General News.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19167, 25 November 1927, Page 8

General News.

9 Nine men, of whom five were married, registered as unemployed, yesterday. The examinations for Junior National Scholarships and Junior Free Places commenced yesterday morning, 185 boys and 86 girls sitting in Christ, church. The examinations will conclude to-day. Just at present, owing to tho state of trade, the outlook for the boys who desire to enter the trades as apprentices is not verv promising. Most of the trades already have their quota of apprentices, and most of the commercial firms, it is understood, have waiting lists. Up to the present date two and a half inches of rain have fallen in Christchurch this month, a fall well above the average of 1.774 inches for November. This month's rain has brought the total, since January, to 18.771 inches. For a corresponding period last year the rainfall was 18.688 inches. In co-operation with Mr D. Millar, Government Entomologist, Mr R. G. Robinson, Superintendent of the Selwyn Plantations Board, has liberated in the Darfield plantations a colony of gum tree weevil parasites. On the result of this experiment will depend to a large extent the future operations of the Board with eucalypts. In connexion wifth Commissioner Hay's campaign, twenty-five Salvation Army women and cadets arrived in Christchurch yesterday from Wellington. They will remain here for six days, and during that time will conduct meetings daily. Last evening an open-air meeting was held in the Square, after which they proceeded to the Citadel, where another meeting was held and a musical programme given. A motorist was backing his car across Oxford terrace about 1.30 yesterday afternoon, when, on account of the grading of the road, and the fact that there is a bridge over the gutter, his car gathered momentum and ran right across the footpath, crashing into one of the plate-glass windows of Messrs Armstrong and Co.'s premises. The contents of the display window were not damaged, but the window will cost about £3O to replace. That we are only experiencing the commencement of motor transportation is the opinion of Mr L. T. Watkins, who has just returned to Wellington from a nine months' trip abroad. "Taxi fares in Europe," he said, "are becoming astonishingly cheap; in Paris, for instance, the minimum meter fare is 1.25 to 1.75 francs (3d to 4d). Cheap taxis everywhere —everybody rides. Motor-bus competition in other places is being beaten by taxi-owned organisations. The trams are going as the stage coaches went. Railway systems to pay dividends will have to compete by providing convenient, cheap, rapid, and mass movement or quantity transportation." A very unwelcome visitor in the shape of a shark measuring from tip to tail 9ft 2in, was dispatched off the shore in the vicinity of the Parnell baths, Auckland, yesterday afternoon'. The shark had been hovering around the locality throughout the day, and, prompted, no doubt, by a natural desire to rid the sea of at least one of- its kind, two men working nearby decided to attempt its destruction. Tho method adopted was in one respect reminiscent of trench warfare. Armed with picks and Mills bombs in the shape of detonators, they waded into the water and hurled the latter at the shark, which was sufficiently disabled to enable them to administer the coup de grace with their picks.— Press Special. Amongst other places visited by Mr L. T. Watkins, who has returned to Wellington after a nine, months' tour of the Old World was Smyrna, which, he said, had before the massacre of 1922 a population larger than Sydney's. Now there is hardly one stone left upon another, and there is a danger ot being kidnapped by bandits if one lingers around the ruins. Rebuilding, however, is proceeding, but in the meantime Boirut has gone ahead and become the business centre. The refugees from Smyrna found a home in Cyprus, where Turk and Briton mix without friction. Mr Watkins was lucky in being able to pass through the Dardanelles in daylight, seeing the stones in the cemeteries and the war memorials erected at various points Constantinople he found to be very Europeanised. Those who intend motoring and camping at Xmas are invited to visit our upstairs Showroom and inspect our range of Camp requisites, including two special types of tent suitable for use with a car. Everything displayed is designed to pack economically. Mason, Struthers, and Co., Ltd -6 Booth Electric Household Pumps are designed right, built right, and sold right! Service stands Booth, Mac products, and the Electric Pump is building up a reputation for trustworthy goods and reliable service. Slow speed, leather and metal construction, and solid design make for durability and reliability, and it forms part of an important local industry. Why, therefore, buy imported pumps P Fullest particulars post free. Booth, Macdonald and Co., Ltd. 0521