Local and General News

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21155, 30 September 1938, Page 8

Local and General News

Awatea to Resume The Union Company’s trans-Tasman liner Awatea, which was withdrawn from the inter-Colonial service last month, is now completing her annual overhaul at Darling Harbour, Sydney. She will leave shortly in light trim to be recommissioned at Wellington, sailing for Sydney on October 5. An Amended Franchise The Samoa Legislative Council Elective Membership Amendment Order, 1938, is published with the Gazette. This order contains provisions for the extension of the franchise to all European adults. Previously the franchise was limited to males with a certain income and property qualifications. Veterinary Laboratory Preliminary work having been completed, a start has been made on the erection of the new animal health laboratory at Wallaceville (Wellington). The work will cost approximately £20,000. With the accommodation already existing in the present buildings, the new structure will serve the needs of the Government veterinary laboratories for many years. “Before Semple” “This film was taken in the year One 8.5.,” said the commentator when a film showing men at work on the Kingston-Queenstown road was being screened at Invercargill by the Tourist Department. The movements of the workmen —as shown by the camera —were very lethargic. The commentator, after allowing time for the audience to be mystified, explained that “8.5.” meant “Before Semple.” Poor Lambing Season • Following severe losses from eczema during the autumn, sheep farmers in the Franklin district are faced with one of the poorest lambing seasons they have ever experienced. On many properties the lambing percentages so far are only between 50 and 60 per cent, for flock sheep, while fresh cases of eczema are still being reported, and farmers are apprehensive of a general recurrence. A Result of Freedom “The more you have of freedom, the more willing will be the association and co-operation,” said Mr W. T. G. Airey in an address to the Auckland Rotary Club on problems of the British Commonwealth of Nations emerging from the recent British Commonwealth Relations Conference. The Government of Britain removed from the Irish any sense of subjection to Britain they might have felt, he added, and sometimes at the recent conference at New South Wales the Irish delegates seemed to be the most loyal members of the Commonwealth. Interruption of Candidate The first case of a breach of the law to occur at a political meeting during the present election campaign was heard in the Putaruru Magistrate’s Court on Monday, when Cyril Leslie Corcoran was charged, before Justices, with using obscene language at Tlrau on Friday evening. Evidence was given that the accused used the language complained of when the National candidate for Rbtorua, Mr H. W. Nixon, was speaking. The accused changed his plea from one of not guilty to one of guilty, and his counsel said the case was one in which a man who had consumed some liquor had allowed his political feelings to rim away with his sense of propriety. The accused was fined £3. Parents Know Best In his monthly report to the Wellington Colleges Board of Governors, Mr F. Martyn Renner, principal of Rongotai College, remarked that he had interested himself in trying to get parents to adopt a reasonable attitude over entering boys at too early an age for various examinations. He had furnished complete reports on their chances of success or otherwise, but in numerous cases, contrary to adverse reports and to his advice, ■ parents had persisted in demanding that their boys should sit. “My relations with parents have always been of the happiest; they have always been ready to agree to my wishes in those matters till it comes to a boy’s fitness for examinations, and then it matters very little what I say or what his masters say,” said Mr Renner. Architects’ Fees “It would assist us materially were you to advise us of your reasons for suggesting that the charge made should be reduced by 50 per cent.,” stated a letter received by the Auckland Hospital Board this week from the Melbourne firm of architects, Messrs Stephenson and Turner, in connection with their claim for £3500 fees for hospital rebuilding plans. The board had written to the architects offering £1750, without pi-ejudice, in settlement, but the firm, while appreciating the spirit of the letter, regretted that the board should have been so concerned over the amount of the fee. After all, the architects stated, the fee charged was only half the full fee which could be charged in accordance with the British Institute scale of charges, and for which they had carried out the maximum amount of work in the preparation of a complete scheme for the ultimate development of the institution. The framing of the board’s reply was left in the hands of a sub-committee.