NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 140, 16 June 1930, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

New Flying Boat. Residents along both shores of the Waitemata were surprised on Saturday morning by the appearance of the latest in sea-going aircraft, the new Cutty Sark flying-Boat, recently added to the machines at the- Hobsonville base. The performance of the flying-boat was satisfactory, and it has been put into regular service. It is a monoplane with an all-metal hull, and has .seating in the cabin for three persons, in addition to the pilot. The Lone Bather. At least one person in Heme Bay still braves the elements to enjoy his bathe. On Saturday afternoon, when the tide was' out in St. Mary's Bay, and the day was sufficiently atl-A-anced for the cliffs to cast a cold deep shadow over the water, a lone figure came out of one of the boating sheds there, clad in a bathing costume. He strode gladly out on a long wharf in the teeth of the wind, and after some time came back dripping. One onlooker then turned again to the fire and his book.

Sports in Western Suburbs. • By the expenditure of £700 during the next few weeks the City Council will provide accommodation for football and hockey players using the new Walker's Road recreation reserve at Point Chevalier. The plans provide for a brick building, 50ft by 21Jft, with a rough-cast finish and tile roof. It will be large enough for the needs of 140 players, which should be ample for a reserve with five football fields and two hockey grounds. Work was begun last week, and should be completed by the end of next month. Another scheme of importance to the western districts is the grassing of the area outside the Western Springs stadium to provide four football fields and four or five basketball fields. These should be ready for use next season. Tramping- Etiquette. * "As in past years (says the annual report of the Tararua Tramping Club), it is our privilege and pleasure to place on record the appreciation of members to all who have assisted us in any way during the year just concluded. We would alsp again urge on members the necessity for adhering strictly to the best tramping etiquette, and to be ever on their guard' to protect and preserve our native flora and fauna and all natural features. A recent incident in the ranges, when one of our members, travelling behind another party of trampers, who were fortunately not of our club, was able to stamp out an incipient lire caused by a carelessly-thrown match, serves to point out'-.that it is only by constant carefulness that the good name of our club and of the tramping community generally can be maintained." Fruits of 22 Years' Aviation. "When one considers that only 22 years ago the first Englishman contrived a machine which would fly, aviation has made wonderful strides," said_ Flight-Lieutenaht W. Vazie-Siiuons, K.A.F. (retired), who was a recent visitor to Auckland. In 190S, he said, Sir A. V. Roe (then Mr. Roe), famous latterly on account of the Avro flying machine, made a successful attempt in a Hamp°shire field, and an assistant ran after him with two pegs, one to mark the place where the wheels of* his "contrivance" left the ground, and the other to fix the spot where they touched again. The distance was some 90ft. "And now," he added, "a mere slip of a girl, whose years represent little more than the whole of the history of English aviation, has flown part way round the world." / Winter Distress. Lack of work, thickness amongst poor people, and deserted families accounted for over 200 ■■ eases of acute distress which came before the Relief Committee of the Hospital Board at its last meeting. The large number of parents who applied for relief because they were not only out of work .themselves, but because their boys and girls were out of work also, was a most depress- , ing feature. Casual workers who had been dismissed from Government employment complained that they were now at the end of their savings, and had to applv at the only place wh |c they could get relief. Some of them had been < on for a long time, but they had no security of < tenure, and,now they were among the work'less. i There were a dozen or two cases of people who ] had been in the Dominion about 20 years, and ] found that they were well up to the three-score- i year and ten stage, and yei> they were still five ] years off the old age pension. They had been in j the Dominion in good times, but now I;hey were unable to get even light jobs, as there were too many younger men looking for the same kind of work. Northern Territory Crocodiles. The Northern Territory is a country with a great future, according to Dr. W. B. Kirkland, who arrived in Auckland from Australia recently, but there are one or two unpleasant features in the life there. One of these was constituted by the prevalence of crocodiles in the northern' rivers. "I've seen a genuine photograph of one of these brutes 25ft long," the doctor said. They got to know the water-holes, and they would lie in wait there at night for animals as they came to drink. Right close in to the bank they hid, with only /their nostrils above the water. Their mode* of attack was peculiar. Either they would drag at their prey with the sharp claws of their powerful front legs, 1 or they would knock the animal into the A.;ater with their tail, and then drown it. Either method was effective. Strange Fish Identified. Mr. M. Hodgkins, of Parnell, writes: "Inoticed in the 'Star' recently an account of some strange, fish having been washed up on the> shores of Piji Islands, which had puzzled the population. It might be of interest to state that from the description and picture these creatures appear almost certainly to be members of a species called 'the blackfish,' a member of the whale family and closely related to the familiar dolphins, porpoises, killer-whales, etc. It is a shy and timid creature, widely distributed, but nowhere excessively common. It is gregarious, and goes about in "schools" or herds, which are some of the largest formed; by any member of the whale family. The 'schools' blindly follow some leader among themselves like a flock of sheep, and if tliis leader chances to/get stranded,, the herd soon follows suit.' It is an inoffensive creature, which would very likely fall a victim to the attacks of fiercer denizens of the sea." Old Steamer's Last Days. • "Raukau" writes: "Passing along the North Wall, over at Freema'n's Bay, I came across the huli of the old paddle-steamer Wakatcre, which is being dismantled prior to being broken up. She used to be such a gad-about, up and down to the Thames, and her paddles made her wake so obvious, that it was most melancholy to see her time-worn shell tied up "alongside ■ the wall, with most of her 'innards' ripped out of her. ■She has mussels six inches long hanging to her sides at the waterline, but Avhat struck me most' was the good crop of emerald-green grass growing in the gutters of the roof over the upper deck° just aft of the (funnel. One often sees a similar, phenomenon in the gutters of houses ashore, but how did the seed find its way out to the Wakatere, which for many months had been swinging idly at her chains in the middle of the mouth of .Shoal Bay, and how did it find enough earth to make any growth? The problems are not so difficult as they "seem. Light feeeds. carry for miles. Some are provided with wings, very much like the wings of an aeroplane," or >a glider, and certain New Zealand plants, such as the comrosmas, are entirely wind-fertilised, the pollen blowing from one tree to the other. Then again Rangitoto was originally a mere lava heap, and every seed must have blown out to the island from the mainland, and there is a pretty respectable clothing of green to old Rangi's scarred sides. As for the dust that made the earth that grew the grass oil' the Wakatcre, any steward will tell you that it is simply, marvellous-where the dust' comes from, even out of sight of land."