NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 172, 23 July 1929, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Lake Waiatarua. Good progress lias been made with the road winding around Lake Waiatarua, and when completed it will make a pretty drive. Of late a couple of small boats have appeared on the water. Waiatarua, generally known by the name St. John, is the only lake in the city of Auckland. An Inquiring Motorist. Some extraordinary questions are put at tjmes by motorists when performing their annual duty of re -registering vehicles and renewing drivers' licenses. The other day a woman in Wellington put a poser to a clerk who was dealing with drivers' licenses. "Please tell me this," she said. "If I am driving along a road and do not know whether to turn to the right or to the left, what ought I to do?" The clerk was equal to the occasion. "Madam," said he, "I am not here ifco instruct you how to drive, only to issue your driver's license." Pumice in Demand. Wanganui is in the fortunate position of being able to supply a first-grade pumice, and the demand for this from other parts of New Zealand is steadily on the increase. For instance, in the better class of homes chilling cabinets are used, and here again pumice comes in very handy for insulating. Quantities are' also shipped to Australia at regular intervals. A shipping agent remarked that the demand for pumice from Wanganui was only in its infancy to what it would be in a few years' time. Unknown New Zealand. The belief still exists in many parts of America that New Zealand is a part of Australia, according to Mr. F. J. Needham, of Christchurch, who has just returned from a visit to the States. "The idea seems to stick, somehow," lie said, "while the notions of some people are even more quaint than that. I had an appointment while 1 was in San Diego to play golf with a business man, and was afterwards to meet his family. Their first question, on hearing that I was a New Zealander, was: 'is he very black?'" For Future Generations.

Sir-Trilby King, Director of Child Welfare in New Zealand, arrived at Sydney by the Tahiti from Wellington on July 8, to spend three weeks in Australia in the interests of the Australian Mothercraft Society, and the Plunket Society's Health Mission. Dr. Purely made the suggestion, at a meeting held at the Sydney Arts Club, that Sir Truby King should allow himself to appear on tlie talkies. "'Future generations will revere your name," said Dr. Purely to his former New Zealand colleague, "and they will realise that you were the prophet of your time. It is due to them that you should deliver a message which will be available for all time." Eyes on Ruapehu. Members of the Auckland Tramping Club are looking forward to the thrill of winter sports and climbing at Tongariro National Park during Labour Day week-end. Leaving Auckland by the 7.40 p.m. train on Friday, October 25, the,party will alight next morning at National Park station, and drive to the end of the road, which is within four miles of the Mangatepopo hut, which has been reserved by the club for their camping quarters. Over the last four miles the supplies will be carried by male members of the party. Those who intenel joining in the expedition hope that the weather will be favourable for a climb to the volcanic cone of Mount Ruapehu, which is 9008 ft above sea level. The club has many such climbs to its credit. Back in Favour. Old residents of Wanganui recollect that when life in the community was a little more primitive than it is to-day, and certain parts of the township were frequented by Maoris in large numbers, at the street corners and in other places where the folk congregated, there would be heard the queer tones of a little instrument being played. This instrument was known as the "Jew's harp," but it has been practically unknown as a music-making device for years past. This was the first musical instrument taken up by the Maoris, and not a few of them were distributed as part of the consideration for the sale of Wanganui. To-day the "Jew's harp" has come into its own again, and as the result of records placed on the market, there is quite a demand for them. t The Hauraki Goldfield.

"Practically all Auckland's gold has been drawn from the Hauraki goklfield," states an article in the "Chamber of Commerce Journel" "This field includes the Great Barrier Island, the mountainous Hauraki Peninsula, and the extension of this upland southward to Waiorongomai. The amount of alluvial gold obtained from this area has been nominal, practically all the gold being won from quartz lodes. These occur in vast masses of tertiary volcanic rocks, but in places also penetrate the ancient underlying sedimentaries The lodes are thought to have been formed by hot solutions escaping from the underlying molten magmas during periods, of volcanic quiescence. Later the gold and other metals in the upper portion of the lodes were concentrated by surface waters, so that large and rich orelodes were formed at shallow or moderate depths. Many of these ore-lodes have now been worked out, but it cannot be doubted that others occur in the unexplored areas. Of the innumerable lodes of this goldfield the most profitable occur in the neighbourhood of Coromandcl, Thames, Karangahake and Waihi." ' ;

Pooling Engines. Some of the railway men are said to he dissatisfied with the system of pooling engines that was adopted in New Zealand three or four years ago (says the "Dunedin Star"). What is the pooling of engines? It is that they are overhauled prior to being sent out by a section of the staff who take the engines as so 'many pieces of machinery that have to be brought to a standard of efficiency.. The idea, no doubt, was, and presumably is, to keep each engine running and earning money for the longest possible time. The other view of the practice is that the final examination at the hands of the driver is not now bestowed. Under the old system Brown knew beforehand that on his duty for a certain day he would get a certain engine; he treated that engine in a personal and intimate manner, going round it with a spanner, giving a touch here and there, and after such ,a process,,, if the stationmaster asked him whether he could take an extra car, he could give an answer with confidence. It is argued by some of the men that in that way the most was got out of an engine without any unfair risk. Street Lighting. Several deputations have been received by the Auckland Electric Power Board lately urging that the board should revise its charges to suburban local bodies for street lighting. The reply of the board in each case was that it was impossible to consider any reduction until its system had been completely changed over to water power and working costs, ascertained. The Manurewa Town Board, anxious to extend its street lighting, requested that eight of "the present fittings be altered to globes of smaller design and lower cost, so that the saving could be utilised in the erection of tether lamps. The general manager (Mr. R. P. Bartley), reporting to the board in committee, stated that it would be difficult to fall in With the suggestion unless some arrangement could bo made for the disposal of the existing fittings. On his recommendation, it was agreed to eiufeavotir to got over the Town Board's difficulty by replacing the present lamps with ones of »raallev candle power.