NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 133, 7 June 1932, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Ambergris Prices. A small parcel of ambergris scut to Loud recently to test the market resulted in an oil of 30/ an ounce for highest grade grey ambc gris, reports the Stewart Island correspondent the '''Southland News." This is a market decli from £4 4/, which similar ambergris was fete ing before the depression. „ Not Appreciated. When it was suggested at the meeting of t] Asliburton Borough Council that an appropria - message should be sent to the New Zealand del gation to the Ottawa Conference on the eve their departure, a member of the council fervent expressed the wish that ''all politicians should { away —and stay away!" Another said it was li pity the delegation had not gone away six rnoutl i ago"Alibi" for Ellaby. " Prominent players in sport sometimes <lerr their nicknames in a most accidental inannc Arthur Ellaby, the St. Helens player, with tl English Kugby League team, now in Australi 1 never had a fancy cognomen until lie was settii 2 out on the present tour, when a Cockney bellboy : I a London hotel kept walking up and down among: , guests calling for "Mr. Alibi." At last it dawm ' upon *ono of the managers that the inessaj 5 might be intended for Ellaby, and this proved J be the ease. ! Speaking as a Physician. Dr. J. S. Elliot, speaking at the opening i . the Academy of Art exhibition in Wellingto , said "I cannot speak with authority like an a critic, but merely I trust witli common sen. when I say from purely the physician's poii of view that the medicine bottle on the tab . in the picture of 'The Doctor' is much too lar< i to have been ever ordered for a child, and tl bedside manner of the doctor is open to objei tion, for the elbow which supports his tired, mil: sive and unusually hairy head is not resting o ; his knee, which the artist hoped for, but on tli dying child." The Catch in Cheap Cars. During the examination of a judgment debtc at the Magistrate's Court at Oamaru last weel the debtor stated that his debt had been incurrc on account of repairs (amounting to about £10 to a motor car, which had cost £0. He went o to say that the car had been taken away froi him. The magistrate remarked: "Probably it wa a good job for you that the car was taken awaj It must have been a drain on your finances. His Worship added that a garage proprietor wh effected repairs, amounting to £10, to a ear cost ing £(>, was foolish if lie did not get his mono, before the car left the garage. Blind Man Robbed. A blind poultry farmer, Mr. C. M. Johnsoi was robbed of £3 10/ on Wednesday afternoor when a man for whom he was changing a £1 note absconded with the note and part of tli change, says the "Christchurch Press." The thie called to make some purchases from -Mr. Johnsoi representing that he was connected with a fit; firm. He asked if a £10 note could be changeo and was given a receipt and £3 10/ in silvei but disappeared while Mr. Johnson was ringin; up a store in the neighbourhood for the rcmainde of the change. Assets of the Empire. What he considered to be the greatest asset of the British Empire were put forward in ai I interesting manner by Mr. C. E. Jones, who gav an address on "The Empire" at the Canterbur; Justices of the Peace Association's social las week. First, said Mr. Jones, came the monarchy with its growing scarcity value; then, the Xavy the Bible, Shakespeare and Dickens. In inter national affairs, her reputation for disinterested ness; in national affairs, u tradition for justice law and order; in national character, a reputatio: for coolness; in commerce, a reputation for fai dealing; in manufacture, quality; in sport, ; reputation for playing the game; and finally thorough honesty in the keeping of treaties. Destructive Keas. Keas still appear plentiful in the districi round Cass and Grassniere, Canterbury, and oik well-known ken-shooter in the district has ovei l.") oto his credit already this year. No payment is now made bv the Government, but the run holders are giving 7/0 per head, 1/(5 of which ir refunded by the county councils. There is alsf a steady demand for the wings. It is considered that so long as the birds are protected and allowed to breed in the Arthur's Pass National Park then is little likelihood of the danger of their presence being removed. Hun-holders are emphatic about the slaughter made by tiie keas, and one caoe i>cited where two ''killers" disposed of 32 sheep in a single night. Week-end Motor Licenses. A suggestion that licenses for the use of motor cars during the week-ends only should be issued by the Government was made by a man who stated that ho was not going to renew his license until after the winter, says the "Christchurch Times." He said that a surprisingly large number of motorists were keeping their cars in the garage at present because they could not afford to pay the registration fees for the full year. His suggestion was that a special number plate should be issued for week-end licenses, for which a reduced foe should be charged, if this were done, lie claimed, extra revenue would be obtained for the Main Highways Board, and many cars now locked up could be taken on the roads on Saturday afternoons and on Sundays. St. John Ambulance's Good Work. In the annual report of the St. John Ambulance Association it is stated that tiie ambulance transport service has again been very satisfactory. Many long runs were undertaken successfully, no less than 2627 patients being carried, md 22,750 miles traversed. At the first aid room it the ambulance station, which is never closed, lcarly 400 cases had been attended to, and at the ivharf ambulance station some 2907 cases had been created or conveyed to hospital. The year's work in the district nursing service had been a busy me, especially in the month of September, when there had been an epidemic of whooping cough, l'he total number of patients on the books for lie year was 1399, including 29 ex-inmates of ;he Auckland Hospital, and the total number of ,-isits paid by the two nurses employed by the issociation to visit the sick and needy was 7007. In addition, 656 patients paid 1081 visits to, and •eccived treatment at, the station clinic. Elorses and Drinks. Keferencc in these columns to the fact of lie horse Copey, winner of the Great Northern steeplechase on Saturday, drinking stout as an :arly morning beverage led a gentleman, who, is a young man, was quartermaster in a terri:orial camp in Victoria, to state that ho, once jwned a horse which drank beer. One day he tnd a friend crossed to the camp canteen for a lrink, the owner leading his horse over with him. lis friend suggested that the animal might like i drink, and put a pint of beer to the horse's lose. But the horse refused it. He then splashed ;ome of the beer on to the horse's nose and ips, so that it began to trickle down into its noutli. Soon the animal began licking its lips, md eventually drank the pint of beer which it lad originally refused. The "Star's" informant aid that for the four or live days that they emained in camp the horse did not look for lrink, but it never appeared affected. Quite the everse was the case with a flock of domestic tucks that accidentally discovered waste beer lowing down an open drain from a brewery. The iglit of the ducks in a state known as "rolling trunk" as the result of drinking the waste beer lecamc a village scandal.