News in Brief

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 188, 10 August 1931, Page 6

News in Brief

Destruction of Earwigs. The earwig, that vicious and übiquitous enemy of orchardist and gardener, is to have an enemy opposed to him which may control him even to the point of extermination, for experiments designed to establish the tachinid fly as a parasite to him have at last been brought to fruition by the entomological staff of the Cawthron Institute after patiently waiting and working for the past seven years. The Standard of laving. “ The standard of living is a fetish with us," declared Mr G. A. Mazey at the Avon Rowing Club’s jubilee dinner on Saturday evening. Mr Mazey, who was secretary of the club in 1884 and 1885, said that times were worse then than they are now. There was no wOrk to be had and no money in the country. When apprentices finished their terms they had to go to Australia for further employment. Wages for tradesmen in those days were 30s a week, and men worked for what they could get. If the same practice were followed to-day there would be less unemployment. He gave instances of several men, who, accepting work more or less for its own sake, had been promoted to very remunerative positions. Prime Minister’s Humour. In the midst of many problems and difficulties of Government the Prime Minister is still able to smile and retain his quiet sense of humour. At the official opening of the Winter Show on Saturday night a subtle remark by Mr Forbes raised a hearty laugh from the big crowd. “In my position," he said, “ I am not able to say that Canterbury is the best province in New Zealand, but I will say that it is equal to any other province, with the balance slightly in favour of Canterbury.”