NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 13, 7 September 1931, Page 2

NEAR AND FAR

Motorists' Camp. - A camp for motorists is to be established in the Tongariro National Park On a site at the southern side of "the new road between the Chateau and Scoria Flat, about 600 yards ahove the .old Whakapapa Huts. The area will be ready in time for Christmas touring. Wool Results The results to wool producers from wool sold in the Australian and New Zealand markets for the year ended June 30, 1931, are discussed in Dalgety's annual Wool Raview. The Australian and New Zealand wool cheque of £31,204,332 showed a falling oif of £7,8^0,627, compared with the previous season, a reduction of £38,135,106 compared with two seasons ago, and a decrease of £42,763,.530 compared with three seasons ago. The point reached was the lowest since 1920-21. Garratt Locomotives. The three Garratt locomotives which were imported into New Zealand three years ago for heavy goods haulage have not so far shown any great improvement in mechanical* reliability, according to the Minister for Railways (the Hon. W. A. Veitch) in his Railway Statement. "Since the end of the financial year it has been seen that the modifications made to two of these engines have made them fit for regular service," he states. "Previously the main service of trouble in operation has been their mechancal unreliability under service conditions. The capital cost of these engines was in each case £18,143 (includiiig £674 cost of raising loan). Modifications and repairs to these engines have cost £4500 to date." Telephone Directories. "As a measure of economy it has been decided to issufc telephone directories yearly instead of every six months," states the annual report of the Post and Telegraph Departmerit, which was presented to Parliament last evening. The report adds:— "It is estimated that a saving of between £5000 and £6000 per annum will result from this alteration. Under the new arrangement lists af additions and other amendments to directories will be issued to subscribers six month after each directory is distributed."

Foreign Students. A New Zealander, just returned from Europe, says that we may have a growing number of foreign students coming here in the future if we go about it in the right way. After all, losing our own students on mountain tops is a first step in the right way. Samoan Perfumes. Dr. John R. Hosking, who has been hUSamoa for some months, will return shortly to New Zealand after having sperit an interesting and it is believed profitable time in those islands. At the instigation of the Department of Scientifie and Industrial Research he has been engaged in distilling plants and flowers found in Samoa with a view to extracting oils for perfumes and essences. He has been suucessful in obtaining some i promising material, which has been sent to manufacturers of scents in Europe. Similar work on other Paeifie Islands has resulted in much profit to those coneerned, and it is thought that quite posibly the luxu- i riant tropical vegeation of Samoa can j be turned to good account. "Old Coppers." Relief workers in a certain area in Auckland have hit upon a happy idea to keep the home fire burning on cold nights. Any odd pennies they have are subscribed to a pool, and once each week the pool is drawn and the lucky winners each reeeive a bag of coal for their pennies. One day last week there were sufficient coppers subscribed to purchase seven bags.

Born But Not Made. Now that Sir Hall Caine is dead it is revealed that it was his ambition to become an architect. This same ambition was also shared by Thomas Hardy. In neither case was it realised. Writers may be born, not made, but it takes half a lifetime bef°re many of them realise the fact. The number of cobbler writers and poets is legion. Rtfbert Bloomfield, the author of "The Farrrmv's Rmr »

was a cobbler. William Gifford, the first editor of the "Quarterly Review, ' and author of those famous satirical poems "Baviad" and Maeviad," was a cobbler. Samuel Drew was a cobbler; Elihu Burritt was a eobbler turned blacksmith. Borrowed Books. The prize -offered for a word that would best express the contempt in which the forgetful borrower of books should he held has been awarded to an American. His word is "Booksneaf." It has a contemptuous sound, but whether it will lessen booksneafery is questionable.

Worth While. Comparison between top-dressed and untreated pastures can now be made in southern Hawke's Bay (says the Dannevirke Evening News). Paddocks that have been given fertiliser are now a picture of greenness, with an encouraging early growth, while grass that has had no artificial stimulant is yellow and poor and as yet unresponsive to the turn of the year. If present appearance is any indication, top-dressing at the right time undoubtedly pays. Ship Telephoiies. A pasenger in the "Empress of Britain ' can reach for the telephone at his. bedside when he awakes in the morning and telephone his office — no matter whether the office is in Europe or in the United States. Rapid communication is available between the ship and any eountry — and eonsequently any subscriber in that eountry — in Europe and Northern America. Merely a Twinge. According to Dr. S. Henderson, direetor of the Geologieal Survey, who gave an address at the Dominion Museum recently, the Hawke's Bay earthquake' disaster was not an isolated phenonomenon, but merely a twinge in the growing pains of New Zealand. Although no definite conclusion , could be reached, he said, it appeared that the Kaikoura-Spenser Mountains and ■ the Taupo-Rotorua districts were among the most unstable parts of New Zealand. ' -r -J