NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 41, 18 February 1933, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Long Walk. Sirs. Kitty O'Sullivan, an Auckland woman, aged 02, and a grandmother, who has started out to walk from Spirits Bay to the Bluff, has arrived at Whangarei, after covering the first 200 miles of her journey. The next stage will be to Auckland, a distance of 117 miles. She is doing the walk in easy 6tages, and is expected to reach Auckland about the end of next week. Long-range Sawmilling. It will astonish some people to learn the distances timber is being carted to the Kohukohu mill. For instance, one lorry carrying dry baulks of kahikatea comes in from beyond Kaitaia, approximately 50 miles, with a load, returns and brings in another load before evening, steady running of nearly 200 milee per clay—a shade better than the rail run from Okaihau to Auckland. Pound, Note Thrown Away. The absent-minded beggar is common. Emerging with others from a building in Queen Street last evening, a man pulled some waste paper from his pocket, squeezed it up, and threw it into a wire rubbish basket attached to a post at the kerbskle. When he arrived at his suburban home about an hour later, he realised that a pound note, which had been in his pocket, was crumpled up and discarded with the waste paper. He took the lirtst available tram down to the city and duly recovered the note. Spilt Milk. A little boy, a big billy of milk, a basket of groceries and a bicycle got well mixed up at Papakura. The cause of all the trouble was that the billy of milk was hanging on one side of! the handle and the basket on the other. While the boy was trying to dodge an obstacle on the road, the load locked the steering', and over the whole concern went, with the boy underneath. He was well covered with milk and groceries. He rose with a slight limp, but hie feelings could not be gauged by external injuries. Probably he was wondering what yarn to tell mother. Historic Letter. The Methodist Conference has resolved that a letter it has received from the United Methodist Church of Great Britain shall be preserved in the library of Trinity College. The letter, signed by the Rev. Dr. J. Scott Liddgett, as preeident of the new union, and the secretary, the Rev. Robert Bond, reads: "The Uniting Conference of the Methodist Chmvh has received your message of affectionate congratulations with sincere pleasure. We have been wonderfully encouraged by the world-wide interest ehown in this union, which is the fruit of much thought and prayer, and binds the various branches of Methodism together in the service of the Kingdom of Christ." Cut It First! There is a resident of New Plymouth who owns a black spaniel, and this story concerning it is vouched for. The master ie very proud of his dog and the many tricks it can do. One of its best and perhaps the most useful is the bringing in of firewood from the shed in the mornings when the fire is being lighted. On a recent morning the dog was rather reluctant about going to the wood ehed, but was dispatched by its master with the customary command. After an unusually long time there was a scraping on the verandah, and the master proceeded to investigate. He found the dog laboriously dragging in by its handle the axe! There was no wood cut.

Costly Wet Weather. The continued raine of the past few weeks, while possibly of benefit to pastures, have been ruinous to large areas of grain and hay crops in the Kangitikei district (states the "Rangitikei Advocate"). The manager of the local roller flourmills has estimated the direct loss through deterioration in the Marton district at about £20,000. It is a sorry sight to sec acres of wheat, cut weeks ago, sprouting in the etook, and fields of the whit© Tuscan variety, still uncut, now green-tinted at the ears. Fortunately, hay crops were early this year, owing to the fairly dry spring, and haymaking was almost over before the unprccedentedly long spell of autumn rains set in. Horses to the Fore. At the Pukekohe Show yesterday there was a fine parade of horses of all classes, and the judging and competitions in the ring attracted much attention. The adjudicator of the draught section said that it was the best turn-out of heavy horses he had eeen at any show for the past three or four years. A rather amusing incident occurred in connection with awards in one of these classes. After the judge had placed the order in a four-year-old and over class, he noticed that the first and second prize-winners came before him in the three-year-old class, so in the former case he cancelled hie decisions. The Taranaki judge said that the light harness horses and ponies were much better quality animals than seen in his province. The Cost of Divorce. In two undefended petitions for divorce heard in the Wellington Supreme Court, the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers) raised the question of the time that had elapsed since proceedings were begun. "Iβ there any particular reason for the delay?" his Honor aeked counsel appearing for the petitioner in the firet suit. "Financial reasons," replied counsel. "Oh, well, I suppose you cannot have anything better than that," said his Honor, smiling. In the second case counsel gave a similar reason for the delay that had taken place. "I am not asking for costs," eaid counsel after a decree nisi had been granted. "For financial reasons, also," commented his Honor. Counsel: "Yea, sir. I don't think an order for costs would be of any value." Pugnacious Bam at Large. "I think this Is an old offender," remarked Mr. P. H. Harper, S.M., in the Gieborne Police Court on Tuesday, ■ when . a charge of permitting a ram to wander in Gladstone Road was preferred against Mrs. Eva Solomon. It was stated in evidence by William T. Traue that the ram had twice charged a Mr. Kippenberger, who would have been knocked down if he had not turned round and noticed the ram just ae it was about to strike him. Mr. Kippenberger threw the ram and held it down, while his wife ran to safety. The senior sergeant mentioned that the ram had also charged a woman and knocked her down, and had to be held to prevent it. from charging the woman again ae she lay on the ground. The same ram had. figured in other prosecutions. The magistrate remarked that he- understood that Mrs. Solomon's stock had been disposed' of, but the senior sergeant explained that she etill had the. ram, the bull, and one or two cows. A fine of £1 arid costs 16/ was imposed. Question of Standard. "New Zealand must not think she is experiencing a private depression. .She is not," stated Mies Nelle Scanlan, the well-known New Zealand author, who Is revisiting her home folk. Miss Scanlan told a pressman: "New Zealand is feeling the backwash of a tidal wave that is sweeping the world. In some countries, euch as Austria, the people have lived in continuous poverty since the war. Young men and women have hardly had enough to eat since they were children." The standard of living, Miss Scanlan thinks, is higher in New Zealand than in any of the European countries. Taking class for class, the people are better dressed, and the quality of the plain simple food that ordinary people eat is higher than anywhere in the world. "And where, except in New Zealand," she asked, "would you see euch cakes turned on at a party? New Zealanders should count their blessings; despite unemployment and poverty, they are singularly blessed in their climate, in the fertility of the land, in their mountains and coastline, in the absence of the grim, sordid, heart-breaking poverty that continues for years in the industrial centres of- the Old World." On the whole, Mies Scanlan feels thoroughly optimistic about the future of the Dominion.