General News

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 35, 10 February 1934, Page 8

General News

- - A Cargo oi Sleepers A somewhat unusual cargo was brought to Wellington by me Port Waikato, which arrived last Saturday afternoon from Sydney. The consignment consisted of 13,000 sleepers for the New Zealand Railways. The sleep ers were loaded at Ulladulla, on the south coast of Australia. Sleeper-cut-ters and relief workers were employed in the work, which continued day and night. Some of the sleepers will be used on the new Wellington station lay-out and on the Tawa Elat line. Others will be distributed throughout New Zealand for general railway purposes. Loch Ness ” Monster” A Scot who is at present living in Wellington and who for many years was a resident near Loch Ness —where a marine monster of some species or other is reported to have been seen on several occasions—expressed the opinion to a Post reporter that the ‘■thing’' was no more nor less than a large and old eel. When cels grow old, he said, they also became blind, and might be seen on the surface of rhe water, humping themselves up and thrashing about. The imagination of those who purported to have seen it might account for its ever-increasing lizc, but there was reason to suppose that it was an eel or perhaps several •els seen at different times. Sydney’s Water Consumption. I'lio chairman of the water committee of* the Dunedin City Council must sometimes think he has a thankless job, bat it is probable that he would describe it in much stronger terms if he found himself confronted by the problem which, according to a letter received in Dunedin from Sydney, had to be faced by the chairman of the Sydney Metropolitan Water Board during the recent hot spell in New South Wales, observes the Otago Daily Times. The letter read: “The heat has been terrific, reaching, I think, 104 degrees, and all everyone seems to want is water. Even beer seemed to have lost its savour. How the water supplies are holding out 1 don’t know, but we are told they are all right, yet in the same breath the chairman of the board complains that the consumption on a single day averaged 100 gallons pc head of the population.” A consumption of 100 gallons per head in a single clay in Dunedin would result in a draw-off for 24 hours of about 8,000.000 gallons, which would very nearly put the wale committee out of business.

Misplaced Sentiment Further specimens of the destructive white butterfly have been seen in several parts of Blenheim recently, .tad while the number of insects has not yet reached serious proportions, a steady increase is undoubtedly occurring, says the Marlborough Express. Some observers have been heard to remark that it would be “a pity to kill the pretty little things.” However, it would be well if they overcame their sentimenttai scruples for the sake of safety of gardens and crops that suffer so seriously from the depredations of the white butterfly's I caterpillar. Luggage Checking System The system of luggage checking in New Zealand was praised by an English visitor to Christchurch, Mr. A. Al. Cohen, of Shoreham, Kent. “It is much superior to the practice in England,” he said, ‘‘There one puls luggage in the van and hoped to regain possession of it when the train arrived at its destination. Anyone, provided he was respectably dressed and looked the part, could lay his hand on a travelling bag and claim it as his own in the absence of the owner. He thought the New Zealand arrangement most complete and satisfactory. Broadcasting Systems. “1 consider that New Zealand has been very unwise in removing from the broadcasting sphere the competitive element of privately-owned commercial stations.” said Mr. AL B. Duffy, a member of the Commonwealth Bank Board, and president of the Federation of Commercial Broadcasting Stations of Australia, in an interview in Wellington. “The effect of the dual system of Government-owned and privatelyowned stations has been to improve vastly the programmes all round in Australia, and I am sure a similar state of affairs would have been the case in New Zealand, if allowed to develop,” he said. ‘‘Broadcasting is in its infancy, and the more executives that are brought to bear upon ascertaining the features that please the pub lie, the better it will be for the listener. That will mean more listeners’ licenses, which in turn will mean greater revenue for the Government stations, improved programmes, and greater activity in the business of manufacturing and selling of sets. After my last visit to the United States and to England, I came home convinced that the Australian system was the happy combination of the systems adopted in the two countries, one unrestricted competition and the other no competition under a Government board. ”