Town Talk

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 196, 20 August 1934, Page 6

Town Talk

Earthquake Recorded. A fairly sharp earthquake occurred at Wanganui at about 7 o’clock yesterday morning, and was preceded by considerable rumbling. Liberation of Pheasants. A number of pheasants are to be liberated by the Wanganui Acclimatisation Society in its district next month. Several birds were introduced by the society last year, and it is reported that they thrive remarkably well. New Zealand Reporters “There are no better reporters in the world than those of the New Zealand newspapers,” .said Sir Hubert Wilkins during his visit to Christ- ' church. “They are persistent, energetic, courteous and thoroughly efficient. They write well and they have excellent memories.’’ This tribute was the more striking (says the Christchurch Tinies) because it followed a remark by Sir Hubert that he was not .seeking publicity, but was simply unable to avoid it, because of the efficiency of the reporters. Cricket Enthusiasts. Large numbers of cricket enthusiasts lis.tened-in to the broadcast of the fifth Test match between the Australians and Englishmen on Saturday night and the early hours of the following morning. ' More than one listened to the broad- ; cast from start to finish, while others set their alarm clocks so that they might be awakened in time to hear the , final scores. In the earlier part of the < evening static interfered with the reception, with the result that the game , could not be followed easily. Conditions improved later, however, and reception was good. Valueless Cheques. Two months’ imprisonment in the < Wellington gaol was the sentence im- * posed upon James Francis Brown* 29, < married, when he was convicted by Mr ’ J. 11. Salmon, S.M., at the Magistrate’s ’ Court at Wanganui on Saturday more.. ! ing of having issued seven valueless 1 cheques in Taranaki. The total value * represented by the cheques was £4 10s. ’ Accused pleaded guilty- Detective J. Walsh said accused was a bottle ( gatherer, and had not appeared before < the Couit before. The explanation of- L fcred by accused was that he had been r hard up at the time he issued the .« cheques. q Slanguage’ ’ and ‘‘Oxford Accent.’ ’ v Criticism oi American speech and of f the alleged “Oxford accent.” was a offered by Dr. A. Lyon, elocutionary f critic and examiner for Trinity College J of Music, London, states the Christ- 1 church Times. American was not a language, but a “slanguage,” he said, and though improvement had been r shown in the elocutionary standards, Canada was affected badly by the same crudeness of tongue. On ’the other side 1 the “Oxford accent’’ stood to him as |. an affection as widely apart from stan- [ dard English as the dialects of the various counties. It came, in his opin- J" ion, from the affected boredom of youths s who had not had to work for their living, and whose speech even had become slovenly. Pilots Compete. During the week-end the Wanganui 0 Aero Club held a field day, which was attended by members of the Palmerston North Aero Club. Landing and bombing competitions were held, five pilots representing the Palmerston - North Club winning the landing, and '' five pilots representing Wanganui won the bombing. The highest aggregate ‘ number of paints for the two competitions was won by Palmerston North. 11 The Wanganui Club was represented by Miss E. Parkinson, Messrs. J. Strachan, J. R. Franklin, D. Lethbridge, and M. King. The Palmerston North visitors were Messrs. Link- 1 later, Smillie, Dickson, Tanner and 1 Lfteber. Flying conditions were excel- ? lent and the competitions were of a good standard. ( Harriers on Spriggens Park. ; Spectators at Spriggens Park watched members of the Wanganui Harrier Club start and finish their club championships on Saturday afternoon with a considerable amount of interest. Nearly 40 minutes elapsed from the time the last man disappeared over the fence until CWeller returned to lap the ground and win the senior championship. Several good sprintg were produced by the runners as they approached the judges, which said much for their stamina after 5 having covered 6| miles of soggy conn- j try. On September 1 the. club will tra- J vel to Marton to compete in the West c Coast Championships, after which a team will be selected to represent the centre at Dunedin, where it will defend h its title of cross-country champions. a What Pictures Do You Prefer? \ In an effort to find out what types v of pictures appeal to the Auckland v public, vsitors to the loan exhibition a of contemporary British art now being q held at the Auckland Art Gallery are 0 being supplied with a questionnaire v which the committee in charge has pre- E pared. Recipients are asked to ex- 9 press their opinion of the present exhibition, and to give any suggestions that would help the committee in arranging others. They are also invited 11 to mark which of the following classes n of pictures they prefer:—Paintings by 0 old masters, English water colour q paintings, modern European paintings, f, etchings and engravings, modern draw- f ings and a one-man show (the artist to be named). The questionnaire will be A distributed until the close of the exhi- ‘p, bition, at the end of this week. The collection will then be sent to Wanganui, and will be opened here on September 10 by the Governor-General, Lord Bledisl'oe. All Blacks’ Haka. Residents of Orange. New South fi Wales, where the New Zealand touring t Rugby team defeated a local fifteen by t 51 points to 10, were much amused by f the haka given by the All Blacks be- p fore the commencement of play. 0 Under the heading, “An Awesome f War Cry,” the local paper had the a following to say about the footballers’ 0 haka: “The awe-inspiring chant and p rhythmic pounding of the feet, the a clapping of hands, the twitching of a faces and the yell of the men amused a the spectators. Hawea Mataira, a Maori, led the visitors in the solo parts, his Maori being most quaint, j It is stated that none of the team knows the exact translation of the haka. In English ‘Ake ake.kia kaha’ ( means that the New Zealand warriors 1 have arrived to do battle, that they will fight to the end, and, after_ they f have torn up and trampled on their op- a ponents, they will shake hands and fl both sides will be the best of friends. T In one part of the haka there is a wild movement of arms, signifying the tearing of a man to pieces. However, all is meant in the nicest possible way—and the haka was enjoyed just as much 1 as the sparkling football of the visit- s ors. ”