CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19622, 17 October 1933, Page 4

CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

ITEMS FROM THE CITY CHRISTCHURCH, October 16. Personal: The Bishop of Waiapu. Dr. H. W. Williams, was elected president of the Christ's College Old Boys’ Association at the annual meeting on Saturday evening. Mr D. V. Wilson, secretary to Duckworth, Turner and Co., Ltd., will leave for Wellington this evening to connect with the Maunganui on a business visit to Sydney and Melbourne. A motion of sympathy with the relatives of the late Mr H. E. Holland, M.P., was passed at to-day’s meeting of the Christchurch Unemployment Committee.

At a meeting of the board of directors of the Alliance Assurance Co., Ltd., held in London recently, Mr John H. Rhodes, of Rhodes, Ross, and Godby, was appointed a local director of the company in Christchurch. Mr D. Reese will leave Christchurch for Wellington to-morrow evening on his way to Australia, where he will investigate conditions in the timber industry and see what can be done to build up New Zealand's export trade in rimu, or red pine. He will be accompanied by Mr J. W. CallweU, of Greymouth, and will leave Auckland by the Monowai on Friday.

Great Day of Fishing: A Christchurch fishing party w’hich went out on the Lyttelton launch Moturata yesterday under charge of Catain George Nelson and fished at Purau and other bays, returned with 50 dozen fish of various sorts. There were 20 persons in the party, and the catch was divided equally, with the result that some of them had difficulty in staggering home under the load.

The Flying Wrestler: George Walker, the man who “aeroplane spins” his opponents in the ring and spins along by aeroplane to get to them when he is out of the ring, flew from Christchurch to Dunedin on Saturday for his match with Hal Rumburg and flew back to Christchurch yesterday. Mr R. A. Kirkup, of Auckland, was his pilot, and the machine was a Sports Avian.

Memorial Tablet In Avonside: ,A brass tablet, set on the southern wall of Holy Trinity Church, Avonside, and erected to the memory of Mr Harry Baker, by his widow and family, was unveiled yesterday by Dean Julius. For many years Mr Baker was a warden of the church, and was for many years a resident of Timaru. The servioe, which was of a memorial nature, was conducted by the vicar, the Rev. W. J. Hands, and appropriate music was sung. The Dean paid a high tribute to the work of Mr Baker for the church, and to his many sterling qualities as a man. The tablet bears the following inscription: “To the glory of God, and in memory of Harry Baker, a churchwarden of this parish for many years. Died, October 12, 1929, aged 65 years. Great Is the peace that they have who love Thy law."

Piece Work Opposed: Most local bodies, a reporter gathered on Saturday, have not jobs which are suitable for absorbing unemployed men under the piece-work system. It was pointed out that to work this system successfully It was necessary to have gangs of men on large works, where the result could be measured up on the yardage or some other convenient basis. The piecework system might be suitable for construction jobs in which men were employed at camps or where great quantities of spoil had to be shifted.

Cyclists Run Down: Mr and Mrs J. M. Ranger, of Dampier Street, Woolston, were cycling along the Main South Road between Sockburn and Riccarton at 7.30 p.m. yesterday, when they were knocked off their bicycles by a motor car, which came up from behind. They state that the car was travelling at a fast rate, and that the driver did not stop. Mrs Ranger was treated as an out-patient at the Christchurch Hospital and discharged.

Out of Danger: Miss Dulcie Cameron, who was admitted to the Christchurch Hospital on September 17, following a collision between a taxi and a motor cycle ridden by Mr R. Hazelhurst, _ the Canterbury representative footballer, is now pronounced out of danger. Miss Cameron was on the pillion of the motor cycle.

Building Revival: A start was made by the contractors, B. Moore and Sons, Ltd., this morning with the demolition of the rear portion of the State Fire Insurance Office in Worcester Street. Twenty men were put to work on the old building, and they pulled down brick walls and boarded up. It is estimated that something in the vicinity of 200 men will benefit directly and Indirectly by the job. Twenty-five additional building jobs proposed in Christchurch were approved this morning by the Unemployment Board, making the total approvals to date 617. When the building subsidy was withdrawn on September 12, the applications for grants made locally totalled 1254, and the value of the work proposed £728,651.

Welcome Rain: "We’ve got smiles all over our faces.” That sentence from Mr M. J. Barnett, superintendent of parks and 'reserves for the Christchurch City Council, summed up opinions of the week-end’s weather. In Christchurch over half an inch fell, and in most parts of Canterbury—particularly in mid-Can-terbury—about the same fall or more was experienced. The rain has staved off danger to crops, lawns and gardens, and will help pasture lands throughout the province to make up some of the leeway they have lost through the early assault of summer. Still more is needed, though, and farmers would welcome another couple of inches. The rain began about 2 o’clock on Sunday morning, rattling in on the heels of a sou’-wester that sprang up. In some parts of the province there I was a light fall of snow. The rain | continued for the rest of the morning, I and showers were intermittent in ; Christchurch till about mid-day. After ! a brief spell, however, hail fell at 2.30, | and the rain continued, lasting all the evening. | The fail up to 9 o'clock on Sunday I morning was 0.27in. and the fall from j yesterday to 9 thtc morning was 0.29in. ! making a total of 0.56in for the weekI end. Temperatures fell yesterday after : the mugginess of Saturday, the maxiI mum being 52.7 degrees and the mintI mum—at 5.45 this morning—37.4 de- ; grees. A small reminder of winter was : given by a frost of 3.5 degrees to-day. | Anglican Synod Meets: I Clergy and laymen from all over the

Christchurch Diocese are visiting the city this week for the third annual session of the twenty-sixth Synod of the diocese, which opened in the Provincial Council Chambers to-day. The session began at 4 p.m. with the Bishop's address. Synod evensong was held at the Cathedral at 8 p.m., when the preacher was the Rev. C. E. Perry (St. Michael’s). To-morrow morning, Synod members and their wives will be entertained at morning tea by the Bishop and Mrs West-Watson, The first business at tomorrow evening’s session will be the Foreign Missions reort, the adoption of which will be moved by Mr G. Stenlng, and seconded by the Rev. W. J. Hands. Miss Blanche Tobin, of Auckland, who has recently returned from China, will be the guest speaker. It is hoped that Synod will complete its business this week, but there is a lengthy order paper, and it is possible that the session will run into next week.

Legion Under Fire: Quite a lively controversy is raging in the Christchurch newspapers on the alms of the New Zealand Legion. Replying to a correspondent who declared that since “The New Zealand Legion is making the only organised attempt to eradicate the faults of democratic Government in New Zealand, the greatest of which is the party system, why then has the Legion failed to secure the endorsement of the newspapers," a Christchurch morning Journal says there are two answers to this question. The first is that newspapers have endorsed as much of the Legion’s policy as is intelligible and practicable. “When the Legion itself has a clearer idea of what it is. what is is trying to do, and what Its methods will be,” adds the morning journal, "a wider judgment will be possible.” The second ' answer Is that "abolition of the ‘party system’ is a muddled and potentially dangerous objective. The Legion, aparently, has the naive idea that there is only one possible philosophy of government and that, If political parties were disbanded, all New Zealanders would find themselves in complete agreement on a political ant economic programme and the means for realising it. Surely

It is the essence of democracy and the antithesis of tyranny that men should be free to believe what they like about government and to organise in support of their beliefs. Party government can be suppressed: but only by the method which has been used in Russia, Italy and Germany."

Replying to a correspondent who be--comes an apologist for the Legion leaders who have put forward proposals which the rankers of the organisation do not approve, and they have erred, he says, but will not do so again, for they will be compelled to concentrate on the main objective of the Legion, which Is "thorough rationalisation of the system of general and local government based on democratic principles." one of' the evening journals replies: "If this Is not a vague and juvenile objective, what on earth Is? The system of government does not want rationalising, overhauling, or anything else. It is the only one acceptable to the people, and they will not allow Interference with it for the sake of a band of enthusiastic political amateurs who cannot realise that party Is the foundation of the system and cannot be eliminated without damaging the character of the whole.”