NEWS OF THE DAY

Taranaki Daily News, 22 June 1935, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Lepperton Factory Additions. There were seven tenders for the contract of making additions to the Lepperton Co-op. Dairy Company’s factory. That of Messrs. Boon Bros., Ltd., New Plymouth, was accepted.

Lecture to Schoolgirls. Advice on books and what to read was given on Thursday to senior pupils of the New Plymouth Girls’ High School by Mr. E. C. Simpson, Wellington, a W.E.A. lecturer. Shortest Day Comes.

To-day is the shortest day, or winter solstice, of 1935, and the sun should be visible, providing weather permits, for 9 hours 26 minutes. Foi- the next seven days there is, for all practical purposes, the same quota of sunlight, but the end of July sees the day longer by 40 minutes and on August 31 there may be about an extra hour of daylight. However, it is usually considered that the worst winter weather is reserved until the shortest day has passed and in the next two months there is little growth.

Flight Over Egmont

Encouraged by the beautifully clear day Mr. H. W.'Lightband, pilot, and Mr. R. Shepherd, photographer, made a flight over Mt. Egmont yesterday. They rose to a height of 10,000 feet, and were rewarded with a magnificent view and an

entire absence of clouds. Some excellent photographs were secured, some of them showing Ruapehu and the neighbouring mountains clearly in .the background. “Reflex of Better Times.” “I think we can accept this as a reflex of better times,”. said Sir Joseph Smith at a meeting of the Auckland Boys’ Employment Committee, when it was reported that since the previous meeting 71 new enrolments for town positions had been received and 115 boys had been placed in employment. Country enrolments totalled 35, but only 31 positions had been offered. ,

Part of Steering Gear Breaks. . The breaking of a tie-rod in the steering gear brought mishap to a small delivery van in St. Aubyn Street, New Plymouth, yesterday. The van had just been started when the steering gear became faulty, causing it to run into a parked truck. The windscreen was broken and the radiator damaged, but the driver was not injured.

Double Event Celebrated. The jubilee celebrations at Okato were of double import to one of the pioneering families of the district. Just 54 years ago yesterday Mr. and Mrs. P. O’Sullivan, Oxford Road, were married in the old Catholic Church, and they have resided in the district ever since. They were present to take their place in the procession among the pioneers of over 50 yearS’ standing. Children Prefer Cocoa.

Answers to a questionnaire circulated this week among Central school children at New Plymouth have shown that cocoa 1 is preferred to milk by "the pupils. The children were ’ divided into two classes, those who take their lunch to school regularly and those who do so on such occasions as wet days. Of the former 62 voted for cocoa and 19 for milk and of the latter 104 for cocoa and 30 for milk.

Monetary Reforms. The following resolution was carried without dissent at Mr. Harry Atmore’s meeting in the Wanganui Opera House on Monday. “That in the opinion of this meeting monetary reform is of, outstanding importance, and no other measure which may be taken can prove an effective substitute. New Zealand should institute a monetary system whereby at any given moment the purchasing power’ of the people should be equivalent to the total prices of the goods on the market.”

Irritation of Competition. A wide—one might almost say an inter-national-view of sport showed how the evils of over-competition militated against the best being got out of . sport, said a circular from the Wellington Headmasters’ Association considered last night by North Taranaki headmasters. The circular, which urged that primary school sport should be made non-com-petitive, pointed out that France and England could not at the moment play Rugby in a friendly spirit. Body-line bowling had caused serious irritation between England and Australia. The means, par excellence, of cementing national amities, if not safeguarded from excess of rivalry, became a cause of estrangement. ,

as Stone.

Referring to the tendency to disguise the true nature of building materials in order to make them appeal- more expensive than they were, Mr. E. C. Simpson in a lecture on art at New Plymouth last night cited Government Buildings, Wellington, as an example. Pointed out, three times so that visitors would not forget, as the largest wooden building in the southern hemisphere, it was laboriously disguised as stone. The wood was painted as stone and grooved to give the impression of slabs. Thin lathes of wood round a drum formed the apparently marble pillars and everywhere were small details to enhance the same effect. If the materials in the building served their purpose why try to disguise their nature? asked Mr. Simpson.

Similarities in Japanese 1 and Maori. '■ An interesting sidelight •of comparative philology was referred to by Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa in the course of an address at New Plymouth yesterday. He had, he said, found an amazing similar,-, ity between many Japanese and Maori words and roots. Already he had discovered nearly 50 words of only slightly varied pronunciation with the same or similar meanings. He recalled that nearly 20 per cent, of the original Japan-' ese stock had migrated from the south, so that it was possible that the Japanese and the Maori had common ancestors. Incidentally, for every one similarity he had found between Maori and Japanese, he.had found 10 similarities between thfe language of the ancient Egyptians and modem Japanese.. Shintoism was also closely related in many of its principles to the religion of ancient Egypt, Cobbler versus Cobbler.

When speaking at a meeting of the Wellington City Council the inevitable reaction of low rates of pay, Cr. P. M. Butler said that 42 men were employed under the jurisdiction of the Wellington City Council, mending boots in the boot depot, at relief rates of pay. ' The irony of it was that when-the depot was opened—at a time when things looked very black and things were rushed through without giving proper consideration of what the results would be—many of those men were working in their own little shops, but because of the competition of other cobblers working in the depot they hfd lost their business and were forced on to relief, to find their way to the benches. at the depot, there to compete with the remaining small cobblers in the city. It would have been very much better had men been paid decent, rates of pay so that they could afford to have their boots Repaired, he said.

Okato’s Wheelbarrow Derby. Taranaki has • had its “wheelbarrow derby,” the challenge having been issued and accepted and the wager won, all in the space of an hour, and while it has not received the worldwide publicity of the Australian affair, the latter could not have created more local interest. The “derby” took place at Okato yesterday and was an impromptu event at the jubilee celebrations. Seated in the barrow was a man of no mean avoirdupois, twirling a unique walking stick that consisted of a piece of inch piping with a bend for a handle. Pushing the barrow was a hefty individual. Both were in disguise, but the barrow bore cards indicating that the stakes were for 20 "spots,” and tlje distance to the hotel. The goal was reached despite the manner in which each barracked the other. The walking stick proved a magic one, nlaying a very important part in the race, for every few chains there would be a halt, the man in the barrow would produce a spanner, unscrew a cap from the end of the walking stick, which when gently elevated would provide both the wheeled and the wheeler, as well as several of the spectators, with a “tonic” that evidently served as a stimulant. The pair provided their quota of the hilarity. The participants were Mr. Henry jßothery, Otorohanga, a former resident of Okato, whose penchant for clever practical joking has provided many reminiscenses, and Mr. John O’Sullivan. Te Aroha, also a former resident of Okato.