The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. Gloucester Street and Cathedral Square CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND. TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1934. CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20341, 26 June 1934, Page 6

The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. Gloucester Street and Cathedral Square CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND.

TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1934. CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME.

London RepmentstiTn: R. B. BRETT & SON NEW BRIDGE HOUSE, 3d/ U NE / BRIDGE STREET LONDON. E.C.4.

npHAT ENERGETIC WORKER for the relief of distress, the Christchurch City (Council, could find no more useful and popular undertaking to put on its Bristol scheme card, if it has received such a card, than the removal of the destructor to more suitable quarters outside the city. This suggestion was made in a very able letter in Saturday’s “ Star.” which dwelt on the deleterious effect of smoke on the health of the community and the inadequacy and out-of-dateness of the destructor. An equally strong case could be made out for the removal of the building on the ground that it is an extremely bad neighbour for valuable properties in the very heart of the city, that it is a hopeless disfigurement, and that the city itself cannot afford luxury sites for scavenging utilities. Smoke abatement generally is worthy of more attention in Christchurch, for even on the sunniest days there is a film over the city, discernible from the hills, that is attributable to smoke. A ■ very heavy waste must be involved annually in the open fires that belch smoke and soot from public buildings like the old Provincial Council Chambers, where economic central heating systems should have been installed, and a general drive should be made towards purifying the air of this happily-situated city, with its great natural resources of electricity. The removal of the destructor would be a practical contribution to such a campaign, and the public in this crisis would gladly subscribe the initial cost, knowing that the benefits would be both economic and health-promoting. FORTUNES OF WAR. TUST AT A TIME when everybody is persuaded that four days are not enough for the completion of a cricket Test, it comes as a shock to find a second Test completed within the term. That, however, does not weaken the argument for an extension of the time, for the latest Test match owes its dramatic conclusion to a mischievous prank of the weather, and once again the uncertainties of cricket are illustrated in the fact that the Englishmen’s score of 440, which the experts predicted would be passed easily on a good wicket, has been sufficient to win by an innings under weather conditions favouring the bowlers. The result is fortunate indeed from the point of view of public interest because if the luck had been reversed the bottom would have almost fallen out of the tour. CHANCE FOR A PIONEER. TH THEN Dr Ditmars, the man ▼ who made motion picture stars out of insects, first tried to introduce his films to the movie world, he was told they were no good. They did not have any sex appeal or comedy. So he made a tree toad look like an acrobatic clown by its antics on an untwisting piece of string. Then the audience laughed and film nature studies were established, until today it is probable that many New Zealanders know more about American and English wild life than they do about any flying or creeping thing in their own native bush. Indeed, to the average New Zealander, the bush might be empty. The scenic film has already gone into New Zealand’s tourist resorts, but it has not yet touched the fringe of education and advertisement. What this country needs now is a scenario-minded naturalist, with the patience to catch not only the flooding song of the tui and the bell-bird on the sound film, but the spectacular possibilities of the New Zealand low life from the tuatara downwards.