NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 184, 7 August 1933, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Portrait of a Judge

A portrait lias just been completed by Mr. Archibald Nicoll, for the Canterbury District Law Society, of Air. Justice Adams, who is about to retire. It iif intended that the portrait shall hang in the Supreme Court, where already there is a, portrait of another Canterbury judge, Mr. Justice Denniston. Mr. Nicoll, who is outstanding among the portrait painters of the Dominion, besides being noted for his work in landscape, has painted more than 50 portraits of notable New Zealanders since the war.

A "Home" Industry. Mr. J. J. Clark, a member of the Wellington Education Board, is urging the Department to have knitting included as a subject in handwork for the Government schools, as a national measure. Mr. Clark was much impressed by the fact that all the members of the Jolmsonville School basketball team had knitted their own jumpers and skirts; he has since learned that the girls of Standards IV., V. and VI., numbering just on 00, have all knitted their own jumpers, using no less than 500 skeins of wool. A Striking Inscription.

"Calamity is man's true touchstone" forms the striking inscription, carried out on a bronze plate, which has been inserted, facing south, midway between the steps and the surmounting marble slab of the sundial which has been erected on the grass lawn of the Napier Marine Parade. Beneath this plate there is another, bearing the inscription, "The gift of J. R. Kirk, Esq., M.8.E., 1933," while the two inscriptions round the top portion of the sundial are, pleasantly, "Serene I stand amid the flowers to tell the passing of the hours," and "Smiles equal sunshine in helping folks along." Ambulance Service.

In pursuance of the policy of keeping its ambulance ileot up to strength as well as up to date, the St. John Ambulance Association in Auckland put into commission on Saturday a new motor vehicle to replace one sold about a month ago to the Tauranga branch. This keeps the tally of motor ambulances in commission in the city at seven. The latest addition to the fleet has improvements to the springs of the body of the vehicle and to the stretchers. On Saturday afternoon Commissioner C. J. Tunks, accompanied by Mr. S. E. Langstoue, manager), and corps ofliccrs, made an inspection of field parties at work in the various sports playing grounds of Auckland.

Motorists Trapped,

A second raid 011 motorists for driving licensee was made by traffic officers of the City Council in city and suburban streets yesterday — the second since old licensee expired. The usual routine of holding up cars, demanding licensers and placing a sticker 011 the window to prevent further hoid-ups was gone through. When this was' over, the driver found himself confronted with a dazzling smile from a pretty girl shaking a collection box for the Prosperity campaign under his nose. Wherever a traffic officer was stationed two girls with boxes waited on the footpath, and as soon as a car was held up they raced across to jingle the money box. Drivers and passengers smiled and gave, and when the raid was over many girls went home with heavy boxes.

A Dentist's Joke. A joke he had once perpetrated at the expense of Madame Josephine Ottlee was to/d by Dr. F. C. A'Court at a party given in honour of Madame Ottlee by members of the Christchurch Harmonic Society. "Madame Ottlee came to me one morning and said she had moved to the country and had such a lovely little fawn cow," said Dr. A'Court. "I told her I knew that lovely little cow, and when she said that was absurd, I told her 1 knew it because it had 110 upper front teeth! She said she would go home and see if it was the same one, and to her amazement it was." Dr. A'Court explained that his dental training had taught him that,cows Had 110 upper front teeth.-

Helpful Tram Passengers. Had there been any pedestrians abroad in Symonds Street in the vicinity of Grafton Bridge about 5 a.m. one day last week, they would have witnessed tho unusual spectacle of train patrons "working their passage." It was the early tram to town, and on the run from the top of Symonds Street there was a break in the power. The tram coasted to the stop at the bridge, and would have gone round the corner 011 tho down grade but for the need to halt to permit an elderly passenger to alight. The power was still off, so tho dozen or so passengers turned out and restarted the car by man-power, pushed it round into Karangahape Road until it again took the impulse of tho down grade, whereupon the passengers hurried back inside, and the car coasted downhill to the Queen Street terminus.

Auckland Well In Front. With a population of 219,500, the Auckland urban area is the largest in the Dominion, according to an estimate of population figures made by the Census and Statistics Office at the end of March last. In the Wellington urban area there are 145,900 people, in Christehiuch 130,000, and in Dunedin 87,900. Other urban areas in the Dominion with a population in excess of 4000 are as follow: —Wanganui, 27,050; Invercargill, 24,500; Palmcrston North, 23,500; Napier, 19,450; Now Plymouth, 18,750; Timaru, 18,750; Hamilton, IS,300; Hastings, 17,000; Gisborne, 16,500; Nelson, 12,850; Masterton, 5750; Whangarei, 7750; Oamaru, 7650; Greymoutli, 0310; Ashburton, 5500; Blenheim, 5350; Rotorua, 5220; Ilawera, 4740; Thames, 4700; Dannevirkc, 4570; Fcilding, 4450; Gore, 4300; Westport, 4040.

Prospectors Surprised. A surprise awaited a party of gold prospectors who appeared in the Blenheim Warden's Court in support of an application for an ordinary prospecting liccnse over an area at Bragg's Creek, below tho Branch Waterfall, when they discovered that, quite unwittingly, they had contravened the provisions of the Mining Act (reports the "Marlborough Express"). When the Warden was perusing the papers connected with tho application he found that the party had staked a claim on freehold land without having first obtained consent. It was explained, 011 behalf of the party, however, that the owner of the land had received notice of their intention to enter on the land, and he had no objections to make. The warden said that was not sufficient. It must be noted that, even in a mining district, 110 man had any right to go in and mark off private land without the previous consent of the warden.

Chinese Family Bond. A Chinese Presoyterian minister, working amongst his own countrymen in Auckland, speaking before the relief committee of the Hospital Board, said that many Chinese who had formerly good businesses were now poorly off, but in trying to help them Europeans had to try and understand to some extent the family life of the Chinese. In Auckland, for instance, they had Chinese widowers with large families who could not go out and work on relief work bccause they had to care and look after their young children. When others attempted to look after the children, and they were taken away from the care of the father, they simply pined to be all together again. Once the mother, who was the centre of the family life, was gone, the husband had_ to take up the responsibility. There was something in the Chinese character which made families cling very closely together. His own wife had taken charge of a boy who was two years old, but he simply cried day and night, and he had to be taken home again. He did not want Europeans to be too hard on Chinese who had national, traits inbred through the centuries, becauso in a foreign country they found it very hard to make others really understand their position, and they had a natural diffidence and etolidness not easy to penetrate. The clergyman was assured that, with the means at its disposal, the Hospital Board, not unmindful of spontaneous donations received from Chinese in the past, would see that no human need, caused through misfortune or sickness, would go unheeded. ...