NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 272, 16 November 1929, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Pipiroa Ferry. The Auckland Automobile Association advises that the Pipiroa Perry, on the AucklandThames Road, will be closed for overhaul on Monday and Tuesday. Traffic will be diverted via Ngatea and Turua, which" will add seven miles to the ,trip. Orphans Visit Paeroa. 5? The orchestra of the Auckland Orphans' Club, and some of the vocalist members, left for Paeroa this morning by motor car, accompanied »■* by the conductor, Mr. Harold Baxter. The visit was made at the invitation of the Paeroa Orphans' Club. It is ladies' night this evening, and the items on the programme will be provided by the visitors from Auckland. ict Trams to Avondale. se A petition is to be presented to the Auckho land Transport Board asking for an extension of ial the tramway system from Mount Albert to Avonen dale. At a meeting hold last evening several id, speakers expressed dissatisfaction with the uncerre tainty that prevailed regarding the proposed Dk Mornlngsid'e railway tunnel. Others said the ... Transport Board had previously supported the extension of the tramway from Mount Albert to ox AvOndale, but the Local Government Loans Board ai* had refused its sanction. Developing Northern Land. of The development of areas of unproductive jl # land at Maramua, Kumeu, Waihi and the Bay of Islands was urged upon the Government at a d " meeting of the executive of the New Zealand jS Land Settlement and Development League yesterld day. Members expressed dissatisfaction at the [it delay of the Government in executing the pro- ); 1 visions of the land settlement scheme. It was . also decided to ask for, further information . regarding appointment pf a practical farmer is to the Dominion Land Development Board, and a 1" resolution was passed urging the desirability of .J pursuing drainage work as being the most productive and lasting form of unemployment relief. ;t Boys' Club Activities. • Members of the board of directors of the Community Sunshine Association paid an official :n visit to the Boys' Club, Nelson Street, last even■S ing to inspect the work of the students. The I woodwork classes attracted considerable interest, n as did the rooms where children may go to do [ s their homework in the evenings. Classes are now being formed for boot repairing and for haircutting as soon as the rooms now under con,e strizction are ready. The recreational side of ■ the club's activities includes boxing, wrestling and gymnastics. The boxing ring was presented lS by the Northern Boxing Association, and the it punching ball and gloves by Tom Heeney on his ii last visit to Auckland. The gymnasium equipment was provided by Mr. John Court. One of the boys, who received all his training at the. c club, won the New Zealand championship for c wrestling in the'Bst class at the Dominion cham,f pionsliips, held in Auckland. Shortage of Farmhands. u There is at the present time a serious shortage j, of farmhands, writes our Morrinsville correspondent. The difficulty of obtaining suitable men was emphasised by the experience of a Kereone farmer, who advertised three times in Auckland and local papers without receiving a single reply. Sever ral other farmers had a similar experience. Labr our bureaux stated that they had no farmhands : y on their books. One Auckland man was given : his train fare to Morrinsville, but failed to put in an appearance. . In desperation the farmer ' a mentioned above started answering applications ! 3 himself, requesting the advertisers that if they 1 received more than one reply to forward the : applicant to him. This course proved successful, i B but there are a number of farmers who are still < . vainly_ looking for men. - - ] * Bed Tape Afloat. \ 1 "Talking about red tape," said the man on ' .> the waterfront, "the best couple of instances I ' „ know of happened in connection with a certain j Government steamer. Something went wrong ] I with the boilers, and in due time a man came j 1 down to invastigate. After the first few ques- < r tions, the engineer realised that the inspector was ( [ out of his depth, and asked liim, 'Just j ! what are you?' And the man replied, 'I'm i a motor engineer.' 'And what do you know < about boilers?' 'Absolutely nothing!' The other i . case concerns the sequel to a Government in- t , speetor's instructions that biscuit and chocolate < ' must be stowed in the" lifeboats, as required by i 1 the regulations. The requisition went to Wei- c I lington, and after due minutings, docketings s ■ and so on, came back endorsed, 'If the officers \ , require biscuits and chocolates for their afternoon f ' tea, they must purchase them out of their own i ' funds.' That joke has been a source of joy for j i waterfront habitues for months past." f The Team Spirit. 1

[ Instancing the benefits of the Borstal system of treatment, Mr. B. L. Dallard, Controller-General of Prisons, addressing the "Father and Son" evening at the boys' division of the 4 Y.M.C.A. at Wellington, said: "A lad was sentenced to three years' detention. He was half-back in the Borstal senior fifteen (we now allow teams to enter the competitions under the auspices of the Rugby Union —it has produced splendid results). Well, towards the end of the season Borstal were leading level with the Southland High School for the third grade shield, and were to play off the following Saturday. At the Tuesday's practice our friend the half-back told the coach that he had received word from the board that he would be released on Friday. The coach said, 'By jove, that will be a loss to the team for Saturday's match; we want the best we have, for it will decide the shield.' The boy replied, 'It's two years since I have seen mother, and I'm dead keen to get home, but if you think it will be letting the team down I'll stay till Monday if you think it can be arranged.' That boy had learned the team spirit. The trouble that took him to Borstal was disregard of the rights of others. He was now ready to subordinate self, and to think of the team."

From All the World

Most people have liad a laugh at the fearful and wonderful things to be found in ancient prescriptions,. such as toad's feet, bat's ears, powdered monkey's cuticle, and other dainties equallyappetising. The old idea was "the more disgusting, the more efficacious." We have changed all that, and though the chemist's pill may be bitter, one relies upon it being compounded with more care and discrimination than the nauseous concoctions of the medieval quacks. Modern drugs are certainly more sanitary looking and sounding, but at the same time some of them strike the layman as being a trifle odd. Broom tops — the botanical kind, not the household —how many people knew such things could be found on the neatly arranged shelves of the apothecary? Gum arabic, a kind of moss that comes from Ireland, chips of certain woods, dried cochineal, flies, and manna (which most people thought grew only in the Bible) are a few of the.other oddities, although when one sees them in the bulk they do not look at all repulsive. All these and many more healing substances may be seen in the window of an Auckland chemist, who hit on the idea of stocking his window with little vessels full of the various things that are to be found in the pharmacopoeia, with ribbons leading from the article to a world map hung up at the back of the window, showing the country Of origin. New Zealand has to go all round the globe to stock her chemists' shops, and the only things "home grown" are sulphur and sugar of milk. All youngsters and dogs have had experience of the fact that sulphur is considered a highly efficacious medicine, but probably few people outside "the profession" could say much about sugar of milk.