LOCAL AND GENERAL

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20495, 11 May 1938, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

An Early Lamb. —The first lamb of the new season has arrived in Southland, although the killing season has not yet. ended. The lamb is a fortnight old. Currency in London. —Fine gold was quoted in London yesterday at £6 19s 9£ on ounce (£6 19s lOd on Monday), the dollar at 4.97 i (4.97 f), and the franc at 177 13-16 (1772). Dunedin Street Appeal. —With the annual capping carnival procession of the Otago University students at Dunedin yesterday was associated a street appeal on behalf of the Crippled Children's Fund. Approximately £5lO was contributed. Royal Gift For Bell.— The King and Queen and Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose have sent £25 to the fund for a Coronation bell to be added to the peal in the tower of the parish church at St. Paul's Walden, Herts, where the Queen was baptised. Fruit Exports. —With nine days to go before the closing of the fruit export season, Hawke’s Bay Is expected to break the export record by at least 20,000 cases. It is anticipated that by the time the season closes on Saturday week the number of cases for export will exceed 335,000. South Island Railways. —Of the New Zealand total of £7,591,825 earned by the railway services during the' financial year the South Island contributed nearly £3,000,000, the Christchurch district itself adding largely to the general increase. This was reveale'd on Monday in a statement made by the Minister of Railways the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, about the financial position of the South Island railways. Company Profits Rise. —Profits of 14 selected Australian and New Zealand companies which balance in 1938, and whose balance-sheets have been issued, rose from £688,656 in 1936-37 to £800,020 in 1937-38 —an increase of more than 16 per cent. Ordinary distributions by the companies were £62,545 higher at £560,922. This amount does not include a special bonus of £72,875 paid out of reserves by a New Zealand company in the group. Steel Industry. —Mr G. A. Pascoe, the recently-appointed acting-com-missioner under the Iron and Steel Industry Act, is in England making arrangements with technical experts and other authorities for the establishment of the industry in New Zealand. Mr Pascoe travelled from Australia to England by air, arriving In London within a fortnight of his departure from Wellington. It Is expected he will leave shortly on his return to the Dominion.

Coronation Robes. —The display of Coronation robes worn by the King and Queen and Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret Rose, together with certain items of the Coronation regalia, will be opened by the Mayor, Mr J. R. Fow, at 2.30 p.m. on Friday at Bledisloe Hall. The exhibition will be open to the public continuously from 2.30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Tauplri Coal Mines. —Net profit of Taupiri Coal Mines, Limited, for the year is £1550 higher at £9363 and the dividend recommended is again Is a share, equal to 5 per cent. With the exception of 1934 and 1935, when there was no return on capital, a distribution of 5 per cent has been made since 1932. Prior to this, 10 per cent was paid. Preference share dividends, requiring £I2BO have been paid, and the ordinary payment recommended requires £6500, leaving £4907 to be carried forward, against £3324 brought in.

Profits Rise. —Another substantial increase in net profit is shown in the accounts of Burns, Philp and Company, Limited, merchants and shipping company, Sydney. For the year ended March 31, the profit was £240,574, compared with £226,067 in the previous year and £216,979 in 1935-36. The dividend Is maintained at 10 per cent, per annum (including 3d a share on the contributing issue) and requires £156,250 for the year. The sum of £IO,OOO is set aside as a first contribution to a staff retirement fund, fund.

Scarlet Fungi Poisonous. —While it is extremely unlikely that the large scarlet toadstools which have made their appearance in Hamilton this year would be mistaken for edible fungi, a warning is given that the scarlet toadstool is definitely poisonous and if eaten in any quantity may produce death. According to Dr. G. 11. Cunningham, Director of the Plant Division of the Department of Industrial and Scientific Research, the scarlet toadstool grow only in the vicinity of pine plantations.

Overseas Trade. —The overseas trade of New Zealand for the 12 months ended March 31 resulted in | an excess of exports over imports | valued at £6,943,000 in New Zealand currency. This is the visible commodity ‘balance, the value of specie ! being‘left out in arriving at the total. ! For March, concerning which preI liminary figures were issued by the Customs Department in Wellington yesterday, exports were valued at £2,459,000 more than imports compared with £2,903,000 in the corresponding month last year, and ) £4,410,000 in 1936. The exports are the second highest*recorded in March during the past six years, being exceeded only in 1937, when the value was £143,000 greater. The imports are higher than in any March without exception since 1933, being more than j doijbie the value of the lota! in that | year, and almost twice the figure for | March, 1934. ! Don't neglect to look at special ! values offering at Hooker «& Kingston ' Ltd., all this week —Household ; Economy Week brings great values in : all Manchester and furnishing goods : because added to our already wellknown prices we are allowing a further concession of Id in the Is discount off . all purchases in these two departments. —This represents a fairly bis reduction and all value wise shoppers will at once take advantage of it. Don’t i be left out! Make Hooker & Kingston Ltd. your first call to-morrow 1 **

Infantile Paralysis in Australia. — Infantile paralysis is waning in New South Wales. The number ol’ cases from November to date is 623, compared with 463, which was the previous high figure in 1931-32. Widower Found Doad.— A widower, Mr Henry James Harwood, (59), was found dead at his home In Pukehou Street, Taihape, yesterday with his throat cut. Deceased was a railway employee, and had been on sick leave owing to poor health. New Zealand Newspapers. —A net profit of £49,053 is shown in the accounts of New Zealand Newspapers, Limited, for the year ended March 31. This compares with £48,006 in 1937 and £47,695 in 1936. A final divident *of 8d a share of 16s 8d is recommended, making Is 4d a share for the year, against Is 3d a share in the previous year. Existence Justified. —“lf the existence of the Hamilton Domain Board as a separate body needs any justification we have only to look at the Lake Reserve," remarked Mr F. A. Swarbrick at the annual meeting of the board last evening. Mention was made during the meeting of the agitation in some quarters for the amalgamation of the board with the Hamilton Borough Council. French Sloop Expected. —The French sloop Rigault de Genouilly will reach Auckland on Friday in the course of her annual cruise of the South Pacific. A wireless message received yesterday from the ship, which is en route from Noumea, New Caledonia, confirmed her arrival date. Arrangements are In train for the entertainment of the officers and men. The First Time! —An American visitor, after dining at a house on Cashmere Hills, was being driven back to the city one night recently by his host, and was aske’d his opinion of Christchurch. After some deliberation, the visitor replied, “ Well, this is the first time I have seen a cemetery illuminated by ne’on lights!"

Thermometer Falls. —The lowest minimum temperature this year was recorded in Hamilton this morning when the mercury fell to 44 degrees. It is almost unprecedented for Hamilton to have escaped frosts before the onset of winter, but it appears that with the steady fall which has been shown in minimum thermomter readings this week, a frost will be recorded before the week-end.

Saddlers’ Award. —Complete agreement on all clauses of the proposed new award for saddlers and canvas workers of the Northern, Taranaki, Wellington, Otago and Southland industrial districts was reached in the Conciliation Council at Wellington yesterday. The new award includes Dunedin, which has not previously been governed by any industrial agreement, and is to last a year, coming into force on May 18.

Doctors fop China. —An urgent appeal for two more doctors to be sent to China from New Zealand was received by the joint council of the Order of St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross Society yesterday in a cablegram signed by Dr. R. Gray and sent to the council from Hankow. It read; “Send two doctors, urgent.” The secretary of the Far East Relief Fund Committee, Mr C. Meachen, said to-night that applications for volunteers from the medical profession who were willing to go to China were to be called immediately.

Industrial Activity. —National production indices prepared by the League of Nations show that for most countries 1937 was the year of greatest industrial activity since 1929. Excluding Soviet Russia, for which no data are available', the average was a 7 per cent increase on the 1936 figure, and a rise of 2 per cent on that for 1929. In building activity, New Zealand, with a rise of 32 per cent over the previous year, showed one of the largest increases, but the figure was exceeded by Switzerland, 100 per cent; Canada, 52 per cent; Finland, 38 per cent; and Argentina, 33 per .cent.

Robbery with Violence. —ln case's of robbery with violence there was no granting of probation, stated Mr Justice Blair, in the Supreme Court, Palmerston North, yesterday when Allan John Williams (24) and Bernard Andre’w Mcßreartv (22) appeared for sentence on that charge. His Honour said in view of the mitigating circumstances—that the offence was the result of a prolonged drinking bout—the accused would be he'ld for reformative detention for a period not exceeding nine months and the sentence could be reviewed by the Prisons Board.

Monarch Butterfly Seen. —The first report of a monarch butterfly being seen in the neighbourhood of Hamilton since 12 pairs were liberated in Memorial Park some weeks ago was received by the Waikato Time's yesterday from Mr C. V. Carr ye r, of Rukuhia. Mr Carryer, during the afternoon, saw a large butterfly, about 4 inches across the wings, In bis garden. He described it as reddishbrown in colour, with black-veined wings and a black body, a description which fairly accurately fits the species. Individual specimens show occasional variants of the reddishbrown colouring.

‘‘Eire’’—lts Pronunciation. —-With Eire very much in the news, the question arises as to how should the new name of the Irish Free State be pronounced. Most people just say “Air” or “Ire," but apparently it is not quite as simple as that. In the House of Commons, Mr Malcolm MacDonald, as Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, gravely announced on one occasion that his Majesty’s Government would henceforth refer to the Irish Free State as “Airy." Parliamentary eyebrows were raised, but no comment was made and not even a joke. But in Dublin Mr de Valera firmly announced that the correct pronunciation was “Air-ah" —two syllables, with the accent on the first. Broadcast talks from Daventry apparently side with Mr de Valera and his pronunciation.

Tribute to Chairman. —“Mr Paul has. by the ability he puts at the command of the board, the enthusiasm lie has for attending to the various grounds. and by the manner in which he arbitrates with the various sports bodies and by the manner in which he arbitrates with the various sports bodies shown himself to be admirably fitted to hold the position as chairman if this board." said Mr J. R. Fow at the annual meeting of the Hamilton Domain Board last evening in proposing Mr W. H. Paul for chairman. Similar sentiments were expressed ny other members. After his election Mr Paul said lie had thought it was lime that he relinquished his duties, but in view of the fact that there were several important works he wished to see completed he had agreed to carry