NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 286, 2 December 1932, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Island Bananas. The Government motor ship Maui Pomare, which arrived at Wellington 011 Wednesday from Apia and Xiue. via Lytteltou, brought a full cargo of 9000 cases of bananas. Seven thousand cases were discharged at Lvttelton. and the Remainder at Wellington. The fruit arrived in first-class condition. The laet few shipments by the Maui Pomare have been particularly satisfactory. White-headed Blackbird. A part-albino blackbird frequents the grounds of the Auckland Infirmary at Epsom. This "bird of strange plumage" has a white head and neck, lightly flecked with black feathers, and a dash of white 011 each wing. Although the other birds of the neighbourhood, thiough being fed by the patients, show little fear of human beings, the albino is very timid, having possibly been shot at by some hopeful collector.

An Electric Shock. The nurse at the Lees to 11 Dental Clinic, Miss Larsen, had a rather unpleasant experience one day last week. Having just turned on the current, she proceeded to (ill an electric kettle, and with one hand on the water tap and the other holding the kettle she received a shock sufficiently severe to render her unconscious. There was no one eke in the clinic at the time, but Miss I Arson soon recovered and managed to reach her lodgings in a very shaky condition. A Prickly Ending. The danger incurred by cyclists in riding on the wrong side of the roadway will long be remembered by a Maori, who made an undignified entry in a clump of blackberry bushes in the vicinity of Lake Kotoiti last Saturday afternoon. The cyclist was rounding a corner on the road when a motor cycle and a sidecar suddenly approached, and the unavoidable collision resulted in the cyclist talcing an unwilling header to a prickly destination. Luckily nobody was hurt, but both the cyclist Mid the tourist passenger in the sidecar were considerably shaken. Girl Workers' Generosity. The girls in the millinery workroom of Messrs. Mackv, Logan and Caldwell, Ltd., yesterday took up a subscription for the needy wives and children of returned ex-servicemen, and a substantial sum was handed over to the U.S.A. "I need hardly say that the gift will be very greatly appreciated," said Mr. H. J. Aokins, secretary of the R.S.A., this morning. "The generosity of the girls, many of whom have considerable "home responsibilities, was splendid. May 1 ask the 'Star' to place on record our warm thanks ?"'

Hawkers and Canvassers. In submitting hi* report to the Otahuhn Borough Council last evening, the inspector of hawkers, Mr. W. M. Beck, said that sinec September 5 he had interviewed 120 persons arriving in the borough for the purpose of Ihey were:—Tea vendors, 4; wood merchants, 5; milk vendors, 3; sundry house-to-house, 80; fruit dealers, 11; fish vendors, 14; insurance, 14. Only 20 licenses were taken out. Since taking up the work lie, had interviewed a total of 301 persons. Satisfaction was expressed on the good work of this officer, who was handling the situation iinnly and tactfully. Visiting Journalist.

Mr. H. V. Hodson, of London, arrived in Dunedin from Christchurch on Monday. He was formerly on the staff of the ''Economist, but is now travelling in the interests of the "Hound Table," of which he is assistant-editor. He is making contact with the "Round Table" groups in New Zealand, and generally acquainting himself with the political and economic conditions of the country. A series of visits to the Dominions is being made, and Air. Hodson has already visited India and Canada, where he was present during the whole of the Ottawa Conference. He will return to England via Australia and Singapore in time to attend the World Economic Conference in May. Counting Maori Dogs. "How many doga arc there up at this place?" asked Mr. J. Hussey of a young Maori woman witness in the Wanganni Magistrate's Court. "I can't answer you that," the witness replied. "I wish you would ask somebody who knows about the'dogs." Mr. Hussey: "Were there about eight?" Witness: "There were too many doge altogether. How many dogs were there?" (this to a witness who had given evidence and was sitting looking on). Detective J. Walsh: "Here, you can't do that. Do you know of your own knowledge how many dogs there are?" Witness (proceeding to count): "There's Qucenie, there's Tiny, there's Poss, there's a wee pap a month old and —" Mr. Hussey (hurriedly): "Do you know where the fowls are kept?"

Shark Oil Industry. Shark oil is being produced in small quantities at Kaimaumau, near the Awanui Heads, and for this there is a ready market in Auckland. The oil is procured by placing the livers on a sheet of iron and letting the oil melt out by the heat of the sun. About eight of the common ground sharks will fill a benzine tin. The large shark, the toheke, is extremely difficult to land on a line, as he is a past-master in cutting it and getting away. A hook and bait is therefore attached to a benzine tin with a fairly long wire trace. When the shark has taken the bait ho makes the most frantic efforts to get rid of the tin, leaping and jumping around in all directions. His efforts usually fail, and he eventually drowns and rises to the surface floating belly upwards.

Tactics in Maori Wars. Even in the days of the Maori Wars generals and men moved according to plan. Attacks were directed with a basis of military precision which lias been retained through the years. As evidence of this there has been placed in the hands of the Alexander Museum at Wanganui a plan of •the village of Nuktimara (Te Ngutu o te Manu), which was used by Colonel McDonnell in his first attack on that centre. The sketch was drawn by Captain Blake. In the second battle a fence erected by the natives so hindered the military attack that it proved disastrous. What the Maori resorted to was really the establishment of a hindrance similar to the barbed wire entanglements of modern warfare. The sketch forms an interesting link with Wanganui's historical past.

Our Lovely Country. "Tliie little country is the loveliest in the world," said, a much-travelled New Zealander, in conversation with a reporter to-day. "I - have beep in practically every country of the worldRussia, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, England, Spain, Portugal—" and his voice trailed off a little wistfully, so tliafc his interviewer was unable to liear the rest of them. "But periodically, as a stone falls to earth, and for the last 23 years, I have kept on returning here to keep faith with beauty. You don't know what poverty is here," he continued. "You walk tip Queen Street, and when you search the faces of the people it is genuinely difficult to see the present financial depression mirrored in them. Xor do you see it in their clothes, but in other parts of the world, even in Sydney, it is not hard to discover." He said that in Sydney you had Only to stand for a few minutes by a shop window and you would be approached by a "down and out," perhaps two or three, for a coin, a drink, or a meal. He remembered conversing only the other day with a Roman Catholic priest from England, who said to him: "I never understood what poverty was until I came to New Zealand. In England mv work had always been amongst the slums, but a few years in this sunny ftnd care-free land made me realise the tragedy in the lives of those with whom I had once worked." ,