NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 115, 18 May 1927, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Well Taxed. Ordinary taxes, tyre tax, motor car import duty, road tax, license fees, and petrol import duty," said a delegate at a meeting of the Auckland Automobile Association at Te Awamutu, by way of emphasising his opinion that in New Zealand motorists were more heavily taxed than in other countries. Another delegate said that a petrol tax was preferable to a tyre tax, but the problem was to apply it equitably, as there would be so many exemptions of owners of launches and milking-plants. Making Up Lost Time. Last to start on its concreting programme, the One Tree Hill Road Board is making rapid progress on its two sections of the Great South Road. One of these sections, which is a mile long, was closed this week. The other, 43 chains, has been paved with a strip half the full width from Church Street to St. Ann's Bridge. Traffic will be admitted on to the new surface at the end of the month. The preliminary work was undertaken in May, and the contractors were given nine months to complete the scheme. Road Improvements. "It may surprise you to know that there is more maintenance work in the No. 2 Main Highways District than in any other main highways district in the North Island," said a delegate at a meeting of the Auckland Automobile Association, held at Te Awamutu on Monday evening. He mentioned that improvement work had been carried out on the Mamaku Hill on the road to Rotorua, on the Pokeno-Paeroa Road, in Awakino Valley, and at other places where there was a great deal of traffic. A Dominion Matter. The treatment and relief to Maoris was briefly mentioned at last night's meeting of the Auckland Hospital Board, when a letter was read from the Waikato Hospital Board, asking for support towards representation of the matter to the Government. It was stated that, out of C 3,000 Maoris in New Zealand, 45,000 were in tlie Auckland province, and 11,000 in the Waikato Hospital District. Discussing the matter, the chairman (Mr. W. Wallace) said that the Government should take its responsibility. He suggested a Dominion rate to meet the expenses incurred in the hospital treatment of Maoris. It was finally decided to refer the subject to the Hospital Boards' Association. Belief of Unemployment. For the purpose of relieving local unemployment, the Manurewa Town Board has propounded a scheme. The Town Board will vote £100, that is, ti the Auckland Hospital Board also finds £100, the total amount to be applied for relief work in the Manurewa district. It is claimed that by such means people would be assisted who otherwise would be ineligible for assistance by the Hospital Board. "It would be a bad policy, even if we had the power to donate the sum asked for," said the chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board (Mr. W. Wallace) last evening. "If we gave to one local body under such circumstances, we would have to treat all others the same. In my opinion, here it is again a matter for the Government to deal with." Lost Mountaineers. A Stratford resident has made a suggestion that St. Bernard dogs should be available for tracking people lost on Mount Egmont. For very many years the St. Bernard dogs, he says, have been specially bred and trained for finding those lost in the snow, and therefore it is probable that dogs of that breed would work with much less training than those of any other kind. A dog working by scent would go straight to the person being tracked, even in thick bush, whereas a search party might pass within a few yards and never find a lost man if at the time he were unconscious and did not hear the shouting. Moreover, the dogs would be likely to complete the search in hours, where a party without dogs might take days. It is, of course, obvious that in such cases time is of vital importance. i Treatment of Cancer. "We have the most up-to-date plant in the world for the treatment of cancer," said the chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board (Mr. W. Wallace) last evening. "The accommodation at the Infirmary is excellent." These remarks were made in answer to recent criticism of tubercular and cancer cases. Referring to the former, Mr. Wallace said that the treatment had been referred to as a scandal, and he wished to give the statement a most emphatic denial. If another sanatorium were required, then the hospital boards from Taumarunui to the North should join forces. Each board could have representation on the board of management. The sanitorium at Waipiata, Otago, was maintained by eight hospital boards. Personally, he did not think that there was any necessity for another sanitorium in the North Island at present. There was no genuine case of tuberculosis which was not sent to a sanitorium at the expense of the board.

Insurance For Motorists. A method of insurance for motorists was outlined by Mr. Grayling, of Auckland, at Monday night's meeting of the Te Awamutu branch of the Auckland Automobile Association. He said the head executive had been negotiating for some time, and could not reach a satisfactory basis with local insurance companies. The Auckland representatives were all right, but the Wellington headquarters invariably rejected any suggestion. The Auckland Automobile Association had got into, touch with Lloyds, London, through the Australian Automobile Association representatives, and he was happy to state that the negotiations had been eminently satisfactory. He believed that the policy put forward by that concern was "just wJiat we have been looking for," and he was confident it was a sound proposition. Members asked quite a lot of questions about the items that the policy covers, and generally expressed approval. Where Legions Tramped. The legal dispute at present in progress with regard to the boundaries of a road in the Howick district recalls a classic suit, which led to the discovery of a portion of the old Roman road known as the Fosse Way, in England. There was a dimly-defined, grass-grown track across fields and through a wood in Nottinghamshire, and the question arose as to whether it was a duly-constituted .highway, or whether it was merely an old bridle path. Fortunately Nottinghamshire possesses a live antiquarian society, and those in authority had reason to believe that the road was, in ancient times, a recognised highway. A little digging proved the soundness of this belief, for beneath a foot of turf were found the mighty slabs of stone laid down at the behest of the Emperor Hadrian for the making of the Fosse Way. Twenty centuries earlier the road had echoed to the clang of harness as the steel-clad legions tramped northwards. The Specific Gravity of Traffic. There is so much clamour for concrete roads that it is remarkable to find a concrete road that the traffic declines to use. The Devonport Borough laid down a concrete ribbon in Tainui Road about three years ago, though the buses used this street only for some trips. The street one block further along, which is opposite the stop for Cheltenham Beach, was put down in macadam, but the difference of even one block length in the route makes so much more for the convenience of the travelling public that the buses traverse the macadam road, and the expensive concrete ro«d is left to weeds. This matter was mentioned at the meeting of the Waitemata Chamber of Commerce last evening by Mr. Kennings, who said that, no matter how good a road was put down from Birkenhead northwards, the traffic would always use the East Coast route. The same gentleman, in a discussion on water supplies, stressed that analysis for bacteria was not the only requisite for determining the purity of any water for household use; chemical content of the water was equally as important. In Los Angeles, where a vast and very successful water supply system had been installed, all the drinking water had to be purchased in bottles, because the water supply was so alkaline.

Search For Water. The spread of settlement at Papatoetoe has made it necessary for the Town Board casting about to find a water supply which, in addition to meeting present needs, will be adequate for the requirements of the district in time to come. At present the residents have artesian supplies, which are tapped at a depth of about 160 ft, and in some instances they have grouped together to share a common supply. Acting upon engineering advice, the Papatoetoe Town Board is now investigating a possible source for municipal water supply in the vicinity of McLaughlin Mount, about four miles away from the township. There, in volcanic strata, are believed to be unlimited supplies of fresh water. Should this prove to be the case, the prospective Taupo scheme will not hold a very strong appeal for the Papatoetoe residents. Strange Visitors. A New Plymouth resident who was on the beach at the back of Paritutu Sugarloaf a few days ago saw several objects lying on the sand. On closer approach the objects commenced to move, and, becoming alarmed, clumsily waddled off into the water. They proved to be seals. There were four of them, about sft in length, with brown coats relieved with white under the neck and chest. For more than an hour the seals disported in the water close inshore, and then made off in the direction of the submerged rocks lying a mile or so off the shore. In the early days seals were common around the Sugarloaf islands near Moturoa, but the creatures were so severely hunted that they forsook the haunt, and are now but rarely seen in these waters.