Old Maps on View.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 August 1938, Page 4

Old Maps on View.

Three ancient maps are at present on view in the Hawke’s- Bay Art Gallery and Museum. One dated 1680 deals with the Indian Ocean and the mariner’s view of it as it then appeared. A map of the world dated 1720 shows part of the east coast of New Zealand, or Zelandia Nova, as it was then known. The third is an undated map of the East Indies. “Defence Week” in City.

The possibility of holding a “defence week” in Christchurch to encourage recruiting is at present being considered by the defence committee of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. Advice of this was given to a meeting of the council of the chamber by Mr H. C. Hurst, who reviewed the work of the committee in the last month, making special reference to the success achieved in recruiting at the recent meeting of employees of business houses. The results so far were most encouraging, he said, and the authorities were pleased at the response that had been made. A “defence week” in Dunedin had proved most successful, it was said. Shy Doctors.

A hope that the shyness of medical men in addressing the general public would be gradually overcome was expressed by Mr Frank Macky, chairman of the Auckland branch of the British Medical Association, at a lecture in the University College Hall. Doctors, Mr Macky said, were in the habit of speaking only when spoken to, keeping modestly in the background, and not obtruding their opinions. He hoped that this tendency would cease by degrees, and he was sure that some members of the profession, if they could be persuaded, would be able to impart really valuable information. War Abhorred.

The experience of meeting a teacher of English in a school for girls in Berlin who had fought in the German Army in the same sector as he in the Great War was described by Mr J. F. Wells, headmaster of the Kowhai Intermediate School, who recently returned to the Dominion. “The teacher took me into his class, and I explained the situation to the girls—how the German and I had fought against each other,” Mr Wells said. “I asked the class if we looked like enemies and if it were right that we should have tried to murder each other. The class thought it was a shocking thing. This was a rather touching scene in a country which was talking war. The children were sympathetic, and in Germany they are the same as in the rest of the world.” Humorous Broadcasts.

The lack of humour suitable for broadcasting was mentioned by the Director of Broadcasting (Professor James Shelley) in an interview in Invercargill. He said that his department was ever on the search for humour for broadcasting, but the amount available was extremely small. This might seem strange in view of the amount of humour to be heard in the theatre, but it had been found that the solitary listener was more difficult to amuse than the same person in a big audience at th.e theatre. Listeners were much me. a critical of humour than theatre audiences, and showed a great variation in taste. Completely opposite opinions were frequently expressed about comedy items broadcast.