General News

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22513, 22 September 1938, Page 10

General News

“To Wear The Badge” No brief for the practice of primary school' "children passing to secondary schools for short periods is held by Mr A. A. Buckley, an Auckland delegate to the conference of the Dominion Federation of School Committees’ Associations. “Half the children who go on to t 1 i secondary schools only go so they can wear the badge,” he said, “and- not for education. If they go there even for one year they waste half their time getting used to the new conditions.” ’ Westport Coal for New Caledonia The first New Caledonian vessel to visit Westport for many years, the collier is loading coal this week for a trial. shipment to New Caledonia, which may be the 'first of a series of regular shipments. When the vessel arrived it was thought that the visit had some connexion with the difficulty of getting coal .in Australia because of the strike there; but this was denied by Mr M. Pelletier, Sydney representative for the owners of the vessel. Mr Pelletier said that the Notou was owned by the Societe Anonyne de Nickel, a French company owning nickel smelting works in New Caledonia, The Holm Shipping Company, New Zealand agents for the firm, had been negotiating for a shipment of coal from Westport for some time past, and if the coal proved suitable for the company’s purposes, regular shipments would probably follow. The vessel in the past got all coal from Australia; but it. was not intended to discontinue shipments from Australia altogether. Work for Burgesses That burgesses’ associations might do more to benefit the areas they represented by seeing that ratepayers paid their rates than by petitioning for expensive works to be undertaken, was suggested by the chairman of the Waimairi County Council (Cr. F. S. Scott), when a deputation from the Richmond Burgesses’ Association waited on the council at its meeting last evening. Outstanding rates owing to the council amounted to £ 18,000, he said. If it had that mojiey, it would be able to undertake various works that were being held up. “Dark End of New Zealand” “The dark end of New Zealand” was how a South Island employers’ assessor referred to the island in the carpenters’ and joiners’ dispute in Conciliation Council at Wellington yesterday. The remark was made when the time of commencement of work was being argued, the assessor saying that if men started at 8 a.m., instead of 7.30 a.m. in winter, they would finish in the dark.—“ The Press” Special Service. “School Caretakers Underpaid” “School caretakers are still underpaid for long hours of work in many cases,” said Mr R. S. H. Buchanan in his presidential address to the conference of the Federation of School Committees’ Associations last evening. “There is no Arbitration Court that defines the hours of work or the rate, of pay for these caretakers of Government property. These details are left entirely to the discretion of the Individual committees, and the matter should receive immediate attention.” Mayor as Chief Magistrate “By tradition and by law, the mayor of a borough in New Zealand is chief magistrate of that town, and is automatically a justice of the peace,” said Mr Raymond Ferner, S.M., who presided at the quarterly meeting of the West Coast Justices of the Peace Association, held yesterday at Greymouth, in welcoming the Mayor of Greymouth (Mr F. A. Kitchingham). “It is fitting that the Mayor is here today,” added Mr Ferner, “for the mayor of a borough is entitled to preside over any meeting of the justices of his town. Had this been a meeting of justices of Greymouth only, I should have had no hesitation in vacating the chair for him.” Help for Backward Child That more help is needed than is at present given to backward children is the unanimous opinion of the conference of the Federation of School Committees’ Associations, which passed a remit to this effect last evening. “The 1928 Mental Defectives Act. providing for the establishment of mental clinics, has not been put into effect,” said Mr C. R. N. (Matamata). Many delegates spoke of their experience with retardate children, and concurred in the belief that more help was necessary. The remit favours, the establishment of special schools, -and the encouragement of technical training, usually of more value to the children than the ordinary work. ’ New Waltham School As a preliminary to the ultimate rebuilding of the Waltham School, the Cabinet has approved of a grant to cover a partial rebuild- . ing plan which will involve improved accommodation to the infant department. Advice of this grant was received by the Minister for Labour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, yesterday, from the Minister for Education, the Hon. P v Fraser. The plan .will include the replacement of four classrooms on the south side of the present building by four open-air type rooms, which, as the advice to the Minister states, will form the, nucleus of a complete building scheme. The grant also covers new cloakrooms, a shelter shed, staff room, an asphalted assembly space, and furniture and heating, as well as drainage. Milking-Stool to Microphone Ten years ago, a young Irish lad, a penniless emigrant, set foot in Taranaki and began to earn a living as a farm hand. Two years later, unhappy, disillusioned and still penniless, he found a job aboard a London-bound steamer and bade farewell to New Zealand, perhaps for ever. Recently he -returned to the province where he once found life so hard, not to make a new start, but to entertairMhe people With his singing. Danny Malone, now an Irish tenor whose ability has been acclaimed wherever he has gone, had a romantic story to tell a Taranaki newspaper. Born' in poor circumstances at Belfast, he began to earn a living as a newsboy in the streets of the Irish city. Seeking fresh fields, he decided to emigrate, and with 50 other boys came to New Zealand to work on the Since then he has become famous over the world as an Irish tenor. Polling Conundrum The Chief Electoral Officer (Mr G. G. Hodgkins) announced in' Wellington that “persons whose religious principles prevent them from voting before sunset on polling day, in districts where sunset time is before the • closing hour of the poll, will have ample time to vote, as the law provides that all voters in a booth at 7 p.m. are' permitted to record their votes, notwithstanding the fact that the booth has closed.” In some districts, however, the time of sunset will be after 7 p.m. In Invercargill, for instance, where the sun sets on polling day at 7.14, p.m., voters who wait until after sunset will find the booths closed. This also applies to Dunedin, where the time of sunset is 7.3 p.m; Th 6 odd three minutes may seriousty embarrass the ultra-scrupulous. Christchurch cuts it fine by having sunset at 6.52 p.m. Wellington and Auckland allow a wider margin, sunset in these places being at 6.41 p.m. and 6.36 p.ml respectively. More Firemen Wanted The shortage of suitable men for fire brigade work was dealt with by the superintendent, Mr A. Craig, at the half-yearly meeting of the Hamilton Fire Board. “The total strength of the brigade at present is 21,” said Mr Craig. “I regret that at the present time I am unable to keep the personnel up to the full strength of 25, because I have been unable to find men suitable.” Echo-Sounder in Mission Ship An electric echo-sounding device, is to be, installed in the Melanesian Mission ship Southern Cross before she leaves Auckland for the New Hebrides at the end of the month. When the instrument is in use continuous readings are given of the depth of water. As the vessel has to negotiate treacherous and badly-charted stretches of water the device will be a valuable protection. A similar instrument is being installed in the Auckland Harbour Board’s pilot launch Waitemata.