LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19009, 9 May 1924, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

At Wellington yesterday, two China men were fined £4O and costs for being in possession of opium.

A severe earthquake occurred about 625 miles off the Paciic coast of the Phillippines followed by four smaller shocks.

A Wanganui visitor to the Hawke’s Bay district, which suffered greatly as the result of the unusually dry summer, states that the country over the range is now looking beautiful. Farmers who disposed of their stock owing to lack of rain, are now restocking their land.

Two elderly Maori women wandered up the Avenue On Wednesday, and that each was a Te Whiti-ite was indicated by a taft of white feathers worn in the hair. The old women were not used to city traffic, and they found the crossing of a busy street amid the traffic a matter of great difficulty.

The music critics praise Madame Evelyn Scotney’s voice on her first appearance in London. The London Dally Mail says that her voice has fine musical quality, and is remarkably pleasing In typical pnrases. The Daily Mirror declares that her voice is finely poised, and so flexible that it responds to her every wish.

At the Police Court at Auckland a lad. aged 15 years, was charged by the Government Radio Inspector with having failed to apply ror a license for a spark transmitting set. The inspector stated that all who failed to apply for licenses for either receiving «r transmitting sets were to be prosecuted. The lad was admonished and dismissed.

“Municipal Sunday” will be celebrated at the Cathedral next Sunday morning, and the Archbishop of NewZealand will preach. The Mayor and members of the City Council will attend and invitations to take part addressed by the Mayor to members of other local authorities in and around Christchurch have to date been accepted by the New Brighton Borough Council, the Christchurch Domain’s Board and the North Canterbury Hospital Board.

The lack of assistance given to the teaching of swimming in the schools was deplored in resolutions passed at the annual householders’ meetings at Lyall Bay, Island Bay, and Eastbourne recently. The meetings passed motions to the effect that, in view of the valuable national work being carried on by the New Zealand Swimming Association among the school children of the Dominion, they regretted that work was left to individual and to private institutions. They urged that the Government be asked to increase the financial assistance granted to the asociation.

The recent rise in wool apparently has not as yet had any effect on the prices of woollen materials in New Zealand, and there is no indication that the prices will increase in the immediate future. An informant stated yesterday that his experience with Fox’s and Saltaire serges had been that there was,, if anything, a tendency for the prices to be reduced; but several special lines much in demand had shown an increase. It was also pointed out that the prices quoted by those selling forward did not show any increase as prices of materials depended largely upon competition.

“I laugh at my friends who groan over our political and industrial unrest,” said Mr. James Douglas, editor of the Sunday Express. “I say that if we had no unrest it would be necessary to create some. Happily wc are not one of the lethargic races. Unrest is in our blood. Our day will be done when we attain to the theoretical Nirvana which some deluded idealists call rest. In all forms of endeavour let us stir no unrest. Let us treat the man who worships rest as a national enemy. The truth is that rest is rust. There are rusting races. There are also rusting men. The dread of my mind is the day when I shall be ready to rest and rust. Rest not, rust not!”

A Dunedin business man makes the following suggestion about the working of the railways:—“Now that the strike is over, the talk must commence about all sorts of questions, and one of them, I think, should relate to the staffing of stations that provide very little work. There must be a dozen stations between Dunedin and Invercargill at which there is very little for men to do except to attend to half a dozen trains a day. It. strikes me that it would be wise, unless some technical difficulty presents itself, to leave each of those little stations to one man, and for each train to carry a staff of say, six men, to do all the work that is necessary. The one gang could work all those stations. If such a system could be brought about, the country could afford higher wages to those employed.”

The President of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce estimates that between 10 000 and 20,000 people will bo leaving New Zealand for the purpose of visiting the British Empire Exhibition, and he estimates their expenditure at £5OO each, which he regards as a moderate estimate. Taking the number at 15,000, this tourist traffic will cost £7,500,000, and, to some extent, the banks will welcome this, for it will mean making the exchange problem a little easier. Those going to London will naturally take letters of credit. They will deposit the money with the bankers here, and get credits in London, and thus the banks will be able to secure £7,500,000 here and get rid of a similar amount in London, quite a simple way of transferring credit. The president, however, used this as a peg for directing attention to the need for taking steps to attract tourists to New Zealand. In the United States there is an unlimited supply of tourists, but they need a lot of information and a lot of convicting reasons to induce them to visit this country.

In the course of the trenching operations on the main road at Karori, Wellington, a deposit of pure blue clay was turned up a few days ago. This clay caught the eye of Mr. H. Hamilton, of the Dominion Museum staff, who brought it under the notice of Mr. J. H. Howell, director of the Wellington Technical College. On a sample being submitted to Mr. J. Ellis, art instructor, it was pronounced to be first-class modelling clay, every bit as good as the clay which has had in the past to be imported from Melbourne, and steps arc being taken to secure a quantity for the use of the modelling classes at the college. Mr. Howell states that not only is this blue clay, which is of the consistency of putty and gritless, of use locally, but not infrequently applicatiqns are received from other towns for supplies of this particular kind of elay. It should be of use in the lower classes of the primary schols, as it is in most respects closely allied to the plasticenc, which is used extensively for modelling flowers and animals in those' classes

“Well, it’s pretty obvious that a firm that puts in a death-on-fire gadget like that ien't looking for a haul at the expense of tho insurance companies.'' Remark overheard, at yesterday’s fireextinguishing demonstration at the D.I.C.

An additional regulation for the conservation of thermal springs stipulates that no person shall sink any pipe bore,, or other contrivance in the vicinity of any thermal or mineral spring for the purpose of obtaining hot water. The penalty is a fine not exceeding £5O.

While in America the Premier of Queensland (Mr E. G. Theodore) carried out investigations into the Abrams method of the treatment of disease by means of electronic reactions. Mr Theodore obtained data about the Abrams method, and on his return to Brisbane will furnish Cabinet with a report on the matter.

The question having been raised as to when Parliament will meet this year, the subject was mentioned to the Prime Minister by a Times’ representative on Tuesday evening, but Mr. Massey indicated that he had no wish to discuss the subject. Generally it is expected in political circles that Parliament will open On June 26.

The dispensing of justice on Gilbertian principles is popular in America, according to the following:—Samuel Curtis,, a negro, who had been captured with a stolen slot machine containing 250 pieces of chewing gum, was, says the Philadelphia correspondent of the Central News, sentenced to chew every piece of gum in the mechanism, dropping pennies in the slot for every piece taken out. When he had completed his task the judge allowed him to go, and gave the machine, with the pennies in it, back to its owner.

Mr. Canty, of Wicksteed Street, met with a painful accident shortly after 8 o’clock last evening. He had a fall from hi s bicycle, and as a result sustained a frac.'urqd ankle. His unfortunate position was noticed by two men, who assisted him to Dr. Reid’s, whence he was sent to the hospital. Inquiries made at the institution at a late hour last night elicited the information that the injured man was progressing as satisfactorily as could be expected. Mr. Canty, who is a printer by trade, is exceedingly grateful to his helpers, of whose identity he is ignorant.

The shifting of the Muriwai Hotel in the Gisborne district a distance of 55 chains is the biggest work of the kind done in Poverty Bay. The original plan Sv as to cut the hotel into sections, but it was finally decided that the building should be removed intact. It is of two stories, measures 58ft liy 33ft, and weighs roughly 70 tons. The hotel was on the road for 18 days. The boarders slept in it every night, having meals at a temporary structure erected on the new site. The whole work occupied 26 days, and the longest distance the hotel was shifted in any one day was a little over 300 ft.

A face full and round, eyes twinkling with the light of gentle humour yet reflecting the lustre of spiritual zeal and love for humanity. The clean-shaven chin bespeaks the boundless determination and tenacity of purpose of the conqueror. -The insipid lines of weakness are absent from his countenance. A fighter, a champion of sacred ideals. Gentle as a devoted mother yet charged with the grim strength and fighting spirit of the gladiators of the Roman arena. A born leader this; a man who would snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with the whole world against him Such is the man who guides the destinies on earth of the Salvation Army.—A Manawatu Standard reporter’s impressions of General Bramwell Booth, who passed through Palmerston North the other day.

Comment on the Sydney Royal Show was made in Auckland by Mr J. Kelso, of Tamaliere, who returned from Sydney by the Marama a few days ago (says the New Zealand Herald). Being a breeder of pedigree Jersey cattle and an enthusiastic farmer, Mr Kelso can speak with authority as regards live stock. He stated that while there were some fine Jerseys he was of opinion that the New Zealand animals were slightly better. The Shorthorns and Ayrshires were also below the dominino standard, but the Herefords were magnificent and certainly better than our specimens of the breed. Fat stock was very poor The majority of the pigs exhibited were not impressive, but the champions of the Tamworth, Berkshire, and Yorkshire breeds were fine animals. He added that every pig and practicaly every Shorthorn bull on exhibition was for sale. Draught horses were fast disappearing from the Australian showring. The harness horses, however, were the best, he had ever seen. The excellent display of dogs was accounted for by the fact that Australian dog-fanciers were continually importing animals from overseas. One fancier paid £6OO for a spaniel dog. The cheese and butter exhibits were far from good.

When a person is an unhappy predicament—“between the devil and the deep sea”—he is sometimes said to be ‘between Scylla and Charybdis.’ According to a Greek legend, these were two monsters, whiA lurked respectively on either side of a narrow sea passage. In steering his vessel in such a way as to escape one the unlucky mariner usually fell into the clutches of the other. There arc two words—panic and hygienic—which we use almost every day. “Panic” is a sudden unreasoning fear of something. It is derived from the name of the god of shepherds—Pan —whose presence as he lurked invisible among the thickets or reeds made itself felt by mortals, and suddenly smote them with a fear so acute that they fled from the unseen. “Hygienic.” is derived from the name of the goddess of health—Hygeia. How many people realise, when they speak of putting an animal into a lethal chamber that the name comes from Lethe—a river on the borders of Hades—whose waters brought forgetfulness to whoever drank of them? And when they describe something as being in a state of ‘‘chaos,” do they ever think that they are naming the first of all the old heathen gods—Chaos—who ruled over confusion before any other gods existed?

Replying in the House of Commons to Sir Edward Grigg. Mr. Snowden said it was calculated that the annual interest charge payable by the British taxpayers on loans made to tho Allies during the war exceeded a hundred million sterling.

A Washington cable says; Hon. John Francis Ceeil resigned his position as secretary to the British Ambassador at 11 a.m., and at noon was married to Miss Cornelia Vanderbilt. About a thousand of the social leaders of Washington and New York attended the reception, which was marked by the greatest display ever seen for years. The bride’s estate exceeds £10,000,000.

There ere still some honest people in the world. Recently a Gore firm sold a considerable quantity of goods and charged them up in the usual course of events, states tho Mataura Ensign. Tho bill was sent out, but was returned "address unknown” from two or throe localities by the Post Office officials. Last week the purchaser of the goods called in, and stated that as he had no bill and the money for his order had been owing for a good many months, he would settle up. It was then discovered that a mistake had been made in the name, and the goods had been charged to a person who did not exist. The. manager was exceedingly pleased to find that honesty does occasionally assert itself.