NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 46, 24 February 1931, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Visit to Arapuni. A visit of inspection to Arapuni is shortly to be made by members of the Auckland Electric Power Board. It is hoped that the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. W. B. Taverner, and principal officers in charge of the works, will be present on the occasion of the visit, which has been pencilled in for March 4. The date is subject to approval by the Minister. Reduced Meat Prices. A further reduction in the price of retail meat has been agreed upon by the Master Butchers' Association of Auckland. The revised schedule of prices will be issued in a day or so, and will become operative next Monday. The last alteration was made last Friday, when beef and pork was lowered in price by from Id to |d, and mutton by from Id to All classes of veal, with the exception of cutlets and veal steak, were rcduced by Id.

"Throw-backs" to Mongol Stocks. A doctor called as a witness in the Supreme Court yesterday was asked whether an infant boy with Mongol characteristics could be the son of Nordic parents. In his evidence he said that about 1500 years ago, when Tartan invaders overran part of Europe, Mongol etock was scattered about the Western world, and cases of a "throwback" to that ahcient stock were known to occur. They were referred to as instances of Mongolism. The children, in such cases, had the Mongol type of features, the typical eyes, and hair, which was usually somewhat coarse. He said that the ex-Emperor of Germany had been quoted as an example of a "throw-back." Petitions for Divorce. Women outnumbered men as petitioners for divorce in Auckland this session of the Supreme Court. In a list of 33 cases, which is exceptionally light, 20 wives are seeking the dissolution of their marriages, and in the remaining 13 cases the wives are the respondents. These petitions, all undefended, will be heard before Mr. Justice Herdman on Thursday. There are twelve cases brought on grounds of mutual separation, nine of desertion, five of failing to comply with orders for the restitution of conjugal rights, two of the existence of separation orders, and three of misconduct. In eight cases petitions will be moved for the restitution of conjugal rights.

Food at City Shelter. At an hour that Aucklanders set inside for lunch, a city social worker dropped into the shelter where men caught in the tide of adversity are assisted, and the aroma of freslily-baked bread was wafted to his nostrils. It whetted his' appetite for an excellent meal of stew and vegetables and bread and butter, and he left the shelter feeling very satisfied with himself. He also camo to the conclusion that the fare that he had sampled was much better than that supplied in the busli camps when buslifelling was one of the chief avenues of work away outback, and when men worked hard and lived hard. The "damper" in the bushman's hut satisfied the appetite of the hungry bush-whacker, but it was not to be compared with the flavour of the bread at the city shelter, he said. "I know," he added, "because I've been a bush-whacker, and lived in a bushman's whare. I know something, too, about the food at the shelter." Art of Expression. An impromptu speech was given at the annual conference of the New Zealand Federated Master Painters yesterday by Mr. J. Crooks, the Manawatu delegate. Considerable discussion had taken place over a remit, but for a while no progress was made. After one or two smart retorts, Mr. Crooks arose and exhorted delegates to be tolerant of each other's views, however they were expressed. Correct expression was one of the most difficult of arts. Many had ideas that they knew were correct, but, lacking the ability to express what they wished to say, grasped at other ideas that clung around the central idea, and expressed them, thus giving those more importance than they were actually worth. The central idea for the time became lost and was made subservient to the less important ones, which were magnified. Mr. Crooks himself, in his delivery, demonstrated fairly well the art of expression, and he was given a hearty applause. Hedgehogs. A woman who has lived in Auckland all her life saw a hedgehog for the first time y° s " terday, and then did not know what it was. The animal was on the move at the time, and the woman's first impression was that it was a rat that had been unfortunate enough to lose its tail. Her scream brought her son to the rescue, and a touch of the boy's hand immediately converted the "rat" into a ball of prickles. Hedgehogs are not common in Auckland, but are much better known in Wellington. The animals are gluttons for snails, and for that reason arc always well received by amateur gardeners. The late Sir Henry Brett regarded the hedgehog as a strong ally in his warfare against garden pests, and, at one time, he had a dozen of the animals sent to him from Wellington. Evidently the hedgehogs found plenty to eat in Sir Henry's gardens, for one night last summer a party camping near the lake at Takapuna caught three of them in a tent where the provisions were kept. Sunday Island Settlement.

"The Department is not leasing or disposing of any part of the island, and knows nothing of the matter," declared an officer of the Lands Department in Wellington yesterday, when his attention was drawn to the cable message from Sydney stating that a Brisbane medical man had bought Sunday Island outright and intended settling 14 families on it. The official added that, with the exception of 275 acres of freehold property, the island was all Crown land. The original owner of the freehold block, a man named Bell, was dead, and the latest advice the Department had received was that it. is now owned by a man named Parker, of Suffolk, England. The only land that could be purchased was the freehold block, and one could hardly settle 14 families on that area. Several efforts have been made to settle Sunday Island, but all have failed, owing to the difficulty, of marketing produce. •About five years ago three Aucklanders settled there, a Crown grant being obtained by Mr. C. H. Parker. The latter, it is understood, died of blood poisoning early in 1927, and the Government steamer Hinemoa ,rescued his two companions. Since then the island has been unoccupied.

Habit of Observation. "We have to use our brains more in the country than the people in the cities do," said a couple of Boy Scouts who had never been to the city before, as they sat in the prow of a ferry boat intently interested in all that they saw. ~ "When we are working in the paddocks we can always tell by looking- at the sun, or watching the shadows of the trees when it is the dinner hour. Even the cows know when it is tferee o'clock, for, with the exception of a straggler or two, they start to make for the cow-bails when the sun begins to go down." How different things were in the city, where people had clocks all over the place and_ yet were always running to catch boats and trains. When we <*ot on this boat," said one Scout, "the siren on top of the tower made an awful noise, and wave us such a scare that we put our fingeis in our ears till it stopped. Combined with this, the clock struck twelve long resounding strokes after the chimes had sounded. Yet w© heard a man 011 the boat, who did not seem deaf, either, ask if the old siren had gone yet. Then all of a sudden we heard another bell go, making a sound like an alarm clock, and then another man said, 'Oh, it must have gone, there is the boat bell! We have to be observant in the country, or the work 011 the farm would be badly done. _ We arc always looking out for little things attending to to save a bigger job later on."