NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 130, 4 June 1930, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Crop of Mishaps. There was a crop of mishaps at the liockey scven-a-side tournament yesterday, the ambulance men having 30 cases to attend to during the clay. One of the victims was a; woman spectator, who was walking off the ground, when a .hard-driven hockey ball caught her on the wrist. Governor-i&enerars Curiosity. "The curiosity which I admit having displayed will, I think, be considered only natural in the early period of my office in this Dominion," said the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, at the annual luncheon of the King's Empire Veterans yesterday. "I feci that I cannot guide before I have learnt. It is therefore my hounden duty, as well as my burning desire, to learn all I can of the various activities pursued by the people of New Zealand, and particularly of their industrial undertakings." "Lions" Becoming Rare.

The gilt "lion" badges worn by the British Rugby teain are being "hunted" to the point of extermination, writes a Taranaki correspondent. A delicate inquiry ai to the possibility of acquiring one from one member of the team brought the reply: "Mine have all gone, and I have not one to wear myself." ,

! Value of Military Training. "I want to assure you that the defence forces of New Zealand were never more efficient than they arc to-day," said Brigadier IJ. ; E. Potter, officer commanding the Northern Command, when referring, at the Empire Veterans' luncheon yesterday, to the proposed curtailment of the defence system. "But I must also sound a note. of warning. We are training a tremendous number of young lads, building up young manhood and inculcating a. spirit of obedience, a spirit of service and a spirit of sacrifice. Before you throw away the institution that is teaching the boys these grand things 'for the Empire, find out what is going to take its place." Firings in Hauraki Gulf. The winter cruises of the ships of the New Zealand Division of the Boyal Navy will be commenced tliis month. The Veronica will sail for Suva to-'day, and the Dunedin will leave on Friday to carry out gunnery and torpedo exercises, with aircraft co-operation, in the Hauraki Gulf. Filing will take place on Monday, June 9, at 1.15 and .1.30 p.m., on June 11, at 10.30 a.m., and on June 13, at 10 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. Towards the end of the month she will sail for Nukualofa, and will return to Auckland at the beginning of August. The sloop Laburnum will assist the Dunedin for a week, and afterwards leave for a cruise among the Eastern Pacific islands. Traffic Inspectors Appointed.

Sixty applications were received by the Auckland City Council for two positions on the city traffic inspector's staff. The successful applicants, who have been called upon to take up their duties immediately, are Mr. Charles Wootton, formerly of the Police Department, and Mr. A. T. Reiman. of New Lynn, ex-chairman of the New Lynn School Committee. Although the appointments are described as temporary, it is expected that the services of the two men will be required for at least a year, pending the council's decision on the question of automatic signalling control at street intersections. A sum of £11000 was struck off the estimates this year, and this is regarded as an indication that the council does not.contemplate any immediate change. In the meantime information on traffic regulation is being obtained from abroad.

"Life on the Ocean Wave." Since the old sailiijg days, when the first hardy immigrants c'am6 to New Zealand, seatravel lias lost many of its thrills, and incidentally .much of its tedium. Life aboard ship in the old days, even on the mo6t tranquil of voyages, was wont to become monotonous, and the passengers were forced to make what little entertainment they could for themselves. Nowadays there is always plenty doing aboard ship to keep the passengers occupied. As an instance of this an officer of the Tainui, which arrived in Auckland yesterday from Southampton, reported that every evening some form of entertainment was arranged to cultivate friendships and keep everyone amused. Twice a week pictures were shown; and the gaps were filled in with dances, concerts, card games and other forms of entertainment suited to the unsteadiness of "life on the ocean wave."

! Protest Against Lotteries. A resolution, moved by Dr. J. J. North, was carried by the Auckland auxiliary of the Baptist Union at its thirty-eighth annual meeting at Otahuhu yesterday, urging the Government to withdraw the present lottery permits. The opinion was expressed that the present financial stringency and conditions of* trade made the recent revival of lottery permits by the Government extremely unwise. The auxiliary also protested against the use of city streets for the vending of lottery tickets. Dr. North said that nohing. could be more unreal than the Government wailing over deficits and at the same time allowing public lottcrios, involving a great waste of public money. Auckland, in the vicinity of the Post Office, he said, might be mistaken for a second-class Spanish-American city. The public -were entitled to know who was responsible for the scandal—the civic authorities, the postmaster, or the stationmaster.

Crushing Rugby Defeats. By their overwhelming defeat of the Wangaj nui Rugby fifteen by 50 points to 3 at New Plymouth yesterday, Taranaki has at last been avenged after years of patient waiting. It is a coincidence that on King's Birthday eleven seasons ago the riverside town side gave their old rivals the" biggest trouncing of their history, and the margin of difference between the team's was very similar to that of yesterday.; The score on that occasion was 53 points to 6, and a notable performer was the Wanganui winger, Phillipspn, who pranced through the opposition for seven tries. The Wangamii representatives are by no means unaccustomed to being hopelessly 'vanquished. In'-1023-they brought an indifferent team to Auckland, and were walloped by 58 points to nil. The fleetness of the home inside backs proved bewildering to the southerners, who were captained by the redoubtable "Moke" Bcllis. of All Black fame. A thrashing was threatened from the moment they set out on their excursion north. Men chosen to make the trip dropped out at the last moment, and energetic recruiting along the line was necessary to fill,- the gaps. Indeed, it is rumoured that several players who gathered at Taihape to farewell the side were persuaded to join the fifteen that met such an ignominious fate.

Savoury Shellfish. "Paritar" writes: "On the one hand M'e have the yachtsmen complaining of the disgusting state of the- water off the Orakei outfall —they say that if something is not done they will have to give up holding races in it—and on the other hand we have people who calmly and deliberately forage for shellfish in the mnd at the head of the same wharf.'- I saw them doing it the other day when I was over the new waterfront road. .One party had a fire on the beach, and was cooking the cockles on a piece of old tin. Another family took its find away in.a motor, evidently preferring a feed at home. But just imagine anyone eating anything that came out of that mini?' Not ten chain's away-was the building where the disintegrating and screening of the sewage is done, and no one could say the surrounding atmosphere suggests violets. I see Dr. Hughes, the Medical Officer of Health for_ Auckland, cannot be certain that in the case of the Maori who caught typhoid after eating cockles from the Kohimarama Beach that the infection was actually due to the shellfish. At the same time, the doctor advises people to eschew the cockles along that part'of the harbour, and no wonder! The marvel is that anyone could he found to sample theni after getting 'tma-ytiaS- of Om^ssaP-