NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 115, 17 May 1932, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Sheep-worrying at Mauku,

A raid by dogs on the flock of Mr. J. r. Gearon at Mauku last week resulted in considerable loss to the farmer. Mr. Gearon was awakened about 3 a.m. by the barking of dogs, and he turned out of bed hurriedly to discover that lus flock was being harassed by two dogs, who did not cease their worrying until the man was almost upon them. Unluckily, in his haste to go to the rescue of the sheep, Mr. Gearon had failed to take his gun, and the clogs got away. Several sheep had been killed, others were mauled badly, and many more had to be extricated from a creek in which they had sheltered. The lose included several pedigree sheep.

Beware of Benzine. The habit of handling petrol with a car el ens disregard of its extremely inflammable quality was the subject of a general warning by Mr. Wyvcrn Wilson, S.M., at Hamilton _ yesterday, when considering the death of a child through burns resulting from the ignition of petrol, with which the child's father was cleaning his motor car. A flash from a short circuit caused by the blade of the cleaning knife ignited the petrol. Had kerosene been used for the cleaning, there would have been no tragedy, stated the coroner. Kerosene was the customary fluid, he said, for cleaning cars. It was cheap and effective, but the familiarity which breeds contempt had caused the child's father to use benzine. Hard-drinking Monkey. It was mentioned in last evening's issue that j Woofit, the training ship Philomel's fox terrier mascot, had been "accused" of drinking beer and becoming uiisteady on his feet. A skipper who is now master of one of the Shaw, Savill atitl Albion Company's cargo steamers once owned a monkey which was a confirmed drinker. During the war period the monkey was with its master on a destroyer, and when the rum ration was served it regularly lined up with tho If the captain's locker was left open, the animal would seize a bottle of spirits, break the top off, and dash to tho masthead to enjoy a long drink in peace. Later the monkey would be found holding its head in both hands and swaying sorrowfully from side to side, as if to say, "Never again." Putting On the Brake.

A proposal of tho Karori School Committee to ask parents for voluntary contributions towards the sporting, social and other activities of the school was criticised at the annual meeting of the Wellington Schools Committees and Educational Federation last week. The executive committee of tiie federation, in a report, opposed the action of the school committee on the grounds that "voluntary contributions" under such conditions could very easily be accepted as "moral obligations." Under the existing laws parents were taxed directly and indirectly for educational purposes, and, whilst ever willing to in voluntary efforts to raise funds for school improvements, other than general maintenance, the committee was opposed to any action that would inflict undue hardship on parents and scholars.

A Rowing Trainer. An ingenious rowing machine lias been designed and almost brought to completion by Mr. ,J. McGifTen, a member of the Canterbury Rowing Club. Working in liiß spare time at the club's boatshed, Mr. McGiffen lias evolved a machine which he believed to bo the only trainer of such type in Christchurch. The apparatus i« fitted with a rolling scat and footrests, as in a racing boat. One stumpy oar is mounted in a rigger. The rigger can bo placed on either side of tho machine, #*o ae to make it suitable for training bow or stroke men. Through a cable and pullov device, ending in a chain round a gear wheel, tho tonsion of the pull can bo varied at will by an adjustable brake on the gear drum. All that remains to bring the machine to completion is the fitting of tho oar and the tensioning device and the seat roller. Wants and Necessities.

With so much distress prevailing now, older people sometimes wonder whether the cause cannot be laid to there being too much of everything, and the luxuries of the past being regarded as the necessaries of the present. Ihc following passage from a recent work by ail American writer discloses the growth of the people's needsi "Statisticians have calculated that 100 years ago the average person bad just about 72 wants, of which 16 were necessities: whereas the average person to-day has 484 wants, of which 94 are nowadays rated as necessities. Furthermore, 100 years ago there were not more than 200 items urged upon the average mail by the seller, whereas to-clay there are something like 32,000. A home containing all the modern inventions and improvements available to-day would have a grand total of about 100 separate mechanisms." The Bledisloe Medal. The first award of the Bledisloe Medal was announced hist evening atj-he art exhibition by Dr. E. B. Gurtaon, president of the Auckland Society of Arts, the winner being Mr. Archibald F Nicoll of Chrlstchurch, creator of the picture "Ashley Downs," a characteristic bit of the farming district of North Canterbury The president said he hoped Mr. Nicoll would be able to visit Auckland next week and receive the medal at the hands of his Excellency the Governor-General. Mr Nicoll is a native of Canterbury. He went to the School of Art, Canterbury College, and afterwards studied in the Old Country. After serving at the Great War, in which he was badly wounded, he returned to Christchurcli and was appointed director of the School of Art but resigned several years ago. He is one of the I best-known New Zealand artists, and the awaid will give much satisfaction among his fellow painters. Price-cutting in Grocery.

A clause in the annual report of the Otago Master Grocers' Association, submitted to the annual meeting, referred to price-cutting. The paragraph stated that under present trading conditions it must be obvious that any attempt to reinstate minimum selling prices in all lines was merely a waste of effort. All that the association's' executive could do in the meantime was to stabilise' the price of such lines on which there was a general agreement, and not to sell at cost or under, as had repeatedly been done by some firms. Tile price-cutting evil was still with them, and it would seem that the only solution lay in the survival of the fittest. Unfortunately, the process was somewhat slow, but it was 9U '' e - Modern lines of thought had raised shopkeeping to the position of an exact science, and the trader who failed to realise its rigid rules, especially m j relation to the cutting of prices, must sooner or later go to the wall.

For Auckland Artists. Many Auckland painters had their works rejected at the present exhibition, and they were naturally disappointed. Dr. E. B Gun.cn prudent of tl»e Auckland Society ofArterefene to the matter last evening, and said the socle y had decided to hold a spring exhibition 111 eitliei October or November, which would be reseivec. exchisively for the members. Each mcmbe. would be entitled to submit a certain number of Pictures or piece* of craft work-the number yet to be determined—and they would all be hung. The president pointed out that while the counci recognised its responsibility to the working memhere of the society, it had to be lemembeied that the society was formed "to cultivate and advance the fine arts in New Zealand, and that the main benefaction, the Mackeelinie bequest, was entrusted to the society for the specific purnose of enabling it to display for sale the work of "colonial artists." With regard to the main exhibition of the year, the policy of the .council, in consonance with the broad view taken by the founders of the society, had been directed to raining the standard, even if this necessitated showing a smaller number of pictures.