NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 1, 3 January 1933, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Serious Sunburn,

Suffering from serious burning, through overexposure to the sun, Miss Bush, one of a party of Auckland Training College students, was admitted to the Tauranga Hospital on Friday evening. She was taken over from Mount Maunganui Beach, where the sunshine has burned many a visitor's skin, and she will have to spend a few days of her holiday under medical treatment.

Kindly Thought.

The continued interest taken in the Auckland Infirmary at Epsom by Sir Charles and Lady Alice Fergusson was shown when a recent mail brought a Hogmanay gift from Scotland. When Sir Charles was Governor-General and came to Auckland, he. never failed to pay a visit to the old folk at the home, which he often described to the late Dr. A. N. McKclvcy as one of the best institutions of the kind he had ever seen.

Holiday Time in Tauranga.

Tauranga experienced heavy rain on the afternoon of New Year's eve, and again on New Year's night, but the Sunday itself was gloriously fine. Between 3000 and 4000 residents, boarders and campers made merry at Mount Maunganui, where revelry continued well into the daylight hours. A number of enthusiasts awaited the indication of midnight to rush into the surf for the first greeting from the breakers of 1033. On the Sunday the splendid stretch of beach was a picnic ground for a record crowd, including visitors from all parts of the Dominion. Lived on Fourpence a Day. One reason for the keen interest the Mayor of Christchurch, Mr. D. G. Sullivan, takes in helping relief workers came to light the other day, when he was talking to the inmates of the Adding!on Men's Home. He told them that he knew what it was to be out of wor'", When he was about IS years of age he had r me abroad, and in London he knew what it was to live on 4d a day. He used to spend lid on a tea-cake, the same amount on a cup of tea, and the other penny went in "a doss down somewhere." The Mayor said he knew nothing of philanthropic institutions, had no friends, and had to make Ins own way, "down and out in London." An Empire Tourist. A retired Church of England clergyman, the Rev. T. E. Fox, who held the living of the little parish of Shebbear, Devon, for 25 years, arrived this morning by the Zealandia on his annual holiday from England. "I used to make regular trips to France," he said, "but they are pretty hard on tourists there, and in these days of oneclass steamers it is almost as economical to travel out here as it is to go wintering in France. Then I remember about the need for encouraging within the Empire tours and the benefits one gets from the long sea voyage each way." Mr. Fox was in New Zealand four years ago. Ho has crossed the Equator ten times. A Matter of a Day. It takes a little while to accustom oneself to the fact that another year has been entered upon, and probably many letters have gone forward bearing the date of "January, 1932." Drawers of cheques, too, frequently make this mistake. Some racing enthusiasts had the point brought home to them yesterday, when discussing Auckland Cup history. "Who won the Cup last year?" one inquired of his audience, who could have reeled off the successful horses in the big two-mile event as far back as the early eighties, when Nelson won it three times in succession. "Admiral Drake," he said spontaneously. "Oh, no," retorted his questioner, "that was the year before last. Fast Passage won the Cup last year." Travel Fashions. The classification of accommodation on trains and boats into first, second and third is gradually undergoing transformation. . On the British railways the second class has almost entirely disappeared, and the carriages are marked First and Third. On ships the same tendency for the second class to fade out has also been noticed._ Nowadays many vessels have first and what is called "tourist" class, while others call it "cabin class." It is really first and third, but modern travellers like high-sounding names. The latest vessel to be changed is the famous old Aquitania, of the Cunard line, which has had her second class accommodation taken out and the big dining room turned into a cinema with room for 250 people. Another feature of modern travel is that the luxurious traveller is getting more exacting, and 80 staterooms on the Aquitania have been provided with separate bathrooms, the suites being described as "among the most luxurious afloat."

Shopping Penalised. "They seriously marred the Christmas and New Year chopping'festivals," was how one retailer described the arrangements made in Auckland. "My opinion always has been, and it is confirmed by this experience, that the public resents interference with the calendar celebrations. People simply could not bring themselves to the full enjoyment of Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve on Friday nights when they knew the proper time was the Saturday. The consequence was that enthusiasm and buying were restricted. Some left their shopping over until Saturday, and then just rushed it. The ordinary half-holiday should have been held earlier in each week. The excuse that this would have meant so many shop employees being deprived of some enjoyment is futile when the interests of the great majority are concerned. At the present time shop staffs would have been pleased to work and get the benefit of double time for it."

Bathing in the Nude. Europeans find the Japanese method of bathing rather embarrassing. Formerly the men and women bathed together, and in that country one 'bathes in Nature's garb. In the better-class establishments it is now customary for the sexes to be separated. A New Zcalander, writing from Japan to the "New Zealand Magazine," tells of his experience. He was somewhat reassured when he knew that the men and women bathed separately at a place he had chosen, but just as he was about to enter the bath he was horrified to notice the woman cashier, under whose vigilant eyes everyone undressed. Being taller than the Japanese and white to boot, the New Zealander felt that everyone was looking at him. . The Japanese take their baths extremely hot, but the visitor could not stand the ordeal any longer and got in. "You can understand," he says, "in what state of soul-1 was as I set about scalding myself in the almost boiling water."

Ancient Totaras. When the ■ white people first made the acquaintance of Papae, the Maori clearing that became the nucleus of Pahnerston North, there were still standing many giant totaras along the river, in the region of Terrace End, but the last of them disappeared many years ago. Probaldy that bush wars the home of some huge logs that are now lying partly submerged in the river between Aokautere and the old racecourse at West End. Employees of the Pahnerston North River Board are now engaged hauling these logs ashore by means of a derrick and winch, and hard work they find it. These logs are eloquent proof of the durability of the totara. Although they have lain half-submerged for years, probably a century or more, they have been found quite sound when split by maul and wedge, with some help from blasting power, and they are being used in making groynes that are being erected at Bridgewater Terrace, to prevent the river scouring the banks For many years the town end of the Fitzherbert Bridge owed its security in times of Hood to a huge half-buried totara which jutted out from the bank and acted as a natural groyne, and kept the liver to its channel. The River Board afterwards built a ?tone groyne just above the log, and the shingle that was arrested has now buried the useful log put of sight.