News in Brief

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 301, 19 December 1931, Page 8

News in Brief

“ Non-Standardised.” “ However efficient a State school may be, it always tends to turn out a standarised product, and schools of this type—the nondepartmental type—are doing a real good to the community,” said Dr J. Right, Rector of Canterbury College, speaking at the annual prize-giving at the Cathedral Grammar School. Fireblight in Wairarapa. Fireblight has taken heavy toll of the apple and pear crops in the Manawatu and Wairarapa districts, states Mr J. W. Whelan, Departmental orchard instructor at Palmerston North. In the Wairarapa the spread of fireblight has given cause for serious concern, and growers have had to destroy large numbers of trees to check the disease. They consider this renewed outbreak of fireblight a great misfortune, as there were prospects of a record season for apples and pears. Signs are Confusing. The warning notices and danger boards erected by the Wellington Automobile Club are in black and yellow, and motorists have become accustomed to keeping a careful look-out on seeing notices in these colours. Now, however, commercial firms have realised the value of the colours and are putting up enamel advertisements in black and yellow. This is causing the automobile club some concern, as it considers that it is likely to reduce the safety value of its notices. The executive is inquiring if it is possible to prevent this combination of colours being used for advertisement purposes. Relief Groceries. “We can express strong disapproval of the action of the Hospital Board in calling tenders for the supply of groceries for relief distribution, but it would be waste of time and paper to write to the board, as a tender has been accepted,” said Mr I. J. Goldstine, Mayor of One Tree Hill, at a meeting of the council, when the Auckland Master Grocers’ Association drew attention to the action of the board. It was decided to disapprove of the action of the board and to draw attention to the system in use in Australia, under which coupons were issued which could be redeemed at any grocery. Inspector's Influence. Mr C. R. Munro, who is retiring from the position of an inspector in the Auckland Education District, said at a meeting of the board that he felt, as an inspector, he had not nearly the influence he had formerly as a headmaster. He did not feel the work of an inspector was as effective as it should be, and it was difficult to make much advance by visiting the schools only once or twice a year. Unless inspectors could make three or four visits a year it appeared that their work must leave much to be desired. As headmaster of the Remuera School Mr Munro gained the reputation of being one of the most successful headmasters in the service of the Auckland Board. Cutlery Thrown Out. Besides waste matter, the garbage tins at the Auckland Hospital have often been found to contain cutlery, and this was referred to by Mr F. J. Fenton, inspecting house manager of the Health Department, in his report on hospital economies, considered at a meeting of the Hospital Board. To July 31, 1930, he said 257 pieces of cutlery were found and returned; to April 30, 1931, the number was 86; and to May 27 it was 129, a total of 472 pieces. Every piece was branded with the ward number before issue, but in the absence of a proper inventory and record, it was doubtful if any department was sure whether all cutlery had been returned or not. The finance committee’s recommendation that the inventories covering the whole institution should be completed, and that attention should be paid to cutlery losses, was adopted by the