NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 226, 23 September 1932, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Donation of £50. An appeal by the Auckland Boys' Employment Committee for funds was received by the City Council last evening, and the council voted the committee the sum of £50. Muriwai Beach Approach. Advice has been received that good progress is being made with improvements to the road approaching Muriwai Beach, and hopes are entertained of having the approach road open for motor traffic by Sunday week, when the motor cycle club intends holding sports on the beach. Cheap Wickets. At the request of the secretary of the Auckland Cricket Association, who stated that while so many young men and boys were either unemployed or receiving somewhat reduced wages, it was difficult to collect the wicket fees for cricket grounds each Saturday, the City Council last evening decided to adopt an amended scale, as submitted by the parka superintendent. The new scale of fees shows approximately a 10 per cent reduction on the' charges which have hitherto been levied. Investigating the Hawkers. Reporting to the Otahuhu Borough Council, the recently-appointed inspector of hawkers, etc., reported having interviewed 26 fruit vendors, 25 milk vendors, 10 fish hawkers, 19 wood and coal vendors, 84 sundry hawkers and 11 insurance canvassers, a total of 175. Of these, 42 had taken out licenses, and ' most of those who had not done so had left the district, though a few were still carrying on. He had had no case of canvassers reappearing after a warning had been given. Speed Limit Not Required. The draft of the proposed motor vehicle regulations, ae drawn up by the Commissioner of transport, was reported upon by the legal and by-laws committee of the City Council last evening. The proposal that no person shall drive any;motor vehicle at a speed in excess of 40 miles an hour was considered unnecessary, as the existing regulations as to speed which have been in operation for some time met requirements. Exchange of Staff. A suggestion by the librarian of the New Plymouth Library that there might be an exchange of assistants between the New Plymouth and Leys Institute libraries for a period of two months has been approved by the Leye Institute committee. The exchange ia subject to the wish of the New Plymouth Library to finalise the matter, and any further details that may require to be arranged have been left in the hands of the chairman, president and librarian of the Leys Institute. Vacancies at Flock House. "That is extraordinary, considering the boy problem of the day," remarked a member of the Auckland Patriotic and War Relief Association yesterday afternoon, when it was reported that only 12 applications had been made for admission as trainees at Flock House for the 19 positions allocated to the association. The fact'that the association could place 19 boys, sons of soldiers either killed in the war or suffering from war disabilities, had been widely advertised throughout the province. Of the applicants, ten had been accepted. Each successful applicant had been granted £10 for necessary outfit, and in addition the association paid for the medical examinations and the railway fare to Marton, where the lada were met by the Flock House authorities.

Domesticated Sparrows. . Nesting eeason is again well on the way, as every small boy knows, and in the places that birds choose to build their temporary homes may be seen one indication of how domesticated they have become. The smaller native birds seek seclusion, the thrush and the blackbird do not care so much, and the sparrow and the starling do not care at all. Juet along Beach Eoad, soon after it leaves Anzac Avenue, there is an old concrete wall.' Pipes were left in that wall when it was built, presumably for purposes of drainago. The wall ie just standing there, and does not seem to have been need for years. The sparrows have found it out, and right in the full view of people passing they arc picking up pieces of straw and rag, and the thousand am one odds and ends that birds use for their nents and are flying right up to the entrance of the pipes in the old wall and dragging the nesting material inside. They arc a busy colony, vociferous, happy, quarrelsome by turns, in the manner of home builders the world over. Exchange of Compliments. During an official visit made to Mount Victoria on Wednesday by the members of 'the Auckland Harbour Board, the Mayor of Devonport, Mr. H. F. W. Meikle, pointed out to the visitors the danger of allowing a large concrete pit, which contained an obsolete Sin gun, to remain exposed. One suggestion made was that the gun should be used as part of the filling material, and the pit closed. Another recommended that it might be used as a kiosk, by simply placing a roof over it. Mr. Meikle facetiously remarked that perhaps there might be some member of the Harbour Board who might desire it for a mausoleum. Mr. M. 11. Wynyanl, in happy vein, retorted that perhaps it might be required by the people of Devonport to honour their Mayor, for the keen service he is rendering the borough. An old reeident present stated that when the gun was placed in position, over ISO years ago, one shot was fired, which had the effect of fracturing numerous windows in Devonport. However, between the two boards, the fate of the gun and its concrete enclosure will eoon be sealed. Orakei Maori Settlement. The possibility of the Maori settlement being removed from Orake.' is viewed with disfavour by the Tamaki Women's Progressive League. In a" letter to the City Council last evening the league expressed the opinion that efforts should be made to reconstruct the village and convert it into a model Maori village, and that, under proper supervision, the Maoris should be given the opportunity to earn a livelihood by working at their arts and crafts. TJio league ventured the opinion that a model Maori village at Orakei could be made one of Auckland's greatest attractions. The Mayor, Mr. G. W. Hutchison, said the suggestions made in the letter concurred to a great extent with the view he had held, but on making inquiries he fotfnd that all but i'i acres of the land at the settlement had been sold by the Maoris to the Crown. On his motion, the matter was referred to the parks committee to investigate the exact position. The Mayor said he knew there were certain institutions which would be, willing to contribute funds towards making a model Maori village at Orakei.

Women of China. In an address to the Auckland branch of the League of Nations Union at ite monthly luncheon yesterday on the women of China, Miss Vera Hay, president of the Auckland branch of the Federation of University Women, said that Mrs. Pearl Buck, a prominent worker for the betterment of women in the East, had divided the women- of China into four divisione, the oldfashioned woman, the partly-educated woman, the University woman, and the well-to-do and travelled'woman. The old-fashioned woman, being uneducated and taking no part in the great advancement of China to-day, wae at the mercy of the partly-educated woman and the University woman. The partly-educated woman delighted in fashion and. gay life, while her University eister, along with her male student associate, was unruly and a great source of trouble. Mies Hay said that since the anti-foot binding campaign was etarted, about 1911," the women of China, where the European influence had been felt, had never looked back. Another great advance was made, in 1918, when it received the support of the Chinese renaissance movement, and by 1926 the woman of China "had arrived."