NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Issue 38, 14 February 1929, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

George IV. Penny.

"Interested" writes to know the value of a copper coin of the reign of George IV. From her description, it is evidently one of the weighty pennies that our ancestors had to carry about. As far as can be ascertained, such a coin would to-day be worth something in the region of 3/ or 3/6. Lost Homing Pigeon. Discovery of a dead homing pigeon, of brown «ind white plumage, was made last week by Mr. H Bright, a resident of Motutapu Island. The bird had apparently been overtaken by fatigue, and collapsed into the sea. It was washed up on the shore in front of Mr. Briglit's residence, and he removed from its leg a ring of identification. Harbour Bridge. lhe suggestion of the Marine Boroughs' Association that each North Shore Borough Council should declare its view regarding the proposed Auckland harbour bridge elicited a unanimous resolution of support at the meeting of the Birkenhead Borough Council last evening. The council considered that the project should not be longer shelved, but pushed ahead with all the energy possible. Scottish Doric. Among the accomplishments of Dr. W. M. Clow, of Glasgow, is a broad Scottish accent. Dr. Clow spent part of his boyhood in Auckland, and he said in an address at the Orange Hall this week that his Scottish Doric had not suffered from his early Auckland associations. He added that there was no more typically religious atmosphere than in the cottage homes of Scotland, where the fathers led off the family worship in broad Scotch, and showed a love of their mother tongue. Restitution Made. That it is never too late to repent is evidently the belief of a woman who entered a Dunedin drapery store recently and announced that she had an appointment with the manager. When he arrived an hour and a-lialf later, he discovered that the woman was a total stranger, lo his surprise, she informed him that she had stolen some goods from the shop a year ago, and that her conscience was so troubled that she was anxious to make restitution. Leaving with the assurance that she was forgiven, she returned next day with the few shillings which the articles would normally have cost. Modern Harvesting. The method of cutting a crop of wheat bv employing a combined pea and wheat header has been used in the Wakanui district for the first time in the history of the county (savs the "Ashburton Guardian"). The machine is drawn by a tractor, which cuts the heads and part of the straw only. These are drawn up and threshed, the husks and straw being ejected. The wheat is transferred into a hopper, which holds 15 bushels, and from this it is bagged. This method, which is largely used in Australia, saves reaping and stocking.

Apprenticeship. Lnder tlie system of indentured apprenticeship, the handicap imposed upon boys is regarded by a number of Auckland master craftsmen as a bar to efficiency, lhe trend of modern industry, they submit, is to specialise, and a bov must move about in his early years to pet a varied experience; that the law of indenture is contrary to the spirit of the age, and is just as wrong applied to the New Zealand born boy as to the coloured man in the South Sea Islands. Competition, they contend, is interfered with, and the development of the ordinary craftsman is retarded. Inspection of Pumice Lands. Auckland members of Parliament left by the Rotorua express this morning for Putaruni. where an inspection of the pumice lands, organised by the Putaruni Chamber of Commerce, will be made. Several days will be spent in the inspectional tour, and. in addition, the afforestation areas and Arapuni will be visited. The furthest point reached will be the terminus of the Taupo Timber Company's railway at Mokai. about tiO miles from Putaruni. The personnel of the partv consists of practically all the city and suburban members of Parliament, and provincial members who will join the party en route, and at Putaruru. They expect to return to Auckland during the week-end. Long Cable Service. \esterday was the twciity-lifth anniversary of the commissioning of the cable steamer Iris. Included in her personnel are five original members of the crew. Captain H. R. Hughes, Mr. J. 1) S. Fleming (chief engineer), Mr. R. Banister (paymaster), Mr. J. Bookhum (cable foreman), and Mr. J. R. King (chief cable jointer). They signed on the vessel when she began her service on February 14, 1904, and all have risen from I junior positions. The Iris has been responsible for 2.1 years for the protection and maintenance of more than 1.1,000 miles of cable in the Pacific, and her work calls for prompt action immediately a fault in the cable communications. Power Board Tour. Members of the Auckland Electric Power Board to-day made a tour of the outlying portions of the extensive district under their jurisdiction, with the object of keeping in touch with consumers, and ascertaining the future requirements of the district. The tour was of particular interest in view of the programme that is being arranged under the scheme to raise £l>7.).000 to enable reticulation to proceed unrestricted. The tour embraced visits to Alfriston, Clevedon, Papakura, Manurewa, Papatoetoe, Mangere and Oneliunga. The party left the city at 9.30 o'clock this morning, and are expected to arrive back at the board's office in Quay Street at 4.30 p.m. The Phantom Museum. The sooner they get the War Memorial Museum opened and its situation well advertised the better. Country people are quite at sea at the present time. Odd as it may seem, the Museum used to be the one thing that many of our country cousins made a point of visiting. The Museum became to them a sort of starting point. This morning an obviously puzzled lady from Waipuke-something-or-other was walking along Princes Street, and at last she stopped a passer-by with: "Please, can you tell me where the Museum is?" "Well, madam, it used to be there," said the accosted one, pointing over to the old building, which is being given an entirely new complexion. The stranger seemed rather distrait, and it turned out that she had arranged to meet her husband "outside the Museum." The tragedy of the incident was that probably he had been directed to the new building which dominates the Domain. Government Publicity. Advertising enterf/r#se on the part of the New Zealand Government has been directed recently towards attracting visitors from Australia. Even on the limited scale of publicity carried out to date the results have been noticeable, and a business man with his wife and family who came over last month for seven weeks in the North Island, said he had £500 to spend during his stay. After a week in Auckland he was so delighted that he intended to arrange a future Tfsit of four months. Others, he said, were being similarly attracted by the advertisements of New Zealand seen in the Australian Press. In a Sydney paper, for example, there had been a 2in advertisement, setting out the advantages of a holiday tour across the Tasman. Although the advertisement could scarcely be regarded as intensive publicity, it was a step in the right direction. As an indication of the Australian enterprise in the same direction, the visitor mentioned that £70,000 had recently been raised by a special committee for the purpose of attracting tourists to the Commonwealth,