NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 254, 26 October 1928, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Falso Alarms. Alarm lias been felt by some residents of Papatoetoe at reports of threats of incendiarism being- received by post from anonymous writers. The letters nave been variously described as indicating the next premises intended to be destroyed by lire, and as giving reasons why .such, a step was contemplated. A careful inves- ■ tigation, however, has shown that the reports aFe a complete fabrication, and that no cause for ; alarm exists. More Praise for New Zealand Hotels. The Kev. iather Martindale is not the only experienced traveller who has been moved to praise the hotels of New Zealand. The latest tribute comes from Mr. J. D. Simpson, assistant manager to an insurance company which has blanches in all parts of the world, who is now in Auckland. "1 have read American criticisms ot your hotels," he told an interviewer, "but I can honestly say, with 12 years' experience of Hotels in many countries, that the accommodation provided in New Zealand is excellent. I would just as soon stay at a good Auckland or Wei- i lington hotel as 1 would at the Savoy in London." ! Tragedy of Unemployment. "The two main factors which have dccided nie in coming into this campaign are the unemployment question and the problem of placing boys and girls in satisfactory vocations," said Mi. J. S. Fletcher at Grey Lynn last evening. He had been in an ofiice where ineii came looking for work at the rate of 50 a day, and he had realised the tragedy in their lives. It was wrong for people to say that employers as a whole were more concerned with prolits than they were with the welfare of their workers. He believed that the greafc majority of employers were anxious to sec a solution of the unemployment problem, and he believed that most of the men who were looking for work were genuinely anxious to get it. ' Scow versus Steamer. Deep laden with shingle from one of the islands of the gulf, a big schooner-rigged scow more than held her own against the ferry steamer Makora in an unofficial race up the' harbour. The scow passed the Devonport wharf a few seconds before the ferry got under way, and the passengers were keenly interested in the chase. The scow,, with a strong north-cast wind on her quarter, had three headsails set, and cafftopsails above both the fore and main sails. Under the press of canvas, her hull was buried almost out of sight in the choppy sea, and her name was indistinguishable, but she earned fame by doubling her lead on the steamer between Devonport and Auckland. She must have been doing just on nine knots. The Binding Link. Every electorate, said Miss Preston Stanley yesterday, when being entertained by a group of Auckland women, should have two members, a man and a woman. No man could thoroughly understand the problems which are those of the mothers of the race, yet what is more valuable than the lives of the future citizens! Such subjects as the mortality of motherhood did not interest men a great deal, not nearly as closely as it did the women of' the nation. Every mother lost in childbirth was a grave economical disability, for her potential 1 children were an asset to the State. The child- 1 bearing woman was the binding link of the whole social chain. Without her the whole of the social fabric would go to pieces. Therefore! the death rate in childbirth was ono of tire gravest things at present interesting women, and they should all stand behind any women who were fighting their battles for theui on these questions.

Home from Patagonia. New Zealand is not very old, but apparently is old enough to receive visits from the younger generation of its own emigrants. The father of Mr. H. H. Jamieson, who arrived at Wellington recently by the Makura from Rio Gal legos, Patagonia, left New Zealand 40 years' ago for Argentina, and took up land some GO miles in from the coast, where lie now holds a sheep run of twenty leagues, or some 150,000 acrcs, all fenced. The climate, said Mr. Jamieson, is very similar to that of Central Otago, and the land is very healthy for sheep. The establishment of freezing works not far away has more than doubled the value of sheep. Last season thev got 22d for their wool, mostly Corriedale and .Merino. Lincolns, once so popular, have gone entirely out of favour in southern Patagonia. Mr. Jamieson, who has relative« in Hawke's Bay and other parts of New Zealand, expects to spend two months in touring the stock shows and peeing the country generally. He hopes to take back some good Corriedales with him.

rest Fires and Pests. The active operations of a fleet of more than a score of aeroplanes in preventing loss by fire and in combating the ravages of insects in the extensive forests of Ontario are described by J* Zavitz, Deputy-Minister of Forests, Ontario, a member of the Empire Forestry Delegation. In the Province of Ontario, where there are more than 125,000,000 acres of forest, the Government spends between £200,000 and £250,003 a year on its fire prevention service. Since 1024 the air patrol service has grown until there is a staff of 25 pilots and an equivalent number of mechanics. Seaplanes and flying* boats are used m the lake country, and a number of Moth planes, fitted with floats for water landings aud skids for coming down' on the snowfields, are also in commission. These craft, carry extensive equipment for dealing with flrts. An operation attended by even greater danger is that of flying low _over the forests and scattering arsenical powder, which is fatal to the pests that destroy the foliage of the forests. This practice has been adopted for a considerable time in the United States and in Egypt for the preservation of the cotton fields, and, as is the case in Canada, the method has proved most effective in dealinir with pests. 6

"What's in a Name?" Writing to the "Star" from Burton, .England, a correspondent asks for the meaning of 'JFakapuna. When the writer was in New Zealand he visited that charming spot (which he describes, by the way, as "a suburb of Devonport") and decided to name his house after it. Hence he wants to know what the name means, and whether it is suitable. "Takapuna" means a flowing spring of water. It is rather strange how the traveller will find New Zealand names. in places many miles from the bottom end of the Pacific. In a pretty suburb north of London there is a cottage called "Remuera," and on the gate of a villa just outside Lincoln will be found "Auckland," but perhaps most unexpected of all is the '"Kia Ora" which can be seen painted outside a house in Jersey. It quite warms the heart of a New Zealander to come across these names so far from home. The "Star's" correspondent is well advised in asking if the name is suitable. Many Maori names are not. A classic story told ! in. the Chathams concerns some.' visitors who were very much struck by one of the native names down there. Translated, it meant something that even intimate friends would hesitate to explain. Some months afterwards the Chatham Island hosts of the visitors were horrified to get a letter written on notepaper with the impossible name in beautifully embossed letters on the top righthand corner of the notepaper. Without going into details, they wrote back hurriedly explaining that the name was unsuitable, and begging that something else "be substituted.