NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 160, 8 July 1932, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Purse that Vanished. A woman left her prim on the counter of a Queen Street department store yesterday while she was inspecting articles a, little distance ttway. The purse vanished. "We have been comparatively free of this class of theft for some time, said'a member of the linn, "but about ten months ago there was quite a lot of it." Shoppers ehould note that vigilance cannot be relaxed. Cut in Feilding Rales. Feilding folks are now amongst the lightestrated people in Xew Zealand. Compared with many boroughs, the amount to he paid in rates this year will be nearly . r >(> per cent less. In making » c,|lt °» t!lis year's rativ, the Borough Council ha* not starved the operations of its staff, and will .still have one of the cleanest and best-governed towne in the Dominion. Lost Privilege Restored. The restoration of a privilege that wan taken away 20 years ago was repotted yesterday at. the annual meeting of the Auckland branch of the Superannuated Public Servant.*)' Association. This i-s the payment of superannuation allowances one day ill advance when the end of the month falls on a Sunday or a holiday. The committee of the association placed on record Its appreciation of the Government's action. A Dream Come True. Vision* in a dream have led to the recovery of a ring lost throe years ago by a Wanganui lp.dy, states the Taranaki "Xew*." The rini was lent at Kai Iwi when it was taken off while the lady went for a bathe. When «.hc was in the water the ruga at the ermping place were moved. Continued searching did not lead to the recovery of tho ring. About a fortnight ago the owner dreamed she saw the ring lyitr: in the grass near where she had left it. Although her husband was not inclined to support the story, the two went to the spot. The ring was ae she saw it in tho dream. Permanently Parked. Within the last three years 17,350 motor care have been withdrawn from use or broken up in Xew Zealand. The figure is arrived at through the Post Office records of motor-vehicle reliecnsing. The registration of a vehicle is cheeked up after the issue of new number plates every year, and those vehicles for which new plates are not claimed are classified as "dormant registrations." A check up at the end of hu<t February showed that since early in l!>20 a total of 33*733 motor vehicles, including 17,350 ears, have dropped out at the relicensing periods. The total includes vehicles which await buyers in used ear showrooms. A House Famine. The housing situation in Eltham remains acute. At the present time there are no empty houses in the town available for letting. In consequence, during the past few months, several persons unable to rent a dwelling had to purchase a property. Fortunately, although rented houses arc scarce, properties can be purchased at very reasonable prices, so much so that it invariably paye to buy rather than rent.. One resident informed a pressman that for the past eight yeare he could not recall once when there were more than" three empty lionsee simultaneously available for renting in Eltham, Possible Source of Profit. "Tn the milling and manufactiiihr: of pilius insignia, the miller in coißinuoiwly reminded of the abnormal amount of resin and ' turpentine contained in the Xew Zealand-grown trees," states a writer in the "Timber Growers' Quarterly Review." "The extremely vigorous nature of the tree-growth causes n tremendous How of sap, heavily charged with many substances of commercial value, and if sufficiently large areas of pintis insignia plantations were available, 1 am convinced that it worth-while gain could be obtained by combining milling operations with some process for extracting the by-products. Investigations of a valuable nature in thi.< direction are being conducted by the Xew Zen land State Forestry Department, and it looks as though the many practical commercial usea of this tree will be ujain added to before long. - '

Expenditure on a Boundary. A deputation of Mount Wellington ratepayers waited on the Otaliulni Borough Council and advocated the link in r up of Church Street, Otiiliuhu, with Church Street. Mount Wellington, bv means of a footbridge. They had approached the Mount Wellington Road Hoard, and were told the board was willing, and they had been Rdrfceil to approach the council for its opinion. The speaker said they were not asking for a heavy expenditure, n footbridge to enable women tr> 'croRH with a prnin wi'.- all thev wore unking. This bridge would nhorten the distance to Otahuhu, be handy for school children, and enable them to avoid stock on the main highway. If the council was prepared to pay half the" coat, the Road Board would meet the balance. On behalf of the Otahuhu Council, it w.i.s pointa-.l out that the convenience proposed was entirely one for Mount. Wellington residents and ratepayer*. 'J' he council would raise no objection to the Mount Wellington Road Board providing :t bridge at that place, and would assist to the extent of taking the footpath to the adjacent rubbish-dump iiite. The deputation was referred hack to the Mount Wellington Board for n decision. Sightless But Happy. To anyone who has m>l studied the matter. the number of blind people in Auckland was brought home yesterday in a marked nmmi.'r at the entertainment given at the Blind ln.Uil.nt". Blind people in Auckland were the guests of the inmates, and the large number present was surprising. Each etrairrer wars led in by a relation or friend, and it made sighted people realise what a boon it is to have good eyes. The inmates surprised strangers by the uncanny way in which they wandered in and out of the hall, and found their way about the corridors and passages. The youngsters of the institution thoroughly enjoyed themselves phiyiirr the part of hosts and' performers. It wai-i amusing to i<ee the way they trailed in when it was their turn to perform. Led by one who could see. they formed a long "crocodile."' each with a hand touching the shoulder of the one. in front. A blind Maori caused much rntercat. Stripped to a piupiu, or kilt, he wielded a taiaha and went through some realistic martial exercises to the accompaniment of the dance band. Probably the thing that surprised most was the nkil] of the iiHHiciium —it wan difficult to understand how they could memorise every note of a lpng piece without ever having seen the score. Early Motoring Days. Amusing stories of early motoring days in Auckland were told at a reunion of life members of the Auckland Automobile Association last evening. Dr. A. Challinor Purchars, the first president of the association, recalled that early motorists were regarded as nocial pests, despite the fuct that many of them did their best to "get on nide" with other road user,- by lending a hand to catch horses that had bolted in terror at the sight of a motor car. When cars ftwt appeared in Auckland, he mentioned, it was illegal for them to travel at more than four miles an hour, and a man carrying n red flag had to walk ahead to give warning to other road ueers. Tn the early days of motoring, driving licenses and registration fees were unnecessary, what few cars there were in Auckland being known either by their drivers or by the particular noise they made. Petrol in those days was cheap, 5/ bciu > siillicient to buy a ease. Mr. George Henning related how once lie took a •■team car to Parliament Buildings, Wellington, to give an exhibition before members. Ha informed the members that the ear war? easy to drive, and several drove it successfully. Then one member engaged the wrong geai, and the car shot backwards into a garden. That was the end of the demonstration.