NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 10, 12 January 1934, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Bright Spots. Aβ one passes the relief works at the Old Stone Jug tiny bright red dots can be seen on this drab expanse of brown earth and rock. They arc poppies, the isceds of which have probably been planted by birds. After months of work this wilderness is starting to take shape, and the frontage to the main road along which a low/stone wall has been built, has quite an orderly appearance. Demand for Horses. In many parts of the country there has been a strong demand lately for good working draught horses, and at a clearing sale conducted by the New Zealand Farmers' Cooperative Association, Ltd., on a farm at Methven, Canterbury, this week, a team of eight horsee, the ages of which ranged from five to eight years, averaged more than £47 a head. The highest price was 67 guineas for a registered mare, and the other horses sold at £SS, £48, £47, £46, £42, £3S and £37. Telephone Wires Down. The usual prompt transmission of results of the seventh and eighth racee at the Thames m-eeting yesterday wae prevented by the breakdown, at about. 3.45 p.m., of several telephone poles between Thames and the course at Parawai. Newspaper representatives, unable to send out the seventh result from the members' stand, made arrangements for the conveyance of matter direct to Thames, from where the messages were telephoned. Boy Rescues Companion. The prompt action of a 10-year-old schoolboy, J. O'Kane, averted a drowning tragedy at Glen Eden on Wednesday when another boy, Malcolm Lang, aged nine, got out of his depth while bathing in a pool on the Waikaukau estate. Seeing that he was in difficulties, O'Kane dived to his rescue and supported the unconscious boy while Donald Lang, Malcolm's brother, ran to the nearby sawmill of Lang and Freeth and Company for assistance. The boy soon recovered when artificial respiration was applied by his father, who was at the mill. From the Tasman. Covered with barnacles and half-filled with sand, a vinegar bottle containing a clearly printed form, was fished up off Bayly's Gorge, near Dargaville, on Wednesday morning. It had been thrown from the steamer Wainui, en route from Melbourne to Bluff, by the first officer on March 18, 1933, at latitude 44 degrees 18 minutes and longitude 159 degrees 48 minutes. The wind wae given ae north-west, 4, and the sea as north-west, 3. In accordance with the instructions inside the bottle, the finders have set out the place of recovery and are forwarding the printed form to the Commonwealth Meteorologist. It is hoped to have the letter dispatched by the monoplane Faith in Australia. Seasoning Trees. A remarkable treatment has been discovered in Germany for making trees eeaeon themselves, so that when felled their wood is ready without more ado for telegraph poles, railway sleepers, and so on. A bore hole is made in the tree trunk, and a special chemical solution containing arsenic and other salte i« injected into the living tree. These chemicals enter the eap stream of the tree, and are gradually carried to the very ends of the highest branches. The tree does not survive the treatment very long, but as it dies it becomes thoroughly saturated with preservative, and can be used on railroads or for telegraphs and telephones without any of the usual treatment. Municipal Loans Maturing. The Christchurch City Council is in a much easier position thie - year than it was last year as regards the number and amount of loans maturing. This year it has only one loan maturing, the amount involved being £21100 at 4i per cent, which matures on June 30. The amount was raised 18 years ngo for the purchase of land for the use of the municipal abattoir. The accrued sinking f'ind on March 31 last amounted to £2373, and tlie accretions for the present financial year and to date of maturity, plus a comparatively small amount from revenue, should be sufficient to repay it. Last year loans totalling £28,500 matured, and in 1935 loans totalling £58,170 will fall due. An Effective Answer. Some time ago the Otago Aero Club was subjected to criticism in respect to its treatment of Mr. C. T. P. Ulm during hie visit to Dunedin. In a letter to the editor of the "Ofeago Daily Times," a writer complained that the club had treated its guest somewhat discourteously by permitting ite machines to compete for public patronage with Mr. Ulm when he was undertaking commercial flights in Dunedin. An effective. answer to this criticism i.s provided by a letter which the secretary of the club has just received from Mr. Claude M. Smythe, the manager of Mr. Ulm's New Zealand tour. Mr. Smy the states: "I wish to take this first opportunity to state that Mr. Ulm was indeed sorry to read this letter, and that he in no way subscribes to it. Mr. Ulm wishes to assure you that he appreciated your club's assistance and cooperation, and that his pleasant stay in Dunedin was in no small measure due to the hospitality of your president, committee and members of your club." Got the "Bird." An incident in bird life is related by a ■ Rawhitiroa settler who, as a member of the New Zealand Native Birds' Protection Society, is a keen advocate of that body's principles. On his property- i≤ ;i small lake wliicu of recent years has been the sanctuary of numerous wild ducks. Although situated Ices than a chain from the main highway and adjacent to the homestead, this lake has usually been the haven of as many ae 50 wild ducks. An offer of a pair of Egyptian geese from the Auckland Zoo was readily accepted, and in due course the newcomers were re- i leased. The result was that the wild ducks were forcibly evicted. Two more daring than their fellows, returned, only to find that their presence was not desired. For several days : the geese were in undisputed possession. < Since the removal of the geeee to another lake ■ on the same property the wild ducks have i returned to their sancutary. Wellington's Airport. j ■ "If the present aerodrome at Rpngotai can be enlarged to be made suitable for all requirements; then I should eay it becomes purely a matter of which is the cheapest way to do it," said Mr. C.T. P. Ulm, commander of the Faith in Australia, in an interview at ; Wellington on Monday. Mr. Ulm said the i question of Wellington's nirport was an im- ; portant matter, and there should be no hasty ' decision. He declined to commit himself to 1 Eongotai, the present aerodrome, but ex- ; pressed the opinion that it might be improved 1 and made a ground suitable for use by aircraft * of all types and under any weather conditions. <: At the present tiiue Eongotai was a difficult 1 ground to use with large neroplanes under i certain conditions. It had been all right when t he arrived on Saturday, but on account of 1 the direction and force of the wind, and also i the shape of the aerodrome, it was not very 's good on Sunday. Because of the very high < winds experienced in Wellington, there would n be comparatively difficult flying conditions, i and for this reason an aerodrome larger than ( the standard size wae required; Jn the selec- it tion of an aerodrome site, the meteorological, 1 engineering and financial aspects had to l>c ; gone into carefully. II one were available, iti I might be cheaper to get a 'now ground alto- f gether, but Rongotai had the great advantage' \ of being close to.the city. Jf

Industrial Outlook. "Indications just now are that the national income is going to be considerably more tliie year, and I hope that we will have, with an increase of the national income, a decrease in our industrial troubles."—Mr. S. Ritchie, Conciliation Commissioner, at a sitting yesterday of the Dunedin Conciliation > Council. ■ Glass On Beaches. So 'great has the menace of broken glass on beachce become, that men are engaged on Cheltenham, Narrow Neck and Devonport beaches picking up broken glass left by thoughtless people. The minimum of accidents ; recorded is a high tribute to the vigilance of ' the glass collectors. ; Official Air Mail. f The first oflicial trans-Tasnian air mjiil will be instituted with the approaching home- . ward flight of Mr. C. T. P. Ulm. As the . quantity of matter which can be carried is [ limited to 5001b, only letters will be accepted, and for these a special stamp ie being issued. The design will be the existing 7d New Zealand air mail stamp printed in a different colour, and bearing a special overprint. In ; addition, special souvenir envelopes are being ■ made available. [ Sheep Drowned by Floods. Eighty hoggets and rams valued at £130 were drowned on a farm two miles below Methven, Canterbury, by the Hoods following the recent heavy rain. Several of the sheep ' were trapped and drowned in a gravel pit when an adjacent water race burnt over its banks, and the othere were drowned when the water overflowed from the pit washed them against a fence. The flood waters scoured out the gateway and carried 14 of the dead sheep on to the road. Eels in Turbines. The generating plant of the Wairere Electric Power Board, which supplies the King Country, has been stopped on three mornings this week through large numbers of eels having become caught'in the turbines. Heavy week-end rains have been followed by a substantial rise in the river supplying the plant, and when the turbine began to slow down on the Sunday an examination was made, and the plant was found to be blocked with eele. Again on Monday, and then on Wednesday there was similar interference, and large quantities of eele had to be removed, before the machinery would operate. Cruise in Marama. When the Union Company's liner Marama arrives from Sydney on Monday morning she will land passengers and mails and prepare for her departure the same evening for a cruise to Northern ports. The itinerary will be the same as that followed recently by the Monowai. A day will be spent at Whangaroa, Kussell and Port Fitzroy, and the steamer is due back at Auckland next Friday morning, and will sail the same afternoon on the return to Sydney. Bookings for the trip have been heavy. At each port of call passengers will be able to land for sight-seeing and pienic excursions, and entertainments have been arranged both ashore and afloat. Revaluation Methods. A complaint was .-voiced at the Papakura T'own Board meeting this week about the way the revaluation of the townehip is being done. One member of the board said that the valuation officer knocked-at his door, asked how many rooms there were in the house, and in three seconds was out on the road again. Another member said that all he was asked was, "How much rent do you get?" Members said it would need a "super man ,, to do the job at that rate, and if the revaluation were to be done in such a fashion, then it would have been just as cflicient if the office girl had been asked to do it. It was resolved to make a ; complaint to the valuation officer about the way the work was being done. Main Road's Worst Section. The rough condition of the main highway between Druiy and Pokeno was the subject of much adverse comment from the- many Auckland motorists who took the opportunity of visiting Thames yesterday. A Southern visitor, having his first experience of "he ex- , tensive loose metal portion, declared that, i from a good knowledge of the main arterial routes in the Dominion, ho could fay the i Drury-Pokeno section was the worst, and it : was a disgrace to the controlling authorities. Even the gravelled and dusty made of the < Thames district, including the straight rune , across, the Hauraki Plains, were easier for ] modern traffic. Late in the day a number of i car owners and drivers, returning from the < old mining town, were observed dealing tfilh ' tyre troubles, Chinese Duck Drovers. An illustration of the extent to which the < poultry industry is carried on in China was ' given in an interview in Dnnedin by Mr. P. j Da vies, chief officer of the Sultan Star. He j said that one day while-hie ship was anchored { in a Chinese river, half a mile wide, he noticed . that the water upstream appeared to be , changing colour. .He looked mom closely and- , soon heard a dull, grating noise, which he ' recognised as the quacking of ducks. It was < these that had changed the colour of the j river. In their hundreds of thousands they : had been travelling down with the current, f herded by Chinese in their sampans, for three weeks or more, to a refrigerating works near which the ship was berthed. As they came * abreast of this place they were driven aehore, there to be fed for a week or so, killed, frozen, . and shipped to England, to meet the demands ' of a ready market. -j Beauty of Southern Alps. ' Steaming through the entrance to Milford j .Sound atC o'clock on Monday morning, the Monowai's complement of -'HO gazed spellbound on the beauty of the fl Southern Alps, the enow-capped peaks flushed j with the morning sunshine glistening above , the magnificence of the busli-o'ad n.ountain sides, with their myriad waterfalls and the sparkling blue waters of the sound. "On any .. deck you could have heard a pin drop," Captain A. IT. Davcy, commander of the vessel, told a ''Daily Times" reporter after arriving p at Port Chalmers. "The pnssengarts were early s astir," he added, "and as the ship approached Milford Sound my prophecy that they wculd see the sight of a lifetime was amply realised. It was a magnificent morning, with a clsar, blue sky, and practically no wind, and passengers who had travelled over the whole world told me that never had they seen such beauty before." Canoeing from Hamilton. Clad only in bathing suits, with leather waist belts holding bowie knives and- cartridges, a group of four young men were seen yesterday by motorists pushing canoes on "pram" wheel*, one pair to each canoe, between (Jrecn Bay, on the Manukau Harbour,| and the upper cetudry of the Whau River. Brown as the proverbial berry and appearing! to relish the life they were leading, the "four! said that they had come by canoe fronij' Hamilton down the Waikato, "hiked" several , niilcis near the mouth of the rivef to reach i tlit- southernmost arm of the Manukau Har- ] hour —missing their way and walking six ] miles at a stretch to find their creek at one stage —and paddled across the Manukau to ' Green Bay. They left Hamilton on Saturday 1 and reached Green Bay on Wednesday, spending that night there. They then pushed theirp carioes the few miles between the Manukauand the Whau River, where yesterday they < launched their boats for ;ui afternoon "run",l ncrews to Cheltenham and the- North Shore 1 beaches. The lads had placed their air rifles,, i food stores mid ealiiping gear in their, canoes,. '■ which they alternately pushed and paddled ; for well over 100 miles. . j(