NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 261, 4 November 1933, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The Royal Show. The prospects for the Royal Show, which will he held at Auckland early next year, are bright. Already notification has come that there will be sheep entered from the south end of the South Island, while there will be good representation in the stock classes from .the Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa and Manawatu districts. Guy Fawkes Observance. \ Although Guy Fawkes' Day, a muchanticipated occasion by young people, will fall to-morrow, the general observance, but for the rain, would have been this evening, Children have been collecting material for bonfires, and fireworks are in strong demand. Many small boys with smutty faces have been having quite a busy week in soliciting funds. The old-time way was to carry a '"guy" round 1 for exhibition before the burning, but the modern boy parados himself, and regards the approaching hit-tone observation as a method of collecting cash for general purposes. The children having made their preparations, nothing is more certain than that they will have their celebration, the weather notwithstanding. Care of the Babies. The council of the A. and P. Association has taken up the plea for better care of our babies —not in the usual sense of the plea, it is true, but still a plea. Opinion was expressed yesterday at the council meeting of that body that better facilities should bo offered to mothers for leaving their babies at a show, while the parents made their in-"»''-tion of the various exhi'. its. Such facilities should be adequate, so that mothers could leave their babies in the knowledge of absolute safety. Members unanimously decided to spend £~> in that direction, stating that perhaps some suitable organisation in the city would supply an officer to undertake that duty.

The Disappearing Duck. Although it might be an exaggeration to say that specimens of the native grey duck will be eventually found only in museums, there is no doubt' that in the Auckland Province the "bird is gradually becoming scarce. To account for that fact there are ' many theories', which range from poaching, close settlement, gradual draining of the swamps, to the havoc caused by imported pests. The various branches of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society have taken the matter up, with diversity oi opinion. In some quarters a close season is urged, while another suggestion is further limitation of "bags." On the other hand, some of the branches claim that protection is unnecessary. At a meeting of the Matamata branch it was decided to urge a limit of 15 birds a flay, with an open season limit of two months in future years.

Offer of Free House. To bring home to Wellington city councillors the seriousness of the dust nuisance in his street, a member of the Brooklyn District Municipal Electors' Association, Mr. E. (1. Robertson, made an offer to vacate his house, No. 1, Helen Street,-so that a councillor may live there, rent free, for a month. The statement was not taken seriously at first, but Mr. Robertson asserted his sincerity, saying that he wart not living in the front of his house be .e the windows there could not be opened for the dust. At 2-1 hours' notice, he said, he would move out to an hotel, so that a councillor could have the house rent free for a month, provided that the latter lived there with his wife, who should do the housework. Members who had laughed when they first realised what Mr. Robertson was saying applauded him when they recognised his complete sincerity.

Said the Australian. "Thank God your cows have all got their heads down," said a passenger in a first class smoker on a country train the other morning. Tlje other passengers, who had hardly woke up, for it was an early wanderer, certainly woke up properly and were startled, wondering which mental hospital had lost a patient, so the passenger, seeing their looks of apprehension, called out: "Oh; don't worry. I'm an Aussie from the far west—over on a holiday —and our cows have to keep their heads in the. air, trying to get some food there, because there is no grass for them to chew, so I can't help calling out sometimes when I see your cows in a natural attitude. Great little country, this New Zealand." and then he looked out of the windows and was silent iu admiration.

Birkenhead Water Contract. A petition is being signed by Birkenhead ratepayers requesting Parliament to pass the suggested clause in the Local Legislation Bill to empower the Borough Council to sign a contract with the Auckland City Council for 21 years, without the necessity "of a poll, for the supply of all water needed for the borough. So far 450 names of ratepayers are on the petition, which will, it is confidently stated, bear 000 signatures prior to being sent to Wellington at an early date. The survey) of the route for the pipeline to deliver Waitakere water to the Birkenhead reservoir has been completed, and no engineering difficulties have been encountered. For the purpose of expediting the supply to Birkenhead house-1 holders, all the resources of the borough are] being placed at the disposal of the" city authorities by the council's water committee and its chairman, Mr. James Prickett. I

Rural Lands Revaluation. A decision was made at a meeting of the Dominion executive of the New Zealand Farmers' Union to enter a strong protest against the proposed amendment to the Valuation of Lands Act, by which, it was stated, it was intended to cut out clauses 4o and 50, in effect depriving landowners of their rights to a revaluation. Mr. L. Hammond (Wellington), speaking to the remit, which was moved by the North Canterbury executive, said that the point was that "counties had found that various ratepayers had asked for special revaluations. By paying for them these had been received, and in some cases enormous reductions had been made in, the ratable value of properties. It would be understood that if a certain percentage obtained a fairly large reduction, the extra ratable taxation had to be borne by the other taxpayers who had not had a reduction. That really| meant that, an injusti > was being done to those people who had not had a special revaluatiqn. At the same time, he did not think the rights of landowners to a revaluation should be taken away.

The Age of Speed. "Why encourage speed round these bends?" asked Mr. R. D. TosswiH. Wanganui, of Mr. H. FY Toogood, Wellington, at the ; annual meeting of the North Wellington branch of the Society of Civil Engineers, when ; the suggestion was made that roads would have to be canted still more acutely on bends. "I am not encouraging speed,'' Mr. Toogood said. "It will come whether We cant the roads or not. Surely you gentlemen realise the history of speed. I am merely telling you we will have to provide for it." Mr. R. R. Dawson: "It is an age of broadsiding." Mr. Toogood: "Quite right, and we will have to put cinders on the track next." Discussion at the conference emphasised the enormous increase that has taken place recently in the speed of commercial traffic. Lorries, it. was pointed out, now travelled almost as fast as service cars. "Despite, the fact that we have done everything tO' reduce speeds, and despite the fact that we have speed cops and volumes of regulations, we will always have the madcap who tries to do a bit more than the next man," Mr. Toogood concluded.

Hidden Treasure. While splitting a piece of old timber, Mr. S. Batty, of Featnereton, picked up a Queen" Elizabeth shilling, which had apparently been concealed in a crack in the wood. The coin, which is about half the thickness of an ordinary shilling, is in an excellent state of preservation. The date, 1582, and the letters are clearly discernible. Sovereigns in London. A letter received recently from London states that the price of sovereigns continues at a high level. The prica for September) averaped over 30/ sterlinr, and towards; the, end of that month the record price of 31/5 was offered by some bullion merchant*. The writer says that in spite of the heavy selling of gold coins ever since England went off the gold standard, two years ago, people still seem to have some left, and every time the price improves, enough are produced l*> keep the dealers busy. i Dominion and Depression. I "Englishmen and Australians seem less depressed by the 'depression than Xew Zeajaiidera," said Mr. C. F. Cotter, on his return to Christchureh from a tour abroad. "They have more confidence and optimism in working to make things better. Xew Zealand is depressed by the outlook of the people on, their troubles. Australia is busy and confident, and Britain is enjoying much brighter, times —factories are busy, and the people are getting back to employment." The Spirit of Rugby.

"Although the standard of play in Rugby football in Great Britain is not so high as it is in New Zealand, it is certainly a better type of play." said Dr. W. Bryden, of the teaching staff of the Christchureh Technical College, on bis return after spending two years in Edinburgh. Dr. Bryden played Rugby for Edinburgh and Edinburgh University against Oxford, ' Cambridge and other teams. "Rugby in Britain is a real amateur sport, "played as a recreation, with none of the do or die to win spirit of competition, and is more like the best secondary school football out here.; That does not mean that the teams do not play at their best and hardest to win. but the spirit behind their play is different. 1 enjoyed my two years' fodtball while 1 was away far more than the six years 1 was J playing in Xew Zealand."

! Miniature Football's Wanderings. , In last Saturday evening's Spoits Specia mention was made of the fact that a minia ture silver football, no larger than a spar row's egg, which had been picked up' in > , city street, had been sent to the "Star" office • The football, it was stated, was inscribed "Schools Seven-a-side, 1016, under 13 years . Kicearton," and the name of the owner ap , pea red to be either Tinker or Linker. Thii morning's mail from the Waikato brought i letter from Mr. H. J. Tinker, of Franktoi Junction, claiming the miniature. He ex plains that he lent the football, which war attached to a silver chain, to a man to w.eai to a d.'Oicc twelve years ago, and that Ik never heard of it again until he read lasi week's Sports Special. Mr. Tinker adds thai ho is delighted to regain possession of the trophy, which lie gave ix> for lost many years ago. A Closure Ignored. A rather extrao dinarv position arose at the meeting of the Opotiki Borough Council on Thursday night. The meeting was an adjournment from the u-tiiil mon*' "•• held on the Tuesday night. Ten o'clock arrived with business *tiu being i a . and Messrs. Short am. Main put their coats on and prepared to leave the council chambers. The other councillors started to discuss when the meeting would ha further adjourned to. After some indefinite talk the Mayor said: "I declare the meeting closed." The other councillors, however,' ignored the Mayor's remark, and amongst themselves decided to hold the ad; rned meeting the next night. "We've got to get throurh the business somehow," remarked Mr. Anderson, rfter the time was decided on. Last night there was no quorum, only Messrs. Anderson, Shalfoon, Webb and Patterson putting in an appearance. The Mayor arrived to attend another meeting in the Council Chambers, and when asked by other councillors to attend the council meeting to make up a quorum refused to do so, saying that the other meeting was more important. Old Shipmates' Reunion. With the hope of renewing friendships made on the voyage o e the. steamer British King from England to Xew Zealand in 1883, Mr. R. F. Young, of 317, Dominion Road, has written to the "Auckland Star" pointing out that the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival'of the ship at Wellington will fall due on Decern-, ber 21 or December 22—he is uncertain as to ! the exact date on which the voyage ended. He suggests that the anniversary* might well be made the occasion for a reunion of passengers who travelled by the vessel if there are a sufficient number still livinr. The British King and the British Queen were chartered from the British Shipowners' Association by the Xew Xealand SI ipping Com.pany to mark their change-over from sail to steam. The British King, a four-masted vessel of 3558 tons, was the first of the eonir pany's chartered steamers to enter Xew Zealand waters. She was also the first steamer to carry frozen meat to London, via Cape Horn. The German steamer Marsala was the j first steamer to leave the Dominion with that 1 class of cargo, but she lost it en route,-leaving | the honour to be claimed by the Britir-h King, j i

Rise of Hawera Show. A number of retired Southern Taranaki farmers living in Auckland will next week make the trip to Hawera to be In attendance at the jubilee agricultural show. Most of them will travel by train to see new country opened up (luring recent months by the railway. When the first show was held, there was no direct railway communication south of Hawera, and exhibitors had much difficulty getting their stock to the show. Xew Plymouth held a show as early as 1875, and Patea, that important town in the early days, held a cattle show as mng ago as 1873, and held it annually till 1888. So difficult was it to have a successful show annually in the places named that an effort was made towards the end of the 'eighties to hold the show in turn at .Patea, Hawera and Xew Ply- \ mouth, but' local rivalry and jealousies were very stron? in those days, and the idea fell through. Patea declined in importance as aj centre after the railway- went through, audi in 1889 most of the Patea exhibitors linked j up with Hawera, and all down the years since then the Egmont Show held at' Hawera has been an important one. I

A Centenarian's Philosophy. /■ Old Mrs. Speakman. who died in her 103 rd year at the infirmary this week; dearly loved the Christmas revels which took place* at the institution the three years she was a resident there. She had a rare sense of humour, and when the Hospital Board members gathered around her to get the Christmas greeting and blessing, she used to insist that the members should go to her funeral. "You make a fuss of me when I'm alive," she said, "but an old woman like me can't live very much longer. I've got no relatives of my own, and I'd like to think when I'm gone that vou have all remembered me." She thought' that women took life too seriously, which caused them to get wrinkled faces far too soon.. In the ward where she was many of the women who were. 20 year* her junior looked over 100, because they had not contented lives. She had cherished a Bible which had been-given to her in girlhood, and in it she had read the philosophy of being contented with the things that! we had. and at over 100 she was glad that! she was surrounded with so manv good friends, and had all the things she needed, j