NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 129, 3 June 1930, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Cat's Accidental Dip.

Passengers in a Grey Lynn tram yesterday afternoon were afforded an impromptu diversion by a cat. which had climbed on to the edge of a horse trough by the roadside. A sudden gust of wind whirled round the corner, and the cat toppled into the Avater. A moment later its head appeared, and a thin, bedraggled bit of black fur pulled itself out and jumped to the ground, where it shook itself miserably, evidently resolving never again to stand on the edge of a trough on a winter's day.

Y.M.C.A. Membership Campaign. The membership campaign organised by the Young Men's Christian Association in Auckland has already added 200 to the nominal rolk It is hoped that a total of 1000 will eventually be reached. The public has responded generously to the made, and a number of donations has been received. Teams have been arranged to organise the campaign, and 'Sir George Richardson and Messrs. E. E. Kitchener, It. H. Horsley, C. G. Smith, H. E. Fountain, W. R. Ellingham and J. Tyler have been appointed team captains. New Pictures for City. The Auckland City Council has purchased six of the pictures shown at the annual exhibition of * the Society of Arts, and they will be added to the Art Gallery collection. The titles a;re:—"Winter Sunshine, Italy," by J. Weeks; "The Park," by O. Spencer Bower; "Devonshire Farm Buildings," by G. Ball; "The Big Stack" and "Night, Collins Street, Melbourne," two pictures by Pascoe Redwood; and "Evening, Valley Oureke," by J. Weeks. A total of £284 was realised by artists from the sale of pictures at the exhibition, £149 being from direct sale and £135 10/ in the value of prizes awarded in the society's art union.

Aucklander's Success. The» award of a Laura Shelman research fellowship under the Rockefeller Foundation has been made to Mr. J. C. Shearer, an honours graduate of the Auckland University College. Mr. Shearer has for two years been Professor H. Belshaw's assistant in the school of economics, and he has been coaching advanced and honours students. He began his economics study in 1924 at the a£e of 30, a holder of the first W.E.A. bursary in Auckland. In the 1927 degree examinations he was placed first in New Zealand in economics, and, was awarded a senior scholarship, and two ynjirs later he took first class honours in economics with a thesis on "Monopoly Control in New Zealand." » Too Much Selfishness. "I have long 'been of the opinion that most of the troubles in this world are due not to the ordinary causes and disputes such as I have to try, but to the vice common to all, selfishness," said Mr. justice Blair in an address to members of the New Plymouth Rotary Club yesterday. "More trouble is caused by selfishness than by any other vice," said his Honor. "The whole of our criminal law is designed to punish those guilty of selfishness." This varied in degree from mere thoughtlessness to the higher grades of greed and rapacity. All people were more or less tarred with the brush of selfishness, which was the genesis of many of the troubles in the world.

Historic Autographs. Amongst the pictures prominently displayed in the drawing room of Government House last week, when. the vice-regal garden parties were held, were photographs of the Earl of Balfour and Dr. Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury, both of whom have died since Lord and Lady Bledisloe left England. His Excellency the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, was a personal friend of the ex-Primate, and also of the famous statesman, and both photographs were signed. Lord Bledisloe informed his guests that the Earl of Balfour's autograph was probably one of the last he wrote. He signed the photograph as he lay in bed during his last illness. Greetings from Rarotonga. The party of Maoris which left Wellington by the Makura recently for Rarotonga, carrying a message of goodwill from the natives of New Zealand, returned to Wellington, yesterday by the Tahiti, after spending three days in the Cook Islands. They were in charge of Mr. H. R. H. Balneavis, private secretary to the Hon. Sir Apirana Ngata, Minister of Native Affairs and Minister in charge of the Cook Islands. Two of the Minister's sons, Masters H. K. and H. M. Ngata, made the trip with the party, which was met at the wharf yesterday by Sir Apirana. Mr. Meora Marumara said the hospitality of the Rarotongans was most marked, and the spirit of goodwill existing 'toward the Maoris was surprising. The Rarotongans were loyal and contented. They hoped for a visit from the Minister, because there were many problems he alone could solve. Such a visit could not but bring about an even better understanding. It was possible that a Rarotongan party would visit New Zealand before long.

Female Labour Plan. As a protest against the proposal to amend the engineering award so as to permit the introduction of female labour into the manufacturing sections of the engineering industry, the Auckland branch of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and passed the following resolution at a recent meeting:—" That 1 " this union strongly against the action of the Arbitration Court in granting employers the right to make application to amend the engineering award; that this union protests against the action of the Ironmasters' Federation in attempting to introduce female labour into the engineering industry, which is entirely unsuitable, from health reasons alone, to the future "'mothers of New Zealand; and that this union will assist the Amalgamated Engineers and Allied Trades' Federation in any steps taken to combat the introduction of female labour into the industry." An application to amend the award has been filed by the New Zealand Federated Ironmasters' Association, and will be heard before Mr. Justice Frazer in Christchurch on June 18.

Church Conferences. Papatoetoe and Otahuhu were the venues of representative church gatherings attended to-day by delegates from the city, suburbs and country districts. The thirty-eighth annual conference of the Auckland Auxiliary of the Baptist Union of New Zealand was opened at Otahuhu this morning, and continued this afternoon. Reports covering the Church's work from Whangarei in the north to the Waikato and Bay of Plenty districts in the south and east were presented during the day. At Papatoetoe two Bible class rallies were held. One, undenominational, was attended by young men and women from the city and suburbs, and the other, a Presbyterian rally, was arranged by the South Auckland Presbyterian Bible class district. The united rally was held in the Papatoetoe Town Hall, and the Presbyterian rally in St. John's Church hall.

Worthless Pound Note. A Nelson business man made a dead loss on an over-the-counter transaction a few days ago. In return for some articles a customer tendered a £1 note, receiving silver in exchange. In due course the note, along with others, was.banked. There was no branch in Nelson of the bank which issued the note, and it was forwarded in the usual way to a branch at Blenheim. The shopkeeper was considerably surprised to receive subsequently a notice that the note Was one of a cancelled lot that had been stolen, and that he would have to tender a good one in order to make up his balance. It has been ascertained that the note was included in a shipment of cancelled notes sent to London on the steamer Turakina in 1907. The notes were stolen when the steamer caught fire, and later a good many of them were circulated.