NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 134, 9 June 1933, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Motor For Rangitoto. For the first time, a privately-owned motor car for permanent use lias been taken to Rangitoto Island. The car, which was shipped to the island yesterday by the scow Pono, is owned by Mr. Roy Brined en, who has a bach on the island. Fine roads have been formed on the island by prison labour, and it is possible to drive round the island and almost up to the top. The only other vehicles kept on Eangitoto are a bus used for holiday-makers during summer and a truck. Submitted To Inferiority Complex. "In these days of pessimism, there is so much gloom in the air that it would seem as if we had submitted to being enveloped in an inferiority complex so that business men, who a few years ago were men of progress and finance,, are rapidly becoming dazed in our evolutionary cycle and are showing less intelligence and less instinct of self-preservation than the insects," commented Dr. F. D. Pinfold in an address on "The Life and Habits of Insects" to the Hamilton Luncheon Club. Railway Service. This morning at Papakura the seven o clock workers' train was late, owing to train delays, ,and there seemed a prospect of several workers having to explain their late arrival. The officer in charge, ilr. A. Evans, rose to the occasion, and, knowing that the early morning Wellington express was to stop to allow an invalid passenger to disembark, at once sought permission from Auckland for all the Auckland-bound workers to travel with the express. This was readily granted, and the service was much appreciated. Flogging the Donkey. The question of the law in relation to cruelty to animals was under consideration in a case in the New Plymouth Supreme Court, when the Hon. Mr. Justice Reed remarked that the British law on this matter was far ahead of that in Continental countries. "I once nearly got into trouble for trying to stop a man beating a donkey on the Continent," said his Honor. "They' did not 6eem to take much notice of it there." Rugby In Scandinavia. Rugby football is repotted to have taken a firm hold in Sweden, where it was started about 18 months ago as a result of a visit by the British Fleet to Stockholm. But the Swedes appear to have taken up the game much more systematically than many British players have. No one in Sweden, it seems, is "allowed to play for a Rugby club unless he hits attended evening courses in the game and has paased severe tests in tackling, passing and falling on the ball. The tackling test consists of three perfect tackles, from in front, behind and sideways, of a player going "all out."

Insurance Renewal Receipts. In a judgment at the New Plymouth Supremo Court this week, Mr. Justice Reed held that the holder of a rene*wal receipt for insurance was entitled to the insurance, even though the renewal premium"had not been paid. Opinion in local insurance circlets seems to indicate that this decision will not affect the custom by insurance companies of sending renewal receipts to approved clients a few days before the due date of the premium. Where the payment of the premium is delayed after a later reminder, the custom is to cancel the policy by registered letter. Market For New Zealand Meat. "The European population of India is comparatively small," said Major T. K. Dawe, an Indian Army officer, sojourning in Auckland, "but this should be a market for New Zealand produce in the Far East. The market for your foodstuffs would not be extensive. However, I have no doubt that Englishmen in India would pay higher prices. For small consignments, the cold storage question should not cause much trouble. No difficulty is experienced in handling foodstuffs brought from England as refrigerated cargo." -Major Dawe declared that it was a treat to taste New Zealand lamb and New Zealand butter after an experience of the meat and butter obtainable in India. Motor Bike Dissected. „ A certain amount of "cheek" is necessary to get on iu this world, it is said, and that belief is evidently shared by an individual who visited a Marlborough garage rather late on Saturday night. Being apparently in need of a few "spares," he filled his requirements to such good purpose that when the owner of a valuable motor cycle arrived later he wa« puzzled by the refusal of his machine to start. Closer investigation in the dark building revealed the reason. Every •emovable part, including headlamp, battery, tools, gloves and overalls, was missing, and, just for discount, as it were, the marauder had severed almost every wire on the engine. Chain Letter Again. The senseless chain letter has again made its appearance in Auckland, this time under the heading of "The Prosperity Chain." The recipient of the letter is asked to make five copies of its contents and to post them on to five friends—"within twenty-four hours, in order that the magic chain may not be broken." It is set jut in the letter that one woman who received a, copy and acted according to the instructions received £10,000 within a week, and that to mother woman the letter brought £3000. It is ilso stated that a third woman who broke the :hain lost everything that she possessed. The L'laim that the chain was originated by an American colonel in France may or may not be correct, but whoever it was should bo entitled to some measure or reward from the postal authorities in return for tho Department's inireased revenue.

Salmon Introduced.

Few in Auckland realise that it is almost 50 years since salmon was introduced into .New Zealand; yet it was in the 'eighties that the fish commissioners of the United States presented to New Zealand a million salmon ova. An attempt was made to establish salmon in the North Island, as well as in the South, and ova and young salmon were deposited in most of the principal "northern rivers by the late Mr. J. C. Firth, who travelled hundreds of miles in boats and canoes, assisted by Europeans and Maoris, and had many an exciting experience in shallows and rapids. Mr. Firth had no great faith in the experiment on* northern rivers, because of the mild climate and the abundance of eels, but, by taking the precaution, in some places, to fix wire netting screens, which would keep the eels out, he thought the venture might be a success. For a time they may have -lived, as a fish caught in the Thames River by the Maoris two years later was recognised as a salmon by its red flesh, but the report was never confirmed. Subsequent experience has shown that the efforts to acclimatise salmon in the North ended only in failure.

"Digger" and "Tommy." Captain C. E. W. Bean, che Australian historiaii of tile war, has issued another volume of tho official history of the A.I.F. It covers the operations in France in 1917. It was towards the end of that year, he says, "that Australian soldiers—in particular, the infantry—came to be known, together with the New Zealanders, as 'the diggers.' The terra had occasionally been heard before, but hitherto had been general only among the New 'Zealanders, who are said to have inherited it from the gum diggers in their country. It carried so rich an implication of the Anzac infantryman's own view of his functions and character that it spread like fire through the A.1.F., and by the end of the year was the general term of address for Australian or New Zealand soldiers. It is certain," Captain Bean adds in a footnote, "that the term had several independent origins, and had been commonly used long before among miners in some units; but in most it .was, even at this date, barely known, and its general application certainly came to the A.I.F. from the New Zealanders. 'Tommy,' on the other hand, was never a generally popular term with the British soldier, because it carried the flavour of the 'superior person's' view of his attributes." J