CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 19999, 5 January 1935, Page 4

CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

ITEMS FROM THE CITY CHRISTCHURCH, January 4. Personal: Sir Charles Clifford and Mr Bruce ! Douglas arrived from Wellington this morning. Dr. J. B. Condliffe, a member of the Economic Intelligence Service attached to the League of Nations and author of the annual “World Economic Survey,” who, with Mrs Condliffe and a daughter, has been visiting Christchurch for some weeks past, will leave for Australia on Monday. Before returning to Geneva he will also visit the United States.

Mr W. J. McKell. ex-Minister of Justice in New South Wales, who has been touring in the south, will leave Christchurch for the West Coast tomorrow. He will return next Thursday and proceed to Wellington.

The Rev. Clarence Eaton, minister of the Durham Street Methodist Circuit, has returned to Christchurch from Wellington, where he attended a two-day conference of the Methodist young men’s Bible class convention. Major-General Sir Alexander Godley who was the officer in command of the New Zealand Military Forces before the war, is expected to arrive in Christchurch from Ashburton on January 16. He will probably leave on January 23 for Hokitika and the Franz Josef Glacier.

Mr Jonathan Cape, head of the book publishing firm, London, who is on a world tour, arrived in Christchurch this morning. He intends to return to London by way of China, Japan and the United States. The Hon. Michael Scott and Messrs L. G. Garnett, T. A. Bourn and J. M’Lean, members of the British amateur golf team, accompanied by Mr H. Gullen (manager) arrived in Christchurch last evening from the south. They were guests at the Christchurch Club. To-day they played against a team representing the Christchurch Golf Club. The visitors will leave for the north this morning.

The Building Trade: A decrease in the value of building construction for December, 1934, compared with the figures for the same period in 1933, is shown in the monthly return issued by the Christchurch City Council. The value of buildings authorised for last month was £20,944 compared with £21,897 last year. Last month 57 permits were issued as against 36 in the same period last year.

The Royal Visit: Christchurch will present a gay appearance for the visit of the Duke of Gloucester. According to present plans, nearly 3000 yards of red. white and blue bunting, and 200 to 300 flags, in addition to greenery, shields and ornamental arches, and festoons of coloured lights, will be used in the decoration of public buildings in the city. Some of the details of the general decorative scheme have still to be settled, but amongst the public buildings which will make a display when the Duke arrives, are the City Council Chambers, the Post Office and the Government Buildings. Also, many business firms in different parts of the city have announced their intention of providing decorations of their own, to accord as far as possible with the general scheme. It is stated that most of the city picture theatres will have their fronts decorated in some manner. A start on the erection of the public decorations will be made three or four days before the Duke’s arrival from Ashburton on January 19.

British Golfers: Playing on a slow course and in overcast weather, the British golfers, at Shirley to-day, proved too strong for the Canterbury representatives, though the latter put up a particularly good showing. The slowness of the course was as much a handicap to the Canterbury players as it was to the visitors since for the last two months the links at Shirley have been playing very fast. The Hon. Michael Scott, partnered by J. McLean, beat C. J. Ward and C. A. Seymour by 3 and 2; T. A. Bourn and L. G. Garnett beat A. R. Blank and E. J. Pumphrey by the same margin. Destroyed by Fire: Clarence House, a boarding-house built at Hanmer Springs forty years ago, was destroyed by fire last night. The outbreak was noticed soon after midnight, and the Hanmer Volunteer Fire Brigade turned out in seven minutes. The fire, which had started in the rear of the house, had too great a hold by then, and the brigade confined its efforts to keeping the flames from the Hanmer House garage adjoining. Clarence House, which was owned by the Duncan Rutherford estate, has been unocupied for the last five years. It was built in the nineties by Mr W. H. Fawcett, and about twenty-seven years ago came into the hands of Mr Duncan Rutherford, who made considerable alterations to the building, accommodation being provided for forty people. Eleven years ago, the boarding-house was used as quarters for the female staff of Queen Mary Hospital. Renovations: More frequent visits to Christchurch by members of the Royal family would probably have a beneficial effect on the appearance of the city. A considerable amount of renovating work is being carried out in preparation for the stay here of the Duke of Gloucester. For example, the posts and rails along the Avon in Oxford Terrace have been painted, and to-day workmen were busy on the Gloucester Street bridge.

Naval Training: Excellent naval training is being experienced by men of the Christchurch division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who are taking part in a fortnight’s cruise aboard the training cutter Deveron, now based at Akaroa for the holiday period. The vessel is under the command of Lieutenant-Commander H. A. Rhind who has with him one petty officer, one leading seaman and ten ablebodied seamen. Leaving Lyttelton on Christmas morning, the Deveron participated in the ocean race to Akaroa. but through losing the wind, was forced to use her engine and thus had to retire from the race. Since arriving at Akaroa, ordinary warship procedure has been in force—training in the mornings, sailing in the afternoons and liberty leave in the evenings, the whole crew being required to be on board at midnight. Reports from the Deveron indicate that the men are enjoying the trip, for which, incidentally, they are paying all expenses. A general improvement in the physique of the men has been noticed and their naval work has smartened up considerably. It is the intention of Commander Rhind to arrive at Lyttelton Heads on Sunday at the same time as H.M.A.S. Australia, and the vessels will exchange salutes. The Deveron’s arrival will depend on the weather, and if light winds are experienced she may be too late to meet the Australia.

Publisher’s Visit: ’ Public taste in books at Home and in the Dominions, the vogue of cheap

editions, the question of whether too many books are being published, the establishment of a publishing industry in Australia, the effect of the depression on the industry generally, and other subjects were discussed with a reporter by Mr Jonathan Cape, head of the famous publishing firm which was established in London after the war, who arrived in Christchurch today in the course of a New Zealand tour.

Mr Cape told the reporter that the reading public in the Dominions and the colonies was increasing. It was not a violent growth, and it was inclined to fluctuate a little, but generally speaking the improvement was fairly steady. The same applied to the public’s taste in reading matter. While there was still a big market for what Mr Cape labels as “tripe and tosh,” there was a steady upward tr.end in taste, and the more serious books were better liked. While the novel was still the most popular form of reading matter, what might be described as “general literature” was markedly more popular.

“Novels will always hold their own; but at the present time good books not cast in the form of fiction are enjoying equal popularity with novels by some of our best novelists,” remarked Mr Cape. So far as value was concerned, cheap editions were worth all that was asked for them, continued Mr Cape. Furthermore, they carried an assurance to the reader that he was not going to waste him time on inferior books, as the fact that they had been selected for publication in cheap edition form was proof that they had passed something of a test in public favour.

Surcharge on Air Mail: Christchurch postal officials had quite an interesting time yesterday explaining to many recipients of English mail which had come by the recentlyinaugurated Empire ar-mail service why they had to pay several shillings, and in some cases over £l, surcharge. This was the second delivery in New Zealand by this service, and the explanation was that apparently the senders did not realise that extra postage was required. Their friends in New Zealand, or those of them who paid the surcharge rather than have the mail returned to England for the addressers to make up the deficit, had to pay the penalty for this ignorance. In a big proportion of instances, probably, the contents were Christmas greetings. The one which drew a reporter’s attention to the position was merely a card, on which 4/3 surcharge was paid. The rate from England by this Eng-land-Singapore-Australia service is 1/3 a half-ounce. This particular letter carried 4id in stamps, so that, since it weighed just a shade under an ounce, the deficiency was 2/li. This is doubled for the purposes of the surcharge. Hence the 4/3 which the recipient had to pay for his Christmas card! Encouraging Report: Striking decreases in the number of cases of tuberculosis reported, and the number of deaths caused by this disease, in the Canterbury-West Coast health district during 1934 are revealed in the annual return of the Department of Health. It is also recorded thatrthe number of cases of food poisoning in Canterbury increased from one to fifty-two. Commenting on the figures, Dr. T. Fletcher Telford, Medical Officer of Health, remarked yesterday that the fall from 192 to 167 in the number of tuberculosis cases reported, a decrease of twenty-five on the 1933 figure, was very encouraging. The deaths from the disease had also fallen by sixteen from ninety-three to seventy-seven, and he considered that the position would continue to improve. There were 276,000 persons in the district, and it was very satisfactory when the Department could record that the total number of diphtheria cases was only twenty-two. a decrease of twenty-four on the 1933 figure.

Regarding the increase in the number of food poisoning cases in Canterbury from one to fifty-two, Dr. Telford said that forty-nine of these were in the Sumner epidemic at the beginning of December, when numerous cases of patients suffering from throat and gastric trouble were reported. In every case, it was discovered that they were receiving their milk from one source, and, following an examination of swabs taken from the sufferers all over the district, the supply of milk was completely cut off. In this matter the Health Department acted in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, and when the supply of infected milk ceased the patients at once began to recover. Dr Telford! said that it was satisfactory to note that the number of deaths from notifiable diseases was steadily declining. There hat J, been , 11 ? deaths in 1933, but in 1934 these had decreased to 105.