the translating staff is concerned with postal packages which have beeh sent abroad and not delivered, the superscription often giving the reason for returning them to the sender, and on one recent occasion this information was written in Polish. But the excellent resources of the office failed to deal with one emergency because this involved the translation of Hebrew. The difficulty was overcome by temporarily co-opting a friendly expert from outside.

At a meeting of the Egmont National Park Board on May 27 it was decided to call tenders for opossum trapping in blocks of the reserve. Tenders closed at 4 p.m. yesterday, and eight of 15 blocks were let, leaving seven available to be let to the first tender.