NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 261, 3 November 1932, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Y.M.O.A. Street Appeal. The Young Men's Christian Association will be conducting a street appeal in the city tomorrow to supplement funds of £900 collected recently in an appeal in the suburbs. The total amount wanted' is £1500. The Y.M.C.A. has been doing much good work in the city ever since the movement was commenced in Auckland 76 years ago, and at the present time funds are urgently needed to enable the organisation to carry on the work. Early Potatoes. Four cases of potatoes sent to the Christ--1 church market last week from Charteris Bay by Ml'. R. Manson brought 7Jd a pound. They were not the earliest on the market, for the first lot, from Monck'e Bay, were sold during the previous week and fetched 9Jd. There should be a plentiful supply for race week, ae Mr. Manson proposes to send 40 cases, while other farmers around the harbour will send.in their first consignments at that timeFeed Over-plentiful. "A few weeks ago, when the cold winds -were sweeping over the landscape and the growth of grass was stunted, we thought we were in for a bad season," remarked a Wanganui farmer. "Now, with the recent rains and mild weather, the animals are wallowing in grass. The most of us are well under-etocked, and a good many of us can't find the money to purchase more. It is only a few months back since one of my neighbours liad several cows and no feed; now le has an abundance of feed, and hardly any cows, for they nearly all died in the interval." Model Ship For High School. A splendid model of the s.s. Suffolk, 12ft in length and -with-the interior of the vessel shown, has been presented to the Southland Boys' High School by Mr. R. A. Anderson, C.M.G. The model, enclosed in a mahogany case with a plateglass front, will stand in the corridor just inside the main entrance. The rector, Dr. G. H. Uttley, accepted the gift on behalf of the school, and thanked the donor. Mr, Anderson spoke briefly on the .part played in fhe development of the British Empire by the mercantile marine, and assured the boys of his continued interest in the school. Newmarket Claims a Record. "It is doubtful if any other local l>ody in the Dominion can show a similar result," said Mr. R. E. Newport, chairman of the legal and finance committee of the Newmarket Borough Council, last evening, when commenting on the position regarding the collection of rates. This, he said, had been particularly gratifying. The position shown by the half-yearly financial statement was satisfactory, the receipts being well above the average, and comparing more than favourably with previous years. "It is satisfactory to know that at the end of the first six months more than 57 per cent of the total estimate for the year has been received," said Mr. Newport.

Old Steamer's Fate.

Stripped of many of her fittings and now looking a complete wreck, the old Northern Company steamer Aupouri, which was recently eold to shipbreakers, was alongside the Prince's wharf thia morning. When everything of value has been, taken out of her, it is likely that she will be towed to sea and sunk, although up to the preecnt time her fate hats not definitely been decided. The old steamer Rimu, another former unit of the white-funnelled fleet, ie berthed at the breastwork nearby. She has'already passed through the shipbreakers'- hands, and it is rumoured that her last service is to be as a breakwater at Eotoroa Island.

Schools of Shrimps.

Mr. Adams, who ie in charge of the Portobcllo station, near Dunedin, recorded recently the appearance in Otago Harbour of immense quantities of a smalf white shrimp. These were being freely eaten by mullet and other fish, ae well as by sea birds, and their bodies were cast up oil many beaches in such numbers as to whiten considerable areas above high-water mark. These shrimps were identified, by Mr. G.'M. Thomson ae Nyctiphanee Australis, a species found in most parts of the New Zealand area, and also in the eea to the south of Australia. The shrimps seem always to appear in vast shoals, which are not, however, confined to any particular season of the year, though mostly occurring in the autumn aud winter months.

Tribe to Square Mile. "Nauru Island covers an area of 12 square miles, and there are 12 native tribes living there, each with ite own particular dialect," remarked Mr. D. N. Campbell during his address to the Wanganui Rotary Club. He said that a native on one side of the island had great difficulty in understanding one on the other side. The tribes led easy lives, contenting themselves with fishing and growing coconuts. The landowners were paid a royalty for every ton of rock removed from the island. "It ie proßably the smallest community in the world that has had the whole of the Bible translated expressly for it. They are a fine, upstanding, race, and are one of the few Pacific people who etill preserve their own language," added Mr. Campbell. "Wine Time" for "Tea Time." An interesting phase of the Italian policy to combat foreign imports is a movement to abolish the use of tea throughout the country, states an Aucklander, who recently visited Rome. The Undersecretary. of Agriculture, in opening a conference of hotel and restaurant proprietors, denounced "the exotic habit" of drinking tea and suggested that "tea time" ehould be turned into "wine time" by all patriots. It was impressed upon the delegates that in making the change effective they would be co-operating with the Duce in the fight for the use of Italian products. The consumption of tea can be of- no real menace in Italy, for little tea is imported, and what is brought in has to pay a tax of about 5/ a pound. The real point at issue is not so much over-indulgence in tea by Italians, but a very marked decrease in the consumption of wine. Direct Mail For Home. For friehde in England there ie nothing better than a copy of "Brett's Annual." There is a direct English mail closing at 10 a.m. to-morrow morning, which will reach. London on December 9. "Brett's Annual" for 1932 is the most ambitious and most comprehensive pictorial survey of the Dominion yet made. From the giant kauris and the flame-splashed pohutukawas that gladden the northern landscapes to the dignity, of ' mountain peaks and the inscrutable lakes wherein age-old mysteries lie slumbering in the South, the pictorial gives all the poetry and.the lure of New Zealand's unexcelled harvest' of natural beauty. It epitomises the marvels-of ■ a wonderland, and in the careful selection and admirable arrangement of the pictures not one. notable feature of our many scenic attractions has been disregarded. False Alarm at Sea. Reports received in Auckland last evening that a vessel was on fire in the Firth of Thames proved to be without foundation. The Superintendent of Marine at Auckland said this morning that undoubtedly the alarm had been caused by a scrub fire, settlers mistaking the blaze for an outbreak at sea. The first reports were received about seven o'clock, one settler at Orere Point declaring that he had seen "a large passenger vessel" blazing from stem to;stern. After burn.ing for an-hour, he reported, the .vessel: had disappeared. For some, time it .was'feared-that the Northern Company's small steamer Hauiti might be in trouble, but she arrived at Thames shortly after 10 p.m., and those on board reported that they had seen nothing unusual on the trip from Auckland. A message from Tapu said that there had been a scrub fire on the hills early in the evening, and it is presumed that it was that which a number of people mistook for a blazing l3S<fiS!t :, i .,..f"V'J r -■■■'», ,•"*_■"••,. r<, '~.,,