NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 292, 10 December 1929, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Tramway Shelters. Workmen have commenced tie building of tramway shelter oh the Mount Eden line wes ward of Esplanade Road, this being part of scheme of readjustments in the matter of shelte around Auckland. Recently a shelter, whiea wi no longer necessary because of the erection of shop verandah, was moved to another position ; Mount Albert, and at the request of residence Transport Board has taken away a shelti which was obstructing the A'icw of drivers at tl corner of Orakei Road, Remuera. Never Seen Rain. Monsieur J. de Vilnits, who is touring tl world on a motor 'bicycle, and recently arrived i Auckland from Australia, related to an inte viewer the story of the little girl he met i Sydney, who had spent the whole of her elevc years of life in the Northern Territory of tl island continent. The child came to Sydney th year, and some two or three days after h< arrival in the New South Wales capital thei was a fall of rain. The child was terrified an amazed; she had never seen rain before. Christmas Shopping. The Auckland Employers' Association, aft( consultation with its members, has fixed shoppin hours for Christmas and New Year Aveeks. I the week preceding Christmas the usual hit Friday night will be observed. In Christmas wee and New Year week the late night will be o Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, when tl: shops will remain open until 10 o'clock. 0 Friday, December 27, and Friday, January 3, th shops will close at 5.30 p.m. or 6 p.m., as pre scribed 'by the awards covering the "variou occupations. World's Prettiest Racecourse. An interesting discussion took place arnongs a number of well-travelled visitors who recent! came to Auckland by the Maunganui. The sub ject of the debate was which was the pretties racecourse in the world and it was eventual! decided to settle it by a majority ballot. Th! visitors were well acquainted with the race courses of Ascot and Goodwood, in the Old Coun try, and those in Australia and other parts o the world, and all received their quotas of votes but the deciding total of seven was recorded ii favour of Ellerslic, the course at Brisbane coming second. Fig Leaves. A Wanganui farmer before the recent woo sale said he felt sick. Asked by a fellow farlnei what was the matter, he replied that last yeai he got 1/10 for his wool, and this time he noticec that the buyers had valued his clip at lid. "J am going home to plant the farm in fig trees,' lie added. "There will be a fortune in fig leaves later on for dresses." Speeding-up Mail Deliveries. Christchurch has launched an experiment ol employing disabled ex-servicemen as postmen in the city area. Four men began their rounds this week, accompanying the regular postmen. If the scheme is successful, an important speeding-up in the delivery of mails to city business houses should result. Four Thousand in Gold. A precious parcel was taken from Auckland to Wellington last evening by Mr. N. McArthur, secretary of the Wellington Aero Club, and a member of the Auckland Aero Club. It was a small wooden box containing gold valued at £4100. • It was placed in a sleeping compartment in the last carriage of the train, and in view of its value a special permit was obtained from the police for the two men who were conveying the gold to carry revolvers. It is the same metal as was won by the successful ticket-holders in the Auckland Aero Club's art union, and was purchased back from the winners. It is to form the prizes for Wellington's aviation art union. Ingenious Bird-scaring. To the fruit farmer the small bird pest proves troublesome at this period of the year, and many are the devices to offset the nuisance. A Manawatu orchardist, who has great expectations from his strawberry patch, has adopted an ingenious idea which differs from the usual run of scarecrow as a means of keeping the birds at bay. He has fitted up a line of tins, .and has a string connecting them with the house. On waking in ;he early morning he gives the string a pull while still in bed, so as to set them rattling. At intervals, while fulfilling her household duties, his vife likewise gives the string attention, and as a ■csult the ravages of the birds have been appre■iably reduced. Christmas Scarlet. Many plants and flowers have been later than .lsual this season, but the pohutukawa is comlaratively early. The first bloom in the Albert .'ark his year has just appeared on one of the :recs on the sunny northern slopes, and judging rom the amount of buds on the trees there will >e a wonderful show of crimson this Christmas. rVith the disappearance of the pohutukawas on he cliffs round the shores of the harbour, people lave been realising more and more what a beautiful tree it is, and hundreds have been planted n and around Auckland. . Although not altojether suitable for street planting, owing to the act that evergreens make the pavement too wet n winter, the pohutukawa has been planted in i, number of streets round about the city, notably Llong King's Drive, which runs from Quay Street o what was Campbell's Point. Probably the idea vas to commemorate the fine old trees that used o fringe the cliffs when the point really was a wrint. Old Aucklanders remember the' lovely iplash of colour that used to stand out every Christmas against the white cliffs sides.

Comedy of Kittens. "J.M." writes: "Having finished a day's gardening, the lady by whom I had been employed said, when paying me: •'Gardener, I wish you would take away these two kittens and drown them.' I says, 'No, they arc too old by now, and too beautiful to he, destroyed that way. I will take them away and give them their freedom a mile away, and. they, will never return, if you will pay their fare.' She gave me two shillings for fare, and I went, with the kittens in a bag. A mile away I left them 011 the dividing wall between two places where I worked, and then I went to see the lady of one house about, some work. When I came back I found the bag had fallen into the other garden, and the kittens had got out and disappeared. The next day I had work to do at tin's garden, where the kittens had escaped,,, and, while having my morning tea, lo and behold, the two kittens came from'under the house. TJie lady .appeared, at the door at the same time. When I remarked, 'Wliat beautiful kittens!' she- said, 'Yes, the mother pomes here to look after them.' I smiled to myself. Two ladies', two kittens, and all satisfied. Two shillings, and so am J." A Slight Mistake. Australia is blamed for a good deal, but it suffered unjustly the other day when a scandalised Aucklander discovered an obnoxious animal making, havoc among the manuka and other'trees. The thing bored-holes as neatly as an auger, and ,pretty nearly as fast. Having read about the dreadful perforators introduced into the Dominion -in the thousands of hardwood poles used by the boards that supply electric current, the Aucklander naturally thought'lie was liar bourihg *\ prohibited; immigrant,'so he set about snaring one. \ He was 'fortunate-enough, to capture a large, healthy-looking*leggy thing with an evil-looking head that seemed to be composed mainly of nippers. Putting 'the thing into a bottle, he forwarded it to the "Star" office; for identification.' As soon as Mr. A. T. Pvcroft, who-' writes those interesting notes'on'"Wild Nature" in the "Star" Supplement, saw it, he claimed it as a fellow New Zealander, the weta, which is quite'as. good a borer as anything Australia can produce, but ?o far has not worried anything, but a:few forest.tree's. 'There is one tree,''Carpodetus seratush which the Maoris call putaputaweta ("weta holes"), from the fact that this weird insect goes exploring up and down the ticcs inside amj makes regular passages, until parts of the tree look like a Gray ere cheese. • v