CURRENT TOPICS OF THE DAY

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 25 March 1914, Page 3

CURRENT TOPICS OF THE DAY

(from various sources)

Last month at the Liverpool office of Sir T. B. Royden, the well-known shipowner, Mr E. B. Roydon congratulated Mr A. W. Adcocks, second officer of the Indrabarah, and Earle, A.8., on their courageous conduct on the occasion of the stranding of the vessell on the Manawatu coast last year. Earle, it will be remembered, voluntered to take a line ashore, and was, after a determined effort, pulled back exhausted to the steamer. Mr Adcock launched a boat and reached the shore when it capsized, but immediately plunged into the sea and rescued two men who were in difficulties. Mr Royden gave to Mr Adcock the silver medal of the Royal Humane Society of Liverpool, an illuminated address, and a pair of binoculars ; and to Earle the silver medal of the Society. Mr Adcock has also received the medal of the New Zealand Society.

A Canterbury man who went north some years ago after a fruitless search for land in this province writes very enthusiastically of the prospects before the North of Auckland district. He is settled near Herekino, a hamlet some twenty-five miles inland from Awanui. and maintains that he is enjoying the best climate in the world and cultivating some of the best land in New Zealand-

" This district," he says, " is destined to become one of the most populous countrysides in the dominion. With good soil, a regular rainfall and no extremes of heat or cold it is an ideal place for man and beast."

The League of the Empire is trying to organise a remarkable series of scholarships for women (for which New Zealand girls would be eligible) as what it calls a living memorial in connection with the Peace Centenary. These would be tenable at Girton, Newnham or Bedford College (London University), and they would be open to the English speaking nations for women between the ages of 21 and 26, and would be of the annual value of £250, tenable for two years. Miss Points, the American girl, who was sent over here for two years by the General Federation of Women's Clubs to complete her education, ' and who was examined by the same machinery that examines the Rhodes scholars, is now in America acting as a lecturer. The league has been informed that this machinery will be at their disposal if the scholarships proposed are founded.

William Tregonning, appointed postmaster in Sir Joseph Ward's town of Bluff, is just another of the Thames boys who are scattered over the face of New Zealand, helping to run its affairs. As a junior lighting-jerker, in the Thames tel egraph office, in the days when John Bull was its chief (and afterwards under J. E. Coney), " Trig " was a comtemporary of Tom Aitken, now Deputy- Postmaster in 'Auckland, Jack Baxter, and Harry Keary, now in charge of the city's telephone exchange , also of G. C. Beale, another present-day Aucklander, who long ago shook off " service " shackles. " Trig " has been " postmastering " small towns for a long period, and substantial promotion has come at last. Besides, there is no knowing how soon it may again be important to work directly under " Sir Joe's" eye.—Bulletin.

A Rotorua paper records a big dea* in pumice lands. The development of the Tokoroa lands, six miles from Putaruru, on the Mokai line, caught the eyes of several Wairaparapa farmers, and the possibilities of the pountry were so prominent that a syndicate was formed, with the result that the purchase of the Maraetai block, 68,000 acres in extent was negotiated. The block lies to the west of Taupo line and the Toko road lands, and at present is covered with heavy fern and tutu. The syndicate, which is working under the title of the Maraetai Farms, Ltd., has engaged a surveyor to subdivide the block into 500----acre sections, and also to fix a site for a township. -ir * * The practice of ringing a bell at the railway stations five minutes before the departure of a train is to be discontinued on and after April 1. The Department has had numerous complaints ahout tb,e matter, the ringing of the bells having frequently misled people into thinking it signified departure of trains instead of being merely a warning signal . . . . We can only remark that it is better to catch a train with five minutes to spare than miss it by five minutes, People who complain about taking their seats five minutes too soon ought to take some liver pills before commencing the journey. There are seversl kinds on the market. — Bulletin. ff * * Mrs Bendely, of Auckland, at the W. C. T. U. convention in Gisborne : They accuse women of love of dress, yet femine fashion is largely dictated by men for commercial reasons : they accuse us of fostering false standards of education made for us again by men ; they accuse us of being unwilling to undergo the sacrifice, the fatigue, Ihjs limitation of intellectual and social pursuits, all necessary for the working out of the vast plan of evolution, yet while they say that "parenthood stands at the top of all forms of human happiness." their utterances show a little recognition of the share which man in that parenthood, as if man's share were no greater than that of the male of our domestic animals. The failure of a clobior i,o udd exchange to a cheque for an amount sued for led the solicitor for the creditor to sue for the sixpence in the Court on Tuesday (says the Ta-ranaki Hereld). Judgement was given for this small amount, together with 5s court costs und 5s solicitor's fee,