NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 126, 25 November 1930, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

A Way Out. I It not infrequently .happens that, in common with other secondary schools in Wellington, the annual sports gathering of the Wellington Technical College has to be postponed on account of unfavourable weather. A way out of the difficulty was embodied in a decision come to at a meeting of the; Board of Governors last evening, when' it was decided that in view of the very uncertain spring weather in Wellington the sports should be held' in the first ] term of the year, probably about the middle of April. Deal in Grass Seed. Although tho grass seed business is not nearly so brisk as it was a. few years ago, when bush was being cleared in all partsof the country, there is still, more in the trade than, many realise,' says and exchange. One of the largest j orders for some time lias recently been' finalised by tender by a Government Department controlling several large properties in Poverty Bay and Hawkes Bay. The Department has contracted for the supply of grass seed to the value of approximately £.10,000, to be delivered in February of next year. In Appreciation; Appreciation, of the instruction given to pupils at tho Wellington Technical College was contained in a letter read at the board meeting last evening from a Wellington builder. He stated: "I have one of your boys at present working for me. He is now in his third year, and I have much pleasure in adding my ' congratulations to you and your staff for the very wide range of knowledge in connection with the trade imparted to the boys. My work is nearly all cottage building in brick or wood, and I can, with confidence, give my apprentice any work from the foundations to .finishing, knowing that he wilj find some way out of any corner he may get in. During his second year I gave him a set of garage doors to make, and his workmanship and time compared very well with a journeyman's, showing the worth of the! training received at your college.'' It was also stated at the meeting that the city coat of arms for the new milk station was to be made by the pupils at the college. : Trees to Fit the Garden.. Fruit trees "made to order" are one of the latest triumphs of research in horticulture (reports an exchange). Speaking to a gathering of fruit-grow-ers at Auckland, Mr. E. G-. Hatton, a visiting English expert, said that as a result of research work in England into stock grafting it was now possible to control the size and cropping power of ; apple, pear, plum,, and cherry trees. : The trees could be purchased to grow in a certain space in much the same \ manner as a person purchased a hat for a certain sized head. Constant work ' was revealing extraordinary things to [ the research worker,

"Persian Cats Come from Paris." "Generally speaking, I have found that, although, people display an_ interest in Persia, they know very little about that fascinating country," said Mr. J. W. Burland, lato of the Imperial Bank of Persia, when addressing the Eotary Club to-day. "When the name of Persia is mentioned to them, it conjures up visions of carpets and. cats, which impression is somewhat erroneous, as, while it is an undisputed fact that the best Persian carpets come from Persia, it is equally true that the best Persian cats come from Paris. _ It may interest you to know that during my twelve years' residence in Persia I never saw a genuine Persian ca.t, except of the short-haired variety." A Persian Offers Security! "The Persian has, sometimes, a rather quaint conception of commercial morality," remarked Mr. J. W. Burland, late of the Imperial Bank of Persia, when addressing the Eotary Club to-day. "Recently I was approached by a customer for an unsecured loan of £500. As he had neither means nor credit, I was compelled to refuse his application, but he was by no means discouraged. He returned in. the afternoon, and aalced me to see him, and out of curiosity I consented to do so. After the customary salutations, he said: 'You will be--delighted to hear that I have found a simple way out of our little difficulty of this morning..' 'Is that so?' I.replied, 'let's hear it.' 'Well,'; he answered, 'it's just this. You lend me £500, then I'll hand you back £250, and you can hold it as security • against the other half.' Of course, it sounds all right for .one- split second, and I think he almost deserved what he wanted." An Unemployment Committee. The Mayor of Lower Hutt (Sir Alexander Roberts) reported to his council last evening that a further conference had been held by the local bodies of the Hutt Valley on the question of unemployment, when it had been decided to set up a committee with a rcpresentive from each of tho local bodies, representatives from the Hospital Board, and representatives from other organisations able to assist. '.".Councillor J. Mitchell was appointed to represent t'ho council, and the Mayor reported having asked Mr. C. B. Robinson, tho Lower Hutt representative of .the Hospital Board, to act for that body, and Mr. A. D. Thomson to represent other interests. It was reported to the meeting of the Tipper Hutt Borough Council last night that there were 25 names on the borough list of unemployed. Russia's Keenness. "Phorraium, so far as ordinary flaxmilling is concerned, has not yet been improved at all," stated Dr. Yeatcs at the Masscy Agricultural College yesterday, when thoso interested in flax research were present. "The easy and rapid stages of the work have yet to be done. There is no plant in New Zealand, and probably few plants in the world, which can offer as a result of selection such a great percentage increaso of output and quality as phormium. The Russian Government in the past few months has been trying to buy and to ship to Russia at great expense, living plants and seeds of all tho varieties of phormium. This means that Russia is anxious to do the same work on phormium as the college is doing, in spite of the distance for collecting plants. Other countries also are continually making attempts to sclecj, and grow phormium."