NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 283, 30 November 1933, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

I Gift of Chilrren's Books. An ofler by the Leys Institute of a gift of over 200 books suitable tor children was placlly accepted by the Community Sunshine Association. The books, which were handed over to the association yesterday, will lie used at the summer camp conducted by the association at Motuihi Island. The need of a library at the camp has I>een felt for some time, and it is hoped that now that a nucleus has been obtained, more books will be added to the collection each year. "A Man Would Say That." An exhibit in the Magistrate's Court at Wellington was a crepe de chine cape, the flimsiness and scantiness of which seemed to belie the police statement that it was valued at £2. its deceptive appearance was. the subject of an amusing interlude between its owner, a solicitor, and the magistrate (states the "Post"). "By the look of it we'd say it was worth a shilling or so?'' inquired the counsel. "A man would say that," replied the lady whose property it was. "J f a man has any experience he knows that the cost of such things is in inverse ratio to the stuff in them," remarked Mr. J. S. Barton, S.M. A Pull Meeting. Sixteen members (a full muster) were present at the meeting of the board of governors of Wellington Technical College this week. Appreciation of the good attendance was expressed by the chairman (Mr. W. H. Bennett), who said that although there were always good attendances at board meetings he did not think they had ever had a full meeting before, and he remarked, with a smile, on the fact that Mr. C. 11. Chapman, I M.P., had been forced to sit with the Press. "It's a good place to be," replied Mr. Chapman. Deer Hunt at Lake Rotoehu. Whilst returning in a motor boat from a successful day's fishing on Sunday at Lake Eoroehu, a party of Te Puke sportsmen wore given a very thrilling chase. A deer that had been driven down from the back country by Messrs. Gibson and W. Pile took to the water, being pursued by one of the dogs. The chase was promptly taken up by those in the boat, and after crossing and recrossing an arm of the lake three times the animal was caught and brought ashore. It was found to have been wounded by a shot, and it was dispatched. Not According to Plan. After much heart-searching, a North Shore resident yesterday finally decided that he could no longer leave standing a big pine tree, which had kept a lot of sun and light out of his garden, besides causing annoyance from "needles" to neighbours. It was a stiff job felling the big and tough old trunk, which lie planned to lay at rest in an adjoining paddock, there to be cut up. Through lack of backwoods craftsmanship, however, the plan miscarried. When the gentleman next door arrived home from the city he found his substantial toolshed demolished, and he even had to assist his "friend" to lop off the branches before a thoroughfare could be established into the dwelling itself. The only complaint lodged was an expression of disappointment at the destruction of a line crop of spring onions, nobody seeming to worry over lite lucky escape of the neighbour's son, who had taken eome cricket gear out of the wrecked shed just ten minutes earlier.

Rammed a Mob of Cattle. ' "It looks like disgraceful negligence to me," remarked Mr. J. H. Salmon, S.M;, at the 'Magistrate's - Court at Wanganui, when fining a, farmer of Bulls £5 for (Iriv jurr in a manner that might be dangerous to the public. Mr. T. W. Blennerliassett, who represented the Wangamii County Council, called Clarence Signal, a drover, who .stilted that when he was driving a mob of 31 cattlc at Marybank, defendant had appeared in a motor lorry and had driven into the mob, which was hunched at the time, without slackening his speed to any extent. Three animals were knocked into the drain, and afterwards had to bp destroyed. One had a leg broken, and many others were knocked about. Inspector Wilson said that the lorry was carrying 22 bales of wool at the time, ana that it" was estimated that defendant drove round the corner at from 22 to 2.> miles an hour. The maximum speed allowed his lorrv was 15 miles per hour. Defendant had said that his foot had slipped from the brake Witness considered that a proper look-out had not been kept.

University December Examinations. The University examinations for entrance, matriculation, medical, dental, engineering and accountants,' preliminary, fine arts preliminary and preliminary science for certificate of proficiency in dental surgery will begin to-morrow morning, and end at noon on Wednesday, December 13. The centre for Auckland is University College, and tbe following are eub-centrcs: —Scots Hall, Sacred Heart 0 College, King's College, tlio Auckland Girls' Grammar School, the Girls' Grammar School, Epsom, and the Grammar School, Takapuna. The numbers of candidates f° l " entrance are: —Auckland general, 100; the Auckland Grammar School, 210; the Grammar School. Mount Albert, 109; Sacred Heart College, 47; King's College, 35; the Auckland Girls' Grammar School. 70; tlie Girls' Grammar School, Epsom, 80; the Technical Hiarli School, Otahuliu, 16; the Grammar School, Takapuna, 80. There are also ten candidates for accountants' preliminary, four for tine arte, and 90 for university entrance scholarships. There .are 907 candidates. In the Dominion there are S4 ccntrcs for examination, those nearest Auckland _ being Dargavillc, Warkworth, Ilelensville. Pukckohe, Huntly, Hamilton, Cambridge, Thames, Paeroa, Wailii and To Arolia. Value of Tourist Trade. Speaking at the Travel Club's luncheon on board the Monowai on Tuesday, Mr. David Larson, trade counsellor to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, said that there were two motives at the back of the activities of a travel organisation —the economic, and the giving of pleasure to the visitors, _ so that tliey would come age in and urge their friends fo come also. "The financial is the most important," said Mr. Larson, "at least for the success of the travel organisation enterprise. When the people of the country begin to recognise that eVerv passenger disembarking from the ships of the world mean shillings and pounds to them, they will cater more to the wants of „tlie traveller. The fact is that every traveller who sl,"ps off the gang-plank is a source of new money. This point is not always appreciated, even by the business men, until they have made a study of the matter. Every traveller is a financial asset, and the more you have the greater the now revenue. The ships which arrived in the port of Auckland on Monday brought you £20,000. In other words, if the visitors spend 30 days in Now Zealand they will spend for living expenses about £20,000. This does not include the steamship fare or what may be termed unusual expenses. The tourist trade for the years of 1930 and 1931 (the last figures that I have available) was Worth £1,440,000 to the people of New Zealaijd. This was the estimated expenditure for living expenses. During these same years you exported £1,491,000 worth of gold, silver, coal and other minerals. Comparatively, the tourist trade was worth as much as your mineral exports."

Gambling Outlawed In Holland. Owing to the popularity of roulette, which lias resulted in the establishment of casinos in every town and the influx of croupiers from Monte Carlo, the Dutch Government has outlawed all gambling. The authorities in one village have even prohibited cards, chess, draughts and dominoes in country inns. Sea Wall at Northcote. For some weeks past the Northcote Borough Council has been busy repairing and strengthening the retaining sea wall built where approaches lia-'e been made for the ferry wharf. The work is being done under subsidy from the Main Highways Board. The wall is being grouted thoroughly, and one side should be finished in about two weeks' time. Red Christmas Lily. "Flower Lover" writes: —Are bright- red Christmas lilies common? The ordinary white varieties may be seen at this time of the year lifting their stately trumpet heads in many a garden, but the lily in scarlet does not appear to be so usually seen. The particular lily noticed was growing in a garden in an avenue near Eden Park, and though the garden was neither large nor ornate as gardens go, it was made at once out of the ordinary and beautiful by the presence of that bright red trumpet flower. It seemed as though the lily was trying to be as much the harbinger of Christmas as the poliutukawa. Sparrows Nest Anywhere. Sparrows nest anywhere at all. Their choice does not have to be a tree or an out-of-the-way' spot. A house is good enough, as many a householder knows to his disgust. So long have sparrows been used to the city that they calmly make their homes and rear their families right in the busiest parts of a busy city. Just where Anzac Avenue branches oil' "from Beach Road there is part of an old high concrete wall. In that wall pipes have been put, with their-open end making a circular hole in the face of the Beach Road wall. There must bo about eight or ten such holes, and in every hole a sparrow has made its homo. There is no attempt at concealment. There are wisps of straw hanging from the pipes, and the little birds constantly fly ' to the nests with food, and away on the return journey. Most of the holes are fairly high from the ground, but are by 110 means inaccessible. Big Chimney-sweeping Job. Two thousand five hundred chimneys in , the Auckland railway district await the ' sweeper for whom the New Zealand Govern- ■ ment Railways is now advertising. Given a J free pass over the railways, the successful tenderer is required to sweep all the chimneys ( in railway buildings and houses from Opua in ' the north to Frankton Junction in the south, covering also the Kaikohe branch, Kirikopuni j branch,' Kailiu section, Frankton-Thames sec- . tion, Rotorua branch, Paeroa-Taneatua section, ' Cambridge branch, Glen Afton branch, Oneliunga branch and Waiukn branch. His 2500 r chimneys are scattered, therefore, along many J miles of railway. He will lead a roving life, travelling free from station to station with his bundle of brooms, ond bearing always in . mind, of course, the condition of the contract, 1 "sweeping to be done in a workmanlike man- J ner, and premises to be kept clean and tidy 1 to the satisfaction of the district engineer." f This contract is let annually. For one man, 1 it provides about nine months' continuous 1 work, and fs therefore eagerly sought after r by the local sweeps. Parnell Park Roses. c

In response to an invitation issued by the National Rose Society, several hundred people visited the rose gard&u in Parnell Park yesterday. Experts were in attendance, who explained to those interested points in the cultivation and general growing of roses. There are now about 2000 rose bushes in the garden, which is representative of all tho best and most popular varieties of roses. Newer varieties and novelties are also widely represented. It is thought that by planting the latest types as they become available in New Zealand the amateur rose grower will have an opportunity of watching their acclimatisation and cultivation. Mr. N. R. W. Thomas, chairman of the Auckland district council of the National Rose Society, in a short address of welcome to visitors yesterday, said that the garden had >conie iiito being through the efforts of the society in conjunction with the Auckland City Council, and with the assistance of the Horticultural Trades Society. The beautiful rose garden at Christchurcli was an incentive to keep the standard of the Auckland garden at the highest possible level. Japanese Gratitude. With the last mail from the East came a letter to the Rev. H. K. Viekery, chaplain to tho Seamen's Institute, from Captain N. Hayashi, master of the Japanese mercantile training ship Shintoku Maru, which visited Auckland earlier in tho year. Writing from Kobe, Captain Hayashi said that the ship had just finished her training cruise, which had been a most pleasant and successful one. "On arriving at our home port I wish to take this opportunity of expressing my deepest appreciation for your generous assistance and hfispitality, unsparingly given to the officers, cadets and crew of my ship, in making their stay in your beautiful city both an enjoyable and a profitable one," says Captain Hayashi in liis letter. "I do not hesitate in saying that your musical programme was one of the main high lights of our entertainment during our stay in Auckland, and I assure you 110 one of us has spent a more pleasant evening since we left home. In bidding you and the entire members of the institute my personal gratitude, I wish to add that of all the men under my command, who arrived at our mother port with everlasting memories of your warm hospitality."

"Ship With Nine Lives."

It has, boon said of the steamer Triumph, which went ashore at Tiri Island 50 years ago yesterday, that she was "a ship with nine lives." A few months before she struck the rocks at Tiri—an accident that happened because her master had fallen asleep on the bridge—she was ashore for eleven days in the Yangtse-kiang. She was sold by .auction as she lay oil the rocks at Tiri, but was later refloated and was repaired in the old -Auckland dock. On January 2!), 18S5, the steamer was flagship for the Anniversary Regatta. A trial trip that she made in the Hauraki Gulf after repairs had been completed was marred by a fatal accident, the wife of one of the labourers who had assisted in the repairs being killed when she fell into the chain locker. For three years after her Tiri accident the steamer was engaged in the intercolonial trade, once stranding at the Bluff and being refloated without damage. .Sold to English owners again, she went down in the Tync with a cargo of coal on board. This accident was soon followed by a similar one, the ship, when loaded with railway iron, sinking in the Clyde. Once again she was refloated, but she ran ashore on the Norwegian coast. Although abandoned in a sinking condition, she was eventually got off the rocks and repaired, lienamed the Gladitano and flying the Spanish flag, the ship experienced further trouble when she sank at her anchorage at a port in Florida. Once more she was raised, and when purchased by the Mats on Navigation Company and renamed Hilonian she was rebuilt for the passenger service between San Francisco and Honolulu. Converted to an oilburner, she hid her years well, and for eight years she ran without further accident. When the war was almost over, the ship which had left the ways as the Triumph nearly half a century earlier was sent' to her last restingplace in the Mediterranean, by a German torpedo. At the time she took lier final plunge the steamer was carrying troops, so that it can bo said that, despite her stran<jp and many serious troubles, slio eventually met an honourable end. j