NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 177, 28 July 1934, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

A Big Milk Round. "The population of the milk district is 204,920, and of the city 100,900," said the Mayor, Mr. G. W. Hutchison, as chairman of the Auckland Metropolitan Milk Council, at yesterday's meeting. "This, I think, is interesting in view of the petition in circulation and in view of the iiumjber of signatures advertised as having been secured." Marama Delayed. The intercolonial mail steamer Marama was delayed in her departure for Sydney last ' night by the absence of one of the stokehold crew. When she left the Prince's wharf at midnight, the vessel anchored in the etream, and the absence was notified by signal to the shore. Another man was secured this l morning, and. the Marama left the stream at 3 8 o'clock. , Auckland for Luck. The luck of Auckland holders of sweep--3 stake tickete is becoming proverbial, writes I the "Star's" Dunedin correspondent. So much ■ is this the case that a Dunedin man who , thought a little extra cash would be very welcome made a point of sending a recent ! "Tatte" contribution to some friends in the > Queen City in order to share in their ticket. It is now stated on reliable authority that ! his "system" worked, and that he will share ■ in one of the largest prizes which were an- ' nounced the other day as being on the way to ;■ New Zealand. : Counsel for Council. On tlie motion of the chairman, Mr. G. ' W. Hutchison, the Auckland Metropolitan ! Milk Council yesterday decided .to engage counsel to cross-examine any witnesses, if necessary, when the bill for the repeal of the ', Milk Act is being considered next month. Mr. : Hutchison said that the council had decided ! that he and the secretary, Mr. N. Chapman, . should give evidence, but perhaps other members of the council would like to do the same. 1 "We have our evidence, which will be in proL per form, and we have nothing to fear from I cross-examination by the other side," he said, 4 ".but it may be that we will want to cross- '. examine witnesses in order to counter any ' incorrect statements which might otherwise > go forth." ! Sydney " Savagery." A Savage Club, founded on the rules and ' constitution of the London Savage Club, lias been formed in Sydney, and it is proposed to \ affiliate with the London, Melbourne and New 1 Zealand Savage Clubs. Membership of the I club is limited to men, and is open to Aus- . tralians and New Zealandere. Colonel Loach, secretary of the Kindred Clubs' Association of New Zealand, is visiting Sydney to present to the new club a gavel and block, to be used at-meetings by the Chief Savage. The head of the gavel i= made from the tooth of a whale, and the handle is from the antler of a stag. A Maori inscription readings "For 1 ever and ever bo strong. From New Zealand ! Kindred Clubs, June., 1934,, Greetings," and a , design of a kiwi shaking hands with a kangaroo are engraved on the tooth." ' Opotiki Motorists' Adventure. A young married couple with their 121 months-old baby left Opotiki by car one after; ! noon recently, with the intention of travel- • ling to Gisborne, but when about 11 miles '. from Motu a tyre was punctured. The driver jacked up the wheel to enable him to mend ! the puncture, but the car slipped off the jack, and, before the driver could arrest its progress it went over a bank, falling 25ft to 30ft. The passengers spent a trying night enmpeel alonj- ! side the car. They had no food, and ae thero ; was d frost they suffered severely from cold. In the morning a passing motorist gave them ' his lunch and offered to take the woman and I child to Opotiki, but thie offer was declined, j He then took them to a settler's house, and , later a bullock team was sent to pull the car up to the road. It was found that one ' wheel was smashed. A Fiji Fish Problem. To poison a river and eacrificG thousands of fish, mostly small and young, is a serious crime, and 14 Fijian natives who were proved to have done this in the Tamavua River recently were singularly lucky in getting off with a caution (says the "Star's" Fiji correspondent). The magistrate said that they probably did not know that they were breaking the law. The Fijiane have for eanturies been in the habit of crushing a local leaf, and placing the crushed and juicy matter in holes in the reef at low water. This paralyses the fish, which are then easily caught. But lately a more powerful plant has been imported from New Guinea. It is called duva, and its effect upon the ft\sh is rapid and killing. As fish are becoming scarce around Suva, owing partly to the use of duva and partly to dynamite, the offence was a serious one.

The Dairy Company's Fractions. A supplier at the annual meeting of the Midhirst Dairy Company (Taranaki) complained about the system of working out the monthly butterfat statements to one decimal, stating that he had carefully checked his ■statements and had discovered that he had loet 21b of butterfat over th^. season thereby. That caused a supplier to interject: "Take round the hat, I'll put a penny in." The secretary explained that originally they used to work the statements out to three decimal places, but had later reduced that to two without receiving any complaints. Of late, however, owing to the red tape and regulations that had to be complied with, it was thought that it might be possible to effect a saving by calculating the butterfat to one decimal place and then crediting the supplier with the nearest pound. That had been tried for (I season with five accounts. In two cases tl;p season's result was one pound over, in two cases one pound under, and in the other case all square. As there, was so little difference, it had been decided to adopt that system throughout. He understood that actually the supplier in question had lost a pound of butterfat during the eeason, but probably next year he would gain a pound to even up. Suppliers appeared to l>e quite satisfied with the existing system. Orchard Research. . Possibilities of the establishment in Hawke'e Bay of an experimental station and training echool for orchardists were discussed at the annual meeting of the Hawke'e Bay Fruitgrowers' Association. It was finally decided .'that the committee give urgent con-s-deration to this, and report back to a general meeting of growers at the earliest possible moment. Mr. A. M. Robertson, president r>f the New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation, Hawke's Bay representative on the Fruit Control Board, and executive member of the Hnwke's Bay Fruitgrowers' Association, introducing the subject, said: "What are we going to do with our accumulated assets? What are we going to invest this money in, and to what good purpose can we expend it?" The speaker said the growers must think not only of the present, but of the future of the industry. Some institution was required whereby young orchardiets could obtain practical training in orchard culture. If an area of 20 acres could be .purchased, with possibly half planted in commercial orchard/ the remair.der open landfor the planting and growing of root crops and vegetables suitable for canning, practical training could be given ,to stucitnt orchardists, research work could be carried out, and -improvements could be made 'in orchard practice. ■ •,*■'.. ...:

Deceived by- Looks. "He's a man, though probably he may look only a boy," remarked a director in response to an allegation by a supplier at the Midhirst Dairy Company's meeting that a boy was in charge of ?. certain department of the company's business, reports the "Taranaki News." "This boy you are talking about is a married man with three children," remarked another director. New Spectacles Needed. "That's my hat on that peg. I've had it for two years, and it's the only one I've got. I've been too hard up to afford another, but I've bought myself a new pair of spectacles to improve my eyesight. That's what the Government should do. It should get some spectacles so that it can see properly. I don't mind what it does with its old hat." This remark, made by a member of a deputation from the North, Canterbury Advisory Committee on Tree Planting, which waited on Canterbury members of Parliament, caused a round of laughter. Must Work Both Ways. Strong exception to the company's stores stocking foreign goods was taken by a supplier at the annual meeting of the Midhirst Dairy Company, in Taranaki. ■ He held that the company's employees should inform customers when the goods were of foreign origin. He strongly resented a suggestion that he should specify British goo.ds when ordering, holding that the speaker should be ashamed to make such a suggestion in a British country. During the meeting another speaker considered it was inconsistent to object to the company's selling Japanese goods and not object to the company selling its casein to Japan, which provided a good market. Britain's Agriculture. An agricultural comparison of New Zealand with Great Britain was mad.e by Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf in a lecture on New Zealand grasslands at Christchurch. Giving New Zealand an area of 100,000 square miles . and Great Britain an area of 01,000 aquare miles, Dr. Hilgendorf showed how Britain was many times more intensively agriculturaliscd than was the Dominion. For New Zealand's 252,000 acres of wheat Britain had 1,500,000 acres; New Zealand's 020,000 acres of oats was against 2,000,000 acres in Britain; while barley was cultivated to the extent of 24,000 acres and 1,300,000 acres in New Zealand and Britain respectively. As for farm animals, the Dominion had only 290,000 horses to the Mother Country's 1,111,000, and 4,080,000 cattle to Britain's 7,053,000. In eheep alone New Zealand led Britain, having 20,000,000 as against 25,000,000. Black Wattle at Masterton. A proposal to plant up to 10,000 black wattles on the river banks and other vacant spaces in the borough was discussed at a recent meeting of the Maeterton Beautifying Society. Mr. H. E. Gardner said that he and Mr. L. Robinson had considered the matter and had brought it under the notice of the borough council as a means of absorbing unemployed labour. Mr. Gardner said the trees would brighten up the river banks and would also be a wonderful asset to the borough, as they would provide battens, posts, house blocks and firewood in 20 years' time. Mr. E. W. Pay ton undertook to interview the chairman of the council's park committee regarding the proposal. He thought that perhaps the scheme could be incorporated in the observance of Arbor Day in August, with the co-operation of the Masterton County Council, borough council and the society. Auckland Lawn Tennis History. A meeting of persons connected with some of the earliest lawn tennis in Auckland was held this week at the instance of Mr. P. Harrison in an endeavour to reconstruct an authentic record of the Auckland Lawn Tennis Association, whose records for the 37 years; from ISSS to 1022 had been lost. Imvidi-.l in the party wore Mies Mowbray, the first lady j champion of Auckland, and Mr. W. Pi Goodhue, who was a Parnell Club delegate to the first meeting of the Auckland. Association. Former presidents of the association in Messrs. A. A. Martin, H. G. Thomson, F. J. Ohlson, G. L. Taylor and A. Goldie, a former secretary in Mr. W. A. Brower, and other pioneers in Professor H. W. Segar and Messrs. W. R. Fee and L. Longuet were aleo present to assist in the work of reconstruction, dating from December 21, 1885, when the association was formed.

Gaol for Assault. In the Inverairgill Police Court, before Mr. E. C. Lcvvey, S.M., Charles Rask, a married man, u-red 32. pleaded guilty to a charge nf being found drunk inConoii Street, and not guilty to assaulting a maternity nurse. Soiiior Sergeant W. E. Packer said that defendant's conduct for the past fortnight liiUl been disgraceful. Complainant had boon nursing defendant's wife, and he had come home in°a drunken condition and had tried to break into his wife's room. He caught the nurse by the hair, threw her on the floor, kicked her and broke her spectacles. She then ran

out and summoned the police. Defendant admitted having a few drinks, but denied the assault. "I'm going to treat you to' something that will get a little liquor out of your Bjr.tom," said his Worship, in imposing a sentence of two months' imprisonment, "and if you don't go straight when you come out, there will be a long term ahead of you." Whose Fault Was It? . "It is a'farcical position," observed the president, Mr. R. P. Furriess, at .a meeting of the Marlborough Automobile- Association, when a letter was read from a member complaining that, although July 1 fell on a Sunday, he was not able to register his car on the preceding Saturday unless he paid the fee for June. As he particularly desired to use his car from July 1, and had not previously registered it, he made application for his plates to be issued on the Saturday before the registration department closed. This was refused, and he was informed that the act nf paying the fee in June would bo taken as registration for June, and would necessitate the payment of the full fees. He considered <-h«t the regulation was hidebound and oppressive, and called for liberalising along piactlcal common-sense lines. The association decided to refer the case to the South Island Motor Union to take up with the Department. Paper Sixpences. In view of the pending change in banknotes in New Zealand as the result of the advice of the Reserve Bank, it is interesting to learn that in the early days ojE Wellington a curious, form of paper money wa/s put in circulation, states the "Dominion." According to an early Wellington almanac, money became so scarce in 1844, in consequence of the New Zealand Company having failed to keep its engagements with the settlers, that the Government had- to resort to the, issue of debentures, which were accepted as currency until after the arrival of Sir George Grey as Governor. These debentures were as low as 5/ in value. Smaller change toeing necessary, storekeepers and others issued 3d, Cd and 1/ notes, which were printed from blocks made by Mr. J. H. Marriott, a talented man in many ways. The sixpenny note took the form of a piece of white paper, on which figured the representation of a sperm whale in black ink, and on its side was engraved in white "0 pence," and beeide the leviathan was printed "No. —i —. On presentation of ten (10) of these notes I promise to pay the bearer the sum of five shillings, in Government debentures or in goods.—John Robinson." The shilling note was engraved "Shilling" in fancy typo surrounded by scroll work, reflecting the fanciful penmanship of the period.- It would be interesting to know if any of those old- makeshift no tee are still in existence. ■ . ...... .., . . !