TOURIST AND TRAVELLER

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1518, 29 May 1919, Page 38

TOURIST AND TRAVELLER

-HERE /XND THERE. Their Excellencies the GovernorGeneral and the Countess of Liverpool leave for the Cook Group and Samoa by the Moana early next month. W • * • Mr. and Mrs. C. P. M. Butterworth, Dunedin, are leaving on a trip to America. Mr. E. G. F. Zohrab left Wellington by the Port Sydney last week for London on a business visit to England. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Stuart and family, of Hunterville, are passengers for England by the Rimutaka. • * * * Mr. J. H. Griffiths will succeed Mr. L. O. Ingram, as auctioneer, at Masterton for the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. Mr. Clutha McKenzie, son of the High Commissioner for New Zealand, is Lord Jellicoe’s guest aboard the New Zealand. Mr. W. Willcox, late superintendent of the Queenstown Domain, has been promoted to Rotorua, where he will have charge of the Government reserve. * • V • Mr. Richard Thomas, manager of the New Zealand Pictures Supply Company’ in Oamaru, has been appointed manager of the firm’s Napier branch. Mr. N. Alfred Nathan, who has held the position of president of the Northern Club for the last two years, and who has left on a visit to England, was entertained by the members of the club at a farewell luncheon party. Mr. A. C. Laing, of Wellington, has been appointed to the position of secretary of the Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Association, his duties to commence as from June 1. The Rev. G. W. Dent, of the Brooklyn boy scouts, has been presented with a silver cross in recognition of his bravery in attempting to save the life of a boy who had got into difficulties in the sea off the Opunake beach. * • • • At a meeting held in Pahiatua it was decided to endeavour to collect £2OOO, with which money a memorial to fallen soldiers is to be erected, and any balance is to be used towards ' a “Peace Park.” What is said to be the shortest review ever written appeared recently in an American journal. After naming the title, author, the publisher, and so on, it gave judgment in one word, “Shake!” • • » • In all, 83,024 volunteers went into camp in New Zealand during the war, while 720 were waiting to go into camp when the Armistice was signed. The number of fit men who volunteered for service was thus 83,744. * » * ■ Staff-Sergeant A. G l . Morgan, son of Mr. A. Morgan, of Avondale, has been awarded a scholarship in architecture with a currency of three years. StaffSergeant Morgan was educated at Christ’s College, and prior to enlistment was in the office of Messrs. Wilson and Moody, Auckland. • • • • The author of “The Marseillaise” was Rouget de Lisle, a captain of engineers. He was an all-round clever poet, dramatist, violinist, and - singer, and he wrote the song in a mood of great excitement one heated night in April, 1792. To its strains the soldiers from Marseilles entered Paris and marched to the attack on the Tuileries. That is why the song came to be called “The Marseilles.” De Lisle received a pension from Jxiuis XVIII. on account of his composition.

Mr. C. Harbottle, of the Union Steam Ship Company’s traffic department, left Wellington by the Atua for Sydney, accompanied by Mrs. Harbottle. Mr. Harbottle will remain in Australia for some weeks on holiday.

The Hon. G. W. Russell, Minister of Internal Affairs, advises the receipt from the High Commissioner of a cablegram notifying that persons contemplating a visit to London should be warned of the difficulty in obtaining hotel or other accommodation, and the high cost of such accommodation.

“I don’t like to send a young man to prison and thus run a risk of making him a criminal for life,” remarked Mr. F. V. Frazer, S.M., at the Magistrate’s Court, Wellington. “If there is a prospect of reforming him without imprisonment for his first offence then I am glad to take that opportunity.”

At the meeting of the Riccarton Borough Council, Cr. Stokes said he hoped that at any future local body elections no one but returned soldiers would be employed as returning officers, deputies, and poll clerks. “I hope at the next election,” remarked another councillor, “that there will be no returned soldiers in such a position that they will want a job of that kind!”

The water in Lake Rotorua at present is lower, some old Maoris say, than it has ever been at this season. The long continuance of fine weather has been to some extent beneficial to the. town of Rotorua, as it has contributed to prevent a falling-off in the number of visitors, which has been much larger than "is usual at this time of the year.

The death is announced at Hokitika of Mr. Edward O’Connor, the well-known proprietor of the Southland Hotel. Deceased, who was 74 years of age, landed on the Coast in 1866, and in 1879 commenced hotelkeeping. About five years later he bought the Southland Hotel, and these premises he conducted until his death.

“The disabled soldier problem is a thing apart, a special one,” said General Richardson in Christchurch. “I don’t know how you are going to solve it. I think each individual case has got to be studied and personally assisted. They are too complicated. You cannot generalise on them. But what I am quite sure of in regard to disabled soldiers is that they are practically all most keen at becoming useful citizens, and wage-earners, and they hope opportuntiies will be given them to enable them to realise their ambitions.”

Referring to the difficulties of transport, during the course of his reply to the Arthur’s Pass Tunnel League’s deputation in Wellington, the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald said that iron for the Public Works Department was held up in Australia, also 40,000 telegraph poles. For the transport of 2,000,000 bushels of wheat bought by his department, there was only one ship available at present.

Mr. G l . J. Hodgins, who has been in the Marine and Inspection of Machinery Department for three and a-half years, was recently presented with a silver bread-plate by Mr. R. Duncan, Chief Inspector of Machinery, on behalf of the local technical staff. Mr. Hodgins is relinquishing his position as Mr. G. H. Weir, whose place he filled, has returned from

active service. Mr. Duncan referred to the excellent services given by Mr. Hodgins during his connection with the Department. Major H. P. Pickerill, who in civil life is Professor of Dentistry at the Otago University, has returned to Dunedin after an absence of four years on active service. A large body of students were on the platform and greeted the major with a Maori haka, and they subsequently carried him shoulder-high to his motor car. Major Pickerill will have charge of the Woodside annexe. *999 Dr. Diamond Jenness, son of Mr. G. Jenness, of Lower Hutt, is about to return home for a brief stay before resuming work with the Canadian Government. He studied anthropology amongst the wildest tribes of the Pacific Islands, then he went to the Arctic with Stefansson to study the Eskimos. He had been two years with the last-mentioned people before he knew that the rest of the world was in a state of war. On returning to civilisation he enlisted in the Canadian Army as a private, and is now under engagement to the Canadian Government to write the result of his experiences. « « V « Mr. C. J. Harley, of Nelson, has received word that his eldest son, Howard, who joined the Navy during the war, has been promoted to the rank of lieutenant-commander. During the latter part of the war LieutenantCommander Harley was. serving on the Tenacious, one of the most modern type of destroyers, but he is now attached to H.M.S. Success, which will be completed about July,. and in the meantime he is on the Rear-Admiral’s staff at Sunderland. The Success is one of the vessels to be presented to Australia, and she is described as being “the very last word” of her class in construction and equipment. Lieutenant-Comman-der Harley has volunteered for two years’ service, and will bring the Success out to Australia. 9 9 9 9 The subject of the settlement of soldiers on the land was alluded to by the Governor at the Town-planning Conference in Wellington last week. “So far as this aspect is concerned, I think I may say it is not such an easy task to settle as the uninitiated think,” he observed. “It is certainly hoped that men will not be placed on the land who have no knowledge of agricultural and pastoral pursuits. That hardly comes within the four corners of our conference, but what does is the arrangement whereby these new settlements shall have access to all the modern conveniences of everyday life, and in this your conference can greatly assist.” * « • « The housing problem was one of the greatest of the day, said the Hon. G. W. Russell at the Town-planning Conference. “Two attempts have been made to supply the want of homes in New Zealand. Under the State Advances Act down to 31st March. 1918, £3,473,000 had been advanced to workers to enable them to purchase or erect their homes, the total number of loans outstanding on that date being 9511. Also 648 workers’ dwellings had been erected by the State under the Workers’ Dwellings Act, 1905, and its amendments. The power given to municipal corporations to erect workers’ homes has not been availed of. I am satisfied that this country must embark upon a great scheme for housing the people, and that we must talk in millions on this subject if we are to have a happy and contented people. Revolution and anarchy are not bred in the houses of men who have happy homes and delightful gardens. Its spawn comes from the crowded tenement, and squalid environment, and the slum.”

The trout-fishing season, which closed on the last day of April, has proved the worst experienced for many years (says the Croniwell “Argus’3, and it seems safe to predict that next season the society will find a big falling off in revenue from license holders in this district. The principal stream —the Clutha —is seriously depleted of fish, and shags seem to be entirely responsible for the position. Large flocks are to be seen in all parts of the valley, and when these are at work on the wide, open, shingle flats, absolutely devoid of cover, the fish have little chance of escape. Restocking the stream would be useless unless steps are taken to destroy the shags. The same applies to many of the tributaries. The Clutha gave such poor results that few anglers cast a line during the closing weeks of the season.