DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 February 1925, Page 3

DOMINION ITEMS.

[by TELEGRAPH PER TRESS ASSOCIATION

FATAL CONCUSSION. STRATFORD, February (>

Audrey Hunter, aged 12, a resident of Wanganui, while on a visit to her uncle in Stratford, fell from a bicycle last evening, sustaining concussion of th brain which resulted fatally this morning.

THE ALL BLACK ROWING EIGHT B LEX HELM . Feh. 0.

F. Southgate lias been rejected as medically unfit, cuing to an ir.jmy received lifting a boat off the Mnraroa at \Vi ilington on his way to Hamilton. C. F. Adams has intimated that he is unable to make the trip.

NO DEARTH OF TEACHERS. AUCKLAND, Feb. o.

Apparently there is no dearth of young men and women in Auckland desirous of entering the teaching profession. Indeed, the difficulty at tlie present moment is to find positions for all who are seeking thorn. A recent advertisement for pupil teachers and probationers brought no fewer than 3GO applications. 1(1!) from men and 251 from women. Those who had passed the matriculation, or higher examinations, number 13-1. In other years the Auckland Education Board has appointed about 200 pupil teachers annually, hut, as the result of adjustments which arc being made to bring into force in 1927 the now regulations for the training of young teachers, the number of appointments lor this year and next lias been reduced to ninety. Instead of pupil teachers doing two years’ continuous probation work, they will act as probationers for one year and then enter the Training College, completing their second probationary year alter leaving the college.

The selection of ninety from 131 matriculated applicants lias left fortyfour without positions in addition to 220 who did not reach the matriculation standard.

In reporting to the hoard on the matter the chairman. Air A. Burns, stated that the applicants were of a fine type and it was regrettable that the hoard had, to decline the services of so large a number.

NEW ZEALAND NAVY. DIOMEDE TO BE COMAIISSIOXED. WKI.LIGNTON. February 5. Sir Heaton Rhodes, Al.inister of Defence, informed a representative of the “ Lyttelton Times ” that the Government has decided to accept the oiler of the British Government of a second light cruiser for the Dominion, and that the Imperial naval authorities will accordingly commission 11.A1.5. Diomede for the New Zealand service. The cruiser is a sister ship of 11.A1.5. JA it lied in. now the New Zealand flagship, and it. is expected she will he commissioned about October. This announcement is, of course, not unexpected, as the Prime .Minister made it clear to Parliament last session U'at New Zealand should undertake the maintenance of a second cruiser in view of its extended responsibilities in the Pacific and the general obligation of the Dominion to undertake a fair share of the expense of naval defence.

Parliament in anticipation ol the arrival of a second oil-burning cruiser passed a vote of L'Ui.OOO for the hire and upkeep of the oil-carrier Nncala which is being provided by the Admiralty to furnish oil supplies for the New Zealand station. Further votes were passed to complete the woik in band at Devonport ol erecting two iuel oil tanks. Parliament approved of a vote of 210(1.001) formerly passed as a contribution towards the Singapore base being applied for maintenance ol a second oil-burning cruiser on the New Zealand station.

| The light, cruiser Diomede is one of Ihe I) class, and a sister ship of the Danae, Dragon, Delta and Dunedin, which visited New Zealand last year. She has a displacement of •1750 tons, is -115 feet in length, with a beam of 4fi foot and a draught ul I 1.0. Her horse-power is lII, Odd giving a speed of fcnots. She was built at- Harrow and launched in 1910. Her main armament is six din guns, two -tin and two antiaircraft guns.]

ABANDON HD

TRANS-PAHFIC FLIGHT.

WELLINGTON, February h. Considerable interest was aroused bv recent report that in association with the projected vmit of the American licet to New Zeaiand ami Australia an attempt would be made to fly from San Francisco to Honolulu, thence to Now Zealand and Australia, This stimulated tbe New Zealand effort to make a fiCHt across the Tasman, organisation for which is under weigh. Nows has been received that tbe American transilic I!j■ i|)t lias been abandoned for official reasons. It is stated by Mr Curtis Wilbur, Secretary lor the United States Navy, that the flight cannot be arranged in connection "db the ffeet manoeuvres at Honolulu, because it would so disturb these movements US to practically destroy the object in bolding them. This is due to the necessity of detailing a great number of ships as had to be done on tbe occasion of the round-the-world flight to guard the route taken. Tl '>' Xi 'W T ’ ( ' _ partment, however, added Mr AWlbnr. is developing a plan by which it is Loped to have a non-stop flight Dom Sun Francisco to Honolulu, and d tins is satisfactory the matter will be again taken up, but no flight will be made during the manoeuvres of the fleet at Hoiudutu or its crush' to New Zealand and Australia. lA\Y SOCIETY’S RESOLD I TONS. AYELLINGTON, February, o. The council oi the Wellington V traict Law Society passed tbe following resolutions: (1) This council is strongly oi opinion that in order to maintain the Bench at the necessary high stamluid, Um position of -fudges of the Supreme Court needs revision in regard to sal-

ary and pension. ( ) The fact that a member of tbe profession has held a political position however high, or holds the office ot Attorney-General. should not m the e- uditioi’s existing in the Dominion he regarded in itself as sufficient to justirv''i l i, appointment to a Judgeship. R VI LAV AY SERVICES. CHRISTCHURCH. February (!. The intention of the Railway Depait ment to speed up flic express services between Christ!-Lurch and lnvercaiß.il and between Chnsteliurel. and Hokitika was indicated by the Hon J. G. Coates, in bis reply to a deputation today Mr Coates said that m connection' with the South Island railway services, the Railway Board was going into the questoiu of speeding up tho Christchurch- Invercargill ami Christchurch-Hokitika express A .rood deal of preliminary work had been done, and the civil engineering branch had been consulted. This was I essential, ns tho civil engineering 1 branch controlled the speed of trains *‘f am most anxious.” said Mi Conte. .. to .<ive vou a service that Is thi keynote of the whole Department. H< recognised that the question of hnanc came into the matter, and considers tion had to he given to the cost in volved in the radical changes ot polio; proposed. He realised that the change involved in separating goods from pas

When you ask for Sharland’s Fluid Magnesia don’t take anything “just as good,” hut get Sharland’s. Best that mpr,c-y CAT! h'lYr’T'A^Yr-

senger traffic affected the whole service. Briefly, it would result in the quicker j dispatch of goods and quicker passen-j ger trains. To carry out the policy required very close study and very close overhaul. They would have to start in a small way, and extend gradually. The operation of the policy would have the effect upon railway im- , provcment to he carried out. but its 'immediate effect would he felt upon the size and construction of the yard ac-> commodation. It would particularly affect the terminal yards, and also the yards at many stations along the lines. “ T am most anxious,” added Mr Coates, “to do the proper thing in New Zealand, and more particularly to get a proper start with the work.”

N.Z. HOSPITALS. AUCKLAND, February fi. An opportunity to obtain a report by an eminent authority on New Zealand hospital administration and equipment is presented by the coming visit of Doctor McKachern, a Canadian, to Australia on a similar missoin. Doctor .McKachern has offered to spend a month in New Zealand, asking nothing for his services but steamer and railwav fares.

The matter has been brought before the Government by the leading medical men, but the authorities so far have not accepted the idea with enthusiasm. The President of the New Zealand Branch of the British Medical Association, Dr Carrick Robertson, said he understood the Government had offered Dr McKachern a free pass on all the railways, so that he might visit where he wished, but would not officially sponsor his visit. It seemed a great pity that a man with- such wide experience should be allowed to pass without being asked to report on our hospitals. Dr McKachern is Chief Inspector for the American College of Surgeons, and has to report on nearly every hospital in the American Continent, both north and south.

LOW POLL CAimiKD. XAPIKIk, Feb. 5. A! poll of ratepayers in Waipawa County to-day authorised the raising „f a loan of .£45,000 for ornds, bridges and plant.