LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18017, 4 November 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AN D GENERAL.

There will be a partial eclipse of the sun on November 10. A ship’s crew is generally recognised as a collection of East and West and I North and. South, and a more complete illustrat ion of this could not be Instanced than :n the cosmopolitan crew aboard:' the City of New York last Thursday i This ship boasts CJrinese deck hands and Japanese cooks, assistants and stewards, I while in file engineroom there are a' number of Hindus, Cingalese, West African negroes, American negroes, and Arabs The rest of the crew are English, Welsh, Irish, Scotch, and Dutch. Strange to say there is not a white American amongst this motley gathering. About forty people braved the elements last evening and put in an appearance at the Druids’ Hall to attend the public meeting called to discuss tramway matters. At 8 p.m. the Mayor (Mr. T. B. Williams) went on to the stage and said that he had been requested by the convener (Mr. Davis) to announce that the meeting would be postponed owing to the inclemency of the weather. Thereupon the autlience quickly dispersed. It was ' subsequently decided to hold the meeting next Monday evening at the Druids’ Hall. His Worship the Mayor has called a public meeting at the Borough Council Chambers at 4 p.m. to-day in order to stress the need of supporting the £6,000,000 (final) loan to be raised by the Government for the purpose of soldier settlement. Ov ing to the present stringency of the nioney market, his Worship fears that the issue, to be successful, will require all the publicity and personal support that it can be given. Mr' Williams therefore appeals to all; citizens who can possibly attend the meeting to make a point of being present. In the course of a paper on the economy of various domestic fuels, read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, Professor Marsden said that the iron bars used to support vessels on the top of gas stoves were extraordinarily wasteful of heat. When a copper kettle was boiled on the bars the amount of heat transferred to the water was 30 per cent, (less than one-third) of that produced by the burner; with the bars removed, and the kettle supported on three points' of a- badlyconducting material, the useful heat was increased to 54 per cent., or well over half. This seemed a small thing; but it meant a cubic foot less of gas for each quart of water, and snread over a whole city, about £5 0 worth of gas a day. An improvement in gas stoves in the direction thus indicated would save at least £lO,OOO a year in Wellington alone. In a special article dealing with the Japanese boycotting Malays in the pearling industry at Thursday Island, the Brisbane Daily Mail says there seems to be no shortage of Japanese in the north, and that their numbers are said to be increasing. “Not an uncommon statement by those in a position to judge is that hundreds of Japanese secretly reach Australia every year,” the Daily Mail adds. “They say new arrivals come as stowaways on steamers, bringing with them collapsible boats for landing. It is hinted, too, that there is little difficulty in these men finding passages- Long stretches of practically uninhabited coastline render the procedure quite simple. It is also said that for years past, parcels have been thrown overboard from steamers, and picked up .by boats from the shore. The Japanese x have their unions, which threaten to strike unless their terms are conceded. Already attention has been called to the large number of Japanese settling in the Pacific Island, from Samoa to the Carolines. How do these thousands of men reach the isolated Islands, where there are but a few small trading craft, calling on widely separated occasions'? What does it all mean? It is a striking lesson on the art of immigration. Is the White Australia policy in danger? It is understood that personal representations are to be made to the Federal Government concerning the whole problem of the coloured races in the north. In the meantime the residents of the coastal areas, and those having interests and connections there are much concerned regarding the developments.”

Continued importations ot Asiatic egg pulp into the Dominion, coming into competition with the poultry industry, m which many maimed returned soldiers are now engaged, was the subject of a protest by the Manawatu Farmers’ Union. The Advocate reports that the Minister for Industries and Commerce wrote stating that he had conferred with the i Board of Trade on the matter, and that body considered that in View of the present high prices of eg.gs it was Inexpedient at the moment to prohibit the introduction of egg pulp and fluid egg yolk. It was probable, however, that the board would hold an inquiry into the question of imported eggs next year. An Auckland man who became bankrupt ten years ago has just received from his creditors an illuminated address. The Star states that the circumstances are remankaoie. Ten years ago the debtor found himself cowering from clamorous creditors whose bills aggregated an amount some hundreds of pounds iu advance of the utmost he could possibly pay. He was in business, so he became bankrupt, assigned his assets, and promptly went ou of commercial affairs. He set to work iof wages, and has been toiling ever since. Some year or two after his failure he took out his savings and paid all his creditors a dividend of half-a-crown in the pound. They were somewhat mollified. But as the years rolled by and the man made six more payments of 2/11 in the pound they were considerably pleased. Very recently he declared his eighth and last dividend, but was somewhat concerned because he had not sufficient money to pay interest on the debts. The creditors/ however, were quite satisfied, and last week they met to give him a token of their regard for nis character and his honesty.

At the meeting of the Gonville Town Board last evening it was mentioned that the sluicing operations on the new power-house site had materially affected the water pressure in lt was stated, however, that sluicing was now finished, and an improvement could be expected. Advices have been received by the postal authorities that numerous mails are on the way to New Zealand. The Tofua, which left San Francisco on October 1 8 for Wellington, carries four bags of mail matter and 10G5 parcel receptacles. The vessel will probably arrive about Tuesday next. On the Remuera and the lonic, due at Wellington from London about November 13 and November 21 respectively, there are mails from the United Kingdom, but particulars of these are not yet to be had. The Tahiti, due at Auckland on November 11 from Vancouver, has 100 bags of British, American, and Canadian mail matter. A parcel mail is also being brought by the Opawa, which left London on October 14. The s.s. Pa-loona sailed from Melbourne at 3 p.m. on October 30 for Bluff. She carries 698 bails of Australian and English mails for Wellington and Auckland.

The failure of the examination system to inculcate true education, the value of personal teaching, and the modification of the educational curriculum to suit the needs ot a country engaged in primary production were the subjects treated by Professor Shelter in an address to teachers at Ashburton on Saturday. Professor Shelley emphasised that ; examinations often failed as a test of I intellectual capacity because ot the temperament of the examinee and I the proved fallibility of the exam- [ iner. This latter statement he point- | ed by an illustration taken from an , experiment which, he said, had been ■ conducted by himself and a class of ' head teachers. These were asked to I examine and place'in order of merit a number of compositions by a Standard V. class, which had been typewritten .so that errors in spelling and bad writing should not' enter as complicating factors in the judgment. The head teacher examiners all made different classifications of the merits of the. compositions, some of which were placed at the head of the list by one teacher and failed by anol her. Even more remarkable was l the fact that an identical essey,* subI mitted twice to the same teachers, was in some cases not recognised and awarded a different standard of merit from its fellow composition. Professor Shelley asked what more convincing demonstration of the failure of the examination system was needed than this, where teachers of [ high grade, placed on their mettle, and with only a few compositions on which to adjudicate, had come to such widely divergent, decisions. An illustration of the marked difference between Government valuations of houses and prices that are now being paid was given in a ease heard by Mr J. W. Poynlon, S.M., at the Magistrate’s Court at Auckland. The case was a peculiar one (states the Star), and showed how the desire of parliament to protect tenants may be hard on owners of properties. Mr G. Lightfoot, of the Labour Department, appeared to give evidence regarding the valus of a house. Counsel for the owner stated that his client gave £6OO odd for a house, and was offered 30/- a week rent for it, which he accepted. Once in possession the tenant asked the Labour Department to fix the capital value of the property, in order that her rent should be reduced to the 8 per cent, basis allowed by law. Mr Lilly said as the Government valuation ot the property was about £425, it meant his client would only be entitled to rent which would work out at about 4 per cent, on the price he actually paid for the property, when insurance and rates were deducted. Mr Lilly raised the point that the tenant, by offering 30/- per week, had herself automatically fixed the capital value of the property for rental purposes. Counsel further questioned whether the Court had jurisdiction, seeing that the Act expired on August 31st, and he doubted whether its term had been extended pending the coming into force of the new Housing Act. Decision was reserved.

"Many local bodies, particularly county councils, do not display suffi-J cient care in the making of special i orders, particularly those required to be gazetted,” states the annual re- > port of the Internal Affairs Depart- 1 ment. ;

In accordance with their promise the president (Mr E. P. Pridham) land committee of the Wanganui branch of the R.S.A. handed in their resignations on Tuesday afternoon. The special general meeting to elect a new set of officers will probably be held on Thursday week-

Apparently J. C. Williamson’s big revue company, "The Passing Show.' described by the city press ns one of the finest attractions of its kind that has ever toured the Dominion, is to be in truth "a passing show*’ so far as Wanganui is concerned. The company, whieii went south last week, is no.v playing “Tho Bing Boys on Broadway” at

Christchurch. “I think the tobacco could be cut out, couldn't it, sir?” asked Detective ‘Sergeant Butler at the Napiea Police Court, recently, when a debtor in setting down his weekly expenses, estimated his tobacco to cost 3s fid. "Well,*! don’t think so.” said Mr Dyer. S.M "Are you a smoker?” he asked Detective Butler, amid laughter. " I think tobacco is iust about a necessity. Tea isn’t necessary, if it comes to that ; ne could drink water. 1 don't thurft 3s Cd is unreasonable for tobacco.”

There is in use in France an electric substitute for the barber’s scissors. It consists of a comb carrying along one side of its row of teeth a patinum wire through which flows an electric current. As the comb passes through the locks to be shorn the heated wire instantly severs th" hairs, leaving them of even length and sealing the cut ends, as in the ordinary process of singeing with a taper.

At the last meeting of the directors of the Wanganui Woollen Mills, Lid., one of the directors, Mr J. A. Dogherty, who is going Home on his own business, was authorised to act in c mjunction with the Company's London agents in the matter of purchasing machinery. In view of the fall in prices the directors thought it wiser not to proceed too hastily with buying the plant for with falling prices more advantageous rates could be secured. The directors have not yet selected a site for the mill, although they have several under offer. A meeting of representatives ot local authorities in Group 20 was held at Wanganui on Monday afternoon to consider the allocation of war trophies for the group. Representatives were present from the Waitotara and Waimarino County Councils, Ohakune, Taumarunui, and Wanganui Borough Councils, and the Returned Soldiers’ Association. Colonel Cunningham presided over the meeting. The allocation agreed upon was as follows:—Wanganui Borough, one howitzer and one field gun; Waitotara County, one field gun and one trench mortar; Taumarunui, one field gun; Waimailno County Council, one field gu<*; Returned Soldiers’ Association, one trench mortar. There are also twelve machine guns available, and it was decided to give these to schools to be allocated by the Education Board, six to be given to town schools and* six to country schools. At the recent meeting of the Patel Harbour Board the pilot, Captain Tinney, reported as follows:—lne channel over the bar is straight, and 1 should say there is 12 feet at high water spring tides. By giving this 1 would be on the I safe side, as there has .been so much

tresh in the river I cannot get out to sound. 1 sounded on the 13t«. and go: 14ft. on the bar and I2lt. between the walls, and Bft. bin. on the gauge. Hie same time the Hawera came m two hours before drawing hit. 3in., but since that date we have had nothing but lioods. tin the 21st 1 rounded the river in company with Captain ,1* isk, and got one foot more water than last niofitn. During tile last week we have had a very heavy Hood ill the river, and 1 am unable to tell whether it has scourcu out or silted up. During, the flood tin tide gauge was broken. There have been eighteen arrivals and 18 departures, 8 going out on the lights. Evet>thiug at the station is in excellent working order. The chairman moved the adoption of the report, and said there had been a great many lioods in the river since last meeting. Although no soundings ilad been taken, he ielt sure the Hoods had not done any harm to the bar. One boat had stuck in the chanInel, but not through the fault of the channel.