NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 137, 11 June 1932, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Irish Sweep

A Hawera resident had the good fortune to win £100 in the Irish Hospitals Sweepstake conducted in connection with the English Derby. He was advised of his luck by α-ble on Friday. Tour Bull Calves. A cow belonging to Mr. J. Bands, of Karaka, lecently gave birth to four bull calves. Two of the calves were born dead, and the other two hixi to be destroyed. There is on record the case of a New Zealand cow which gave birth to four calves, all of which lived. Absent-minded Mother. A rare instance of maternal absent-mindedness was recorded in Dunedin last week. A woman who was wheeling a child in a perambulator signalled a tram to take her aboard. The conductor stepped down and hoisted in the pram, the mother jumped aboard, and the tram had started to move on when the conductor noticed the child still on the footpath. A Native Vegetarian. "Well, we've got a few pumpkins, ami we have our own potatoes," stated a Maori debtor at the Hastings Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, when tasked what he and his family, consisting of his wife and seven children, hie mother and sieter and two children, lived on if he earned only £18 in two years. "It is true that one-half of the world does not ftnow what the other half is doing/ , commented the magistrate. No order was made. The Quince in Favour. A fruit which has met a very good market in the ei.'lling centres of New Zealand in recent set , sons is the ( <|uiiiee (says the Napier "Telegraph"). One H'awke'a Bay orchardist states that a row of quince trees that he had on hi* property yielded the boat return in his orchard, the centre of demand being Auckland. Numbers of Hawke's Bay orchardistrt have recently planted out quinces h> an endeavour to assist in fulfilling this demand, but on a Dominion basis inquiry must be limited. Beef Cattle. t > . A Wunganui farmer, commenting on the appeal which i« being made by the New Zealand Producers' Board to the public to eat more beef, remarked that it in rather surprising that the Government, instead of buying up so much ewe mutton for distribution among cases of distress, did not buy a number of the beef cattle in each area. He points out that during the past few months farmers could hardly give beef cattle away. Naturally. A Maori chief at the Manaia jubilee luncheon this, week made a very dignified an 1 impressive speech, referring chiefly to the co-operation of Maori and white in the settlement and development of the Waiinatc Plains. Tl.e interpreter then halted. He :<aid the Maoris hail a grievance. It was that the local bodies "nowadays were imposing rat<;s that were altogether too heavy. The Maoris did Hot mind a fair thing, but objected to rates that were too heavy. The observation brought down the house.

"Debatable Subject." "That English literature has gone to the drgs" was the subject of a debate between the Mariet Brothers' Old Boys' Debating Club and the Workers' Educational Association last evening. The debate, which was the first of a series for the Athenaeum Cup, was won by the association representatives, who supported the negative. The speaker* for the association were Miss Una Moore and Messrs. J. S. Stewart and B. 'Martin, and the Mariet Brothers were represented by Messrs. If. Flynn, J. A. Dowd and J. Carroll. Mr. A. J. Stallworthy, M.P., was judge. Looking Back. An old Manaia resident was looking back on Saturday. "Fifty years ago," he said, "who could have thought we would be lighting our ltousce and cooking our food by the agency of the water in the Waingongoro? Who would have thought we would be hearing at our firesides people talking and singing in Australia and the Dominion? Who would have thought we could be able to go over bituminised surfaces to New Plymouth in a little ov«>r an hour, or that we would have the morning paper delivered at our gates before 7 a.m.? And they say we are only just on the threshold of further and greater developments! What will be the position in another 50 years? I should like to know." Thinning Out Deer. Two of the Government parties which have been engaged on deer destruction for some months have concluded operations and met at Hanmer Springs, says a Christchurch newspaper. The parties have covered a large,area of country. One, headed by Mr. J. McNftir, worked on the north-west side of the Speneer Range; the other party, headed by Mr. K. E. Francis, worked on the south side of the same range. McNair'e party penetrated eom*. roug' country, the men carrying tents and eupplies on their backs for the greater part of the trip. The other party was more fortunate, being enabled to use packhorses. Between t.iem the shooters accounted for about 4000 deer, in addition to the badly wounded, which got away and would ultimately die. i A Sulphurous Country. Difficulties are often encountered in Rotorua in connection with building operations, the construction of drainage schemes and garden making, as a result of subterranean thermal activity. One case in which these difficulties have been overcome, and which is unknown to most people, ie under the top bowling green in the Government grounds. On the northern side of the green a hot sulphur bed was found. This was detrimental to the growth of a good sole of grass, and pipes were laid to tap the heat and fumes, which were led to an outlet in the bank at the side of the green. There ia now no trouble in maintaining the grass sward on the ground above the sulphur bed. Kiwis at Wellsford. That a number ot kiwis are to bo found in the bush near Wcllsford was mentioned at this week's meeting of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society. The president, Mr. F. E. McKenzie, said the bush was gradually being cleared, and sooner or later the birds would succumb to doge or other enemies. Under the circumstances he thought it would be permissible to capture one or two of the birds and transfer them to the Zoological Park. It was known that kiwis thrived in semicaptivity, and they would be a very interesting exhibit. When the problem of capture was mentioned, Mr. McKenzie said doge could be trained to catch kiwis without injuring them. He knew of a fox terrier belonging to an old gentleman who lived in Waipoua Forest which had brought in several of the birds unharmed. No definite decision was reached regarding the kiwis at Wellsford, but something may be done in the direction indicated if opportunity offers.

Snapping TJp Unconsidered Trifles. Two intstances of pitiable poverty came under an Aueklander's notice while he was i)u holiday in Sydney. , In Pitt Street, one of the main thoroughfares of the city, he saw a ehabbilydressed woman, thin and wrinkled with age, go to a receptacle for rubbish and take out the paper parcels in it. She wae looking for food. Each parcel she carefully unwrapped, and any food that suited her taste was dropped into a bag she carried. An hour later the Aucklander saw the old woman at another receptacle outside tht Opera House, where a large number of people were awaiting admittance to a performance. By this time her bag was almost lilled with food. Op another occasion the Aucklander saw walking ahead of him a man who stopped every few pacee to pick up something from the ground. His curiosity aroused by the man's actions, the Aucklander quickened his step, and, on overtaking him, found that he wae picking up cigarette butte.