NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 130, 3 June 1937, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

King Solomon Mine. With the removal of the pumps, which will be completed in a few days, the King Solomon gold mine at Waikaia will be abandoned (states the "Southland News"). All the rest of the plant has been removed during the past fortnight, and it is expected that the drives, which are cut through soft alluvial ground and are heavily timbered, will fill with water and collapse within a short time. It is stated that an area, of rich, gold-bearing wash, which was left as a protection at the foot of the main shaft, and which it has not been possible to work, will still be left when the mine is abandoned. The employees are said to have asked permission to work this for. themselves, but the request could not be acceded to. ' Ten Postmarks. An Invercargill resident posted a letter to a friend in Mauritius'a few months ago (states the "Southland Times"). Recently he received a reply and was astonished to discover the roundabout route his correspondence had taken. It had passed through the main ports of India and through the Suez Canal, being placed finally on a French mail steamer bound for Mauritius. When eventually the letter reached its destination ten countries were represented in the postmarks stamped on it. Laymen of Church. Formation of the Auckland Diocesan Churchmen's Association was confirmed on' Tuesday night when well over 200 men from city and suburban parishes attended the second general" meeting -at St.: Matthew's (states the "New Zealand Herald"). Archbishop Averill presided, and at ,the service which preceded the meeting stressed the paramount call on Christian men to witness to their faith and to live up to their belief in the Kingship of Christ. His Grace made it clear that in the 'association there would be no room for the half-hearted. He was certain that in bringing together in a body men who were willing to stake all on living Christianity in its fullest conception they were doing God's will for the Church and the community. Christian men could not stand by and see evils such as were revealed in the recent report on abortion without taking some action, continued the Archbishop. They had to realise the import of the teaching that they were their brothers' keepers. They would reveal that,'not by being censors of the public morals, but by the witness of their own, individual lives and by their readiness to deal with the causes that perpetuated evil. Too Much Football? The opinion that many boys played so much fbotball during their stay at primary and secondary schools that they were temporarily sick of the game by the time their schooling was finished, was expressed by Mr. .E. v; Phillips at a meeting; of the- management committee of the Canterbury Rugby Union (states the "Press ). The boys came back to the game, later, he said, but they gave it a spell fpr a year or two after they had finished school football. He advanced that as a reason for the failure of some of .the union's oldest clubs to enter a team in each of the lower' grades. It was decided, in response to a request from the Merivale Club, that the sub-com-mittee recently apr/ointed to encourage the game in the lower grades should have a conference with officials of the club. , . '■'-■■ "School'for Drivers." When a young man was charged in the Magistrate's Court today. With failing to give a.signal when turning his motor-cycle to the right, and also with having a defective silencer, Mr. E.. p. Mosley, S.M., said that the case was.a typical one in which- a young motorcyclist might, with very great benefit to himself, attend the "school for drivers." * He had no power, however, to send the defendant to "school" for these offences but if the defendant desired to avoid paying a fine and was willing to attend the "school," he would adjourn the prosecution for a month. The defendant said he was willing to do this. Mr. A. R. Cooper, who prosecuted, said that the W.C.C. traffic office was very willing to cooperate. "I have no power to enforce the order," said Mr. Mosley to the defendant. "If, you make good progress at the 'school,' however, I will know what to do when the case comes up again in a month." Women Cross Whltoombe Pass. The first crossing by women of Whitcombe Pass (4062 ft), at the head of the Rakaia River, discovered by Samuel Butler in 1861 and largely figuring in Butler's "Erewhon," was made last week by Miss Joan Singleton, of the Victoria College Tramping Club, and Misses Thorpe and Nurse, of the Canterbury College Tramping Club. The party left Christchurch on May 22 and swagged. their heavy packs up to the foot of the glaciers that are the source of the Rakaia River. The almost impenetrable rain forests and gorges on the Westland side of the Alps, that caused some of the early exploiters to suffer tremendous- privations before they got through, were found to be neatly "roaded" by deer, and at the junction of the Whitcombe and Wilkinson Rivers a good deer-culler's track was found. Good weather was experienced in the crossing of the pass and in the descent into Westland, Hokitika being reached on May 28. On the first crossing of the pass in 1863 Whitcombe and Louper only just survived the perils of the Whitcombe Gorge, but Whitcombe was drowned in the Taramakau River. v Compromise on Pqwer Kates. The Wellington Manufacturers' Association was approached some months ago by members who are power users in the Hutt Valley Power Board area in regard to an intimation received from the board stating that it intended to introduce a new system of charging for power, by substituting the maximum demand basis for the unit charge. Representations were made to the Power Board by the association that while the firms concerned did not object to. the principle of the new system, it was contended that the rates proposed would impose an unfair burden upon manufacturers whose premises are in the Hutt Valley area. The matter was held in abeyance pending the return, to New Zealand of the general manager of the Hutt Valley Power Board, Mr. E. F. Hollands, but further consideration has now been given the new rates, and a compromise has been arrived at. The rates as now amended will mean an increase in the old unit rates, a "Post", reporter was informed, but there will be a material decrease from those which would have followed from the maximum demand basis orig■inallx- proposed,

Man Trapped by Boar. While a farmer of South Spit, Bokitika. Mr. H. McClean, was feeding his pigs' on Tuesday a boar rushed at him fstates a Greymouth correspondentJ. Trapped as he was in the yard, Mr. McClean realised that his only hope of escape was in thrusting his arm into • the boar's mouth. This effort to check the attack was successful, but the in- , juries to the arm necessitated Mr. Me- : Clean's removal to the Westland Hos- . pital. where it was found necessary : to insert 45 stitches. , Church and Politics. '■ "It is a remarkable thing that the j moment we start to do anything some , people will say we are entering poli- , tics," said Archbishop Averill when ; discussing the.aims and objects of the : Auckland Diocesan Churchmen's Asso- • ciation at Auckland on Tuesday (re- , ports the "New Zealand Herald"). ; "Well, I am not a politician, I do not j know anything about politics, and i much less about party politics." the ; Archbishop continued. "All I am con- ' cerned with is the Kingship of Christ, i and if that is politics, then al 1. I can ; say is, let iis have them." . ■ Highway Improvement. ' ■ Yesterday a gang of men commenced : work on the first four miles of No. 60 highway (via Fitzherbert) nearest Pal- ■ merston North under'the Public Works ■ Department, being engaged in preliminary i formation work as the first stea towards sealing. It was stated -by «a official of the Department thatthe number of men would be augmented as time went on. They wall be engaged on the cutting back of corners and similar undertakings. There are no indications that extensive machinery will be used. ■ ■ Moa Skeleton in Maori "Workshop." ; What appeared to be the skeleton of : a Ymall moa was recenUy discovered by Mr S M. Hovell during excavatiorfs in an ancient Maori workshop ; Sed in the sandhills at the southern end of Waihi Beach (states , the ■•Auckland Star"). Moa bones fashioned into implements had been previously discovered by Mr. Hovell in the same vicinity. It als» appears that : the ancient Maoris were fond of playing a game called "jackstones, and a : number of little polished stones used for this purpose were found on tnis occasion, together with a large number of cutting, scraping, sawing, and drilling tools made from bone; obsidian, greenstone, and quartzite. The old Maori workshops of Waihi Beach have long been famous for the large quantities of. implements, curios, and skeletons discovered from time to time over many years by Mr. Hovell. Well and Truly Caught. Humorous relief was provided in the Police Court, »to Blenheim when a young man was charged with^ driving a car while in a state of intoxication (reports the "Marlborough Express"). At the suggestion of defending counsel Constable Morrison asked the de-. fendant a question in order to- compare his. manner of speech with that at the time of his arrest: ■ "Do -you reWmber seeing the white parking line on,the kerb where you parked your car?" the constable asked. "Yes,' replied the defendant. "I remember seeing it quite clearly." A smile appeared on the* faces of the Justices when the constable calmly informed the victim of his trap that/this was, impossible as there was no line on the kerb. . • ; White Herons. That one of the rarest of New Zealand birds, the white heron, is increas■ing in numbers is indicated by reports which have come to hand from both the North and South Island. At Huntly no fewer than four of these strange birds have made their appearance at a pond near1 the Waatu Pa, and an- , other heron has returned to its old haunts, on a Matata property after an , absence of nearly three years. An annual visit is paid by a heron to the Christchurch Botanical Gardens, and this year it has been accompanied by a companion. Blenheim is also frequently honoured by visits from mem- : bers of the species, and for the past • year or two Riverside Park has been : a popular feeding ground for a pair : of them. •. Memorial Cairn at Tauranga. '• A memorial cairn on the Monmouth j Redoubt at Tauranga will shortly be ; erected by the Tauranga Borough Coun- '. cil. The memorial, which, it is esti- ; mated, will cost £150,- is to •: com- ". memorate the erection of /the redoubt . in 1864 by British troops, including the . 43rd Monmouth Light Infantry. The ] redoubt was used as a shelter for the European women and children dur- ; ing the Maori Wars of 1864. It is pro- ] bable that the memorial'will take the ■ form of a rock wall with a tablet in j the centre and seats at either end. A i subscription list has* already been ; opened to defray the cost of building ; the memorial. . ' Money In Rabbits. • . ' ; There is money in rabbits . these : .days—more money even that last year, : when prices were the best for a long time (states the Christchurch "Star-' Sun"). For the best winter %kins the price has jumped by 39d a lb on last year's rates, which means that a single skin may bring something .in the vicinity of a florin. . This will account for the fact that farmers are now eyeing the surplus population on their farms, and their hereditary enemies, more tolerantly, and even affectionately. \A. florin in the pocket is better than a white tail disappearing down a burrow, Li their view, and the economics of it would appear to be as sound as economics generally are. Just how long the present rates will last is a point on which all those people connected with the business are singularly reluctant to predict, but they offer this germ of comfort: Prices do not appear likely to show any great drop,. primarily owing to the fact that the best winter skins are just coming forward, and as,: the winter adyances they will improve further. That in itself will be a factor in keeping up the price. 'A point no one attempted to explain was that while prices for buck skins are in demand, the does have been comparatively neglected by the buyers, and prices are not equal to those of last year. .