LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Thames Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 20422, 26 September 1938, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

High School Steeplechase. The annual High School steeplechase will be run at 2.30 p.m. to-morrow.

National Party Candidate. Mr. W. A. Clark, National Party candidate for the Thames seat, will

address a public meeting in St. James’ Hall to-morrow (Tuesday) evening. His Worship the Mayor will preside.

Dominion Dla.y.

To-day is the 31st anniversary of the

raising of the status of the colony of New Zealand to that of a Dominion. Flags were flown from all public offices and banks, and legal offices observed the day as a holiday. Any Fool Can Boo! “I wouldn’t boo my worst enemy,” declared Mr. J. D. Ormond, National candidate for Napier, at his election meeting at Port Ahuriri when that form of protest was introduced by a section of the audience. “It’s easy to boo a candidate. Any fool can do that!” Stand For Individual Effort. “We stand for the small trader and the businessman,” declared Mr. J. M. Allen, National candidate for llauraki, at Elstown last Wednesday night. “We

desire to encourage to the utmost individual effort, for we feel that the

more people there are with a stake in

the country the more prosperous the country will be.”

“Travelling Observatory.”

A cable from Melbourne states that a “travelling observatory” on the transTasman steamer will be inaugurated in

about two months. With special equipment, the officer in charge will obtain data for weather forecasts for the Sydney-Auckland flying boat service, beginning in January. His task will also be to estimate wind velocities at various heights. Wet or Dry? “Do you stand for prohibition or continuance? Are you wet or dry?” asked a male questioner of Mrs. Knox Gilmer, Liberal candidate for Wellington North, at the conclusion of her campaign address in the Taranaki Street Mission Hall last week. Without speaking, Mrs. Gilmer gave her questioner an enigmatic reply that “brought the house down.” She reached for the glass of water on the tablo in front of her and drank from it. Silica From Te Aroha Bore. “The silica in the- Domain bore, Te Aroha, makes it necessary for us to , clean the pipes out monthly,” said Mr. Ewing, local tourist officer, to the Chamber of Commerce. “Wo have been experimenting with all sorts of metals in an endeavour to discover one which will not become choked up, and the only thing with which w e have met with any success is. glass.” “Began Life In Prison!” A humorous remark, which brought a humorous reply, was made by the Rev. A. C. Watson when introducing Dr. R. S. Harlow, of Massachusetts, at the Christchurch Rotary Club’s luncheon. Speaking of Dr. Harlow’s qualifications Mr. Watson said the visitor’s best qualification was that he had begun his career as a minister of the Presbyterian Church. (Laughter). “I began my life in prison,” replied Dr. Harlow, amid laughter. “My grandfather was warden of a large prison, and I was horn in the warden’s house.”

“To Wefar The Badge.” No brief for the practice of primary school children passing to secondary schools for short periods is held by Mr. A. A. Buckley, an Auckland delegate to the conference of the Dominion Federation of School Committees’ Associations. “Half the children who go to the secondary schools only go so they can wear the badge,” he said, “and not for education. If they go there even for one year they waste half their time getting used to the new conditions.”

Fish Invasion. Attracted probably by the glare of electric lights, pig fish, or leather jackets, as they are commonly termed, have lately been congregating in their thousands at night in the harbour basin at Dunedin. In one corner of the wharf especially they are packed as tight as the proverbial sardines, giving the illusion of a moving mass of seaweed. These fish make seasonal visits to the harbour, and provide sport for small boys, who spear them in their hundreds.

Milking Stool to Microphone. Ten years ago, a young Irish lad, a penniless emigrant, set foot in Taranaki and began to earn a living as a farm hand. Two years later, unhappy, disillusioned and still penniless, ho

found a job aboard a London-bound steamer and bade farewell to New Zealand, perhaps for ever. Recently he returned to the province where ho once found life so hard, not to make a

new start but to entertain the people with his singing. Danny Malone, now an Irish tenor whose ability has been acclaimed wherever he has gone, had a

romantic story to tell a Taranaki news

paper. Born in poor circumstances at Belfast, lie began to earn a living as a newsboy in the streets of the Irish city. Seeking fresh fields, lie decided to emigrate, and with 50 other boys came to New Zealand to work on the land. Since then he has become famous over the world as an Irish tenor.

Tlieir First Dip. Swimming ut this season of the year for most people would bring shudders, but such was not the case with several people at the Coast beaches yesterday, when they enjoyed their first dip in the sea. It was a glorious day and the

chill was off the water.

Crop Yield in Canada

A yield of 3OU,UOU,OUO bushels—the

best for 30 years—is expected this season in the cropping area of the Canadian prairies, according to Mr. P. W. Hargreaves, of the staff of the Waitalci Boys’ High School, who was in charge of the party of boys from the school which lias returned from a tour of Canada.

Oil On Wl'ist Coast. The belief that in the not far distant future, oil drills would be operating with success' on the West Coast, was expressed at Westport by the Minister for Mines, Mr. P. C. Webb. Vis-

iting geologists of world-wide repute considered the nature of strata between Boss and Keefton such as to indicate the possibility of a flow of oil.