NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 307, 28 December 1929, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Pay Day. A number of Maoris have been in Wanganui during Christmas week receiving pay-outs prior to the holidays. One, after getting a draw, was heading with a companion direct for a place where liquid refreshments are dispensed. Just as he was about to enter the door, a wahine hailed him and remarked: "Hey, you shovel out here before you go in there." Hone pulled a few notes off a roll and handed them to the wahine, who appeared to be well satisfied. Free Drinks. "Bushman" writes: "A paragraph in the 'Star' anent the drinking of kava at the Islands recalls the fact that in the New Zealand bush one need never go short of a drink in addition to : clear water from a stream. leaves of the kawakawa shrub when boiled produce a brown, mildly palatable and somewhat satisfying liquid, and when bottled its amber tint might easily be mistaken for something else. Another method of getting a drink is to cut a rata vine. The flow tastes like Nihotupu water before the City Council put filters in, and is quite as colourful as the Nihotupu water used to, be." A Very Useful Dog. * A story is going the rounds in Napier at present concerning a certain Napier milk vendor, who in the course of his deliveries on a recent morning lost a £10 note, which he had been, carrying in his pocket tied up with string. He discovered his loss shortly after it must have occurred, and searched carefully back over the route which he had followed, but without success. Later in the morning a Napier business man was on his way to work when he discovered that he was being followed by his fox terrier. He orderedtlie dog home, and after some hesitation the canine obeyed. ( When it arrived home it was carrying in its, mouth the £10 note which the milk vendor had lost earlier in the morning. The manner in which it came to find this must remain a mystery, but the owner got his tenner back. The Pohutukawa's Passing. "Visitor" writes: "One of the prettiest sig'hts' I have seen in Auckland this Christinas is the crimson carpet; at the foot of the pohutukawas. The trees themselves are very beautiful, and at this season of the year quite equal to some of the most famous trees, of warmer countries, such as the flamboyant tree witl\ its masses 'of flaming flowers, or the golden mohr tree, which looks as though covered with a cloth of gold. The blossoms of these trees, which both belong to the acacia family, fade quickly. It is not so with the pohutukawa. The long red stamens look just as red after they have fallen as they do in the flower. _ As there are millions of them, even in an ordinary-sized tree, they make a thick carpet when they fall, and under some of the trees round Auckland, notably at Devonport, they quite hide the ground. The pohutukawa is the most colourful tree in New Zealand, and it is rather surprising that New Zealand did not choose it for its national emblem." . Transport Board Election. The election of a member to the Auckland Transport Board to take the place of Mr. F. S. Morton, who resigned, will take place' on Monday next, and the candidates are Mr. R. G. Clark, member of the One Tree Hill Road Board, and member of the Auckland Power Board, Mr. E. Morton, Mayor of Onehunga, and Mr. G. E. Tansley, member of the Mount Roskill Road Board. The districts which the member will represent are Onehunga, One Tree Hill, Mount Roskill, Mount Wellington, Ellerslie and Panmure. Polling booths will be open from*9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and any elector may record his vote at any booth, no matter in what district he lives. Owing to the fact that, tho franchise is the same as in the case of each local body election, there is a difference in the rolls of the districts concerned. In Onehunga and Ellerslie the roll is the same as that for the Parliamentary election, and in the other districts concerned the voting is done on the ratepayers' roll. Governor-General's Farewell. His Excellency the Governor-General (Sir Charles Fergusson} and Lady Alice Fergusson will arrive in Auckland on. Monday morning for tho purpose of saying good-bye,to the town and people. Auckland has always been a favourite place of residence with their Excellencies, and Auckland people have always been pleased to .see !the flag flying over Government"* House. Their Excellencies will remain a week in Auckland. They will have a busy time saying farewell. The main event will be the gathering of citizens in the Town Hall next Saturday night. It is not an invitation affair, but a real citizens' farewell, at which the spontaneous regard of the people for Sir Charles and Lady Alice will be able to find suitable expression, for they hold a very warm place in the hearts of Auckland'ers. During the evening the Mayor (Mr. Georgte Baildon) willpresent an illuminated address to his Excellency. The various women's organisations in Auckland will gather in the Town Hall on the afternoon of Friday next, when 'a presentation will be made to Lady Alice Fergusson. Their Excellencies will leave Auckland finally on Sunday evening, January 5. , Help Through the Holidays. e Special grants were given by the Relief Committee of the Hospital Board at its last meeting to sick and elderly people to assist them through the Christmas season, and special orders ' for children's food and for meat were given in accordance with medical orders issued from, the dispensary. Reports showed that some hardship had occurred through people who had been living in cheap houses near the beaches during-the dull season being given notice to quit, as the places were being'leased at high rents by visitors during the holiday season. Just where some of the people were going to live was the problem, and it was not' a matter that could be easily solved. Mr. G. T. Parvin, the new member for tho Franklin County, was present for the first time. At the end of the meeting the chairman thanked the staff for the way they had performed their onerous dutiesduring the year. The past twelve months had been the hardest they had ever had, and it was due to the excellent work which the member? of the staff had done which had led to such good results and the smooth working of the department's activities. The Flying Squadron. Every Aucklander who knows anything about old history has heard or read of the visit of the Flying Squadron to the Waitemata in 1869-70 with the Duke of Edinburgh on board the gallant Galatea, of which he was the captain. Mr. George C. Beale, the well-known Auckland painter of historical subjects, has made a watercolour of the squadron's'arrival in the harbour, and it enables one to realise.why old hands used to speak of the event so enthusiastically; to Auckland of the time it was as thrilling as the visits of the American Navy and the Special Squadron of the Royal Navy were to. Aucklanders of the present day. Mr. Beale's picture is on view in the corner shop of the Dilworth Buildings, and has attracted much attention. In the foreground is the handsome Galatea herself, coming to an anchorage, and round her are anchored the Challenger, the Virago and the Blanche. With the exception of the Blanche, they are frigates of the old school, but even at that early date they had auxiliary power, and the Virago was a paddle steamer —rather a vulnerable sort of arrangement for a man-o'-war. The Blanche, which was the first of her type, shows the evolutionary, stage which came just before steam definitely asserted its supremacy over sail. Of the smaller craft in the harbour-, prominence of phace is given to Maori war canOes, paddling off to let some of the chiefs pay their respects to the son of Kuim Wikitoria.