NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 276, 21 November 1934, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Unauthorised Collecting

The "Auckland Star' , management lias been informed that a yomiT man lias canvassed a Xorth Shore suburb in the past month, stating that he had been authorised to collect moneys in advance for copies of Brett's CVistmas Xuiuber to be posted abroad. The public is warned that no person other than the district agent of the "Auckland Star" has been authorised to canvniw or to collect for • Brett's Christmas Number in any locality. Big Conversion. Arrangements for the conversion of loans " totalling £1,455,400 were approved at yesterday's meeting of the Auckland Harbour Board. This was stated to be one of the biggest conversions in the Dominion, S Sacred Heart Picnic. 1 Despite yesterday's high wind and inter--0 mittent showers, the animal picnic of the e Sacred Heart College at Oneroa was a success. The party of 2S.~> boys included 75 " piipiie from the sixth standard of the Vermont 1 Street School. The steamer Duchess conveyed ,• the boys to Matiatia, and they walked from ' there to the picnic ground. Surfing , , athletic " sports and football were included in the day's ' amusement programme. The party landed at , Auckland again a little a,fter 0 o'clock. ' I Aid for Infirmary Nurses. A machine to obviate injury to nursee at the female ward at the Auckland Infirmary when bathing heavy and bedridden patients has recently been constructed, according to a report by the resident engineer which came before the Auckland Hospital Hoard at its I meeting .yesterday afternoon. It is believed to be absolutely* safe, "foolproof," and selfsustaining, and needs a minimum of exertion to operate. A test load of 2801b required a weight of only 71b looz to move the turning handle. The'machine will lower a patient from the top of the bath to the bottom in (i 0 seconds, and there is very little difference between the power required to rake or lower a patient. Clever Work, if True! Anticipating the chance of making a good harvest among the great crowds at the many Centenary attractions at Melbourne, a large number of pickpockets and other gentry of a similar class have found their way to the city. It is rumoured that a Wanganui oarsman fell a victim to one of these undesirables. The story goes that a party of the oarsmen were walking along a street together when a man accosted one of them and asked him the time. The Wanganui-ite stopped, pulled out hi* watch, gave the stranger the desired information, and immediately set oft" to overtake his mates, who had walked on in the meantime. .Shortly afterwards he missed not only his watch," hut his wallet. If the story i« true, it must have been very smart work on the part of the pickpocket. The Simple Life. A well-known member of the Maori race was chatting to a reporter in Wanganui when a distinguished-looking young woman passed by travelling very light as far as clothing was concerned, and without stockings. "You will note," remarked the Maori, "that the modern women are getting back to the Maori civilisation as far as clothing is concerned. They are adopting the advice of many of the medical men to expose their ■bodies, to a«s much sunlight as possible, and to generally, as far as possible, follow out the simple life of the Maoris in regard to diet, etc. What is the use," added the Maori, "of women wearing stockings when they are only a nuisance?" "You had better ask the drapers what they think of the latter question," replied the reporter. The Date of Easter. With all kinds of summer sports fixtures and tournaments being arranged, thoughts naturally turn to holiday periods when there ir> time for intensive cultivation of sport. Everybody knows the dates of the Christmas and Xew Year holidays, hut there seems to be less certainty about the date of next Easter, judging by the number of Inquiries made on the subject. The Easter holidays mark the termination in a general sense of summer Gports, and the transition to winter games then takes place. Easter Day (Sunday) falls late next year, not 'Until April 21. Anzae Day, April 25, falls on the Thursday in Easter week, thus making that week a distinctly broken one, with holidays at the beginning and with a holiday in the middle, t Punishment of Crime. '■Punishment of the conventional typo is definitely not conducive to the improvement of the delinquent," said Dr. T. Gordon Short in the course of an address on "The Psychology of the Criminal' , at the annual meeting of the Howard League for Penal Reform, held last night in the old Grammar School. '"Punishment, ae opposed to psychological treatment, usually causes either deep feelings of rebellion against the community or an equally deep feeling of humiliation." Dr. Short admitted that the psychological treatment of criminals was generally of definite benefit only in a small minority of cases. However, such treatment was definitely beneficial up to the age of about 25, when instincts became too firmly embedded. But no case was altogether hopeless. He said that in our time great changes would be witnessed in the treatment of crime. Cook Strait Swim. The following paragraph is from the "West London and Fulham Gazette": —"Thel Mercians , Club regrets that M. ('•. Connor, the club's best swimmer, in fact, one of London's finest swimmers, will be returning to his native country, Xcw Zealand, on October 4. Connor broke Temme'a record in the SouthscaIsle of Wight race, for which ho received the 100 guineas trophy. He will also lie reniem- : bored for his great swim in the live miles Kew-Putney race, when ho gained sixth posi- ' tion. His departure will be a groat loss to the Marcians' Club, and all swimmers will vish him the best of luck for his return trip. It is rumoured that he will try to swim Cook ; Strait when he gets back; the currents in this channel are very treacherous, and it is said that it is much more difficult to swim ! these eight miles than it is to swim the English Channel. The club has great faith in Connor accomplishing this feat." Matriculation Examinations. , The annual examinations for university entrance (matriculation), medical, dental, engineering and accountancy preliminary. J school certificate (entrance subjects) and preliminary science for CO.P. in dental surgery, and entrance scholarships will begin on Mon- 1 day, December 3, and continue until Thursday. ] December 13. The centre for Auckland is the 8 University College, and there are sub-centres t at Scots Hall, Sacred Heart College, King's • College, Auckland Girls' Grammar School, t Epsom Girls' Grammar School. Takapuna c Grammar School, and Xorthcote District High c Sehool. The numbers of candidates for the \ entrance examinations are:—Auckland gene- [ ral, 225; Auckland Grammar School, 202: i Grammar School, Mount Albert. 12"): Girls' i Grammar School, Epsom, 98; Grammar i School, Takapuna, SO; Auckland Girls' Gram- i mar School. 59; Sacred Heart College. 4S; 3 King*e College. 38 j High School. Otahuhu, 15; 9 High School. Xortheote, ](}. There are also 1 79 candidates for entrance scholarships, and a one for fine arts preliminary, the total number (1 of candidates being US'A. There arc Si> centres i: in the Dominion, those nearest Auckland c being Dargaville, Helensville, Pukckohe, Wai- v liku, Huntly, Hamilton, Cambridge, Thames, c Paeroa and Waihi. £

Demand for Strawberries. There is a fairly heavy demand for strawberries in the Wangantii district, particularly in view of the fact that Wellington iirme have been negotiating for the purchase of whole s crops (reports the ['Chronicle"). It is under- '" stood Hint contracts have been made in several instances, and quite a quantity 'of Wanga--0 nui-.gro\vn fruit will be '-.onsuined in the 8 capital. ! New Maungaroa Bridge. r A visit of inspection to the new bridge being built over the Maungaroa Stream, on the main highway between Whitford and Howiek, was made by members of the ManuB kan County Council yesterday. The work ~ will he completed by the end of March. 'Die i" bridge is being constructed of reinforced con- ' crete, and is on a higher level than the old wooden structure, the approaches being designed to give a greater measure of safety. Missionary Rest House, a The need of a missionary rest house in - Auckland was stressed by the Rev. A. S. 5 Wilson, when speaking at a gathering held t at the Methodist Church, Mount Kden, to fare--1 well two missionaries who are going to India. :1 Mr. Wilson said that such a place was needed c for returning missionaries on furlough, as New s Zea'landere were now occupied in the world's 1 mission fields. He made the appeal on behalf of the Auckland Missionary Association and its twenty affiliated missionary associations. He waa h'opini; that someone would come forL ward with an'initial £500, and the rest would > then be raised. 1 Record Fruit Season Predicted. "It is questionable whether the growers I and the merchants will know what to do with . the fruit that will be offering. The etone fruit , season promises to be a record one. and if the t | present line weather continues the flush of the J season will lie on Hie growers before they are I ready for it." This is what a visitor to the ) Otago Central orchards said on returning to , Invcrcarglll from a visit to the district over . the week-end. "They have had a wonderful season in the Central, and the prospects for extra large apricot and peach crops are fully apparent," lie said. "Heavy thinning of almost all the stone fruits is proceeding, but there 1 will be plentiful supplies left on the trees. It ' is many years since the conditions throughout ■ the spring have been so mild and uniform, i< The growth everywhere has been remarkable." J An Optical Illusion. Apart from the dominating effect of the i ginnt Sydney Harbour Bridge, Xew Zealandcrs . seeing 'it for the first time, an their ship « moves slowly up the harbour, are struck with - the apparent impossibility of the masts to < clear the structure. ]t is a firtft-elasn optical . illusion, as those who have visited Sydney i well know. A passenger who arrived by the , Monowai recently, delighted with all lie had • seen during his holiday in the Commonwealth, referred to his feelings when the ship approached the bridge. "I could have sworn," he said, "that about 15ft of the foremast would come down. Other people on board ; were apparently of the same mind, for as the ' ship approached the bridge, their eye* riveted 1 on the top of the mast, they drew back. Your eyes just play a prank on you, though, or ' something like that, for when you get directly • under the bridge you find that there is any ' amount of clearance/ , i The Bronze Beetle. I A herald of summer, and incidentally of ! ruined lawns, has made its appearance during . the last few evenings, states the Wellington ! '"Post." The winged bronze, beetle is now on ' the air at dusk in its hundreds of thousands, l Having , a voracious appetite, it consumes ■ goodly quantities of succulent young foliage, and trees can' he denuded almost in a night. But its darkest deed* are connected with the propagation of its species, for the eggs which the bronze beetle lays hatch, if all goes well 1 in the nursery, into what are popularly known 1 and abhorred as the grass grub. The ravenous ' appetite of the grub may account for the ' ruin of a lawn within a week or two after 1 the hatching. By the watering and rolling of : lawns at du*k the bronze beetle i.s discouraged ' from laying its eggs in them, the consolidated 1 ground not being to the liking of the ovipositing lady beetle. The beetle will be on the wing from now until approximately the end of the year. Otago's Salmon Lakes. A Durierlin resident who recently completed a 7011-mile motor tour through Otago flayed a while in several places for fishing, anil speaks of the pleasure he had with the ;nt[ at Lake Gunn and Lake Fergus, on the Eglinton Valley Road. The Atlantic salmon i:> each of those lakes gives good sport. With the red minnow he took them up to (ill). Access to those lakes is from the road. At Lake- Gunn the bush track gives an approach to the water in about ton minutes, and at J.ake Fergus the water is within a minute's walk of the road. He just waded in at each ' lake and got bites at once, not only from the : fleh, but from clouds of sandflies. A settler in those parts told him that a reliable protection against sandflies in to give oneself a good dose of sulphur and treacle before making a ' visit to a region so infested, and lie proposes i to try it if he goets again to the western < lakes. The road from To Anau to the advance •' camp is ho level and smooth that a car can : be driven on top gear all the way. A Salesman's Wiles. Such sympathy as pome of the resident* of the Taieri district (Otago) may have felt for an itinerant salesman who called on them ' recently has vanished since they have given ' his wares a trial, state* the "Otago Daily ' Times." With a story of how he loot most of his stock-in-trade as the result of a motor accident in Central Otago, and of his anxiety f to reach Timaru, 'whore his wife was lying ' sick, he would, on having established more or ' less friendly relations with his prospective c customer, produce a bottle of what purported { to be a wonderful skin emollient. This, lie [ would explain, was one of the few bottles he had saved from the wreck, and as a favour c and so that he could raise his train fare to 1 Timaru as quickly as possible, he would part 1 with it for whatever the purchaser cared to i give. Encouraged by a label which set forthj] that the contents of the bottle would cure ? sunburn, ease the smarting cheek after a ? shave, and even iorm a firet-olasg base for t powder, not a few buyers totk advantage of i the altruistic offer, only to find, after t lie ( lapse of a few days, that the all-healing lotion 1 was composed principally of boiled starch. t Noble Trees. '• f Stated to be the largest tree ever handled by the Waipawa Box and Fruit Case Com- : pany, a huge pinus insi<jnis tree was cut up t at Waipawa, Hawke's Bay, recently. The ] tree was about ~>o years of age, and was over 14ft in girth. At the mill it was nee.es- ~ eary to cut (iin off the hide of the log to r enable it to pass under the double bveakingdown saw. On inquiry from Mr. Kiddell it j •was found that the tree felled was a com- j parative pigmy to others on his property. One magnificent specimen of a pinus insignia measured just on 20ft in girth, and was of immense height, while two cotton poplars ° measured 24ft and 20ft respectively in girth, '' Mr. Kiddell also hae probably one of the finest '» stands of oak trees in the Dominion. Fully o 120 oaks of anything up to -'ift in diameter, n and fairly even in size, range each side of the li drive. At the homestead two enormous epeei- n mens of redwood— one a Wellingtonia and the g other a gigantic sequoia semperimvirous—|h were stated by a timber expert with Canadian p experience to be the beat of their kind lie had a seen in Xew Zealand. fi