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Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 235, 3 October 1924, Page 4

A novel use for the motor bus has been found by an old Anglo-Indian. "Fine thing for the liver, my boy!" he s_'d. when explninin? why he had taken to going for rides in those rapid conveyances which arc causing so much perturbation to the municipal authorises. "The only thins that used to keep some of us old livery chaps going." remarked the Colonel, "was ridinir on horseback, but riding exercise is quite impo-—bio in a place like Auckland. Why. I don't lielieve there is a saddle-horse left, and certainly you cannot hire such a thin.. Hut I find the motor bus on some of the longer Toutes is the finest substitute for a horse that you can find. I may say that I found It out quite by accident, but after a run out to and back I had just the same clear feeling that you get 'after a gallop. The secret or the cure is, of course, that the bus ride should not be too smooth. and so I. for one. will hope that this concrete-hot-mix business of deadlevel roads does not come along too quickly."

At the annual meeting .f the OLinemuri Jockey Club it was stated that a great handicap to country racing clubs, and to all elu-s, was the excessive charge made by tneßaiTvvajf uepartment for racehorses. It was contended that the tariff should be reduced by one-half, which would, under the circumstances, be a fair charge, and would prove of great benef - to all clubs, but more especially country clubs. It was suggested that all country clubs should take united action in the matter. In accordance with the policy of the Government to push on with the linking up of the remoter islands in the Cook | Group, a radio station at Niue has now i been opened for traffic. Messages were exchanged yesterday between the hesi- ' dent Commissioner and Sir if. tn Pomare. I This is the third of the Cook Islands to j be connected with wireless during the ! past four months, Aitutaki having been ! connected up in June and Mangaia in I August. " i An animated discussion took place at | a specially called congregational meeting of St. Paul's Church, Devonport, last night. A proposal to enlarge the church hall at a cost of £450 was under consider- j ation. The church itself is in Victoria j Road and the hall in Church Street. Those who opposed the proposal said that it would be a pity to spend any more money on an old building, when the idea should be to centralise°on new buildings on the Victoria Road pro- ' perty. To spend £430 on the Church ! Hall would be to put back the central scheme for ten years. Eventually the proposal to enlarge the Church Street Hall was carried, and the matter will ' now be referred to the Property Committee of the Presbytery at its next ' meeting. There are 480 solicitors in tiic Auck- | land district (writes "John Doe" in the ! Taranaki "Herald"). There are 3SO •solicitors in the whole of the South j Island. There are more solicitors in ' Wellington and Taranaki districts than in the South Island. The-e are as many solicitora in the Hamilton district as in | Otago. There are more- solicitors in ! Taranaki than in Hawke'i Bay or Wan- i ganui. Taranaki has n.ore solicitors than Marlborough, Nelson, Southland I and Westland together. There is, I believe, a general shortage of really skilled artificers in various trades. I do not know if there is any moral attaching to this. In looking over old records connected with the Hospital Board, comment was made that while William Wallace is chairman of that body, and has been for some years there was also a Bruce, chairman of the board for two years at the end of last century, both chairmen at one time belonged to the North Shore ,and ! both represented it for a number of ' years. Both inaugurated progressive policies when elected to their high offices, and as one Scotchman remarked, "'No wonder the hospital is the biggest south of the line when a Wallace and a Bruce were at the head of affairs." While some borough workmen were excavating for the laying off of drainage into Mrs. Mackay's residence at the south end of Chapel Street, Masterton, they unearthed the skeleton of an adult person, evidently that of a man. The bones were only about 18 inches under the ground, and were in a fairly good state of preservation. It is probable that the body was deposited there before the house was built, many years ago. The skeleton was found close to the back door, but in ground which had evidently not been disturbed in connection with building operations or the lay. ing of gas, etc. Everybody knows how insistent starlings are when building their nests to force their way into unlined houses and whares to make the hatching of their young as soon as possible. Lately in the country it has been discovered that these birds have been the cause of spreading a most irritating skin disease, and several people of both sexes who live in whares in the country have suffered most acute discomfort through a parasite invading the walls and sleeping quarters of their homes. A painful rash soon develops and spreads all over the skin. The pests are too small to be seen by the naked eye, and need to be put under the microscope to find out their true nature, and the source from which they come. The strongest lime whitewash has been tried, but that in many cases has not freed the walls from [ the pest. Many patients suffering from I the irritation have come to the city for treatment, and confess that they can get rest neither day nor night and feel a weakening of the system, which is most depressing. To burn the bedding and the whare its_jf is often the only cure. Stuck up on the office of the relief department of the Hospital Board is an extract from the Police Offences Act liying down the penalties for making false statements with regard to earnings and sources of income. The attention of those who do not seem to be straightforward in their statements is often called to the notice. For many years the Hospital Board has not prosecuted anyone for deceiving them, but the chairman stated yesterday that it wa3 time some action was taken in regard to some of those who had made most unreliable statements in an effort j to reap some benefit and get help under false pretences. He believed that if an example was made of some of these people it would servo a good purpose, and he had given instructions that no deceiver should be allowed to go free, because in the interests of the taxpayer it was desirable that only those cases which were deserving of help should receive aid. The Board was determined to do its duty in the matter. The publicity which Auckland has obtained outside New Zealand by its "Municipal Record" is being illustrated with the arrival of every mail from abroad. It has certainly helped to place | Auckland on the map with many people, land as each now issue spreads "overseas I new information of its natural advaniages and of the enterprise and prosper- . ity of its population, it cannot fail to : evert a strong "pull" in favour of the : Dominion's isthmian city. The October I number maintains the high standard in j matter and production of its predeccs- | sor». the special feature of the issue i being a comprehensive and well-illus- ! trated review of the history of the city's water supply, from the day nearly | sixty years ago when the Domain pond's I met the requirements of the infant com- ■ munity to the present stage of develop- ! ment. when the gTeat dams of Nihotapu j and Waitakere hold 520.000.000 gallons | in storage lor the needs of the people of I Auckland. At the back of the book is a | map showing the various sources from which the water supply is drawn, and I also the Huia watershed reservation, on which it is proposed to start work shortly for the conservation of a further auxiliary supply of 500.000,000 gallons to meet the rapidly increasing demands of the community. Numerous other municipal enterprises are discussed, including the council's housing scheme, the "'Record" generally being full of interest alike for citizens and strangers to the beauties and advantages .of the city by the Waitemata.

Rock oysters were in plentiful supply during the season which has just closed. The total number of sacks picked from the grounds in the Hauraki Gulf, Bay of Islands, Hokianga and Kaipara Harbour areas was something just over 7000 sacks, each sack holding an average of 80 dozen oysters. Last year the yield for the season was 6800 sacks, the value being just over £7000. During the month of September the butter received for grading in Auckland totalled 184,963 boxes, an increase of 31,974 boxes upon the amount for the same month last year. The cheese sent | for grading in September totalled 8507 ! crates, a decrease of 296 crates upon the quantity received for the same month in 1923. As the weather is all that could be desired by dairy farmers, indications point at the present time to a possibility of a record output. A good save was effected in connection with an outbreak of fire at a dwelling-house in Clarence Street. Northcote,, yesterday afternoon. Painters were at work renovating the residence of Mr. William Henry Piper, and a blowlamp was used in the course of their operations. Tlie weather-boarding near the floor of the verandah at the front of the house caught fire, apparently by this means, and the flames travelled up the inside lining to the ceiling. The firebell was immediately rung and the fire promptly extinguished. Fortunately the building escaped with only slight damage, thou_h loss was occasioned to the occupiers by the saturation by water of various articles. Tlie owner of the house was absent from Auckland on a trip to the Goldfields district, and his mother was the only member of the family at home when the mishap occurred. The advisability of specifying the particular work for which loans are raised was referred to at the meeting of the Waitemata County Council yesterday afternoon. A Ratepayers' Association wrote asking what had become of a £500 loan raised for expenditure on a road and bridge. The clerk, Mr. Cawkwell, explained that in 1911 the Council ! raised a loan of £69,000 for road and bridges construction. Whatever misht have been said at ratepayers' meetings, the money had not been specially allocated for different works, and it had all been spent long ago. In the loans now being raised, the money was allocated for special works, and must therefore be expended at the places stipulated. "In forty years the accent and the mutilation "of English has greatly progressed." said Dr. J. Macmillan Brown, Chancellor of the New Zealand University, who returned from. America by the Tahiti recenty. "The trilled V and T has become extremely prominent, and you might almost say universal, and it is the most difficult sound. The Americans turn the tip of the tongue up against the upper palate, and then make it"trill. The result is they cannot pronounce the dental consonant after it or before it. For instance they say 'wah-er' instead of Tvater,' because the tip of the tongue is aga : nst the upper palate, and it cannot be brought back into contact with the teeth at the same time. Two other sounds they are mutilating. They pronounce 'o' as 'ah.' 'clack' for 'clock,' 'stap' for 'stop.' And they are turning 'a' into 'c.' They say 'ken' for 'can,' and so on. Altogether, if the process goes on, within a generation or two the language will be unintelligible to other sections of the Englishspeaking races." The City Council last night refused to grant a motor driver' 3 license to an applicant who had lost his right armThe traffic inspector reported that the applicant had come through a stringent test quite satisfactorily, except that he was unable to give the necessary signals I when changing gears and apply the hand brake. Then the car was momentarily out of control owing to the driver having to release his grip of the steering wheel. "Surely this town is not so big that you could not find anybody you are really anxious to look for?" suggested Senior-Sergeant P. J. McCarthy to _ a witness in a case heard at the Magistrate's Court at Greymouth. "It's sometimes pretty hard to find anybody," was the reply, "especially if they owe you a bob or two!" The Tramway Club authorities have been advised that retail prices are to be | charged there and sales are to be I restricted to members of the club. Epsom shopkeepers in the vicinity recently petitioned the City Council that the sale of various articles was detrimental to their business. The Roskill Methodist Sunday School Hall is to be built by a working bee tomorrow in Kingston Avenue, off Dominion Road. Work is to start at 5 a.m.. with Mr. S. E. Chappell in charge. It is hoped to have a hall built, capable of seating 100 people, and dedicate it by 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the service to be conducted by the Rev. Drake, acting chairman of the district. Refreshments will be supplied to the working party by a ladies' committee. It is expected to hold services in the building next Sunday both morning and evening. In view of the extension of the name Broadway to include portions of Manujkau Road within the Newmarket ! Borough, it is proposed to renumber the ! whole of the street termed Broadway. The City Council is co-operating with the Newmarket Council to this end.