NEWS OF THE DAY.

Sale of Meat.

The Industries and Commerce Committee of the House reported yesterday that -it pad no recommendation to make on the petition of Thorpe and Son, of Oneliunga, and -7 others, for the establishment of fair tiading conditions for the sale of meat.

New Plunket Rooms. The new rooms erected for the Thames Plunket -Society on the borough reserve in Queen Street, facing Sealey Street, are almost completed, and the official opening ceremony will take place on Saturday afternoon, December 9. .Visitors will subsequently be entertained at an "At Home" in the Masonic Hall, Mackay Street. A Good Effort. \t the recent queen carnival effort in Palmerston North and district, to raise funds for the relief of distress, the sports committee conducted a competition, - the prize for which was a trip to Sydney. The winner was a Wellington resident. A survey of the expenditure indicated that there will be a balance of over £1750 to hand over to the relief committee. Unusual Accident. While on his way home from work with a screw-driver in his hip pocket, a New Plymouth electrician, Mr. L. Roberts, met with an accident which threw him from the bicycle lie was riding. In his fall the screw-driver penetrated his back and inflicted a serious wound, which necessitated his removal to hospital. His condition is regarded a-3 satisfaci tory. Sale of Health Stamps. The health stamps for the children s I camping season have been on sale at all the post offices since November 8. The returns for the first fortnight show that in the contest between the Wellington Children's Health Camp Association an I the Auckland Community Sunshine Association Wellington is at present leading. The figures are:—Auckland: First week, 5903 stamps sold; second week, 5356. Wellington: First week, C7OG; second week, 9016. Studying the Public.

"A telegraph message boy is detailed for duty on board the outgoing Vancouver mail steamers for the purpose of accepting letters and telegrams prior to the departure of the vessels from Auckland. It is considered that this arrangement will be appreciated by outgoing passengers." When this information was announced at the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, members expressed, their approval and commented that the Post and Telegraph Department should be commended for studying the public.

Romantic January and March. If, as it is popularly supposed to be, moonlight is a potent ally of Cupid, the latter may look forward to working overtime next year. The interesting fact was pointed out to a journalist by Captain F. W. Cox, harbourmaster at Greymouth, that two full moons will be on view in January next, one on the first of that month, and the other towards the end of the month. In February, however, there will be no full moon, but in March there will again be two full moons. It is calculated that ISJ years, or 235 lunations (or moons) \vill come and' go before there is again a similar happening—two full moons in one calendar month. A Senseless Trick. Some time between 5.30 and 6.30 on a recent Sunday evening, whilst the members of the St. Kilda life-saving team were away having tea, some individual with a perverted sense of humour, and apparently with nothing better to do, occupied his time by knotting the club's life line, which had been left standing' on the beach, into a tangle that eventually took nearly an hour and a half to unravel. When it is considered that the members of life-saving clubs give their services gratuitously to assist bathers who get into difficulties, and that a life line is required immediately an alarm is received, the mentality of the perpetrator of such a piece of stupid mischief is difficult to understand, for the line and the reel were left in such a condition that they would have been quite useless in an emergency. Deputy-Mayor's Prowess. When it was stated at a special ' meeting of the Cliristchurch City Council that a tenderer proposed to bring two workmen- from the North Island to assist in slaughtering operations, the deputy-Mayor, Mr. J. K. Archer, said that if,.they had not butchers in Canterbury who could dress" cattle and sheep as well as any butchers in New Zealand, then all the practical men in Canterbury should be ashamed of themselves, and he took up the challenge. He had dressed hundreds of bullocks in his time, he en id, and though he had not dressed one for 40 years, lie guaranteed he could still do it in workmanlike manner and without damaging the skin. It was jocularly suggested that Mr. Archer should put in a tender.

A Simple Native Remedy. That the Maoris have a good knowledge of simple remedies for bodily ailments was shown recently on a North Shore beach. An old, tattooed wahine was seen just above high-water mark collecting the little herrvlike globules which grow on some kinda t>f seaweed, and after she had got enough she sat down on the sand, and, opening her mouth, put one after another between her teeth, crushing them with a pop. and letting the juicy matter inside spray her throat. When asked why she did it, she said she had a sore throat, and that was the way the old Maoris cured a sore throat. They also applied juice to their ears when they had sore ears. A chemist who was bathing at the beach said the method of cure wa*i 011 sound lines. The globules would 'be full of iodine in a very pure state, as it was completely protected by the outer skin, just as the juice of a gooseberry of similar size was protected by the outer covering.

Passing of the Grand Jury, "Observer" writes:—An important change in the English judicial system, and one that may be ejected to liave an influence in all parts of tlie Empire, its the passing of tlie grand jury. When, at the end of August, 1!J "good men and true" were sworn in as grand jurors at the London Sessions, Sir Percival Clarke, chairman of the Bench, said they were tlie last in the country to perform this duty to the State. The grand jury had in the past formed one of the great bulwarks against oppression and persecution, said Sir Percival, but so great was British love of justice tliat over a long period of years Parliament had raised many protections against improper convictions, and th necessity for the grand jury's services had gradually diminished. "So plentiful were the barriers raised in defence of'an accused person against the Crown that it was surprising ' -M prisoners were convicted .at all," said Sir Percival. "I can recall cases in which a prisoner lias, with his special knowledge of tlie facts, confessed, and yet has been acquitted by the jury—not because his confession was untrue, but because it had been made in circumstances which rendered it inadmissible in evidence." The grand jury system is still firmly established in New Zealand, but the change may some day come to this country. At present, however, the senior panel remains an important feature of our Supreme Court procedure, and its duties are by no means merely formal. In England it has for years been it rarity for a bill to lie thrown out by the grand jury, but sm'li a happening is by no means uncommon in New Zealand.

The Maori's Speech. The purity in speech and inflection of the English-speaking Maori was strikingly m evidence at a concert given by the Rev. A. JSeamer's party in the Methodist Hall at Hamilton this week. Throughout the orations, many of which were lengthy and involved, the speakers showed 110 signs of hesitation, and spoke with a purity of diction that amply bore out the contention that the educated Maori speaks the best English in the world. More Than One New Plymouth. Despite the fact that fair Charles Kingsford Smith chose New Plymouth as the landing placc after his late trans-Tasman flight, and that Mr. C. T. P. Ulm has endorsed Sir Charles' opinion by himself deciding to land there, New Plymouth is not quite so prominent 011 the map of the world as some people might think. A letter from Ireland addressed to Mr. E. Cawthray, Devon Street, New Plymonth, first travelled to New York, then to New Plymouth (Ohio), on to New Plymouth (Idaho), before enterprising American postal authorities finally discovered the location of the rightful addressee. The letter spent about two months on its travels. Weather Variations.

The remarkable variation ifi the weather conditions in centres very close together is illustrated by figures for the rainfall in Auckland for the month of November, just past. The record registered at the official Government station at Albert Park shows a total of 2.48 in, with fourteen days of' rain, the maximum fall being '.92in 011 November 4. Mr. Frank Penn, of Benson Road, Remuera, reports that according to his private rain gauge the rainfall there —only about two mile«_ distant from Albert Park, as the crow flies was 3.90 in, nearly an inch and,a half more than in the city. At Remuera rain fell on fifteen days, with a maximum fall of l.Slin 011 November 4.

The Baby "Assists.** Most parents like to think that their children should take after them and assist them in such pursuits as gardening, but the imitative faculty of the very young sometimes leads for ifnlooked-for results. Father was very busy breaking in a new piece of ground in the garden, turning over the soil, and, as he did so, gathering up the weeds and throwing them into the wheelbarrow. Hie little daughter, aged IS months, who was busy assisting, sitting just where he was going to dig next, or eating liandfuls of earth, suddenly became very quiet and industrious. Looking round, he round that sho was helping him to fill the wheelbarrow, but instead of weeds had pulled up the lettuces planted the night before. Small Farm Development. Under instructions to .proceed to the Waitangaru small farm development scheme, a number of men from Auckland, Papakura, Pokeno and Ngaruawahia arrived in Te Kuiti on Wednesday. All were looking forward to securing small farms under the scheme. Most of them have had previous farming experience, and all are married men, some with large families, who are anxiously awaiting the-time when they can settle down together on the land. The work, of developing the farms is being carried out under the supervision of the Public Works Department. The Waitangaru small farm settlement lies 26 miles west of Te Kuiti by metalled road. The farms will each have an area of 100 acres. The land is bush country, suitable for dairying. Acts of Nit-wits.

Thoughtless misuse by adults of the paddling pool at St. Kilda (Duuedin) was commented upon by a member of the St. Kilda Beach Improvement Society recently. It seems that some persons are in the habit of taking their dogs to the pool to wash them, thus frightening away the small children for whom the pool was constructed. One day last week a man was seen to throw a bottle into the pond and then disappear, so an observer decided to wade in and recover it, but before lie could remove his shoes and socks he heard a yell from a small child who was paddling. Upon investigating, he found that the bottle had broken on the concrete bottoni of the pool, and the child had gashed his foot on a piece of the glass.

Auckland and the Railways. Fifty per cent of the railway revenue in the North Island comes from Auckland, and it .is cne-third of the whole revenue of the Dominion. The North Island revenue is nearly £3,000,000, and the Auckland Province provides £1,500,000 of that sum. Over half the passengers carried in the North Island are credited to the Auckland provincial district, and nearly one-third of the grand total of the New Zealand passenger traffic.] The province provides the Dominion with 50 per cent of the cattle and calves that spend so many weary hours in cattle trucks. In wool and pig transport the Auckland business is barely 12 per cent of the total, even with the addition of Gisborne as well. In timber, Auckland accounts for one-third of the North Island traffic and only just over 10,000,000 ft out of 112,000,000 ft for the whole Dominion. A Disastrous "Cruise." Although the River Avon at Christchurch is comparatively shallow throughout its length, and does not offer any danger to boating enthusiasts, it can be exceedingly unpleasant to those who are sufficiently lacking in respect as to change seats in mid-stream. A young man and woman—visitors to Christchurch—who were rowing near the Botanic Gardens on a recent Saturday afternoon, decided to change seats without taking the precaution of pulling in to the bank. The boat capsized, and both were thrown into the water. Oars, cushions and other paraphernalia floated downstream while the young man floundered about" in an effort to regain them, and his partner struggled, dripping, up the nearest bank. Both were helped by strollers on the-bank, and took the mishap in a very good-natured spirit. ' A Relief Worker's Drinks.

"Has Mr. Bailey's attention been drawn to a newspaper report that a, relief worker had 14 beers in one morning Mr.'George Maginness asked at the meeting of Christchnrcli Unemployment Committee. -My education is incomplete," he added. "I do not know the cost of a glass of beer." The information was volunteered that it was sixpence; also that beer could be obtained at fourpence a "lass. As a contributor to the unemployment fund, Mr. Maginness expressed the opinion- that a relief worker who spent 7/ out of 3(5/ on beer (assuming that lie paid for the 14 glasses) should be disciplined, because it was "quite outside the bounds." "In answer to Mr. Maginness," Mr. Bailey said, "no Court proceedings go unnoticed by the Department." Another member of the committee suggested that Mr. Maginness was on dangerous ground, as lie might be accused of wanting "to rob the working man of his lreer."

Record Ski Run. Mr. Brian Murphy, Dawson Falls, skied from the top of Mount Egraont to Fantham's Peak during the week-fnd. This is the first time the feat has been accomplished,, and it caused a great deal of interest among mountain enthusiasts who visited Syme Hut, says the "Taranaki Daily News." Mr. Murphy climbed on skis to* the summit. Then he skied out of the crater and shot down the slope. He never made a flaw, in the whole trip, which took him about five minutes for a drop of over 2000 ft. Mr. Murphy is an accomplished ski-runner. This season he has won the Ruapehu, Taranaki and Egmont championships. He did not compote at the New Zealand championships. The only feat comparable with Mr. Murphy's was performed l>v Mr. Aif Rnistnd, then of the Hermitage, about two years ago. He skied down the | slopes of Fantliain's Peak.