HERE AND THERE IN NEW ZEALAND

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 306, 10 December 1936, Page 7

HERE AND THERE IN NEW ZEALAND

GLEANINGS OF DOMINION NEWS.

Constitutional Crisis. The very real interest taken by' the Dominions in the constitutional crisis in Rugland may bo gauged from the brief remark by Air J. M. X A. lloit, of Wellington, who returned from Melbourne and Sydney by the Awa'ea recently. The general public in Australia have been disturbed by the developments, and Mr Hott said the main feeling was one of consternation and very deep regret. Father’s Sermon Heard In Aeroplane. One hundred miles away, flying towards Kaikoura, Mr E. 11. s. Hamilton, of Christchurch, was able, by means of radio, to listen to a sermon preached by his father, Canon Staples Hamilton, at Sunday morning’s service at St. Mary’s, Merivale. Mr Hamilton, who is chairman of directors of the Hume (Cobb River) Electric Power Company, was returning from Nelson in the Canterbury Aero Club’s Monospar, with Mr J. J Busch as pilot, Mr R. A. Campbell, a director of the company, and Mr A 0. Wilkinson, secretary of the company. Mr Wilkinson took the earphones, and after listening for some time to a preacher whom he did not knew, he banded them over to Mr Hamilton, who was amazed to hear the voice of his own father. The aeroplane was approaching Kaikoura at the time.

Place For Politics. The destiny of this country is in the keeping of the people, and one would not be true to it if one let political differences cause stagna- i lion,” said the Hon. R. Semple (Min-' ister for Public Works) at the turning of the first sod on the Hume (Cobb River) Electric Power Company’s hydro-electric scheme at Stoke on Saturday. “In Parliament.” | he said, “no one is spared. I spare! no one when I have the gloves on; Ihave a fair dinkum ding-dong go, but out of Parliament all are good i friends. There is no man living or i dead who has written the last word < on political economy, and if there is ! one who .thinks lie has, the sooner [ he is dead the better, The world is ■ g changing institution with nothing I constant; we evolve, and it is that | evolving that has made civilisation possible. It is the man who is j sneered at one day and possibly i hooted who has been appreciated the next day.” ’ i

Betel-Chewing. The betel-chewing habit of the natives of parts of Klelansia is recalled by the recent presentation to the Auckland War Memorial Museum by Mr A. W. B. Powell of a bamboo lime box from the Solomon Islands. Betel-chewing is a custom in Northern Melansia, just as kava-drinking is in the south and in Polynesia. It has been noticed that the habit has gradually spread southwards, and is now practised, as far down as Santa Cruz. The reason for this seems to be of the greater convenience oO bet(i,'-chewing. Kava-drinking is often a ceremonial affair, and the beverage takes some time in preparation. The betel-chewer, however, carries his materials about with him, as a white man carries his pipe, tobacco and matches. The bamboo box at the museum was once used to contain lime—for this, mixed with areca nut and the leaf of the betel pepper tree, becomes the native’s “chew.” It has the effect of a mild stimulant. / A Bait For Motorists. Motorists will be interested in unusual prosecutions taken before Mr S. L. Paterson, S.M., at the Morrinsville Magistrate’s Court (states an exchange). Eight youths and men ranging up to 34 years of age were charged with placing motor tyres upon the main highway, whereby life and limb was likely to be endangered. Each defendant was convicted and ordered to pay costs, Totalling 12/-. A constable explained .that it was the custom of the “practical jokers” to place a ty’re or parcel on the road, with a string attached. Vehicles passing by would stop, and ■the drivers would go back. Jn the meantime the tyre or parcel would be pulled back by the bolder of the suing. Recently such incidents had become rather frequent, and large truck tyres had been placed on the road. Vehicles were in danger of running over the bank while swerving past the tyre.s placed in the middle of the road. These practical jokes had been played just after dark, and the tyres were placed on bends and not on straight pieces of road, so that drivers had to go round the bends before pulling up to investigate.

Outsize In Hens’ Eggs. | A hen’s egg of unusua k ’ si.ze was j laid in a Wellington fowlhouse this week. Weighing over three ounces. ;it is well shaped ami shelled. It is I nearly three inches long, and meai sures almost two inches at its widi est diameter. i i Libraries Conference. ; The biennial conference of the I New Zealand Library Association is to be held in Welling'.on this summer. The conference is to sit from February 16 to IS in the social hall at Parliamentary Buildings. A Real Wellingtonian. “I am amazed at the way people have taken me to their hearts and made me their friend,” said Bishop Holland in an address to the British and Foreign Bible Society recently. ‘‘Already 1 begin to feel I am a Wellingtonian myself. At any rate, 1 have already had my hat blown off,” he said amid laughter. Killing Noxious Weeds. The demand for sodium chloride for the destruction of noxious weeds, particularly' Californian thistle, in the Ashburton county has increased so much that the Ashburton County Council has decided to purchase a further quantity of five tons of the weed killer, states the Christchurch

i “Press.” Mr J. Carr, at the last meeting of the council, urged that i everv encouragement should be i I given to farmers to destroy the I weeds. He instanced the growth of | Californian thistle in the Rakaia I river-bed at Mount Hutt, where the [ winds spread the seeds over the i whole countryside. Slow Motorists Criticised. Motorists who persist in driving slowly, frequently holding up lines of vehicles, were referred to by Mr J. > 11. Luxford, S.M., in the Magistrate’s i Court, Wellington, as a menace. The j magistrate commented on the num- ' her of people who persist in this practice on roads on which it is difficult to overtake traffic. It frequently happened, he said, that motorists driving at about 20 miles an hour hold up eight to 10 cars. Human nature being what it was, motorists were apt to take risks that they should not take. There was no excuse for it. Falling Birth-rate. A reversion to the old idea of reproduction of the was a necessity, said Mr 11. F. von Haast, of Wellington, pro-Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, on his iGfrtirn from a trip abroad. In Mr von Haast’s opinion the falling- birth rate, not merely in the British Empire, but in almost all European countries, compared with the fertility of the East—even if it is now at its peak in the East and likely to join in the general tendency to fall—must | give every thinker who takes a long | view great anxiety for the future. This applied not only to isolated countries like Australia and New Zealand, but io the European races generally.

Business Connections Improved. { The reduction of the time lost by I business men in travelling from New j Zealand to Australia by the speed of i the Awatea and the telephone conj nections aboard was commented upon j by Mr C. J. B. Norwood, who has recently returned from Australia. “The means now of connection between Australia and New Zealand since the advent of the Awatea must bring the two Dominions into more close association,” he said. “One i can travel in the greatest luxury, and i use up so little business time with telephone connections to .both ’ends This is of the greatest value to 'business men both in Australia and New I Zealand.” I A Record Cargo. j Bringing tiie largest, amount of i cargo ever shipped to the port, the ■ Shaw, Savill, and Albion liner Akaroa arrived at Wellington from Southampton on Saturday morning. Iler cargo of 7200 tons included 100 tons of machinery for the Evans Bay power station, the second consigni ment of material for the extension | of the municipal electricity generatI ing station. The work of erecting this machinery will occupy' several months, but it is expected to be available next winter. The machinery will probably be unloaded • about the middle of this week. The ! largest of the 0!) cases of machinery contains a generator and measures j 13ft long and Sft Gin square, weighing 28 tons 15cwt, and this will be the most difficult parcel to handle.