NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 201, 26 August 1930, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Prompt Ratepayers. Of the total of £39,407 in rates due to the Devonport Borough Council, nearly £21,000 was paid before August 10, which was the last date on which the "> pei cent rebate was allowed. The discount allowed amounted to £1040. The Deputy-Mayor, Mr. J. Hislop, states that the returns were very satisfactory, considering the prevalent financial stringency. Dominion's Hospitals. The people of New Zealand are well served by public hospitals. Statistics for 1929 reveal that there are 109 such institutions in the Dominion, or one for every 13,513 of the population, including Maoris. The total number of admissions during the year was 78,007. Persons treated in hospitals in the North Island numbered 53,851. and those in the South Island 29,931. Helping One Another. One-result of the recent efforts of the Auckland Musicians' Union to improve the conditions among its members is the claim that this is the only city in the English-speaking world where a professional musician need not want for a bed or a meal. The Minion, which has a membership of 400, and was founded over 19 years ago, established a benevolent fund early" this year. In one case of hardship it cared for an elderly musician for six weeks, and then paid his passage back to Sydney. Mr. Prank Egerton, the secretary, and three committees, arc engaged on the benevolent work. New Zealand and th§ Far East. The need for greater New Zealand publicity in the Far East is stressed by Professor H. Belsliaw, dean of the Faculty of Commerce at the Auckland University College, in an official bulletin on the subject of trade development between New Zealand and Asia. He was told by Japanese merchants during his rece'nt visit to Tokyo that they were very ignorant of conditions in New Zealand, and. on all sides he 1 found remarkably keen interest. Professor Belshaw therefore suggests that films descriptive of New Zealand scenerylife and industries, and pictures and descriptive leaflets on New Zealand for use in Asiatic middle and higher schools would be very acceptable. "I believe that in the long run the effect would bo very advantageous to New Zealand trade," lie savs, "and that any offers to release films or distribute photographs would be very keenly accepted." Fire Mystery. .Reference was made at yesterday's meeting of the Auckland Electric Power Board to the i ccent fire in Rutland Street. The general manager, Mr. R. H. Bartley, said he had noticed that reports attributed the origin of the fire to the blowing of an electrical fuse. An inspection had been made, and, while it was true that a fuse did blow on the switchboard, quite an appreciable time elapsed before the fire occurred. He had also been in conversation with the superintendent of the City Fire Brigade, and he was hot certain as to the origin of the fire, and was still making investigations. It was extremely unlikely that the fuse was the cause of the outbreak. In support of this Mr. Bartley pointed out that fully a minute must have elapsed from the time the fuse blew to the time when the fire was observed. He was given to understand that the electrician who was working on the installation at the time noticed smoke, immediately followed by flame, which ran round the floor of the office. This would point clearly to the presence of some form of gas, but how this became ignited remained unknown. Ravages of Vermin. Stoats, weasels and ferrets were introduced into New Zealand for the purpose of assisting to eradicate rabbits. This fact was mentioned at yesterday's meeting of the Zoological Society, when the president of the Acclimatisation Society, Mi\ F. E. McKenzie, appealed for support in urging the Government to remove the protection accorded the vermin, because of the menace they were proving to native birds and domestic poultry. Mr. A. T. Pycroft said that when the pests were introduced Professor Newton, of Cambridge, warned the Government tliatthere was a grave danger that they would be of menace to ground birds. It was a well-known fact that stoats, weasels and ferrets "preferred feathers to fur." They were intended to cope with the rabbit menace, but they had no effect on it. Babbits had diminished greatly, except in Central Otago. The vermin, on the other hand, had greatly increased, and were a source of destruction to native birds and poultry. It was decided to urge the Government to remove the restrictions on vermin. Insurance for Power Boards. In a paper read to the conference of, power board secretaries and executive officials in Wellington, the chairman, Mr. G. Browne, stated that the returns from 2S power boards this year again disclosed a - substantial reduction in the loss ratio for all classes of insurance, with the exception of fidelity guarantee. Attempts made by the executive of the Power Boards' Association to secure a reduction in premiums had been unsuccessful, and the premium for employers' liability in respect to electrical workers had increased from 45/ to 00/ per £100. The premiums collected from power boards during the past seven years exceeded the claims paid by £35,618 11/9, and the interest on that amount would have more than paid all the claims lastyear. Mr. Browne mentioned that the Power Boards' Association could itself arrange to carry all insurances, or the association could arrange to co-operate with other local body associations with a view to building up an insurance fund. Loss of the Aurora. The loss of the Tahiti, and the thought of What might have happened to her passengers and crew under less favourable weather conditions, have brought to the minds of many the loss of the Aurora, Shackleton's ship, in which he made one of his famous voyages south. In June, 1917, the Aurora left Sydney for England, and no trace of her was ever found. Her fate remains one of the mysteries of the sea. Three of the , crew belonged to Auckland, and the first mate, Mr. Entwistle, lived in Devonport. He had taken part in the landing at Gallipoli, and had seen four mo'nths' service there. After being invalided to New Zealand, he recovered sufficiently to ship on the Aurora with the intention of going Home to marry an English nurse and to sit for his master's certificate. Alex Logan, who was a Stanley Bay boy, lived with his widowed mother, a'nd before shipping before the mast on the Aurora had had some seafaring experience, but he was not old enough to be accepted in New Zealand for war service, so he set but for England. Noel Sherson, another of the crew, and a companion of Alex Logan's, was a son of Major Sherson, a well-known Auckland officer, who was killed.in action in France. Bulwark's Famous Passage. In his interesting reminiscences on his 90th birthday Mr. Edwin Auger, of Ponsohby, when interviewed by the "Star," recalled the arrival of the ship Bulwark in Auckland, after she had ■been given ,jip for, lost, some who had relatives aboard even going into mourning. . The ship took over 200 days from London to 'Auckland. Strangely enough, there is 'now living at Raurimu, in the King Country, a man who made that remarkable voyage, . Mr. -E. C. Williams. He writes: "I happen to have come out on the ship referred to by Mr. Auger. I am now about 75 years of age. I was about 14 years old when I came out on the ship, and I deserted her when we got to Auckland. We put into Capetown for water and provisions. When we left the Cape we had a fair-wind gale, and the captain continued to run too long, as the seas were mountains high. She shipped one extra big one over the stern, and it carried away the wheel and two men, besides disabling all our boats. We should have hove-to long before, and then there ( would have been no accident. When the accident happened, we all thought our last night in this gorld bad .come."