NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 102, 2 May 1931, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Pearl Display, A display illustrating the natural history of pearls and the uses of pearl shell products has been set.up in the shell gallery of the Auckland War Memorial Museum by Mr. A. W. B. Powell. There are numerous examples of precious pearl and also artificial pearls presented to the Museum by A. Kohn, Lt<L, of Auckland. The glistening appearance of the shell is well illustrated. Chance for Health Department. Speaking at Onehunga yesterday, Mr. J, E. Green, a candidate for the Mayoralty, made special reference to hospital administration. He introduced a new line of thought when he declared that if the functions of the Health Department were extended in the direction of educating people how to eat and drink, in a few years' time the hospitals would not be filled to overflowing as they are to-day. New Number Plates. Over 600 sets of new orange and black number plates were issued yesterday at the Wellesley Street Post Office, which was a far bigger number than those issued on the first day of relicensing last year. All cars will need to carry the new plates on June 1, and there are about 15,000 cars and trucks to be relicensed. Splendid arrangements have been mad© for the public. A special staff has been put on to deal with the rush, and 25 people can fill in their forms at one time. Motorists are urged to relicense their vehicles as early as possible, arid not leave their duty until the last minute. Sport at the Polls, "The shooting season opens to-morrow," said Mr. Arthur Rosser at the Town Hall concert chamber, where the Labour candidate for the Mayoralty was speaking, "and the municipal shooting season also opens as far as the Labour party is concerned. You need not be afraid of going out and trying your luck; you have all got licenses —you all have the franchise. After polling day it will be a close season. It all depends on what sort of practice the voters of Auckland' make, as to the number of seats we will bag on Wednesday next." Winter Welcomed. Among bootmakers there is mild jubilation at the approach of winter. Summer and autumn are always more or less lean times with them, because sandshoes and old or discarded footwear that barely survived last spring are much in use. This year it was particularly so, and this has gone hard with the men in the boot-repairing trade. Now they are beginning to reap their reward, and in the past week or two have been besieged by customers who are anxious to put their footwear in condition for the winter season. An old hand, who has been behind a last for 40 years, said there was. a busy time ahead. Young Footballers. When the primary schools of Auckland "kicked off" yesterday for their Rugby season the grounds were in excellent condition, and the boys revelled in the opportunity to play on closely-mown grass, after their recent experiences with ploughed and harrowed school grounds. In some cases open paddocks had been used for practice, but many of the boys had only a smattering of the game from passing and kicking practice on asphalt squares, or from watching blackboard demonstrations in the classrooms. The tackling seemed to Buffer in consequence, and those teams wiih any idea of attack were able to get through, and made good scores. It was one of the earliest starts the schools had made. The Pig and the Lodges. There is no doubt the average citizen goes to a political meeting to be amused.. Mr. Arthur Rosser, the veteran Labour representative, knows this, and he did not disappoint'. the audience in the Town Hall concert chamber on Thursday evening. *. Talking about the hard times everyone was passing through, he said there was generally some alternative that would help us to carry on until better times arrived. That reminded him of an old Irish lady he knew. She was bewailing the Mussolini-nus of the city officials in not allowing her to keep a pig "to nelp to pay the rint," as she had been accustomed to do in the Ould Sod. "Whisht, Mrs. Dooley," said the lady to whom she was telling her troubles, "divil the •bit of bother ye need be for the bit of a pig, yez can always keep a lodger." Minister Relates a Parable. Addressing the school children yesterday afternoon at the opening of the Gladstone district dental clinic at Mount Albert, the Minister of Health, the Hon. A. J. Stallworthy, told a story which, he said, had useful application to those of maturer years as well as to boys and girls at school. It was about three men who were working in a granite quarry. A visitor asked the first what he was doing, and the man replied tb.ot he was "just putting in a day's work." The second said he was "earning fen shillings a day," but the third explained that he was not merely quarrying rock, but was helping to build a cathedral. The point of view of the third man, said Mr. Stallworthy, showed that he had vision and an aim in life. It was not so much what a person did that mattered as the spirit in which it was done. "Library Tower." The third useful bulletin issued by the Auckland public libraries, under the jurisdiction of Mr. John Barr, keeps up the high standard with which the little publication started off. Most readers have experienced the annoyance of choosing a wrong book. Like the hostler who heard there was a good picture called "Oharon crossing the Styx," and went expecting to find a famous chaser of that name negotiating a hurdle, many readers, after selecting a book from its title, have discovered something quite different from what they expected. Of course,- the bookish people never make such mistakes, but all subscribers do not come Tinder that category, and they and busy people will appreciate the bulletin's excellent notes on "A selection of recent additions to the lending department." There are seventeen pages giving informative; notes on books, and the editor must be congratulated upon the way he has done his task. It is interesting to know that in Auckland there is a growing-demand for works written in French, and the-bulletin, after referring to the latest additions to.- ; this branch, adds: "The library has. become a subscriber to the Sequana, the; French Book -ot the Month Society. As the society is. under .the "direction of a committee that MM. Andre Maurois, Paul Valery and Pierre Benoit, borrowers may be satisfied that the selection will be worth while." Votes ancLPick Handles. ~ Apropos the coining municipal elections, Mr. Alder Fisher, the veteran of 90 years who celebrates .his. birthday by climbing Rangitoto, recalls a-good, story of the great fight at Thames away back in the late 'sixties, when the office of Superintendent of the Province was at stake. In those vivid days an election was not the tame affair it is to-day. "I had been surveying the Tapu Creek' field with my brother," says Mr. Fisher," and .was at Thames during the campaign. It was the nearest to war that I have witnessed. One day I was in the shop of Bruce Morpeth, an ironmonger, when Hughie Coulihan came in and ordered twelve dozen pick handles, to be delivered at Paddy Longfield's back door. Paddy was a noted hotelkeeper. And the pick handles were used with excellent effect, on the heads of the opposition. In those days it was open voting—the hustings—and everyone knew how everyone voted. There were a lot of Irish at Thames in those golden days, and there was a good deal of 'orange versus, green' about the election fight. Fisticuffs were common, and 1 remember the eame Paddy Longfield rushing past me one day, after one of the opposite faction. In a few minutes Paddy eame back with his arm hanging useless by his side. He had aimed a blow at his antagonist, but hit the wall instead, and broke his arm "