NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 164, 13 July 1935, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

A Sun that Kisses. 111 extending a welcome to the Indian hockey tourists yesterday afternoon, the Mayor, Mr. Ernest Davis, made reference to India's climate and her brilliant sunshine. The point was referred to by Mr. P. Gupta, co-manager of tile team, in his reply. "We have jolly good sunshine,'' he said, "but so have you. Your sunshiiie kisses; ours bites. That is the difference." Easy to Learn. In speaking to the members of the Auckland Travel Club yesterday 011 Java, Professor J. X. Van Der Ley said that of the languages spoken there Malay was the easiest to learn. With 200 words one could get 011 very well. A conversation could not be carried on along highly spiritual lines, but it would be sufficient for the heme or for buying at shops. 111 the Malay language there were neither conjugations nor plurality, che plural being the repetition of the particular word. Similarity of Forests. "I was struck by the fact that the vegetation in the neighbourhood of Lake Waikarenioana is very similar to the forest in the high regions of Jaw.," said Professor J. N. Van Der Ley, formerly chief of the Govern-n-ent service for water power and electricity in the Netherland East Indies, who 1 as been inspecting the various hydro-power sources in New Zealand. He said in both t.l e countries there were the same high trees and the same heavy undergrowth of fern. Campers and Wives. "The Unemployment Board does some peculiar thi.igs," said a proiniiiei*. member of a local body this n.oriling. "In the latest scale of pay to No. 5 scheme men it is set out that if' the men work the hours they •"crked under t' previous scale they receive less money in some cases. Again, a 1 married mail in camp receives £1 17/0 a week, but if he happens to take his wife and family to the camp and they live in a tent, then His earnings are reduced by from 9/ to 10/ a week, according to the rates of pay applying in that particular area."

A Pearl of No Price. There was great excitement in a Devonport family when one member who was eating mussels thought lie had found a small pearl in -one <~• them. The pearl was sealed iu an envelope and zealously guarded until the next morning, when it wan placed before a jeweller. The pearl lost its lustre under the ox port's examination, anil turned out to lie a small stone. "Sixpence Witness' Expenses.'' At the Magistrate's Court yesterday eleven shopkeepers were convicted of selling goods 011 Sunday. One witness only gave evidence in all eleven cases, and when the question of his expenses was raised the magistrate at first appeared puzzled. It was later decided, 011 the suggestion of the prosecuting police officer. that e;.ch defendant, should pay sixpence, and thus make 11]) the amount to which the witness was entitled. Milk Below Standard. "Unfortunately for you it is an offence to sell milk that is under standard,'' commented Mr. W. It. MeKean, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday, in reply to a woman charged with that offence, who pleaded that she purchased her milk from a regular milk vendor, and naturally expected it to he up to standard. "If you want to sell milk, yon will have to get it from a man whom you can depend upon," the magistrate added. A Prophet in His Dreams. The widely-held idea that no one can foretell the future was doubted at Devouport recently, states a correspondent. During a football match a player suffered concussion shortly after the commencement of the'game, air while being revived by the St. John Ambulance men, remarked that he was glad it was Sunday so that he could have a good rest after such a strentn us game. He also mentioned the final sc:>res of the game, although the game itself had only been started l.j minutes previously. When the final whistle was blown, the scores were as the injured player had £iveu them.

A Smile on the Mayor. When Mr. Berliam Doctor, manager of the Indian hockey team, rose to reply to the speech of welcome given by the Mayor, Mr. Ernest Davis, at a civic reception extended the team yesterday afternoon, lie was smiling broadly. "It did tickle me," he said, "when your Mayor, In his initial remarks, said t?iat lie would talk slowly in case some of odr members should not easily he able to follow him. When he was saying that he looked over this way, and the vnpuibur of the team sitting behind me is a lecturer in English." Air. Doctor added that the Mayor's good intentions were typical of the kindness and hospitality that had been heaped on the visitors since landing in New Zealand. Aviation in Australia. That no country in the world affords greater scope for aviation than 'Australia is the opinion of Mr. Harold Gatty, the noted air navigator. New Zealand, he said, was also a potential field of importance. There was plenty of room for many payable, services in the Dominion. "America is r. similar country to Australia," he said, "but whereas _ the United States aviation services have Keen competition from rail and road, that is not the c;;se in Australia, where aviation companies are able to fly over a' great»territory free of competing services." Mr. Gatty expressed the opinion that much would be done in the air in Australia during the next few years. The Bellbird. "Ruru" writes: —The suggestion that bellbirds should he placed 011 Rangitoto Island calls attention to the fact that this lovclv New Zealand songste" has become plentiful in recent y rs. Thirty years ago it seemed that the famous Dominion songster was likely to become as extinct as the huia, as it then seemed 'confined to some of the coastal islands and the forested ranges of both the North and South Island. Of late years the bellbird has spread in the Auckland Province, it is plentiful in the forests of the Urewera, and it has upper ecl on some of the islands in the Ilauraki G-.lf. At one end of Motuihi Island belibirds ere now friendly and fairly plentiful, and from there they may possibly spread to Rumitoto, provided that they can obtain there the food supplies they need, in recent years l.Mlbinls ..were liberated in the Waipotia j'orest and 011 the Waitokcre Ranges, but there is yet little definite evidence as to*the success of the experiment. hlow Do They Do It? Sending in the vestibule of the Monterey last evening watching the milling crowd of passengers and friends, the casual observer was led to ponder how the officials managed to remain smooth-tempered and courteous. Passengers accompanied by friends, friends seeking passengers and a number of people apparently seeking nothing in particular, all fired a steady stream of questions at the bell captain. With perfect good humour he directed tlieni to cabins, to smoking rooms and lounges, admitted Chat he had not seen Air. So-and-so bu would tell 'lim lie was wanted if he passed that way, reminded travellers that the ship would be sailing at 10 and that visitors must leave at And for the third time he told the friend, who had already forgotten a cabin number twice, that it was 137. Everyone was good-tempered, everyone happy. To the casual ol erver this seemed not the least of the wonders of modern rhipping. Small Boys at the Show. The doing.' and the demeanour of small boys —and girls, too, if it comes to -that —at the Winter Show does not change in successive generations. Though they are let oil from school to go there principally for the educational of !t ' 1,10 observer fancies that they are not unduly troubled about that side of their visit. They go there to have as good a time as they can. They do not have much money to spend —whoever heard of a email boy who did?—but they manage to buy a bundle'of that p nk cottonwool sweet, which is sticky and which makes a joodly show for sixpence, like the ribbons of Airs. Cratchjtt at Christmas. They are suitably impressed with the fat lady, or the thin lady, or whatever sort of lady the sideshows possess. They run hither and thither until grownups almost get knocked off their feet; they collect vast piles of samples and pamphlets. That seems almost to be a. religion. And when they go home, they conside • that their day at the show has been well spent. N.Z. Through African Eyes. New Zealr. .ders drink too much tea and eat too much meat, the women smoke more than is goo' 1 for them, the trai are better t tho .e in Australia, . nd other parts of the world are sadly in need of a better knowledge of the Dor_*inion's tourist attractions. These statements were included in a sum-ming-up by two South African . isitors before they k'f'- Wellington for Sydney by the Marama, reports a Press Association message. Xur6e Cameron Brown, of East London, South Africa, who since her arrival last November has ade an intensive tour of both islands, said New Zealand w." "just too V ..utiful," and so were the people. It was she who commented 011 the .tea drinking and smoking. She particularly impressed with the V.--it o C'aves. If the United States owned then, <=he said, the; would be turned into a gol-' mine. Air. L. R. Womerslev, of Pietr-marit-burg, Natal, who has been touring A otralia mid New Zealand, in the course of a six months' holiday, which is the lot of So th African bank clerks < ry five years, favourably contrasted New Zealand's tourist attractions with Australia's. "Those in New Zealand leave Australia's miles behind," he said. "Even the trains are better." He could not understand why so few South Africans came here.