NEWS OF THE DAY

Taranaki Daily News, 19 August 1935, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Women’s Hockey Tour. The Taranaki women’s representative hockey team will leave on Wednesday to play matches at Feilding, Pahiatua, Akitio, Napier, Otaki and Marton. The team, which will return to Taranaki in about nine days, will be in charge of Mrs. M. Priest. Mechanics’ Examination.

Nineteen candidates sat for the annual grade mechanics examination at the New Plymouth Technical College last week. Under the new plan of written tests those who are successful with these papers will undergo oral examinations at a later date. Previously only practical and oral tests were made. First Trout Ova Imported. The first brown trout ova imported by the Taranaki Acclimatisation Society arrived by boat from the South Island 61 years ago yesterday, on August 18, 1874. When the cases were unpacked 90 per cent, of the ova were found to be alive and they were at once transferred to breeding ponds specially prepared. Sale of Property. It is understood a Wellington syndicate has purchased the freehold of the block in Devon Street, New Plymouth, occupied by G. Ward, grocer, and, until recently, by Halliwell's Ltd. A suitable building will probably be erected. It is said the firm of Woolworths is interested in the transaction. Assassination Rumoured. In the manner that rumours have, a tale spread over New Plymouth last night that a wireless report announced the assassination “of a European personage of some importance.” Inquiries disclosed neither the name of the radio station supposed to have broadcast the message nor the identity of the alleged victim. A Nice* Distinction. A strange distinction was made between rough and hard play by a Taranaki footballer on Saturday. In tha course of a conversation about the game he had played in he remarked that, when annoyed, he would not hit An opponent. “Plenty of time to use my foot in a game,” he added ingenuously evidently considering the foot,, however used, a legal weapon in football. Fowls on the Axle. Having driven a light motor-lorry to Winton from the country on a recent evening a Southland farmer was surprised to have his attention drawn to three fowls roosting < the back axle of the vehicle. The man had driven the vehicle out of its garage at his home, and the birds had apparently been asleep on the axle. On this perch they were transferred to Winton, unnoticed and undisturbed.

Awkward Situation. A motorist who drove his new car on the Moturoa wharf at the port of New Plymouth on Saturday allowed his gaze to wander and found himself in an awkward predicament. Before he realised it the vehicle had straddled a points level and could not subsequently be moved back or forward. A breakdown waggon had to be obtained to lift the car off the obstacle. Use of St. John Ambulance. The St. John Free Ambulance which was established at Wanganui recently has made very 'satisfactory progress, and the Patea Hospital Board has now entered into an arrangement for the transport of its patients by means of this service. Tire authorities at Hastings and New Plymouth are also interesting themselves in the movement, and it is proposed that a deputation from New Plymouth should shortly visit Wanganui for the purpose of obtaining further information with regard to the organisation.

The Other Man’s Viewpoint. He did not claim to haVe a monopoly of ideas, said the Hon. C. E. Macmillan in explaining to his meeting at Hawera on Friday night why he was prepared to answer questions at the conclusion of his addresses. He liked to obtain the viewpoint of his opponents through their questions, and considered that the public had a right to know after action was taken the motives which prompted the taking of that action. No Repudiation.'

The Government had never repudiated any of its debts, nor would it do so, said the Hon. C. E. Macmillan in the course of his address at Hawera on Friday night. If people had no confidence in the Government why, he asked, were those who did not have Government stocks prepared to pay a premium to obtain them? Why did people put so much money in the Post Office Savings Bank that there had- been an increase of deposits over withdrawals of nearly £5,000,009 during the past two years.

“It’S No Use Crying ...” A minor tragedy occurred in the business area of New Plymouth on Saturday evening. There was nothing unusual about the man who crossed the street carrying a weighed-down sack in each hand, but the whole sad story was instantly to be realised when one sack slipped from his grasp; there was a crashing of bottles and beer seeped in melancholy fashion through the sacking to mingle uselessly with the rain pools on the road. New “Bell of Aberbrothock.”

As huge westerly waves dashed spray 20 feet high over the breakwater at the port of New Plymouth last night the eerie and incessant clanging of a bell could be heard gustily carried from some point on the wharves. It was, however, not a warning to sailors, but the Newton King wharf railway alarm,announcing its affliction by a powerful lightning flash early in the evening. The new “Bell of Aberbrothock” was left to ring till some Sir Ralph the Rover from the Railway Department should silence it this morning.

Campaign Against Eels, A successful campaign, against eels was reported to the Wellington Acclimatisation Society by the secretary of the Wellington Anglers’ Club. Hundreds of eels have been exterminated. The cup presented by the club’s president, Mr. R. H. Nimmo, for the largest eel caught, was won by Mr. A. Harris, of Akatarawa, with an eel weighing 28Alb. The suggestion that Mr. Harris be granted a free fishing license for the 1935-36 season was referred by the society to its finance committee. For First Aid Men.

Attention has recently been directed to the inadequacy of the accommodation provided at some of the sports and other grounds for the St. John Ambulance workers, who to-day are present at all fixtures. These men and women are in attendance wet qr dry, • and administer to the injured at the various matches throughout the sports season. On some grounds the controlling bodies are not unmindful of the duty which they owe to the first-aiders, and have provided quarters, but there are other places where the accommodation is of a very poor order, and in some cases it does not exist at all.

Importance of Diction. “In speaking you have to assume that the audience does not want to listen to yoii,” said Professor F. Slnclaire at the Canterbury University College Little Theatre, while judging a debate by students of the Dialectic Society. Everyone needed to be very careful as to speech, he said. It could not be . denied that the quality of a man’s voice had a great deal to do with his arguments and was a weighty influence in affecting listeners. Poor diction only induced tiredness or even antagonism in those who were obliged to pay attention to what was being said. ® Overseas Milk Figures. Details of milk prices and consumption overseas were given in letters reseceived from authorities at New York and Lpndon at a meeting of the Auckland Metropolitan Milk Council. These indicated that the average per capita ednsuniption of milk in the United States was 37.7 gallons a year, or a little more than .8 pints daily. Prices of bottled milk varied from 9 to 15 cents a quart for B grade, and one or two cents more for A grade. Although the merican measures are smaller than in England or New Zealand, the English figure ■ for consumption are considerably lower, the average being .385 pints per capita daily. Retail prices range from 5d to 7d a quart according to the season, and locality. Tastes in Water. Some interesting preferences in the type of water used for drinking were mentioned by Mr. R. S. D. Harman in an address to the Royal Sanitary Institute at Christchurch. He said that in a country district in England a well had been sunk near a house. The woman of the house had said that she found it very convenient for drawing water, but that her husband found the water from the river better to ' drinking. In some places it used to be customary to draw water from the village pond, and if the water became too green the recipe for clearing it was to throw in a dead dog. Prevalence of Sheep-stealing. Mr. Justice Reed’s advice to farmers in the Supreme Court at Napier, to take steps to have the transport of sheep by lorry at night prevented by law was unnecessary, Mr. W. H. Nicholson, secretary of the Canterbury Sheep Owners’ Union, said at the annual meeting of the union. In 1930, he added, the Stock Act was amended to make it an offence to “drive, lead or convey stock along or across any highway or Crown lands, or to convey any stock on river, lake, harbour or other waters” at night without a permit from a justice, or an auctioneer, postmaster, constable or inspector under the Stock Act. The union decided to urge the authorities to make the penalties for sheep stealing more severe, members commenting that the offence was becoming very common in many parts of New Zealand.

Already “Summer Breeze'’ material is being acquired in the new and pretty patterns at Scanlans Melbourne Corner by customers eager to secure the latest design before becoming sold out. The new buttons, dress clips, slides, buckles and ornaments are creating quite a sensation. See formal interior and window displays this week. .