NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 288, 5 December 1932, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Sharks Plentiful. Thames fishermen are experiencing a lot of trouble lately through sharks getting entangled in their nets during operations on the ground.--at present frequented by schools of fish in the gulf. Several fair-sized sharks have been brought in recently for purposes of bait. Gelignite in Coal. A stick of gelignite about 3Jin long was almost put on the fire by a woman living at 3S, Ely Street, Chrfetchurch. She was just goiiu? to put a shovelful of coal into the kitchen fire when she was lucky to notice a stick of something in the coal, and eh-e found out later on that it was gelignite. If the powerful explosive had been put into the fire, it very possibly would have exploded and the explosion would have been a fatal one, for 31in of gelignite can do a great deal of damage.

A Vigorous "Lyon." Trevor Lyon, the Y.M.C.A. bowler, put in a I strenuous afternoon in the cricket match between North Shore and the Young Men at Devonport on Saturday. He took six wickets for 49 rune on a good batting wicket—a very creditable performance. Lyon is one of those bowlers who deem to thrive on work, and his energy is apparently inexhaustible. He takes a long run, and, as '•Don ,, Miller, now of Dunedin, once said, "He charges past you like a war horso going into battle. Hie feet fairly make the ground tremble." Walter Brearley, of Lancashire, wae another glutton for work. One day, after he had bowled 25 overs on end, MacLaren, the captain, said to him, "Better take a rest, Walter.-" "All right," said Brearley, "put me on at the other end." English Old Boys at King's College. About 40 members of the English Public School Boys' Club in Auckland visited King's College, Middleniore, on Saturday afternoon, ae guests of the headmaster, the Rev. H. K. Arehdall. A cricket match was played, the visitors making 95 runs, to which the college team replied with 96 for four wickets. In acknowledging the welcome and hospitality of the college, Mr. H. S. W. King said the club had been brought into existeneo with a view to establishing social contact among old boys of English public schools resident in the Auckland district. He said the club had a membership of 120, and that most of the members were-young men, who had come to New Zealand in recent years. "Such a visit brings back to Uβ memories of school days, and cements friendships in the present days," added Mr. King. The members hoped that the visit and the games of cricket and tennis with King's College boys would become an annual fixture.

Rugby in Queer Places. We in New Zealand are a trifle hidebound wlien it comes to the game of Rugby. We are apt to think it is played first here, and then perhaps in a few other well-known countries in the world. It, apparently, ie an accepted fact in very queer parts of the globe. A letter hae been received in Auckland by a friend of Guy L. MoLeod, who played for 'Varsity, and then latterly, iu 192!) and 1930, for Ponsonby. McLeod is at present school teaching in the Federated Malay States, and he writes that he is playing in the trials for the Malay States representative Rugby team — a considerable honour in those parts of the world. He save that there ie little combination among the local backs. Each man is inclined to "give it a go" himself, but they have a lot of fun. McLeod is teaching at the Victoria State Institute, at Kuala Lumpur, and thft is the school where prospective Cambridge and London University students are prepared, fie and his wife (who was well known in Auckland as Miss Ruth Walker) find the climate bot but bearable. They have won several tennis championshipe and play golf.

Depression in U.S.A. The Rev. Father Holbrook, of Auckland, who returned to-day, visited Montreal and American cities. It was there, he said, that one was forced to realise the meaning of England going off the gold standard, and the consequent cost of exchange. In U.S.A. he received 3.28 dollars for £1. "As exchange wae already 10 per cent against us in New Zealand, our Xew Zealand £1 in the States equalled only 11/8," he said. Father Holbrook wae in Chicago on November 8, the date of the Presidential and State elections. Speaking of the way the Democrat® had swept the whole country, he said that mathematical reasons for the debacle had been advanced by one authority as 50 per cent depression, 20 per cent desire for a change, 20 per cent prohibition, .5 per cent the dieting of the war veterans from Washington by force, and 5 per cent miscellaneous.

Keeping Up to Date. How much people depend on the district nurse was humorously shown in one of our outdistricts recently, when a settler's wife brought her baby for treatment to the nurae because the child had a temperature. The nurse soon reassured the mother that the child would soon be well, and explained what treatment was necessary.' The mother expressed surprise, and eaid when ehe was a nurse, before marriage, that was the very same treatment advocated then. It was the nurse's turn to be surprised, and ask why the baby had been brought to her when the mother was a nurse. "That's easily explained," replied the mother. "Things move so quickly these days that I thought you might have had some new system more modern than mine!" Then the two women had a talk, and it was found out that there were three former nurses married in the district, but when anything went wiong with their kiddies they all took them to the district nurse, to make eure that they were getting the lateet treatment.

I Saved the Position. "It is fortunate indeed for this Dominion that New Zealand manufacturing industries have been built up to the extent they have," said Mr. J. Abel, president of the Wellington Manufacturers' Association, at the annual meeting of that body, "for it cannot be doubted that, without such industries, the effecte of the fall in export prices would have been felt even more severely than has in. fact been the case. The value of exports has declined from £56,000,000 in the year 1928 to £32,000,000 during the twelve months ending June, 1932, and there has been a consequent unavoidable decline in imports from £45,000,000 to £25,000,000. The results of such a fall in imports if there had been no manufacturing industries in New Zealand, would have been absolutely disastrous to the public. Fortunately the shock hae been cushioned, to some extent, by the fact that many New Zealand manufacturing industries have been able to maintain partial to-full production, preserving the employment of a large section of the workers, keeping money in circulation, and meeting the market demand for necessary manufactured goode." .':•■•;

Hurricane Batting. One of those -gripping variations in cricket which compel appreciation of the most indifferent occurred at the Domain on Saturday, when a player temporarily mastered the bowling. In 80 minutes at the crease he hoisted 105 runs. . Kobertehaw is an unusually energetic bateuian. He commenced by ■ lifting the. Green Lane veteran bowler, Kerr, for a trio of sixes, the over yielding no lees than 27 runs. At the end of 55 minutee his tally was 65, an adjournment being , necessitated by rain. When the teams filed out to resume, an excited young lady in the stand exclaimed, "I. wonder, will, he do it again?" Sure enough, Robertshaw continued to ewing the long handle, to dispatch the ball to all parts of the paddock. He obtained 25 rune off one over, and in 25 minutes registered another 40 rune to go over the century. In attempting another big hit he was bowled. It was quite a Bradmanic effort, but from a strictly technical point of view not as polished an exhibition as that given by W. S. Bam bury, who, for R.V., on the adjoining pitch, had played a magnificent innings as third batsman, and remained unbeaten for 105 at 6.30 p.m. An earlier associate, S. Guiniven, also gave a resourceful display for 93 rune.