NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 181, 2 August 1929, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

1 Trout Ova "On the Ice." [ Packed in seven cases, and cooled with ice ' prevent maturity on the voyage across the ; Tasman, a consignment' of 350,000 trout ova was i sent from Auckland to Australia, to-day in the steamship Maheno. The consignment, which is the largest ever sent from the Dominion, is dispatched to the State Fisheries Department at Sydney. Reports from the Commonwealth indicate that earlier importations of New Zealand trout ova have been successful in improving the size and quality of the trout in New South Wales rivers. The Old Dock Site. A resolution that the Town Planning Committee should consider the proposals to deal with the old dock site, and make representations to the Harbour Board if it was considered that they were prejudicial to the best interests of the city, was adopted by the City Council last evening. Mr. Grey Campbell considered that the Town Planning Committee should receive assurance that nothing detrimental to the appearance of the waterfront would be undertaken. The Mayor pointed out that' the council had no jurisdiction in the matter. "They might ask us to mind our own business," he said. Talkie Vogue. When the Civic Theatre is completed, the seating accommodation in Auckland city picture | theatres will be considerably enhanced. The talkie is a populai; vogue. Already there are three city theatres equipped with talkie picture apparatus, and two more are now being wired. If later on, St. James' Theatre follows tho lead given by the Sydney St. James' Theatre of the same company, and wires this large house, Queen Street will then have over 5000 more seats for picture patrons than were available during the reign of the silent picture. With all these theatres presenting talkie programmes, the seating capacity will number well over 15,000.

s Frenchmen Entertained. 1 Many yarns of wartime days were revived > at a smoke concert given last evening for a party „ of petty officers and men of the Tourville by the , Legion of Frontiersmen, A Command. Items were I rendered both by the hosts and their visitors, ' all joined in singing marching songs that j both nations know. The Frenchmen showed that p they were well conversant with "The Way to Tipperary." "Auld Lang Syne" proved very 3 popular, and the visitors soon learnt it. At the ; request of the chairman, Captain 11. Gordon, Pro- . lessor Maxwell Walker acted as interpreter, and , extended a welcome to the guests on behalf of ' the legion. [ Child Witnesses. I Usually when children appear in Court to ■ give evidence in criminal cases, they are exceed- , ingly timid, and counsel has a difficult task in endeavouring to get their version of the story correctly and lucidly. lu the Supreme Court yesterday, however, three little girls from Avondale made excellent witnesses, giving their statements smartly, aud with perfect diction. There was no need for the judge, jury or counsel to strain their ears to catch the words, for every sentence resounded through the silent' courtroom with remarkable sharpness. When the mother of the youngest child, who was only eight and a-lialf years old, stepped into the witness box to give corroborative evidence, Mr. Justice Ostler said that perhaps she would he pleased to know that her daughter, for her years, had given the most intelligent evidence he had ever heard in Court. Juvenile Critics. At the opening of the exhibition of etchings held yesterday afternoon in the Art Gallery rooms, two very interested critics engaged the attention of visitors, who looked on with a delighted smile as the two rather ragged urchins, rough bag on back, Went rapidly round the pictures pointing out to each other what they thought admirable in the work of the men who 1 had lived so many hundreds of years ago. It was interesting to imagine how the elegant Sir Anthony Vandyke would have regarded his small critics, with their bare and rather dirty legs, and how the kind and benign old Dutchman, with his big spectacles apd sombre eyes, would have loved them, and put them on canvas for all time, as he did his own and loved son Titus, of the beauty and the lovelocks of a long gone age, but boyhood is the same all the world over, even the gamin of the Auckland streets, who has taste in art. s '

Tenders Close to Estimates. The principal business at a special meeting of the Auckland and Suburban Drainage Board last evening was the consideration of tenders, one [being for the construction of the fourth portion of No. 8 branch sewer, and the second for an Overflow chamber from the same branch sewer and a stormwater culvert for Meola Creek. In each case the tenders were remarkably near the estimate of the actingengineer (Mr. J. P. Wright). His estimate in the first case was £3820, and the tenders varied from £3110 17/0 to £4769 17j, the majority being close to the official figure. ;..'he lowest tender (that of Messrs. Bray and Company) was accepted. The engineer's estimate in,the second case was £780, and the successful tender, sent in by Mr. A. B. Brodie. was within 13/ of this figure, being for £770 7/. . (