NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 238, 7 October 1932, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

A Weeping Dog.

New Zealand Anniversary.

Yom Kippur. The Jewish community of Auckland will observe Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, next Monday. Yom Kippur, the most sacred day in the Jewish year, is the day when all the sins of the people arc atoned. It is like the Christian Good Friday. Neither food nor drink is partaken of by the devout Jew from sunrise to sunset. The observance commences on Sunday evening. All Jewish business houses will be closed on Monday. Unveiling Maori Memorial. A large Maori gathering will take place during the coming week-end, when a carved totara memorial with inscribed granite plates will be unveiled at Ruamata settlement, about six miles from Eotorua. The memorial has been erected to the memory of Ngawhika Otini, Tamihana Tikitere, and Tikitere the elder, all of whom died some time ago. By special invitation, a large party of Ratanaite Maoris will be arriving' in Rotorua on Saturday to participate in the ceremonial. Ratana as Agriculturist. A Canterbury business man, interested in the grain line, hearing of the grain-growing opera'tions of Ratana, visited the locality this week and informed the Wanganui "Herald" that he was particularly impressed with the way the work had been carried out and the excellent growth of the wheat. Practically the whole of the farm is under cultivation, and members of the pa were busily engaged clearing the remaining portion of gorse in preparation for a crop. "Hot From the Press." In one of Auckland's prominent schools there is a teacher who, no doubt in the hope of encouraging the pupiLs of his class to keep au fait with world-wide events of importance, occasionally asks the class if they can tell him the latest news. The children at times have shown a good knowledge of what is happening at home and abroad, but yesterday he received an unexpected answer when, in answer to the question, "What is the latest news to-day?" a little girl said, "They are going to pay three dividends on the tote." Attempt That Failed. A lady who resides in one of the Christchurch suburbs was a witness of an impudent attempt by a man, ostensibly a hawker, to obtain entrance into her house. She is hard of hearing, and always locks her doors when she is working in the garden. Seeing a man approaching the back door, she got out of his view, but was able to watch his movements. After knocking at the door, and finding it locked, he tried many bunches of keys which he carried in a basket, but one that would fit the lock was not there. The woman emerged from her hiding place, and the culprit made off as quickly as possible.

Feople outside a Queen Street store yesterday, startled by a whining cry which issued from the inside of a baby car, were surprised to llnd that the cry came from a tiny black dog in the back seat. The dog was of a novelty Mexican breed, which weep when left alone, it had extremely large eyes, and long claws. "It's just like Maggie's Fifi," said a woman. When the driver returned, Fili sprang on his shoulder, and amused the onlookers by its quick change from a picture of desolation to one of delight.

The Poverty Bay headland on the East Coast, known as Young Nick's Head, was named by Captain Cook just 103 years ago to-day. It was the first point of this country sighted by the distinguished voyager in his search for the land reported by the Dutch navigator Tasman 127 years previously, and named by him New Zealand, From 1042 till 1709 the Maoris had remained in undisturbed possession. Then Cook came on the scene. The story goes that Captain Cook, in his search in the Endeavour for New Zealand, promised a gallon of rum to the first one of his crew who sighted the land, approach to which had been indicated for some days by the appearance of floating seaweed, and t)f birds, and that on October 7, 1709, the cabin boy of the ship, Nicholas Young, pointed out the headland, which has since been known as Young Nick's Head.

U.S.A. and War Debts. "America is in a very difficult position," Raid Mr. \V. Goodfellow, speaking at Hamilton on Wednesday, on the occasion of his retirement as . managing director of the New Zealand Co-opera-tive Dairy Company. "If she takes goods in settlement of the war debts, she will bankrupt a big proportion of her producers. She has got herself into a serious mess, and the only way out, in my opinion, is the cancellation of the war debts. This will stimulate buying on the Continent and erid the present slump. Without this and reduced tariffs we ■ can hope for little alleviation." Mr. Goodfellow added that the Canadian workers were paid on a very low scale, and there was little co-operation among the farmers. In the United States conditions were extremely bad. Enormous plants were working at a third of their normal capacity. They were discovering that one-way trade was impossible. If they wanted to sell goods, they had to buy. Hospital Population. The magnificent weather we have had recently has had a good effect upon the general health of the people. This week the house committee of the Hospital Board paid a, very thorough visit of inspection to the wards in the main building, and found more vacant beds than usual, it being ascertained that there were lees patients in the hospital than had been the case since Dr. W. J. Craven, the new medical superintendent, took charge over three months ago. The oldest patient in the men's wards was a hardy old pioneer, 92 years of age, who had had a foot amputated, but was very hopeful that ho would make a good recovery. The sunshine was streaming into the wjird, there were some lovely tulips on the ward tables, and the old patient said these were the things which bucked him up. Not far away a young'boy was waiting for an operation for appendicitis. "We never had that disease when I was a boy," observed a whiteheaded old patient. "Oh, yes, we did," replied another veteran, "but we used to call it 'tummy ache,' and' the doctors cured it by starving us for a week or two. and giving us only milk and soda water to drink, and our mothers put hot flannels on the sore parte." There were few, if any, operations in the old days, except perhaps teeth-drawing, and that often struck fear into the stoutest heart." Starlings as Sneak Thieves. Complaints of thefts recently from farm letter boxes in the Matamata district have had the unusual sequel of starlings falling under suspicion. A farmer informed an inquirer that it was very likely that starlings were the culprits, in that they had a habit of flying to letter boxes and taking anything handy from these receptacles. He related an instance of how a drover one day noticed a starling fly from a box with something white in its beak, which the bird dropped across the road by the opposite fenceline. Going over out of -curiosity to see what it was, the drover found it was a docket wrapped round a few shillings. He at once took the money and docket to the farmer from whose box it was taken, and explained the circumstances. When the matter was referred to an experienced calf-buyer,' he at once confirmed the statement made, and remarked that much trouble had been caused by moneys disappearing, and eventually the thefts were traced to starlings. On one occasion a sum of 6/ in silver, which had been wrapped in paper, was recovered after being dropped by starlings. The result was that now, when leaving money for farmers, he always either deposited the cash in an empty tobacco tin, or else put it in the cream can. Since adopting this procedure there had been no complaints.