General News

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 109, 10 May 1934, Page 4

General News

Japanese Goloshes. Japanese goloshes are being placed on tho New Zealand market in very large quantities this year, according to statements made to a reporter by several Christchurch boot retailers. The Japanese artielo was selling at prices nearly one-third less than those of Canadian make, but it was of definitely poorer quality and inferior finish, they said. In regard lo children’s needs, the Japanese were manufacturing a small ankle-high “bootettv." that so far the Canadians had not attempted. Growing Membership A very substantial increase has taken place in the membership of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association during recent years. A ment from Dominion headquarters ccivcd by the executive committee of the Christchurch branch of the association showed that the total membership of the association is now 21,640, the North Island with 57 branches accounting for 12,654 and the South Island with 19 branches for 8986. Auckland topped the list for numerical strength, with Dunedin, Christchurcn. Gisborne and Canterbury next in that order. The president (tho Rev. F. T. Road;, said that the membership had increased by 3000 since last year and by .15,000 since 1927. The Title of “Doctor” The undue significance attached in New Zealand to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy was commented on by a graduate of Canterbury College who recently returned to Christchurch after studying overseas. In New Zealand, he said, anyone who had gained *, Phd.D. degree, or any other doctorate, was always referred to as “doctor," oven when he was in addition a professor, which was really a higher title. In England there was no such custom, and in fact, an honours degree (8.A., hons.) from Oxford or Cambridge wa» usually considered a higher academic qualification than Ph.D. In this, as in some other academic matters, NewZealand seemed to be following American and German practice rather than English practice. I’apier’s Little Joke. Napier is having a little joke of its own over building regulations. The council has a by-law which forbids the erection of timber buildings in a certain fixed central area of the borough, much like Wellington’s “brick area" by-law. One company there wants a new office and wants it in wood, but the council has given a flat refusal—round one. Tho company replied by hrfuling a properly registered trailer to the site and opening up the office promptly in the morning—round two. Tho Mayor of Napier has stated that the council is not down and out yet, and that it is waiting for a report from its officers before going on to tho third round. The company declares that it had no idea of outwitting the council over the by-law, but set up office in the trailer as it was the only thing to do. Disappointing Pishing.

Tho fishing season in Canterbury has been most disappointing, and is probably the worst since trout became established, says the Christchurch Press. The weather has been against fishing, and for some reason the trout in Canterbury streams seem to have been fewer and not as easily deluded as before. The salmon fishing, also, now a popular branch of the sport, has also been very much below expectations. The rivers have in the main been in good condition, but the run has been small. The last fortnight of the season saw an increase of activity on all local rivers, anglers having made the best of their remaining chances, but like the rest of tho season the final two weeks yielded few yood bags, and those only after much hard work. Ninety Mile Beach. Once again the possibilities of tho Ninety Mile Beach for speed trials have been under review, this time by a personal friend of Sir Alalcolm Campbell, the famous racing motorist, says the Northern Advocate. At the end of a \»ur of New Zealand Air. Bates, of Chutsey. England, paid a visit to the far north, and, in company with Air. J. T. B. Taaffe, chairman of the Kaitaia Town Board, traversed the Ninety Alile Beach from Ahipara to the Bluff. Mr. Bates was so pleased with the beach and its possibilities for speed records that he intends to advise Sir Alalcolm Campbell to visit the beach himself. Although jho day was perfect, the beach was not in its best condition, but Air. Bates saw enough to convince him that it would be an excellent speedway. Disaster and Opportunity “Hard and unfeeling as it may seem to some of you who suffered so severely in the 1931 disaster, I have never wavered in my opinion that that disaster immeasurably enhanced your opportunities of making Napier one of the safest, most convenient and most attractive towns within the Dominion,” said Air. J. W. Alawson, former Director of Town Planning in New Zealand, during the course of an address at Napier. “In one day Nature did for you what would have taken perhaps twenty-five years to achieve in the work of reclaiming land necessary for the expansion or development of thu borough and the removal of buildings standing in the way of urgentlyneeded street improvements." Air. Alawson warmly congratulated the town on the way in which it had set about tho great task of rebuilding, and urged strongly that everything should be done to plan.