General News

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 144, 19 June 1936, Page 6

General News

Orange Shortage Ended The shortage or oranges which h&j caused the wholesale and retail dealer* in Auckland some anxiety during recent weeks was ended this week, when a w shipment from the Cook Is'auds came e on to the market. The fruit, which art, lived on Monday by the Waipahi, was d in fair condition and met with a readv o sale. J?he next shipment from the > Islands will arrive in Wellington by y the Makura next week, and the first o of the regular monthly consignments t horn South Australia, one of 3000 cases. j. arrived in Auckland early this wecic >• by the Wanganella. • “No Dead Policeman’’ c 1 here was no dead polici.man in the c intersection—l mean no white centre f. mark around whivh you’ve got to go,’’ e •mid Francis Rule, lorry-diiver, in the y Magistrate’s Court at Wellington, when o charged before Mr E. D. Mosley, S.M., with cutting a corner. Evidence was I- given that in turning the corner of Adelaide Road and Jlugb/ Street the u defendant had made a wide swing and v hail si ruck an elderly lady. The defen ” dant in evidence said that he w:.« . forced out by a fast-moving car apr proaching on his right. The old ladv . had been o!>scured by a tram. “It e was a fiftv-fifty go,”'said the defendant. “If ] hadn’t out I t would ha\e been pinched f or not givf ing way. ’• ‘‘May be.” said Mr Mosier. “I can't speculate; 10s and vosts.” ; Porters’ Bread and Butter A burning question at the Auckland Hospital—whether the porters should or should not be allowed a slice or j bread and butter with their morning tea was discussed at some length bv _ the Hospital Board this v.eek. The Finance Committee reported that with the recent increase in wages meats had been eliminated and it could not recom- ‘ mend that the men. who lived out r should he given more than a cup of tea. t Members who disseted from this view , stated that ward-maids were allowca ; bread and butter with their morning tea and afternoon because it was im- ■ possible to prevent them fro n having . it, and the same concession was given r to the oflice staff. The chairman, the Le\. \\. C. Wood, .said he was informed that the cost, of providing the porters with bread and butter would be only a lew shillings a week, and czentuallv it was decided to treat them like the rest. The Forty-hour Week •’Several applications for exemption handled by the Otago Employers’ A>- ( sociation, which will forward them to the New Zealand Employers’ Federation so t hat evidence can l e prepared ’ lor the Arbitration Court hearing, which will commence at Wellington on June 22. Under the provisions of the new legislation the 40-hour week will be introduecd on September 1, but employers are allowed to apply f or exemption and seek permission to extend the hours not more than 44. The Employers’ Association has sent out applied'ion forms for this purpose, and several have been returned, chiefly by manufacturers in industries in whivh continuous operations are necessary for seven days of the week. Applicants arj ri quired to s upply the reasons for which they claim exemption, and the association will send the information to the federation in Wellington, where formal evidence will be called at the hearings. Death of “Joey.” It is now impossible for the mystery of Joey, the sea lion which enjoyed, or experienced, a brief popularity at the Newtown Zoo, to be cleared up. Poison was suspected, but tests and examinations failed to trace a poison and when the remains were disposed of further tests obviously could not bo made. •Still, the official attitude is that the lirst report was that the indication pointed to poisoning, and since the tests made neither disproved nor proved the correctness of the report, poison it must have been. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, however, is not satisfied, ami at a recent meeting o f the committee the report of the post-mortem examination was commented upon. In view of the fact that the analysis of Ihe remains o f the sea lion revealed no trai-e of poison, the committee considered that it would only be courtesy on the part of the official responsible for the unsubstantiated accusation against tiie citizens of Wellington publicly to express regret for the unwarranted aspersion. Bagpipes Satirised llng'tshmen have always regarded laigpipcs as a juke, and probab'y always will. In mediaeval times chev used to put funny pictures of them in ecclcsiaileal manuscripts and stained glass windows. In Lincoln Cathedral the bagpipes arc represented by a man with a 1-at under his arm biting the animal’s tail. Sometimes pigs, ot-keys, and bears have been depivted playing the pipes. At one time, however bagpipes were not so much of a joke as a crime. Death was regarded as a fp-tieg punishment for possessing the Highland bagpipe in .1769. If was considered as an instrument of war—but only bv Englishmen. There have been times, even in Scotland, when pine-playing was condemned as a misdemeanour Free Church ministers branded 'he pipes aan instrument of the devil, and went round cottages breaking er burning pipes when they found them. Some ignorant Sassena'chs think the haggis itself is a musical instrument. The confusion may be due to the fact that on Burns Night it is ‘‘piped ’-n” This custom may explain the phrase, ‘‘piping

Great Maori Hui Tho vanguard of the great influx of -Maoris expected at Waitata to cele biate the unveiling of the monument to their most famous leader, Sir Maui I‘omare, and for a general hui has already arrived (states a New Plymouth correspondent). Two hundred visitors are in occupation of the Manukorihi Pa and a steady stream of arrivals is expected for the next fortnight. All the man power available is being pressed into service building roads, meeting houses, sleeping quarters, end entertainment marquees. The big <-anvaSAjovered marquee to be used as a dining hall will accomodate 1000 people at a sitting. The erection of sleeping quarters cosily-lined with rat'po is under the direction of Maoris from the East Coast. All the work is under the supervision of health authorities to ensure as far as posible that no menace tn health shall arise when, probably, 4000 Maoris are crowded into the pa. Meanwhile the tall white monument of Sir Maui, almost completed. iook« down serenely from the eminence on the marae, a symbol of the awakening of the new racial pride under the conditions imposed by the palteha.