LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 14 January 1931, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The fine weather experienced for the Christmas and New Year holidays broke to-day when rain commenced soon after !) o’clock and continued steadily all the morning. There have been several showers at night in the last week, but to-day is the first wet day in the City since the weekend before Christmas. The weather this afternoon showed signs of breaking.

According to the local labour bureau there are at present 124 registered unemployed men in the City. Included in that number are 30 local married men and 19 local single men.

Holidays are not to be foregone in England, although a man.may have to draw his dole, according to the experience of a New Plymouth resident who recently visited England. He stood outside an office in Castleford, a Yorkshire town in the industrial area, and watched a queue of unemployed file in to draw their weekly dole. He was astonished to find, after careful watching and counting for a quarter of an hour, that 50 per cent, of the men came from the oilice and went straight to a nearby motor coach agency to book seats for a week-end trip to Blackpool, a return journey of about 150 miles. Another interesting instance was that of a number of Manchester unemployed who, in spite of their position, were holidaying at Blackpool and who chartered a motor char-a-banc to take them to Manchester on Friday to draw their dole and back to Blackpool to continue their holiday. Deaths due to earthquakes in New Zealand total 24, according to the latest “Fear Book.” In the 80 years between 1848 and 1928 only seven deaths were recorded as having been due to the cause mentioned, but the total rose sharply as a result of the Murchison earthquake of 17th June, 1929, to which a toll of 17 deaths was attributed. The shock of October, 1848. threw down a wall in Wellington, and three people were killed. On 24th January, 1855, ii death occurred in the same place, recorded as “accidental death from the falling of a chimney.” The big earthquake took place during the night of 23rd January. On 16th November, 1901, a child was killed by the Cheviot shock, and on 12th April, 1913, a Maori was killed at Masterton by material falling from the post office, due to an earthquake. In the Gisborne earthquake of 7th October, 1914, a shepherd lost his life.

“In travelling about the country districts of Southland I find that a totally wrong impression is current among many of the farmers in regard to the Unemployment Board’s No. 2 scheme,” said the Hon. P. A. de la Perrelle, ’Minister of Internal Affairs, in his reply to a deputation of the unemployed. “Many farmers are under the impression that the subsidy which the board is granting towards reproductive work done on the farms has to be paid back to the board. This is quite wrong, and I want to make it clear that the subsidy is an absolute gift to the farmer and does not require repayment. The farmer will also receive an allowance of fifteen shillings a week for food supplied to men engaged on work under the scheme.”

Rough on smokers—the new Customs Tariff! The increased duty on cigarettes means that most chaps will roll their own—-the cheapest way, by far! As for cigars, tobacconists say the heavier duty (irrespective of quality) will wipe out tlie trade in the lower-priced cigars altogether, and that the tariff changes will enormously increase pipesmoking. Bound to ! Well, after all, for a thoroughly satisfying and enjoyable smoke there’s nothing like a pipe ! But don’t, unless you are looking for trouble, keep on smoking the nicotine-loaded, imported lobaccos. Nicotine is deadly stuff to fool with, and most foreign brands are full of it. The constant use of such tobacco may imperil your health. The safe way is to stick to New Zealand toasted baccy. So little nicotine in it that it may be smoked even to excess with impunity. And for llavour and fragrance it stands alone! There are only four brands manufactured: Riverhead Gold, Navy Cut No. 3, Cavendish, and Cut Plug No. 10. Of course, there are imitations —so look out !* Watch the paper closely for startling British car announcement.* Children’s printed cotton pinarettes in blue rose and brown, 18, 20 and 22 inch’; worth 2/3 to 2/6. Special 1/9 tomorrow at McKay’s.* Ladies’ floral azlin house frocks, flared sncl pleated skirts, short and no sleeves, worth 17/6. January special 10/6 at McKay’s.*

In view of the important developments which have taken place recently in the fruit industry, there has been an insistent desire by growers to meet the Control Board's chairman ere his departure for overseas. To meet these wishes Mr Brown will be present at a general meeting of the Hills Union on Monday evening next, particulars of which are advertised in this issue. “Observation would lead one to believe that the nature of audiences has changed since the advent of the talkies,” states a writer in “.New Zealand Talkies and Theatre.” He continues: “In the silent days no one laughed at moments of screen drama. Now nearly everyone either chuckles, chortles, or laughs out loud. Why? Goodness knows! Great screen actors and great stage actors both get laughed at when they act and speak dramatically. It is hard on the actors—although they can't hear, of course—and harder still on the audiences that have to put up with this nuisance. Perhaps we are, as a. whole, unappreciative of genuine acting, after all, and liked the synthetic, silent stuff better.”

“0.K.” writes to the “Star” :—The theory of the tourist just returned from tile United States that the American twang has its origin in a great fog-belt east of California is interesting, but the fact that the speech of the Red Indian, who has lived in America for thousands of years, is not nasal, but guttural, seems to discount the influence of the climate in American pronunciation. Linguists now favour the theory that the nasal twang dates back to the times of the Pilgrim Fathers, whose pious “canting” in everyday speech was the subject of much comment among their Cavalier critics, and is still preserved in the intonation of the stage clergyman (e.g. the Rev. O’Sheep in “The Belle of New York”). This is only one of many traditions handed down to modern America from their Puritan ancestors. That a speech tradition does exist is borne out by the recent discovery of two New Zealand debaters, who found a professor at a university near New York teaching his pupils to pronounce vowels through their noses! Americanese may soon become a question of physical jerks.

Mr E. 11. Bromell writes from Baton to “The Mail”: —“Christmas week at the Baton reminded us of the old gold digging days, as several sturdy prospecters passed through, properly equipped with big swags on their backs, plus picks and shovels, gold washing dishes, etc., on their way to the Crow River over the watershed at the head of the Baton, two days tramp along the old track which was badly damaged by the 1928 earthquake, making it impassable on horseback. These men were evidently very enthusiastic in their quest for gold and seemed to anticipate profitable employment for the winter in this locality. The well-known , track referred to was formed originally to give access to the Crow, Karamea and Leslie rivers and as it would only cost a small amount of money to repair it, and in view of the probability of further prospecting, partly attributable to the lack of other employment owing to the present depression throughout the country, it is hoped that the Government will favourably consider re-opening the track at an early date.”

The peculiar fascination that radiators of cars have for sparrows has aroused the curiosity of many people, but no obvious reason hitherto seems to have suggested itself. An observant citizen of the Square, Palmerston North, says the Manawatu “Times,” solved the mystery when he closely watched a perky little sparrow flit from car to car and pick small flies from the cooling screen in the front of the vehicle, the small apertures provide a splendid trap for the flies and the sparrows have apparently realised the value of such a medium for collecting provender without needless exertion.

Approximately 200 farmers in all parts of Southland received free samples from the Department of Agriculture this season of a quarter of a pound of the imported variety of swede seed known as Herning’s for trial purposes in clubroot control (states the “Times ). This variety has been found to resist the ravages of clubroot very strongly, unci has been sown on badly infested clubroot country by the farmers receiving samples in alternate rows with the main crop seed. The results of this trial will be awaited with much interest, as the disease has caused tremendous losses to farmers in Southland' during recent seasons.

Anyone coming over to Canterbury from 'the West Coast at the present time is struck by the amazing contrast in the colour of the two landscapes (says the Christchurch “Times”). The Coast is beautifully green and fresh looking. As soon as the train traveller gets over Arthur’s Pass and begins to drop down on to the plains he is in a different climate entirely, the prevailing tone of the countryside being tawny. The grass is quite dried up in most fields, the cereal crops are turning colour, and even where there are plantations the foliage of the exotics is much darker and drier looking than the varied greens of the New Zealand rain forest, seen at its best on the West Coast, that catches every drop of moisture coming in from the Tasman Sea. Along the railway line men have been burning off the grass, dry as tinder, in order to foiestall it catching fire accidentally from an engine spark and probably doing a great deal of damage. The blackened, sides of the railway track emphasise the fact that Canterbury’s summer is a very different thing from that of the West Coast. 1

Though members of the Unemployment Committee and other citizens are devoting an enormous amount of time to the endeavour to assist the more unfortunate members of the community to find jobs, there are many cases in which the men who are aided speedily prove themselves unworthy and, unfortunately this tells against the deserving cases (states the Blenheim “Express ). As an instance, on Saturday Mr E. F. Healy, M.P., secured a nice light job near Canvastown for one of the Blenheim men who has been out of work for some time. Mr Healy guaranteed his fare on the service car and the man set out, full of gratitude. He arrived at his destination, however, so full of beer that he had to be carried out of the service car. His prospective employer—a lady—would have none of him, of course, and he is back on the list ot Blenheim unemployed this morning, while Mr Healy is out of pocket for his car fare. In another case a man who was out of work applied at a Blenheim hotel for a free meal. He was admitted to the dining room and treated precisely as if he had been a paying guest, A waitress placed the menu before him and he curled his lip in scorn. “Pooh !” said he. “Only one soup!” Chronic Constipation, Rheumatism and poor blood circulation troubled a resident of Lyttelton for many years until a friend told him about Dr. Don’s Granules—a physician’s prescription for purifying the poisoned blood system. 1/6 box.—R. W. Martin, Chemist. Ask for Free Samples.* Biliousness ! A Dr. Don’s Granule after dinner is the remedy.—Hodgson’s Stores, Wakefield, Motupiko and Murchison.* Constipation, the health thief, is positively overcome by taking Lubrolax, a combination of Pure Paraffin and Japanese Seaweed.—Noes, Chemist, Hardy-st.* As alluring as mystery—with a strange charm unknown till now—that’s Petite Bleue Perfume. Godet’s latest creation. W. McKay and Sons, Ltd.*

The waterside workers’ picnic was held at Brightwater to-clay. A special train left the Port at 8 o’clock this morning. Unfortunately the rain which commenced later in the morning spoilt their holiday. As a result of urgent requests on the part of his constituents, Mr A. M. Samuel, M.P. for Thames, has agreed to reverse his decision not to recontest the Thames seat at the next general election. Deputations of electors asking him to reconsider his earlier decision waited upon Mr Samuel at Thames and Paeroa last week, and in addition he has been inundated with similar appeals from individual electors. Mr Samuel has now made the following reply to Mr H. Lowe, who headed the deputation at Thames: —“Since making my announcement my health has improved very much and I feel that the trip to the Old Land will bring about a complete restoration. Under the circumstances I have decided to accede to the request and to the wishes of my many friends, and have much pleasure in informing you that I have definitely decided to be a candidate for the seat at tile next election.' During my absence the Thames electorate will not be neglected, as Mr A. W. Hall. M.P. for Hauraki, has kindly offered to act in my stead. He will be only too glad to attend to the requirements of anv of my constituents.” Mr Samuel will leave bv the Rangitiki on 31st January.

Under the Apprenticeship Amendment Act, which has been in force since the beginning of the month, several changes are made in the law governing apprenticeship,. Every employer is required to notify the district registrar, within three clays after engaging an apprentice, and apprenticeships contracts must be registered within 14 days after their commencement. Similarly, the termination of a contract or the discharge or transfer of an apprentice must- be reported to the registrar within 14 days. In case of a bankruptcy or the winding-up of a company, an apprentice, and apprenticeship conof the Court for the payment of not more than three months’ wages for time lost between the termination of one employment and the beginning of another. If an apprentice is guilty of misconduct or serious incapacity he may be suspended by his employer and an applica : tion made to the Court for authority to discharge him.

It would appear that the value of the £1 Australian bank note is worth in New Zealand to-day a trifle over 18s. If local banks take them from the general public, the return is 18s 2d for every £l. Australian bank notes are issued solely by the Commonwealth Bank. Australian banks operating |n New Zealand issue their own notes in the Dominion, and these are worth their full twenty shillings in the pound. Mr G. McKay Hunter, of Parere street, has just patented a telescope step ladder which is designed to take the place of three ladders of different height. Closed, the height is five feet, and extended it is just over eight feet. An additional feature is that the legs can be adjusted for work on hillside or rough country. In a recent issue of the “Entomologists’ Monthly Magazine,” Mr E. S. West records the capture of two examples of the common and destructive butterfly, pieris rapae, in New Zealand. They were taken in Napier, Hawkes Bay, and the record (says the writer of the paragraph) is one of considerable importance Under a new and highly favourable environment, there is a possibility of the insect establishing itself and becoming as great a pest as in Europe and North America, Doubtless the Department of Agriculture and the Cawthron Institute will take any steps desirable to ascertain whether .the species has secured a footing or not, and will give advice as to any repression measures, should such prove necessary. The two examples recorded may prove to be merely odd specimens from a small batch that possibly got introduced in the egg stage. It is not unlikely that eggs of this species were present on cruciferous vegetables in cold store on steamers plying between New Zealand and Honolulu or Northern America, where this insect is common. On reaching a New Zealand port, vegetable debris discarded from steamers might provide the means of entry of the insect in question. Pieris rapae, it may be added, has so far been unknown in Australasia. It became established in the Hawaiian Islands less than thirty years ago, where it most likely got introduced from California on cabbages or allied vegetables.