NEWS AND NOTES

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1609, 12 September 1916, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES

Some people, have curious lapses of memory in regard to their money. The last i*sue of the Government Gazette contains a notification that a man in possession of a registered mortgage for £435 over 174 acres of hind had left New Zealand and had not appointed an agent to collect his interest or administer his property. Presumably it is many years since he left New Zealand or laid claim to his mortgage, as the Supreme Court has now empowei’ed the Public Trustee to exercise tin 1 powers conferred upon him in respect of such property. Another case has just come to light in Tiraaru (says the Herald). Some years ago a lady put a substantial sum out of her private income in the Post Office Savings Bank. She has often wanted money since depositing it, and has obtained it from other sources, having completely forgotten that she had ever putmoney in the Post Office. It was only by accident that it was recalled to her mind through a man finding and restoring her lost bank book in which the credit showed. At first she said that the book could not belong to her, as she had no recollection of ever having one, but the entries were convincing, and she subsequently recalled the circumstances under which she had deposited the money.

People have been so nccuslozned to Now Zealand raisin” loans outside the Dominion that it is probable few are aware that the present war loan is,not the first that was raised in the loeal market. The Auckland Star points, out that in .1845 the Government was compelled to raise money by issuing l debentures, which carried interest at the rale of 8 percent. It is of interest to note that in 1845 debentures were forged, which resulted in a loss to the Government of £‘2so. One man was caught and sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude for having..forged a debenture for 20s. The Government had issued debentures for £6,000. The Government had to face financial panic shortly afterwards, owing to the fact that the Home authorities notified that it had no authority to raise that £O,OOO by the issue of debentures. The colony was staggering under an indebtedness of

£14,090, and the cash in the Treasury, amounted to £l9 10s 3d. Fortunately South Australia had a surplus of £6,000 that year, which was lent to the New Zealand Government jto enable it to tide over the crisis.

’A young men in Auckland made a most awkward mistake one evening hist week. He took part in some festivities (reports the Star) made his way back to his boarding house in Vincent Street in a condition which is popularly described ns “sozzled.” As he neared the house he recovered his wits sufficiently to z-ecoghi.se that there would be tz-ou-ble if the landlady saw him in that state, so he decided on a sti-ategic approach to his bedroom by way of a back window. He carried out the movement with what he considered to be masterly skill, reached the room, and was congratulating himself, when the door was suddenly opened, and he was faced by a, strange • and irate lady. His “explanation” only landed him further into trouble, -for the police were called, and he was arrested on a. charge of breaking and entering with intent to commit a crime, for the time was 0.20 p.m., and ihe room he. was found in was nol in his boarding house at all. He spent a night of repentanee in the cells; but things were straightened out when he faced the Magistrate izi the mornihg. Police inquiries had verified the young man’s statement that he was of good character, and that he ; boarded at a house in Vincent Street, and had only mistaken the house when he entered by the window with intent not to commit a crime, but to conceal a folly. The charge was withdrawn.

A writer on educational matters in the Wellington Post (F. Ferguson) says the educational problem strikes him first as a matter of teachers, and second, tiie object to be attained by the system. Dealing with the former phase of the subject, ho says “‘Baldly, teachers are horn, not made, and scholastic ability is no moi’c a sign of the imparting gift than (as the lafe Josh Billings put it) a paper collar is of a, shirt. Speaking as a product of the system, anxiety comes to me at the prospect of creating a pig proof fence around another profession; Goodness knows, wc suffer enough at the hands of the learned professions already, and the prospect of making a close preserve .for all teachers who have managed to insinuate themselves into the Education Department is appalling. From experience I would say that three out of five of our teachers have not got the imparting gift, and instead of a help are a menace to the rising generation. The executive of the Department should declare an op.en season for parents and others to combine to make a. searchin°- inquiry throughout the land to find out who are teachers' and who are not. lam convinced this a big factor of the unrest as regards results ” , .