NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 68, 21 March 1934, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Very Slow. "I don't know why it is, but sporting ■bodies are very slow in paying," said Mr. i. S. Battley last evening at the meeting of the Mount Eden Borough Council. "You will notice they are all behind in their rents. The town clerk mentioned that since Mr. Battley had drawn up his report one sports body in the borough had paid up, while another had paid a substantial portion of the amount in arrears. Auckland Boy Wins Competition. When the party of New Zealand schoolboys who recently tour-ed Australia were in Sydney, they inspected a sporting goods factory, and the proprietors arranged an essay competition on the boys' impressions. Advice has now been received in Auckland that the successful young writer is Gordon Amos, aged 10, of the Takapuna Grammar School. He is to be presented with a prize to the value of £5. Free Medical Service. The city missioner, the Rev. Jasper Calder, stated to-day that although their financial year had not yet closed, t'lie records showed 'that an exceptional period had been experienced. The free medical service provided, by the mission had been greatly extended in scope, and the honorary medical officer (Dr. H. Barraclough) had given free service to 8000 I patients. It assisted a class of people, said Mr. Calder, who were quite unable to pay for medical services. Harbour Relief Works. It was reported at a meeting of the Auckland Harbour Board yesterday afternoon that the work of forming Brigliam Street would be completed in three to four months time. Th.j engineer, Mr. D. Holderness, said that if the board wished to continue its unemployment relief work it would be necessary for it to reconsider its decision in regard to the formation of one of the roads on the eastern reclamation No. 2. The matter was referred to the board in committee for consideration. Island Pests. If the efforts of the Auckland district council of the New Zealand Institute of Horticulture are successful, several new avenues in the way of sport may be opened up. The council has decided to communicate with the Minister of Internal Affairs drawing attention to the damage done to native flora on the Big King Island by goats, and damage-done by pigs on one of the Poor Knight Islands. Also under their ban has come the many rats which haunt the Hen Island, off Whangarei Heads. The council is seeking an open season on the islands named to try and eliminate the pests referred to. Men of the Frontiers. Efforts are being made in Christchureh to build up the membership of the Imperial Overseas Legion of Frontiersmen. Before the war the legion was strong in the South Island, but since then it has not been active, states the "Christchurch Times." At the present time it is active in the North Island, and it is hoped to strengthen it in the South. Anybody who has served the Empire on a frontier as sailor, soldier, explorer, prospector, miner, guide, engineer, trader, cowboy, stock rider, transport rider, rancher, trapper, lumberman, telegraphist, surveyor, airman or similar occupation is entitled to become a member.

Spread of Ragwort. The spread of ragwort in the county was the subject of a report to a meeting of the Manukau County Council yesterday. It was reported that at Whitford there were three areas of the plant in various stagesof growth, that it had .been observed at Ardmorc and Papatoetoe, and that it had spread to a great extent at Wliarekawa. It was stated that the cost to the county of dealing with the weed was increasing, and for that reason it was necessary to place more responsibility on property owners, and to call on them to carry out the work of eradication at their own cost. No M.C.C. Visit Next Year. • The advice stated to have been received from Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire cricketer, by a relative in New Zealand, to the effect that an M.C.C. team would probably visit the Dominion in the 1934-35 season, was mentioned by Mr. Macieod, secretary of the Hawke's Bay Cricket Association, in a letter to Mr. Rowland Bowen, an English cricket enthusiast, states a Press Association _ message from Napier. Mr. Bowen communicated with the secretary of the M.C.C., and received the following reply, which has been forwarded to Mr. Macieod: "I am afraid you have been misinformed. So far as I know, there is no chance of the M.C.C. being able to send a team to New Zealand in the 1934-35 season. No doubt future tours will be discussed this summer." Can't Please Everybody. Not long ago the Hospital Board spent much time investigating complaints of patients, who said that they frequently had lriinlsters from other than their own denomination giving them attention at their bedside.; This led to a rule being made that ministers were only to attend to patients of 'their' own church. For months this was thought to be working smoothly, and when a minister looking at the chart at the head of the patient's bed saw that he was not of his denomination, lie passed on. Lately, however, a bitter complaint was made by a, patient, who had been a long time in hospital, that quite a lot of the hospital chaplains were unfitted for their job, and had very little of the "milk of human kindness" in their cornposition. He said that when they saw his religion on the chart was different from their own, they passed on, and never gave him any spiritual comfort. He said that when he got well again he will tell to his friends his experience of religious teachers when he was sick in hospital. When he was told of the rule about religious visitation at the hospital he said it was the worst rule he had ever heard of, and made a lot of people like himself, who had not been to church for years, think that parsons were narrow-minded. A Doctor's Holiday.

Dr. and Mrs. N. Burnet Gadsby, of Aber deen, Scotland, are due to arrive at Welling

ton by the Akaroa at the end of tlie month on a brief visit of a month's duration. Dr. Gadsby, who is the senior partner in a partnership of three medical men which has probably the largest obstetrical practice in the north of Scotland, is a New Zcalander, born ■ at Whenuakura, near Patea. He attended the Pa tea public school, for a year or two he was at a secondary school at Hawera, and later went to Wellington College. He then went Home to the Aberdeen University, and alter qualifying for his degree he gained considerable experience in some of the Scottish hospitals. In 1920 he married a daughter of Dr., Stills, of Aberdeen, and returned to New, Zealand to see his parents, who have resided at Te Kuiti for nearly 25 yfars. He stayed for two months, when he returned to Aber-j deen as the junior partner of the combination of doctors of which now he is the head. His object in coming to New Zealand with Mis. Gadsby at this juncture is to get a long sea I voyage and to see his parents. Mrs. H. Goddard, of Mount Eden, is a sister of I>r. I Gadsby, and Mrs. W. K. Howitt, of Stanley [ Bay, is an aunt.

Giant Rimu Tree. Probably over 700 years old, a large "mil tree was recently found by sawmillers at the top of the Road, near New Plymouth. It measured 25ft in circumference and was about Bft in diameter. Being too large for handling with the plant available, the tree was left in its native state. Relief Workers' Grant. The sum of £15 was voted by the Manukau County Council yesterday to four relief workers whose clothing and personal belongin "B were destroyed by fire with the house in which they were living while employed on farm work. The men had been at work when the fire occurred, and had lost everything in the house. A Happy Error. An error in the purchase of a totalisator ticket at the Paeroa races oil Saturday had a happy sequel when the party involved discovered, on visiting the pay-out window, that he had been inadvertently issued with a win ticket on Royal Secret instead of the place ticket he had requested. _ As the horse paid over double figures straight-out approximately five times as much as for a place—he had cause to feel jubilant at his good fortune. Birkdale Women's Tribute. As a tribute to her memory and the work performed by the former president, the late Mrs. Helen Gilpin, the Birkdale Women's Institute, at the annual meeting yesterday afternoon, decided to donate a silver vase for annual competition at the Birkdale Show. This is to be known as the Helen Gilpin trophy, and its allocation to the most appro* priate section of the exhibition lias been referred to the show committee, comprising an equal number of members of the Women's Institute and Birkdale Fruitgrowers' Association. Trekking North. Stoats and weasels, and the fact that the animals had shown a tendency to trek north, was a subject for discussion at a meeting of the Auckland district council of the New Zealand Institute of Horticulture. A j letter was received from Mr. E. V. Sanderson, i president of the New Zealand Bird Protection Society, stating that the animals were migratory, and that they had left the writer's j district in the Wellington Province. In the resultant discussion it was pointed out that the animals were protected, except in forest areas of upwards of ten acres, and that their increase was believed to be largely due to| the incessant war waged by sportsmen on the harrier hawk, this bird having played a good part in keeping down the numbers of stoats, weasels and rats. Lengthy Evidence. Something of a marathon talking performance was put up before the Parliamentary Monetary Committee, now sitting in Auckland, by Mr.' S. J. E. Closey, who gave evidence on behalf of the Douglas social credit movement in New Zealand. Mr. Closey spoke for three hours as a witness, and was subjected to a searching cross-examination, which lasted for about six hours. He was responsible also for a feat of memory, since he used no notes, and recited quotations without reference to the works of the authors. The proceedings attracted an attendance of about 75 members of the public—the largest audience the committee has had in Auckland—and on several occasions the chairman (Mr. J. A. Nash, M.P.) had to chock demonstrations of approbation. The spectators applauded the witness at the close of the hearing. Strange Rumblings. Residents of the Springifield and Kowai districts, in Canterbury, were somewhat alarmed on Wednesday last by strange and heavy rumblings in tlio surrounding hills and mountains. The noise was similar to that which was beard before the Murchison earthquake in 19-20. A Christchureh resident who returned to his home on Saturday stated that he had been spending a holiday at Kowai and heard t'he rumblings. The noise was like that of thunder, but as the sky was clear and the day perfectly fine, he could not be convinced that it was due to a storm. It had been heard by residents in an area with a radius of six miles from Kowai and had caused some alarm. Residents of the district formed the opinion that a big slip had come do.vn in the hills, but a search made by railwaymen failed to reveal anything of that nature.

Taranaki Power Board Loans. The South Taranaki Power Board's scheme for the conversion of its'loans totalling £103,082 has been completed at a total cost of £137 7/0. Commenting on the result of the scheme, the chairman (Mr. J. B. Murdoch) said he considered it extremely satisfactory. Every debenture-holder had made application for conversion of holdings before the date of dissent, March 1, and the total net amount of debentures available for conversion would be converted in terms of the three conversion orders. This result was extremely satisfactory to the board, and when the conversion was carried into effect the financial arrangements in connection with the loans of the board would be on a safe and conservative basis, and repayment of the various loans on their maturity dates would be assured. The new debentures were in the hands of the printer, and delivery would be made early. Cooped Up! Experience continues to prove the unsuitability for official conference purposes of rooms in the Chief Post Office which face Queen Street, The Parliamentary Monetary Committee, for instance, cannot open the windows of its quarters because of the traffic noise without, and at the end of the day's sittings members have found the atmosphere almost as stuffy as that of the chamber of the House of Representatives after an allnight sitting. Even with the main means of ventilation sealed, traffic dins are not wholly excluded, and the already overworked official stenographers have been put to an added and unnecessary strain. Flush with this committee's quarters is the room now used by the conciliation commissioner, and so unsa.tisfactorily did parties to an industrial dispute this week regard the conditions that all sides passed a resolution of complaint, declaring that absence of ventilation—here again the windows were closed to keep out noise—militated against the proper progress of deliberations. The protest is to be forwarded to the authorities responsible for the arrangement of the commissioner's conference quarters.

A Sporting Ship

The Orford, which sailed from Sydney last Wednesday for England, lias been acclaimed as the greatest sporting ship ever to leave Australia, writes our Sydney correspondent. By the time the shin sails from •Frcniantlc she will carry the 16 members of the Australian cricket team, and the four members of the Australian Davis Cup team, as well as the cricket manager (Mr. Stan Youdale), and the Lawn Tennis Association secretary (Mr. H. Malcolm). Accompanying the tennis players are Mrs. Crawford, Miss Joan Hartigan, Harry Hopman and Mrs. Hopman, nee Miss Nell Hall. J. W. O'Connor, the well-known cricketer and golfer, Hansen Carter, the veteran wicket-keeper, and his son, and a number of well-known N.S.W. sportsmen, including Dr. Roland" Pope, who intend to follow the fortunes of the Australian cricketer?, are also in the ship's company. Then there will be Miss Joyce Cooper, the English girl swimmer, going as_ far as Colombo. The skipper is Captain A. L. Owens, who was the skipper who conducted the laßt victorious Australian cricket team to England in 1930.