NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 136, 11 June 1927, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Being in the Fashion. During the hearing of some liquor cases in the W aihi Magistrate's Court the other day, the incidents of which included tlie chasr of a couple of suspects bv two constables, one of the defendants was asked why he ran away' He replied: Well, everyone else was running. mi I thought 1 would run. too." (Laughter, i "The Married Man." The ready wit of the natives wa» exemplified *\ell when the news was read bv a traveller in the North that the Hon. X gata was now Sir Apirana Xgata. "In the birthday honours list,"' the tra\ eller explained. "Xgata has been made a Knight Bachelor. (Juick as a llash came the reply: '"He can't be te night bachelor, he te married man." Blind Institute Extensions. The new workshops which have been erected at the Jubilee Institute of the Blind at Parnell will be ofiicially opened next S.iturday. when the ceremony will be performed by Sir Edwin Mitchelson. The trustees are hopeful that there will be a large attendance of the puhlic on the occasion, as an opportunity will l*. given of showing the fine work that is done by the inmates of the institution. Naval Reservists. Another party of Iloval Xaval reservists left Auckland to-day by the minesweeper Wakakura for a week's training in the Hauraki Gulf. The vessel made a similar trip about a month ago, and as there are 140 members in the reserve >ho will take away batches of twentv everv fortnight until the reservists have completed their sea training, which corresponds t>> the militarv camps attended by territorial*. He Was Sorry. The sleepy elbow of a drow-v wife i< the jworest sort of alarm clock these mornings. Something more insistent U needed to persuade the householder to leave his couch. One suburban resident discovered an effective method yesterday (quite by acHdent>. Ho forgot to put out the nil Ik jug. At the milkman reminded him of the oversight. He gazed at the milkman with eyes full of dumb pathos, and explained that he was «orrv. He wis:

Trout in Trouble. In the surge chamber at the Mangahao ' hydro-electric works several rainbow trout are imprisoned, having evidently come through the mile-lonp tunnel from the open This fact was referred to by the secretary of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society" (Mr. C. I. Dasent) at a meeting of the society. "They can't pet out because the force of the water "is too preat for them," he remarked. "It i« a pool thing to see them there." added a member. "Thev can t pet back, any way. Tram Conductor's Lament. '•Two twos." said a passenper on an E.londale car, who was carrying on an animated conversation with a lady companion. The conductor punched two two-section tickets, and bv that time the passenger explained that he wanted two twopenny fares. 'Til be that much out of pocket," *aid the conductor moodily to the next passenger he went to for a fare. As a matter of fact, the Auckland tram conductor's lot is not altogether a happy one. for the reason that manv passengers do not clearly state how many sections thrv intend to travel. Lowest on Record. The death rate at the Auckland Infirmary for the past month has been the lowest on record for this period of the year, and the fact is attributed to the very satisfactory conditions under «r'iich the old people are now housed at the institution. One fact that has been commented upon is the suitability of the soil for drainape purposes. Even after heavy rain there is no trace of dampness. surface water disappearing at once in the volcanic formation. A recommendation j s to be made to the Auckland Hospital Board that all the open-air shelters should have a bell connection with the nurses' room day and night. Example of Community Effort, At the little country township of Okato, about twenty ruiles from New Plvmouth. a stormy centre in the days of the Maori Wars, the settlers decided that the cemetery required a clean-up. There was no money for the purpose, but that did not prove a bar to petting the work done. A working-bee was decided upon, about sixty _-ettlers turned out with spades, shovels and wheelbarrows, and a day's work saw the neplected cemetery put in good order. The wives and daughters of the settlers assisted by providing refreshments for the workers. It was a community effort well worthy of emulation. A True "Onehunger" Story. Apropos of the "Star's" article on the dailv round of the Auckland postmen and the queer addresses they sometimes have to decipher, an Onehunga resident this morning produced a letter that gives point to the storv. It was an American letter, from the home of business efficiency and all that sort of thing, and the address read: "Mrs. Blank, Superior Road Onehunger, Auckland, N.Z." Unerringly the missive went to the right house, which was in Tuperiri Road, needless to say in Onehunza. There wa3 nothing very hard "about the "Onehunger' part, which is an ancient joke, but the identification of the street was not so easv. People used to dictation will see how the strange address came to light. Obviously the manager had been dictating to his typist, and to American ears the Maori would sound rather like the name of a big lake on the borders of the States Onehunger explains itself, but force is led to the translation from the fact that the letter was from a firm that dealt in something to eat.

Deterioration of Wool The president (Sir James Wilson) reported at the last meeting of the Board of Agriculture that he had received a number of replies to the circular memorandum issued by the board on the question of wool deterioration, but that sufficient information was not yet available to justify it in issuing a report on the subject. A number of samples of wool were submitted, and examined by members, after which the matter was discussed at some length. It was decided that further steps should be taken to educate farmers in the best methods of wool growing and in the selection of their breeding sheep. To this end the board considered that the Agricultural College Council should appoint a lecturer on the subject and make the wool question a special feature in the training of students attending the college, and that in the meantime the verv valuable educational work now in the hands "of Mr. \V. Perry, Mr. A. H. Cockayne and the Department of Agriculture, should be continued and extended as far as circumstances would pern t

New Health District. The major portion of the Tar.i.... : j-u-vinrial district has been constituted a separate health district. This is the first step in a movement by the Department of Health to do away with overlapping of several branches of nursing service and to provide for close medical supervision. The intention is in future to have one medical officer in the district, who will act as both medical officer of health and school medical officer. The change is on the lines of a system which obtains in America. In no case does more than one nurse, one inspector and one medical officer cover the same ground. The main object of the scheme is to decentralise public health administration and to bring the unit of control nearer the homes of the people. The advantages of the scheme art twofold, as it makes for both economv and efficiency. The negotiations have already been entered into with the Red Cross Society and the Taranaki and Stratford Hospital Boards, with a view to the nurses employed by these bodies cooperating with the Department and undertaking certain duties, such as inspection of school children and supervision of cases of infectious disease in specified areas. If the experiment is successful, it is hoped to extend this new system to other parts of New Zealand as opportunity offers. Dr. E. J. Mecredy has been appointed to the new district, with headquarters at New Plymouth.