NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 97, 26 April 1930, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Sunday Telegrams. ' The extension of the hours for the dispatch of telegrams on Sundays and holidays applies only to the principal post offices in the Dominion, including only Auckland, Masterton, Wanganui, Napier, Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Gisborne and Wellington in the North Island. The holidays to which the new regulation applies are Christmas Day, Good Friday and Anzac Day. Rats and Telephone Boxes. The new telephone boxes outside the General Post Office have become the home of rats, which live in the spaces between the outer metal wall and the inside lining of wood and glass. In some places, where the rats' runs are behind the glass panelling, they have • gnawed pieces of paper off the inside of the glass, and they can occasionally be seen passing backwards and forwards. "Hardy Quinquennials." Remarking at the opening of the Wellington Flower Show that he had read in the papers that the Rangitiki had recently landed a large cargo of plants from England, Lord Bledisloe said: "There were also two hardy plants on board, Lady Bledisloe and myself. I suppose we should be callcd quinquennials; we are certainly not annuals. If the other imported plants thrive as well as we do in your beautiful climate, they will indeed do well." Wireless and the Church. By means of wireless the Rev. 11. A. G. Clark, minister of the Dominion Road Church of Christ, conducted the service from Wellington last Sunday evening. The service was broadcast by 2YA, and several churches in both islands installed radio sets. In most cases the experiment was entirely satisfactory. As most of ' the preachers were at the conference in Wellington, the necessity, of securing substitutes was avoided. An overflow meeting was held in the basement of the Vivian Street Church, where a loud-speaker was installed. Lost Sunshine. Improvements in the small meteorological observatory in Albert Park are to be made at the request of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The principal change will be in enlarging the area from 30ft to 45ft in diameter, to give more room for the sunshine recorder, the rain gauge and wind recorder. Owing to the present position of the sunshine globe a considerable amount of sunshine haß been missed in the official records. Before the observatory was settled in its present position, twenty years ago, it was accommodated at first in the Albert Barracks, then on the highest point of the Domain, and later at the old museum in Princes Street. At Albert Park it is 154 ft above sea level. Water find to Spare. Huia dam has provided the city with water far beyond the needs of a normal year. An indication of this was contained in the annual report of the waterworks department, presented to the City Council on Thursday evening, which showed that the total storage on March 31 was 1,443,000,000 gallons, sufficient for six months' supply. The Huia source, with a capacity in storage of 530,000,000 gallons, had been in use from February G last, and had been drawn upon to the extent of a million gallons a day. For the twelve months reviewed in the report the water supplied to the city was 2,901,879,000 gallons, an increase of 12,000,000 gallons on the previous year's demand. Blockhouse Bay Improvements. Residents of Blockhouse Bay are showing plenty of enthusiasm in their aims to improve the foreshore, which is getting less every year. Where years ago there was a lovely flat green playing area, there are now only clay cliffs. Already a few energetic ones have collected £73, and a petition has been presented to the City Council, asking that the work be done immediately. The residents backed up their petition with a guarantee to raise a sum of £100. It is understood that the council has a very elaborate scheme in view for improving the whole foreshore, and residents are hopeful that a large amount will be included on this year's estimates, which will be made public shortly. New Route for Goods Traffic. The rumble of goods traffic over the Westfield deviation has become a familiar sound to residents of the eastern suburbs, and rural districts in the past few months. Since last September a single line has been in use, and on Sunday, May 4, the other track will be ready. With double tracks available the Railway Department will be in a position to divert the greater part of the goods traffic to the deviation. The Parnell route will be used only for goods linking up between the northern and southern lines at Newmarket, and Newmarket will continue to be the point of transhipment. Passenger trains will n6t be run on the new line until the latter part of the year, when the new arrival and departure platforms are completed.

Success of Poppy Day. Alike in Auckland and in the North Shore boroughs, the.response to Thursday's Poppy Day appeal was very satisfactory. Last year's total in aid of the fund for relieving distress among ex-servicemen and their dependents was £2002, and it is expected that this Avill be exceeded. Alrady over £1406 has been paid to the secretary of the Returned Soldiers' Association. Several large stalls have yet to furnish their returns, and in addition there will be a number of donations and gifts to swell the total. One street collcctor received a cheque for £50, dropped unostentatiously into the box, 'but, on the other hand, there was the case of a halfpenny camouflaged with silver paper to look like a shilling. Of the net proceeds of Poppy Day 75 per cent Avill he used in relieving distress. The Returned Soldiers' Association will receive 15 per cent, and the proceeds of the sale of the "Anzac Anthem." The remaining 10 per cent will go to the funds of the Veterans' Home. Guarding the Cenotaph. Thoughtless acts of desecration at the Cenotaph in front of the War Memorial Museum have aroused the attention, of the Auckland Returned Soldiers' Association. At Thursday's meeting of the. City Council the association, wrote suggesting that at each of the four corners of. the Cenotaph, at a distance of about four paces from the. base of the steps, "a'llraSs-tablet "bearing the following message should be let in flush with the pavement: "They whom this Cenotaph commemorates were numbered 'among those who, at the call of King and country,deft all that was dear to them, endured hardness, faced danger, and Anally passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty and self-sacrifice, giving up their own lives that others might live in freedom." It was suggested that these, brass tablets should be connected by a brass strip of suitable width, also let in flush with the pavement, the strips to be engraved as follows: "Remember this is holy ground—tread not upon it except in reverence." The matter was referred to the • Parks Committee to report. Women at the Wheel. One of the officials employed at Wellington in the tests for qualifications to hpld motor driving license's stated that in the .tests for drivers' licenses the women's work compared favourably with that of men. The women displayed quite a good knowledge of road usage;, observing the signals and traffic signs. Failure to do so would, of course, mean disqualification. The sight- test is a strict one, and; includes reading of colours, but the number of colour-blind applicants is very small indeed. Candidates' are , examined " as to their knowledge of traffic regulations and bylaws, judgment of speed, starting engine and' driving ahead,- turning in a narrow street, driving in traffic, driving in reverse, starting on hill, knowledge' : of gears and braking, while the ex-■ainining.-;officer also notes the general demeanour of the candidate while driving, whether confident, nervous, and so forth. For public service drivers, motor buses and taxi-cabs, only the highest qualification is accepted.