NEWS OF THE DAY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20076, 24 October 1939, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Only One Volunteer

The response by the Maori people of the Wairarapa to the call for volunteers for the Maori battalion has proved astonishing in many ways. With a large Maori population, the Wairarapa’s contribution to the battalion is one volunteer.

Broke Window al Waihircrc

An 18-year-old,Maori boy. Maurice Kingi, was convicted ancl lined £1 10s and costs 12s when he appeared this morning before Mr. J. 11. Luxforcl, S.M., in the Police Court on a charge of wilfully damaging a window valued at 5s the property of Mrs. Wawatai, Waihirere. Senior-Sergeant J. F. H. Macnamara said the defendant had admitted throwing a stone that might have broken the window at 1 a.m. on August 25.

Rotorua Carnival

“After giving the matter full consideration, it was decided to carry on with the New Year carnival programme as usual and thus set a good example to the community,” said Mr. E. T. Johnson, when moving the adoption of the advancement committee’s report at a meeting of the Rotorua Borough Council. "We have every reason to believe that there will be a crowd in Rotorua and the only alteration to the programme will be the elimination of certain extras which had been planned,” Mr. Johnson concluded

Conscription Question. There was little likelihood of the Government considering conscription for an expeditionary force, said Mr. J. G. Barclay, M.P., at a meeting of the Primary Production Council in Whangarei, when discussing the question ol' farm labour. Canada and Australia had pledged themselves not to introduce it. New Zealand had given no pledge, but he did not think the Government would consider the question except in case of urgent national necessity. Conscription might come if insufficient volunteers came forward.

Lightning' Flash. Striking a party telephone, and accompanied by a terrific clap of thunder, lightning shattered an arrester on the telephone at the residence of Mr. R’. J. Barber, of Shannon, setting light to the wallpaper and scrim in the living room. Mr. Barber, whe was near by, quickly extinguished the outbreak before much damage was done. It was later found that the lightning arrester on every telephone on the line, eight in number, had been shattered, a private line connecting Kaihinau road with Kingston road having been struck by lightning. About half-way along the length both wires were melted through and severed.

Bluff Man’s Invention

By the invention of a simple attachment to an ordinary spark plug Mr. E. Barnes, of Bluff, has made it possible for petrol engines to be started up immediately on Diesel oil An experiment has been carried out on a. 40-year-old engine at Bluff and has been remarkably successful. Fed on Diesel oil, the engine starts up without priming and the combustion is so perfect that a handkerchief held in the exhaust'is not discoloured if. :he slightest. No structural alterations or even minor adjustments were made 1 .0 tiie engine to enable the invention '.o be applied successfully. Some brake tests have been made and these ffiow undoubted increase in power and speed, the engine at the same time running steadily.

Whaling Museums

While in New England, Mr. V. F Fisher, ethnologist at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, who has returned after 12 months in the United States, visited the whaling museums New Bedford and Nantucket and found both extraordinarily interesting. The New Bedford museum contained e huge half-size model of a typical old whaleship, as well as the skeleton of a whale. In both institutions were many pictures, documents and relics relating to New Zealand. The custodian at Nantucket was a veteran whaling captain named Grant, 83 years old. who often entertained visitors b; mounting a look-out tower and giving the old cry, “There she blows!” He had lived for 12 months in Auckland and at the Bay of Islands.

Bali Not AII Glamour. The island of Bali he did not find to possess all the glamour usually associated with tiie name, said Dr. J. A. Doctor when speaking in Wellington about his recent tour. There were crowds of Americans and other tourists, he said, and the island was rapidly becoming commercialised. The roads were wonderful and the scenery magnificent, but what appealed to him most was how much the religion of the natives was mixed up with their daily work and how art sprang naturally from the people who were earning their living from the soil. Born of their desire to understand and control the mysterious forces of Nature, their religion was a conglomerate—a mixture of a strong but superficial veneer of decorative Hindu practices over the deeply-rooted animism of the Balinese natives.

Special Centennial Postmarks. Three places in New Zealand assume paramount importance during the Centennial celebrations in 1940. These are Petone, Russell and Akaroa. The first immigrants landed at Petone; Russell was the scene of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and at Akaroa sovereignty over the South Island was proclaimed. Each of these three events is depicted on the centennial postage stamps, but a special brand date-stamp will be issued to the post offices at Petone, Russell and Akaroa for use on the proper anniversary date, and three commemorative covers depicting these places as they are now also will be issued, January 22 will be Petone’s special date; February 6 Russell’s, and August 10 Akaroa’s. Tiie real date for the Akaroa event should be August 12, but as that falls on a Sunday next year, August 10 will be substituted,