General News.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18893, 7 January 1927, Page 8

General News.

—♦— The total of the Mayor of Wellington's relief fund in connexion with the Dobson Mine disaster has reached £455. The WJE.A. students at the Arthur's Pass Summer School postponed lectures and classes till the afternoon on Wednesday, in order to allow of a walk over the Pass to Otira, under Mr E. M. Laing, which proved most enjoyable. A public reading of Galsworthy's "Strife,*' by a large cast, was given I on Tuesday evening. A large number of passengers, mostly immigrants, will reach New Zealand from England within the nest eight days by the "Sew Zealand Shipping Company's liner Eemuera and the Shaw Savill, and Albion liner Corinthic. Both i vessels will disembark their passengers at Wellington, the Eemuera being scehduled to reach there to-morrow, and the Corinthic two days later.

Active steps are to be taken to locate unlicensed wireless sets, and to eliminate as far as possible the howling of valves. Since wireless came into general use, some of the owners of sets allow their valves to howl night after night, making it almost impossible for anyone to tune in any outside station, but Mr A. W. Head, the recently appointed Deputy Badio Inspector, intends to deal with the nuisance. The offending sets will be located by direction finders.

Most people have heard the phrase "Once in a blue moon." It is not, however, often vouchsafed to mortals in their sober senses to see a blue moon. That phenomenon, it is stated, was visible at Blenheim on a recent night about half-past seven, during a gorgeous sunset. Deep-pink clouds covered the south-western sky, being separated from the purple hills by a band of bright green sky. In the west, peeping out from behind a film of greyish cloud, wa a thin crescent of delicate pale blue moon. For the week ended on Monday last at noon 29 cases of infectious diseases were reported to the Medical Officer of Health for the Canterbury and West Coast districts. Particulars are as follows:— Canterbury: Scarlet fever eight; diphtheria eleven, T.B. five, pneumonia one, puerperal septicaemia one, erysipelas one. West Coast: Diphtheria two. The following deaths took place:—Canterburv: Diphtheria one, T.B. one, pneumonia'one. "West Coast: Pneumonia one; making a total of four. Arising out of the abolition of homework in the Nelson Central School, the headmaster, Mr A. Douglas, addressed a questionnaire to the pupils, asking, among other things, whether they had taken up a hobby, were they in favour of no homework, and did they take up music or painting. Parents also were asked to express an opinion whether they approved of it, and to give their candid opinion. A number of replies from the pupils indicated that they were almost unanimously opposed to homework. In almost every instance hobbies had been taken up, including gardening, cigarette card collecting, stamps, engineering, collecting birds and beetles, making kites, and even "tying up tomatoes." A large number of the boys had taken advantage of their release from homework to study music and painting, and to take up reading. It was also shown that the children did not patronise the pictures to a greater extent than was the case when they had homework, and further, that they got to bed earlier than previously. In the United States, an Ice Chest is looked upon as a necessity. Our climate is just as hot, yet very few houses have this convenience which enables butter to be kept from becoming an oily mess, keeps milk cool and sweet, and provides a plentiful supply of ice-cold drinks. Call and inspect our stocks of ice chests from &o 10s upwards. Mason, Struthers, and Co., Ltd.