NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 237, 6 October 1932, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

District Postal Scheme. Satisfaction with the progress and development of the new district postal scheme was expressed this morning by Mr. S. M. Harrison, Chief Postmaster at Auckland. He said the business people of the city were responding remarkably well, and, through their care in using the new system, the general public were being gradually educated. It was noticed that private ■correspondents were slowly falling into line. The whole system was working satisfactorily, but it wuld be some time before it was firmly established. An Unofficial Fielder. There was an unofficial fielder in the cricket match at Clifton College between Gloucestershire and Middlesex. Dacr'e, Gloucestershire's New Zealander, hit a ball hard to the long-on boundary, when a dog—apparently with Middlesex sympathies—ran on to the field, picked up the bull in its mouth, and ran off with it. The dog undoubtedly saved the boundary, but the umpire ignored the "twelfth man," and signalled a four to the batsman. It was only after considerable coaxing that Hart was able to retrieve the ball and the game resumed. War Canoe For Otago. Good progress with the reconstruction of a Maori war canoe is being made at Otago University Museum by Mr, T. A. C. Hall, of Auckland, an expert Maori carver with a knowledge of the native crafts, who has previously carried out similar restoration work for Otago and Auckland Museums. The vessel upon which he is engaged is believed to have been used on the Wanganui River, where it became a derelict, losing- much of its elaborate superstructure. Mr. John Ballance, when Premier, is said to have once made a trip in this canoe. Planks of kauri timber from Auckland are being used in the refitting of the old craft, which will have a figurehead and carving designs symbolical of the traditions of the Taranaki district. Roses For Soldiers' Day. The work, of making artificial roses for the Wellington Returned Soldiers' Association's street day on November 11 is progressing steadily I (says the "Evening Post"). The secretary (Mr. J. Spence) reported at last meeting of the association that those engaged in the work hoped to have 10,000 roses available by November 11. The fire in the association's building had destroyed 0000 of the roses, and that had helped to put the work back. He paid a tribute to the women engaged in the work, and said that some of them were working day and night. Seven of the women had been engaged in the work continuously since 1914. Glorious Altar View. The plate-glass window behind the altar in the little church of St. James', Waiho, framing the view of the Franz Josef Glacier in the distance, is becoming world famous. Since the publication of the first photograph taken, in the "Church News," the picture has been reproduced in many newspapers, and the present vicar, Mr. Newcombe, has recently received from a churchman as far away as Shanghai a letter of appreciation, in which he says: "Permit me to say that I think the person who conceived the idea . . .

was inspired. The result shown in a photograpl I have received Iβ amazingly beautiful, and musi be a great aid to worship." The idea was suggested by Dean Julius. Folk Chronicles Wanted. "I often wish that someone with literarj power would set to work to publish a gazetteei of Canterbury. I possess an old, quaint gazetteer of England, and we want something on tit same lines for Canterbury," said Archbisho] Julius at the laying of the foundation stone oi the new St. Barnabas' Church, Woodend, on •Saturday. "Here I am," he continued, "and euppoee I did not know anything about Woodend how would. I get on? I would want to know who built the first church, etc., and then pass on to Kaiappi and other less important places. You have some old fellows here jvho can tell you all about it, or invent what they can't remember, But when the old inhabitants are gone, who is to tell us of the valuable past?" University Term Examination. Towards the end of a third term at tie Auckland University College, or any other University college, for that matter, the common rooms and social rooms generally are something like Goldsmith's "Deserted Village." They are deeolate. No evening sessions are held there to discuss everything under the eun except examinations. No little groups congregate at convenient elbows in the corridors, or at the foot of stairs, for five minutes' leisurely gossip. Those who use the corridors and the stairs walk as though they were going somewhere definite—and they are, Ffoih the common rooms and the gossip groups, students have gone to the library, and where, at the "beginning of the second term, even the beginning of the third term, yes, even until half-way through the third term, that sanctum resembled some churches on a Sabbath evening, now there is scarcely sitting room. Term examinations begin on Monday, and are solidly on until October 20. Then, until November 1, there is a respite. Degree examinations proper begin at that date, and continue until the 18th of that month. Legacy of Great War. The flying pieces of metal from a'bursting shrapnell shell find a variety of human lodgingplaces, and often the length of their stay there is remarkable, says the "Taranaki Daily News." Only last week a returned eoldier was admitted to the New Plymouth Hospital from the Inglewood district. In the course of lifting something one day he must either have clenched his jaw especially hard, or else brought into play a littleused muscle, for he felt a sharp pain in his cheek. Investigation in the'hospital operating theatre resulted in the discovery of a piece of shrapnel the size of a email broad bean. This piece evidently escaped notice when the wound was attended to on the battle-front, and perhaps worked, its way very slowly through the cheek during the intervening years, for it was located on the inner side of the cheek bone. It was removed *by the hospital medical superintendent by a comparatively simple operation from inside the mouth. The patient quickly recovered, and was discharged from the institution shortly afterwards. Nurse's Walking Tonr. A nurse who had three weeks' holiday recently spent the whole of the time on a walking tour from Auckland, which included the Rotorua and Taupo areas. She is not a New Zealander, but had learnt to walk in a much colder climate, where a journey of 20 miles on foot was thought nothing of. The walking she had got in her early days in one of the coldest countries of the earth had been the means of building up for her an iron constitution, and she had never known what it was to be sick. She knew little of New Zealand scenery, but what she liad seen during her walk had left a deep impression on h<sr mind. She was so charmed with the bush and the ferns that, despite the fact that she had no sleeping-out camping outfit, she was determined to sleep one night in the open under a natural bower of some of the finest ferns she liad ever seen. She had to admit it proved a little colder than she expected, but it was one of the happiest nights she had ever spent, and she did not feel the least afraid, because she knew that no human beings were near. The beauty of everything, the fresh air, the music of birds, the rippling of the unseen stream which made its way Dver the stones to sor.ie unknown outlet, filled :ier mind with beautiful thoughts of the wonders sf Nature. It was indeed a great experience, mid. she travelled scores and scores of milee, always meeting something to gladden the innermost recesses of her being. When it was all :>ver, she felt she could go back and nurse her patients with a new inspiration ae to what health and life meant in a country which was so beautiful !md offered so much solace to the sqiil.