NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 264, 8 November 1933, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

No Argument. A dairv farmer witness, whose initial was A, tlie same as that of his wife, and. to whom factory cheques were paid under the * :)^ e initial, "A. was questioned at the Magistrate's Court,. New Plymouth, as to who received the cheque—he or his wife. He no hesitation in answering that neither did— a stock firm took them. More for a Place. An unusual incident in connection with totalisator betting was recorded yesterday at Addington, when Red Shadow won the New Zealand Trotting Cup. As on all racecourses in the Dominion, there were two machines operating, win and place, and Red Shadow returned a bigger dividend to those who supported him on the place machine than to those who backed him to win only. An Egg "Flip." On a Wanganui cricket ground one Saturday recently a participant in one of the games picked up a thrush's egg. "Catch," he called to a mate standing not far off. The other player, thinking that a piece of chewing gum was being tossed over, emulated a stage performer he has seen, opened his mouth and caught the egg. very cleverly. His look of surprise will never be forgotten. The egg was several days old. The Sanders Cup. The Auckland Yacht and Motor Boat Association decided last evening to hand the Sanders Cup back to the donors, Messrs. Walker and Hall. It is this firm's intention to rcdonate the cup to the New Zealand Yachting Council, which will carry on the contest in the same class of 14-footers at Lyttelton next February. Great interest is shown in the Southern centres, which are already arranging trial races to select their challengers. "Debt of Honour." An allegedly unpaid poker debt figured as the subject of 'a novel claim in the Dunedin Magistrate's Court last week, when Robert Johnson, manufacturer, proceeded against John Simpson, licensee of the Rugby Hotel, claiming to recover £15 10/ as the balance of an amount said to have been lent to Simpson by Johnson during the course of a game of poker two years ago. After a short hearing Johnson was nonsuited, the magistrate pointing out that the Court could not be used as an instrument to enforce a debit of this nature. » Envy of Every Other Country. "The methods adopted by the New Zealand Fruit Control Board are the envy of every other country in the world," stated Mr. Dan ; Wuille, principal of a Covent Garden firm of fruit salesmen, when addressing fruitgrowers at Hastings. "No country in the world produces cuch a uniform pack, and it is surprising to me that this has been achieved in a country where the fruitgrowing areas are so far apart." It was a pleasure; to handle New Zealand fruit, continued Mr. Wuille, and he congratulated the board on the excellent results it had achieved in this connection. "Stick to your board," concluded the speaker, "and you will remain the envy of the world." Dunedin's Smoke Pall. A city in which most of the factories are centrally situated and in close proximity to one another, Dunedin has a smoke nuisance said to be more acute than that of any other city in New Zealand. One has only to ascend the hill districts and see the heavy canopy which lies over the city area to appreciate in full the seriousness of this problem from a health viewpoint. There is also another angle to the question. The wastage of heat due to the incomplete combustion of fuel must result in an appreciable financial loss every year. Besides detracting from the architectural beauty of buildings, soot contains a certain percentage of sulphur, and is thus a destroying agent. As far as Dunedin is concerned, it would appear that the question is one that could bear investigation by at least' two bodies which work in the public interest. Alpine Sports Camp. For the fourth year in succession the Alpine Sports Club is to hold its ChristmasNew Year camp at the Tongariro National Park. The location of the camp this year is on a spur of Girdlestone Peak, on the southern elopes of Ruapeliu Mountain, which offer some particularly good rock climbs. The south-eastern arete of Girdlestone is one of the- most noted climbs on Ruapehu. The complete climb has been done only a few times, and was originally made by parties under the guidance of the late Mr. H. A. Holl. It has been climbed subsequently by a few parties, one of which comprised three club members. On the southern slopes there is a gorge formed by the Wahianoa Stream, and it is believed that this gorge has been seen by very few people. Decline in Gate Receipts. A continued decrease in the takings is iisclosed in the figures for the second day of the Manawatu Agricultural and Pastoral Association's spring show. The gate receipts for the second day this year were £298 4/4, as against £449 6/11 for the second day in 193*2 (Royal Show) and £612 17/6 in 1931. Thus the total amount for the first two days this year is £500 15/, which represents a decrease of £257 2/, compared with the corresponding figures for the Royal Show in 1932, and is substantially less than the 1931 figures of £831 2/0. For the last two years the admission charge has been reduced to 1/6 per head, that for 1931 and previous years having been 2/. In neither 1931 nor 1933 were there stadium attractions in the evening, as was the case in 1932. A. Tumbling "Wall. What looked like an extensive thick fog but proved to be a spreading cloud of dust, puzzled persons in Cathedral Square, Christchurch, one morning last week. It caine from Worcester Street beyond the Government buildings, where the front wall of the old State Fire Office had just been pulled down by a large tractor. A. wire rope was passed •ound the two central pillars .in the upper lalf of the facade, and when the strain was ipplied the top half of the walls swung inward and the bottom half swung out. For a moment ,he wall bulged along the centre line, and then, the whole mass trembled, piedes of brick being shot right across the roadway. Persons ivho had been watching from the opposite side of the road were thickly covered with dust, a great cloud of "which "rapidly spread into Cathedral Square. Napier's Airport Aspirations. Two engineers from the Public Works Department —Messrs. A. Dinnie (Napier) and Gibson (Wellington)—inspected the Napier Aerodrome on Saturday afternoon to ascertain what work is necessary to bring the ground to the standard demanded by the Director of Air Services. The Napier Aero Club has done everything within the scope of its finances to bring the aerodrome to the .pitch which will prompt the Government to recognise . Napier as an airport. A certain amount of work remains to be done, and to complete its plans the club is hopeful of-re-ceiving support from the Government. Messrs. Dinnie and Gibson will make their reports, and in due course the club will be advised as to the Minister's decision. Meanwhile, the member for Napier, Mr. W. E. Barnard, is to make further representations to the proper quarter.

The Razor Tells. The scene was in a local suburban Police Court, and a boy who had run away from a Government institution was before the Bench. The question of his age was in doubt, and the justice demanded to know his right age, of which the boy himself was in doubt. He thought he might be 15, but the senior sergeant settled the question with: "The boy must" be at least 17, because he uses a razor daily." The Report. It was at a meeting of a small marine borough council. The lengthy report of the waterworks engineer was read and discussed for a good half-hour. Did the water smell, or was it better than the Auckland city supply? Such weighty'problems having been satisfactorily smoothed out, the council passed on to other'matters. Some time later, towards the close of the meeting, a councillor asked the Mayor: "When are we going to deal with tho waterworks report?" Disguised Cabbages. Chinese market gardeners in Wanganui have hit upon an ingenious plan for combating the white butterfly. Although they have not actually set out to destroy the pest, they discourage it by spraying their cabbages with water in which lettuce has been boiled. The fastidious butterfly finds the latter vegetable most unpleasant to the palate —if butterflies have palates—with the result that it is fooled into leaving the .sprayed cabbages well alone. A Freak Tulip. A curious variation from type is to he seen in a spray of ,purple tulip blooms grown by Mr. I. Ingram, of Oxford Street, Levin. Instead of the usual single flower to a stem habit, this bulb has thrown up a sturdy stem which branches just above the ground into four, each bearing a bloom. Several of these freaks have been noticed this season, and experts are at a loss to account for them, says the Levin "Chronicle." A stem bearing seven blooms was exhibited at a meeting of the Christchurch Horticultural Society.' First South African Contingent. Thirty-four years.ago the first New Zealand contingent left to take part in the Boer War in South Africa. The original strength of the contingent was 217 men, and it was mentioned at the annual meeting and reunion of the First New Zealand Mounted Rifles Association that of that number 73 men had answered the last call. Of the surviving members, 83 reside in the North Island, 30 in the South Island, seven in England, eight in South Africa, and eight in Australia. There are eight other members, whose addressee are unknown. Famous Portraits In Art. An exhibition of painting arranged to show the work of the great masters in portraiture has been placed on view in the Art Gallery. The pictures, 24 in number, have been drawn mainly from the collection of Medici prints in the gallery's possession, and include examples of Rembrandt, Franz Hals, Van Evck, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Velasquez, Lebrun, Romney, . Reynolds, Hoppner, Gainsborough, Raeburn, Abbott and Whistler. The exhibition gives the visitor an opportunity of comparing such great pictures side by side as "Mona Lisa," "The Laughing Cavalier," "The McNab," Whistler's "Mother" and other masterpieces. Cow for a Century. Australian cricketers have often had baits dangled before them to aid successes oil the field, particularly in Test matches. Don Bradman received £1000 from an Australian enthusiast in London in 1930, and rewards of cigarettes and cash prizes are numerous, hut one of tlie strangest prizes offered was that by Mr. Jim Porter, of Mount Keira, New South Wales. "Now, hoys," said Mr. Porter as his team finished at the practice nets (writes Jack Fingleton in a Sydney paper), "you have all had a good practice, and there is a prize of a cow for anybody that makes a century." What a farm Don Bradman would have had, had he received a cow for every century! Even He Fell. "Wild-cat" company schemes, especially in connection with gold mining, have "caught" experienced miners before to-day, and one of those, who sadly admits that he has been a ) victim is the Leader of the Labour party, Mr. M. J. Savage. Discussing the need Jor ■protecting investors during the debate on the Companies Bill in the House yesterday, Mr. Savage recalled, somewhat ruefully, how, as a miner working on the face, he thought,, he knew more about that particular mine than did the operators on the Stock Exchange. "I might have known more about mining, but they knew more about the business of mining, than I did," he said. "The result is that I have enough worthless scrip at home to paper a whole house." Not So Bad As It Looked. A well-known jockey caused his friends some very anxious moments at a recent race meeting. He had the misfortune to fall from his mount, and was attended by the club doctor, who pronounced him "0.K." and left the jockey with his friends, satisfied that all was well. To the doctor's great surprise he was urgently summoned by the boy's friends later. The friends had found, on examining the clothing, what appeared to he stains, indicating a copious flow of blood, and feared all kinds of things. So alarming was the message that the doctor dropped everything he was doing at the moment and rushed back to the scene, and was greatly chagrined to find that it was not blood that had caused the stains, hut a bottle of port wine, which had become uncorked in the jockey's pocket and made the "bloodstains." New Railway Bridge. Work was begun last week on the construction of the new railway bridge over the Rangitata River on the main South Trunk Line between Christchurch and Dunedin which is to be built 25ft on the seaward side of the existing bridge. * The contractor, fm- t'-« l'P'v bridge is Mr. M. M. Wright, of Christchurch, and the is to be .completed in two ye., i j and' four months.' The bridge will be 2000 ft in length, and will consist of 32 spans of 60ft and two spans of 40ft. It will be slightly higher than the existing bridge, and there will be 390 reinforced concrete piles 30ft in length, twelve being required for each pier. The test piles were driven by the Railway Department before the contract was let. The question of using the existing railway bridge for highway purposes is under consideration by the Highways Board and. the Railway Department. Marriage Fees Waived. During the expired ten months of the present year there has been an increase of 93 in the number of marriage certificates issued in the Christchurch registration district, as compared with the corresponding period of last year, but there were eleven fewer marriages in the office of the registrar. One explanation of the decline in the proportion of marriages in the registrar's office is that a number of ministers are now solemnising marriages without asking for any fee. The cost of a marriage in the registrar's office is £2 5/, but if a marriage is solemnised by a minister without a fee being charged the cost is only £1 2/6. Some years ago a minister in Wellington was very popular with young couples because he adopted the practice of giving half his fee as a present to the bride. The result was that in many instances he was given double the ordinary fee, because the bridegroom knew that half of it would be received by tlie bride. The present economic conditions, however, have reacted rather, hardly on ministers who solemnise a large number of marriages, as the fees liave shown a very pronounced shrinkage, And in many ca£es no fees at all can be collcct id,