NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 112, 15 May 1933, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Diphtheria Oases. Diphtheria is fairly prevelant in Auckland city and suburban districts, and about 30 cases are being treated at the Auckland Hospital. The Medical Officer of Health, Dr. T. J. Hughes, said this morning that the trouble was largely seasonal, although there had been more notifications for this time of the year compared with the same period of recent years. Eeccnt notifications had been scattered over a wide area. For Recovery of Rates. The clerk of the Hauraki Plains County Council, Mr. E. A. Mahoney, reported to last week's meeting that 130 summonses, involving £5900, had been issued, principally against persons whose rates for 1030-31 had not been paid, and in each case judgment was being taken for all rates to March 31, 1933. New Lynn Borough. The Mayor and councillors of Xew Lynn will be formallv sworn in this evening. New Lynn borough had the distinction at the recent municipal elections of avoiding contests of any description. The Mayor, Mr. George Lawson, and the retiring councillors were returned unopposed, as was the retiring representative of the district on the Waitemata Power Board. Gas—and a Lighted Candle. Leaking gas which came in contact with a lighted candle was the cause of a fire in a house situated at 43, Selbourne Street, Grey Lynn, at vS.lj this morning. Not a great deal of damage was done. The City and Western Districts Fire Brigades attended the outbreak. Changed Vistas. The approach.of winter and a desire for iieat have led to changed and changing vistas in the Xew Lvnn district. Up to quite recently pine plantations were a feature of the local landscape, and the higher they grew the more the local panoramic outlook narrowed. A demand for firewood has resulted in a number of the plantations being cut out, much of the work being done by unemployed labour. From parts of New Lynn there is now a two-harbour view, as well as new views of the ranges. Price On Their Heads. Although there is a price on their heads, the jroat colony at Mount Moehau, on the Coromandcl Peninsula,"continues to thrive and progress. The animals are descendants from the goats of the early mining days, when they were valued for a milk supply for domestic purposes. They keep mostly to the high country, and have come under the ban for the reason that they arc very destructive to native flora. Sportsmen in the Coromaiulcl area have combined in an endeavour to reduce the number of the animals, and prizes are offered for the best telly of tails.

Small Boy's Hobby. Though the purchase of new registration plates brings no joy to the motorist, to the small boy it is quite an event. In past years it has afforded him new decoration and distinction for hie? trolley, but now it holds wider scope. The use of much of the alphabet last season, added to the customary numerals, soon attracted his attention. Many a lad discovered it would be possible, when the plates and attached letters were discarded, to secure the initials of his own name. Now he eagerly awaits the chance Ot selecting his own special letters, which will soon adorn gate, door or trolley. Subsided Footpath. Good progress is being made with the restoration of the four chains of footpath in Lake Road, Devonport, which last week extensively subsided on the rise below Ngataringa Road. It will be some time, however, before the work is completed, since a surface cannot be put down until the newly-deposited clay has consolidated. The material for filling in is being removed from Xgataringa Road, enabling that street to be widened simultaneously with the repairing of the Lake Road footpath. For the reinforcement of the embankment in Xgataringa Bay. about 200 yards of ballast are being deposited at the base. Fantails and Weasels. A local sportsman said to-day that he had noted that fantails and little grey warblers (the riro-riro) had become very plentiful in tiie Whangamarino district within the last year or so. In some districts their natural enemies, the stoat and the weasel, had succeeded in thinning them out. "These vermin jump up into the air and grab the birds, more particularly the fantails, when they are flying low to the ground," he said. "That weasels succeed in easily capturing the fantails in this manner was evidenced last year by a farmer's discovery of a weasel's burrow under a haystack, with piles of fantail feathers around. A Racing "System." There are many systems in racing, though it lias never been "proved that any is a sure road to fortune. One that has many supporters, and which has consistently been in favour of the backers at trotting meetings lately, known as the second start principle, again worked out satisfactorily at the Auckland Club's meeting on Saturday. According to this system, one supports any horse that has run into a place (one, two or'three) earlier in the day and comes out in a later race. In the big two-mile race Kewpie's Triumph was first, and Prince Fedro second, and they both competed later on in the mile and a quarter handicap. Again they ran first and second. The only other horses to support under the system were Cimarron and Our Summer, which ran second and third at their first start; in the next effort they again filled the minor places, and showed a profitable return on the place-betting machine.

Miniature Air Pageant. A miniature air pageant was staged by the Auckland Aero Club on Takapuna Beach on Saturday afternoon by four of the club's machines, the Puss Moth and the orange, blue and green De Havilland Moths. All four machines were engaged in passenger flying from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., about 50 passengers, ranging in ages from three years to 70, being taken aloft. About 2000 people, including many children, were spread out along the beach from the foot of The Strand to Clifton, watching the flying. The tide was right out, and the machines used the smooth surface of the beach as their landing ground. A westerly wind made it imperative for pilots to take off and land across wind. The club's instructor and chief pilot, Flight-Lieutenant D. M. Allan, thrilled everybody with hie exhibition of "crazy" flying, and, together with Flying-Officer E. B. Firth, lie staged a most realistic mock "dog fight" above Rangitoto Channel. The other pilots were FlightLieutenant W. H. Lett and B. A. Kirkup. Waterfront Pigeons' Breakfast. Seven o'clock is breakfast time for a number of pigeons that have their home on the Queen's wharf. A sweeper employed by the Auckland Harbour Board has made a practice of feeding the birds every morning before starting work, and the pigeons now look for his early arrival. This morning nearly a dozen birds started the day with a breakfast of bread brought to the wharf by their friend, One of the pigeons that never misses a morning is particularly tame, and readily alights on the hand of the sweeper to receive its share of food. The other birds feed almost at the feet of their host, but have not. yet been persuaded to take food frpm the hand. The sweeper said to-day that it had taken about four months' coaxing to get the one bird to come and take titbits from the palm of his hand. Other visitors to the waterfront make a practice of feeding seagulls, which also soon become tame. It is noticeable that the "table manners" of the pigeons arc very much more polished than those of" the gulls. Whereas the pigeons make little noise other than that caused by the flapping of their wings, the gulls seem happiest when they are squawking and fighting among themselves for possesbion of the food,