CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19512, 10 June 1933, Page 4

CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

IN AND ABOUT THE CITY. CHRISTCHURCH, June 9. Personal: The Minister of Defence ithe Hon. T . G. Cobbe) returned to Wellington by the ferry steamer last evening. * The Mayor of Christchurch ( Mr D. G. Sullivan. M.P.) returned to Christchurch to-day from Wellington. The Rev. Clarence Eaton has been elected chairman of the board of the South Island Methodist Children's Home and Orphanage at Papanui. Mr J. Gillanders, of Greendale, was appointed Dominion president of the New Zealand Milking Shorthorn Association at the annual meeting held in Hamilton last week. The Rev. J. K. Archer has been reelected president of the Canterbury Auxiliarv of the Baptist Union. The Rev. A. W. Stuart was re-elected secretary. He has held the position for six years. Mr R. B. Cotton was elected honorary secretary at the annual meeting of the Port Christchurch League last night. Mr J. V. Tyree, who retired from the secretaryship, was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. Mr W. Simpson has been re-elected chairman of the Methodist Church Building and Loan Fund Committee. Mr Simpson has been a member of the committee for several years, and has been conductor of the St. Albans choir for about 28 years. Sir Hugh Acland was congratulated on receiving the honour of a knighthood by members of the Business Men’s Committee at the special luncheon held at the Frascati yesterday to discuss work associated with the distress appeal. Congratulations were also extended by the Port Christchurch League and the Canterbury Branch of the Navy League at their meetings yesterday. Canon A. H. Norris, at the gathering of the Navy League, said that congratulations to Sir Hugh Acland had been widely and deservedly offered, and satisfaction had been universally expressed with the honour conferred upon him. Housebreakers Busy: < The home of Mr Ernest Chafley, 35 Carlton Mill Road, was entered by a then’ yesterday afternoon and jewellery valued at £2O was stolen. This Is the second theft of jewellery in this district in the past week. Vagaries of the Town Clock: The time registered by the Post Office clock for some hours last evening was immaterial, as it could not be seen as all the faces were in darkness until fairly late. The clock has lately given much evidence of decrepitude, and last night’s performance furnished further notoriety following on the stoppage on Tuesday evening, and previous peculiar and unexpected antics of the timepiece. War Pension Appeals: The War Pensions Appeal Board, if which Sir Walter Stringer Is chairman, Is expected to sit in Christchurch towards the end of the present month. At present the board is engaged n Dunedin.

Air Force Apprentice: The appointment of Noel Baty, of 41, Idris Road, as apprentice in the New Zealand Air Force was confirmed when he was successful in passing the medical examination and declared fit to carry on air force work. Mr Baty will leave Christchurch for Trentham to-night to undergo a period of military training, after which, it is understood, he will be transferred to the Wigram Aerodrome.

Tobacco Cultivation for Soldiers: The tobacco grown as an experiment by the Disabled Soldiers’ Civil Re-es-tablishment Committee has been cured and Is now in the process of being sweated down. When the process 's completed the committee proposes to sell the tobacco to a local firm or other firms. A total of 3001 bof green leaf was obtained from an eighth of an acre, but the weight has been considerably reduced in the various processes to which the leaf has been subjected.

Registration of Drivers: An average of five drivers a day 's being tested for licences by the traffic staff of the Christchurch City Council. The percentage of passes is fairly high The number of new drivers does not bear any close relation to the selling of new motor-vehicles, as many of the applicants for a test are simply mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters who Want to use the family car now and then. It is a fortunate father who has a monopoly of his car these days.

Hindenburg's Memory: “Current rumour has it that when President Hindenburg viewed the recent march past of the Nazi troops in Berlin he said to his son on the way home: ‘Oscar, I didn't know we took as many Russian prisoners as that’,” said Mr L. C. Webb, M.A., addressing the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Historical Association, last evening. Mr Webb explained that apparently the great old man's memory was failing. He must have been thinking of his campaign in the Great War. Sun Shines Again: Though the rain virtually ceased last evening, the night was cloudy with an occasional drizzle, but the rainfall was negligible, only 0.05in being recorded for the twenty-four hours ended at 9 a.m. to-day. A slight breeze, from the south-west and bitterly cold, blew throughout most of the night, and this combined with the cloudy conditions, was responsible for the fact that only 2.9 degrees of frost was recorded this morning. The stormy conditions of the earlier portion of the week, however, were responsible for bringing the total rainfall for this year above the total for the corresponding period of last year, the figures being:—This year 8.49in, last year 7,44 in. To-day was beautifully fine and sunny, a welcome change after the overcast and blustering weather that preceded it. Onions for U.S.A.: The lifting of the United States embargo on fruit also Includes the lifting of the embargo on vegetables, so that a market will now be available for onions, according to advice received by a reporter from the Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. C. E. Macmillan). Attention to the fact that there was no mention of onions was drawn oy Christchurch merchants at the time the removal of tire embargo was announced. While this will give an outlet for Canterbury onions next year, providing the prices are suitable. Marshland growers are more seriously concerned with the disposal of the onions they have put into cold storage In Wellington this year, in view of the removal of the ban on American ground fruits in New Zealand. Stimulus to Trade: 6 The possibility of the Unemployment Board's building subsidy scheme bringing more trade to the brick industry was stressed by Mr D. I. Macdonald, secretary to the Canterbury Employers' Association, when speaking in the Conciliation Council this morning, during the hearing of the brri: workers’ industrial dispute. “Some people are optimistic enough to think that the building subsidy

scheme will bring a boom in the buildinl': industry,” said Mr Macdonald. “If this comes about, there will be an appreciable increase in the business done by the brick industry. The present demand for bricks is negligible, but, with one or two bigger jobs anticipated. the industry will benefit considerably. In this event it would be desirable for the industry to have an award. The employees should consider this before allowing the dispute to end without an agreement." Watersider’s Claim: A claim for £IOO was brought in the Lyttelton Court this morning by a waterside worker, Harry Hutson, against five employers of labour on the waterfront, alleging that they had combined to injure him in his calling. The defendants denied combination - T l refusing to give plaintiff work. Hutson was concerned in an assault case in March last. The defendants were: Arthur Knight Dyne, Lyttelton, stationmaster; Robert C. Skipage, agent for the New Zealand Shipping Company; Walter Scott master mariner; Joseph Garrard, branch manager for Kinsiey and Co.; and Thomas Henry Bowling, wharf superintendent for the Union Steam Ship Company, all of Lyttelton. The statement of claim set out that Hutson was a waterside worker and a member of the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Union, and for some eight years prior to March last had been employed by the Lyttelton Harbour Board, the Railway Department, the Shaw, Savill and Albion Co., Ltd., and various other shipping companies to do work on the waterfront. About March 7, continued the claim, the defendant Dyne intimated to the plaintiff that he would not be employed again by the Railway Department, and shortly afterwards the defendants combined with intent to prevent the plaintiff from being employed os hitherto by the companies named and bv the Lyttelton Harbour Board, Messrs H L Tapiey and Co. the Westport Coal Company, and other employers.