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Otago Daily Times
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Dancing of unusual merit
Norma Douglas, of Oamaru, winner of sword dance, Irish jig and Austin memorial cup at the Dunedin piping and dancing competitions. — Otago Witness, 7.7.1925 What I said . . . The championship competitions of the Otago Centre of the Piping and Dancing Association of New Zealand were continued yesterday morning and afternoon. At both sessions the audience was treated to good displays of these picturesque Highland dances. Dancing of unusual merit was witnessed and successful competitors were treated to hearty applause . To the editor: Sir, In a local in this morning's Otago Daily Times in reference to additional Sunday trains, I am reported to have said that the Port Chalmers railway workmen did not like the proposed additional Sunday work. What I did say was of a more general nature "that the New Zealand working men generally did not like the additional Sunday labour." — I am, etc, J.M. Simpson Scrum feed tweaked London, April 21: The small committee of experts set up by the Rugby Union to endeavour to devise some means of improving the method of getting the ball into the scrummage has quickly got to work. Two matches — between Birkenhead Park and Leicester, and Bristol and Bath — were made the subject of an interesting experiment last Saturday. The halfbacks in these games were instructed to put the ball in the scrummages with a double hand movement, so that it fell just outside the entrance and bounded in. The result was that when the experiment was properly executed the ball bounded over the out-stretched legs of the two nearest forwards. Under the old system the tendency is for the ball to strike their legs and to rebound to the halfback. Result: another attempt — sometimes half a dozen other attempts and general exasperation. The somewhat unaccustomed propelling, rather than throwing, movement baffled the halfbacks at the Birkenhead Park match on several occasions, but in the opinion of experts practice will soon remedy that failing. There was one spell when the halfbacks could not master the new throw, so Mr Freethy, the international referee, had a try. He, too, failed. After the match, Mr Freethy was invited to express his opinion on the experiment. He replied that he considered it had been a decided success. If persevered with, he thought it would go a long way towards removing a great source of trouble. "I believe it will show forwards that the only way to get the ball in future will be by honest shoving." he added. "In that sense there will be a return to the days when genuine scrummaging was a decided asset." "What effect will that have upon the modern winging forward?" Mr Freethy was asked. "His days are numbered," was the reply. Passengers on the line Exceptionally heavy traffic was responsible for the through express from Invercargill arriving at Dunedin nearly an hour later than schedule time yesterday. The train left Invercargill six minutes late, and so heavy was the traffic that additional carriages had to be added at several stations on the run north. Time was lost all along the line, and the express was 25min late in arriving at Balclutha. Milton was left at 11.5am, and the train, consisting of 17 well-filled coaches and two vans, made the run to Dunedin in 58min. This included a stop of about seven minutes at Wingatui, where over 350 passengers (southern race visitors) alighted. When the express arrived at the Dunedin platform at 12.3pm about 350 passengers were distributed among the 17 carriages. A large number of travellers joined the train here and the northward journey was resumed shortly before 12.30 — over an hour late. Wild West in the Catlins During the course of her address at the annual meeting of the Otago and Southland Auxiliary of the New Zealand Baptist Union last night, Mrs Ford, who carries on the work of the Baptist Church at Tahakopa, said she was sorry to say that drinking and gambling were rife in that district. She stated that whisky was sold almost as openly as cordials, and £1 per bottle was being paid for it. As far as gambling was concerned she admitted that her district was not alone in that respect. The behaviour of the people was much different to what it was when she first went down, and no larrikinism was now evident. She concluded by saying they would have to keep their eyes open and bring to justice those who violated the laws. — ODT, 4.6.1925 Compiled by Peter Dowden
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Murder a WW1 loose end
Cyril Cromar, a New Zealand soldier murdered in the German city of Cologne in 1919. — Otago Witness, 4.8.1925 An echo of the war which principally affects Dunedin has now reached finality. It's a hard life The matter is that of the murder of Private Cyril Cromar, of the 1st Otago Infantry Battalion, by a German on the banks of the Rhine in 1919. Mr W.O. Clark, of Dunedin was in company with the deceased and two young women, Clark being on one seat with his friend and Cromar some 100 yards away on another seat with his friend. Suddenly several German larrikins came on the scene and surrounded Cromar and behaved in a threatening manner. At that moment Clark ran up and, just before he reached Cromar, a shot was fired, and the latter fell dead. The German police assisted the military police and five of the assailants were arrested and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. One man escaped, and it was not until early last year while alighting from the Berlin express at Cologne that a German detective recognised the man. He was arrested and brought before the court and remanded. As the Army Council decided that Mr Clark's evidence was essential, the New Zealand Government was communicated with and, as a result, Mr Clark was requested to go to Cologne as a witness at the trial of Fram Swaboda, which will take place when Mr Clark reaches Cologne. It is understood that Swaboda is to be represented at the trial by Dr Steiner, a leading German counsel. Mr Clark would depart aboard the Corinthic at Wellington on June 11 and would therefore leave Dunedin on Tuesday next. Have you ever, or never, sat uncomfortably in church, with a sensation that the posterior bones and the naked wood of the pew were too closely combined? Have you shifted uneasily, trying hard to keep mind and ear attentive to prayer and praise and discourse? Well, if the answer is in the affirmative, as conscientiously it surely must be, think of Heaven. You sing of Jerusalem the Golden, and of the special place reserved for you — and you dream with lazy religiosity of harps and jasper pavements and golden crowns and cushy seats. — by 'Wayfarer' Throwing a wobbly It is not clear why Mr Holland, as leader of the official Labour Party, thought it necessary or politic to champion the cause of the revolutionary firebrand against whom the Attorney-General, exercising statutory powers, has thought right to issue an order of deportation. He cannot be in agreement with the wild doctrines expounded by the undesirable visitor in the interests of IWW propagandism. From him, however, the seamen's and waterside workers' organisations in Wellington have apparently taken their cue, and they have passed resolutions of protest against the issue of an order of deportation. "The constitution I believe in is that of the IWW, and if we study it a bit more and allow some of these so-called foreigners to come in and help us, we shall probably make this country a little better than it is to-day"; such is the mildest profession of faith of the man who is to be deported, and it was preceded by more extravagant utterances. Sir Francis Bell has pointed out that it is not unlawful or seditious to advocate the wildest forms of Socialism or Communism; "what is unlawful and seditious is to advocate murder and violence as legitimate methods for the attainment of political ends." — editorial Not on a Sunday At a meeting of the Dunedin Presbytery yesterday morning the Rev J. McCosh (East Taieri) reported that, as there were rumours that a Sunday train service would be instituted from Dunedin to Mosgiel, a petition was being circulated and was receiving strong support from all the Protestant churches in Mosgiel and the surrounding country. A very large number of residents of the district had signed the petition urging the Railway Department not to commence services on Sundays and, if it had no effect locally, it was intended to send a deputation to place the petition before the Minister of Railways in Wellington. The Moderator (the Rev W. Simpson) said that the matter was already before the Public Questions Committee. He had been informed that the Port Chalmers railwaymen did not like working on Sundays. The Presbytery approved of the action of the Mosgiel churches. — ODT, 3.6.1925 (Compiled by Peter Dowden)
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
A&P show radiates energy
Hon William Nosworthy opens the Otago A and P Society's 1925 Winter Show in Dunedin. — Otago Witness, 9.6.1925 Once again Winter Show Week has been auspiciously ushered in, and the community cannot but respond to the stimulus of its quickening influences. It may be said with accuracy that Winter Show Week is like no other of the fifty-two that comprise the year. It has an atmosphere of its own and is the more welcome because it introduces an agreeable break in the monotony of the season of short days and low temperatures and brings brightness and bustle in its train at a time when most people are in the mood to appreciate a variation of the normal routine. Only the dullard can fail to be alive to the acceleration of the city's activities which Winter Show Week introduces. The Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Society's Show becomes at this time a radiating centre of energy and animation. Our visitors will of course have opportunity of judging for themselves of the promise of the forthcoming Exhibition from the magnitude of the buildings that are now erected and should find sufficient evidence during the present week of the existence of a progressive and confident spirit in the principal city of Otago. There is much to see and much to do in Dunedin within the pleasant limits of Winter Show Week, and in all manner of re-unions, gatherings and conferences, agreeable scope for the sociability which is the indispensable lubricant of the whole machinery of the Fair. — editorial Licensed premises The annual meeting of the Dunedin Licensing Committee was held in the courthouse yesterday afternoon. New licenses to old houses were granted as follows: Crown Hotel (William Ernest Metcalf), Carlton Hotel (John Richardson), Provincial (Cecil Henry Street), Bowling Green (Frederick William Rudkin), Rugby (William James Bevis), Criterion (Angus Murray McIvor), Oban (Fred Griffiths Paape), Gridiron (Alfred Walter Brown). A well-dressed woman "What had she on?" is my inevitable query on hearing my husband express the opinion that Mrs Smith or Brown was the best-dressed woman there ("there," by the way, meaning some function or other). The also inevitable answer is — " Well, er, you know what women wear; all the same, she knows what suits her, and how to dress herself." At times, I must own, I feel a wee bit jealous of the Mrs Smiths and Browns, who have the cleverness to arouse such expressions of admiration from other people's husbands. She knows what suits herself. It sounds so extraordinarily simple, doesn't it? Yet how many of us women can claim that distinction? To know how to dress ourselves becomingly and attractively is an art. But the majority of us appear to consider that what proves becoming to another person must in some inexplicable way assuredly be as becoming to ourselves. It is possible not to be out of the fashion, and yet to have a distinct style of one's own. A woman's clothes should undoubtedly express her personality. Voluble 'wobbly' in NZ Lyons, the young and voluble IWW sailor whose deportation is sought for, intends to defy the authorities. He states that he does not wish to leave New Zealand. He likes the people and he wishes to work here. Whether or not the people of New Zealand like Mr Lyons remains to be seen. They showed no very warm enthusiasm for him or his cause at the Sunday evening meeting which he addressed here. "They want to deport me," he told his audience, "But if you people get together, I say they will not dare to deport me." Lyons openly and exultantly declared that he was a member of the IWW. — ODT, 2.6.1925 (Compiled by Peter Dowden)
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Otago Daily Times
Canada to exhibit
A building frame awaits cladding at the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition construction site on Logan Park. — Otago Witness, 19.5.1925 The cow with the crumpled horn The Canadian Government will accept the invitation to be represented at the New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition. It will participate the same as at Wembley, providing the Canadian manufacturers like advantage of the opportunity offered to show goods. The department of Immigration and Colonisation promises that if the Canadian manufacturers and exporters respond to the invitation a general information bureau will be established with office space for the officials in charge in addition to the accommodation for exhibitors. It is expected that the Canadian Manufacturers' Association will make an announcement shortly. A motorist was proceeding along a country road near Oamaru when he collided with a cow that was lying on the thoroughfare. One of the horns of the cow penetrated the radiator of the car, and was broken off. The cow got up and shook herself, and appeared to be little the worse for her adventure. The car had to be taken to a garage to have the horn removed. 16km walk to support Plunket An instance of very real appreciation of the work of the Plunket nurse came under the notice of the Plunket meeting at Weston. There was present a mother who had walked five miles, pushing before her a pram containing a beautiful healthy infant 15 months old. She had to walk the return journey and, at the end of it, set to work to milk cows. She said she owed the health of her child to Plunket Nurse Stephenson and she felt it was the least she could do to attend the meeting to show her sympathy and appreciation. Such gratitude as this is a great incentive to a nurse making her feel that there is no work more worth while than hers. It gaits a bit to the left, mate With the introduction of four-wheel braking systems, which bid fair to become somewhere akin to standard practice in modern car design, there has arisen the necessity for more satisfactory means of making adjustments. In the case of front wheel brakes, there is a condition which calls for most careful design and construction to ensure equal braking on both wheels, otherwise steering troubles will be set up and the safety of the vehicle will be endangered. There is, in many designs of front brake gear, the grave possibility of upsetting the balance of the braking or retarding force and so making the system dangerous by reason of severely straining the steering arrangements. Poppy money to employ diggers The Reserves Committee of the City Council will propose the under-mentioned allocation of expenditure of Poppy Day funds raised by the Dunedin Returned Soldiers' Association: Anzac square filling-in, rolling, sowing and laying down plot, £50. Rhododendron Dell trenching, clearing and extending of previous work, £100. Bathgate Park excavation for tennis courts, £80. Maori Hill extension of tennis courts and playing grounds, £25. Leith Gardens extension of shrubbery, clearing etc, £80. In addition to the above, the council has also available £100 for the Rhododendron Dell work and £25 of garden fete money for work at Maori Hill. Returned soldiers only will be employed on these operations, commencement being made at once. — ODT, 1.6.1925 Compiled by Peter Dowden
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Reel heavy load
Steam traction engines haul a drum of replacement cable up Rattray St to the Roslyn cable car winding station in Kaikorai Valley (now occupied by DCC housing on the corner of Frasers Rd). Otago Witness, 9.6.1925 COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR A large cylinder, containing about 17 tons of wire rope for the Roslyn cable car service, drawn by two traction engines, held up traffic for some time yesterday whilst being taken from the Victoria wharf to the Roslyn tramway power-house. The cylinder was landed from the steamer West Nilus during the morning. It was conveyed up Rattray and then Maclaggan streets, arriving at its destination without any mishap, although at times it did not appear to be riding too steadily. Perceptions of Jesus It is strange how time reverses the judgments of men. To-day Jesus Christ is referred to as a religious genius, the founder of Christianity. But in His own day it was otherwise. Then He was accounted anything but a religious man. The vocabulary was stretched to find words biting enough and blistering enough wherewith to label him. Truly, He was not a pious man judged by the religious standards of his day. He was a rebel. He stood out against the priesthood and sacerdotalism and paid the penalty for so doing. Mark you, He set up no rival organisation. What he did was to introduce a new spirit into the dry bleached bones of religion. It was for that that He suffered at the hands of men. - by Rev D. Gardner Miller Finest granulated beef fat Thousands of housewives throughout the dominion have found in ''Shreddo'' just what they required - a clean, pure, and wholesome suet that keeps indefinitely, is very economical, and which gives far better results than suet ''in the rough.'' ''Shreddo'' is the purest of selected New Zealand Beef Suet, with all the tissue and other waste matter removed. '' Shreddo'' pours from the packet, ready for use - no cleaning, grating, or chopping up. Packed in parchment-lined 1-pound packets, and obtainable from all grocers. Send three penny stamps for generous Free Sample. Mountain cabbage for indoors Among the New Zealand plants that are occasionally met with in England by residents of the dominion when paying a visit is Cordyline indivisa, that very fine species of our cordyline. We have not seen it grown for purposes of indoor decoration in New Zealand, but Colin Ruse, of the Hyde Gardens, near Luton, writes: ''Cordyline indivisa is one of the most useful indoor foliage plants, and is most effective and serviceable for many purposes of decoration in the dwelling-room, whilst large specimens are useful for a variety of purposes in the garden during the summer; also for standing on terraces, for furnishing vases, and many other positions where specimen foliage plants are required.'' Seal for Mt Cargill Rd Considerable activity is now being displayed on the Main North road between Waitati and Dunedin, where the Highways Board has made a start with the reconstruction work. About 50 men are employed, and a large quarry has been opened about a quarter of a mile below the water trough on the Waitati side. About 25 men are engaged on the Waitati side clearing the water tables and felling the bush and gorse. A blacksmith's shop and a hut have been erected, and a crusher is being placed in position. Surveyors are also at work on the road. It is the intention of the Highways Board to regrade the road, build it up with 4 inches of metal, and to bitumenise it from Dunedin to Waitati. - ODT, 30.5.1925 - Compiled by Peter Dowden
