NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 180, 1 August 1935, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Down on the Dodgers. Stringent measures are being taken by the commit ee of the Tokoniaru Bay Rugby Sub-union in an enc.eavo.ur to collect all outstanding subscriptions. It lias been decided to suspend all players who are no financial on August 1. One week of grace will be allowed, and this decision will apply to representative men as well as to the other members. Linden Trees for Streets. The popularity of linden or lime trees for planting in town streets was mentioned by speakers at Morrinsville this week, when it was decided to plant an avenue of lindens instead of the plane trees previously suggested in Cureton Street, which provides the main access to the Morrinsville Recreation Ground. If was stated that many other South Auckland municipalities had already decided to plant lindens in their streets, and several Auckland city streets were instanced to show how lindens add to the beauty of a town.

Old Boilers for Japan. The rusted and broken boilers of seven old steamers that once belonged to the Devonport Steam Ferry Company were brought to Auckland in two scow loads this week from Brown's Island, where the hulls of the vessels were stranded and broken up for firewood years ago, to be loaded, along with other scrap iron, into the steamer Kaitoke for export to Japan. The boilers were formerly in tl e paddle-steamers Victoria, Alexandra, Takapuna and Bifkenheacl, the ecrew steamers Tuinui and Hirero, ferry boats, and the screw steamer Durham, a tug. Most of them had been lying partly or wholly submerged, and they carried a crop of rock oysters, A Scottish Sensation. The erection of the large building in Queen Street for the Dingwall Trust recalled yesterday to two Scots —one who had within the last three months been in Dingwall, Scotland—as they stood in front of the up-to-date building, the excitement which was caused in the Scottish town v.hcii Mr. David Dhlgwall died about ten years ago, and the news was broadcast that a huge su :i of a quarter of a million had been left by .. person who had died in New Zealand to Dingwull to build an orphanage and other charitable institutions. It T.IS some months before the truth came through tli.it Mr. Di: gwall had died in New Zealand, and had left his large fortune for institutions hi Auckland. Mr. Bingwall's na - ie had got confused in some unaccountable way with the Scottish town in the North, and that was where the mistake was made. The Sco s of Dingwall, vlien they found out the truth, took the ■ mtter quite philosophically, and congratulated their friends in Xew Zealand o. their luck in having such a good benefactor whose name was the same as that of their own town.

Mayor Adamant. Takapuna'a Mayor, Mr. John Guiniven. refuses to pay over to the Xew Zealand Crippled Children's Society the money collected in the Takapuna district for the Crippled Children's Fund until the society gives him an assurance that the money collected will be spent on local crippled children. He made this clear at last night's meeting of the Takapuna Borough Council, when a request was received from the headquarters of the society in Wellington that the money be paid over. "The society has not supplied me with full details of how the money is to be spent," said Sir. Guiniven. "1 have been asked by people who have subscribed to the fund that I opened not to pay the money over unless it is to be spent locally, preferably in connection with the maintenance of the Wilson' Home, so generously donated by a respected resident of thie borough. I will not agree to pay the money unless I can satisfy myself that it is not to be spent in other towns." The council decided to defer a request for a donation to the Auckland branch of the society until the annual estimates are considered.

Anthropology Study. At the meeting: in tlie library of the Auckland War Memorial Museum last evening of the anthropological section of the Auckland Institute, the chairman of the section, Mr. George Graham, drew attention to the fact that the next item on the syllabus was an ordinary meeting of the Auckland Institute, the lecturer being Mr. Allen Porter, secretary of the section. A coincidence is that the date of Mr. Porte-'s lecture, August 7, falls on the anniversary of the date of the founding of the anthropology section in 1022. Mr. Graham referred to the' fact that in the movement to found the anthrnpoljiry section lie had the honour to have been associated with Dr. Peter Buck, now director of ethnology at Bishop Museum, Honolulu, and shortly to take up the duties-of director of that museum. Dr. Buck war, the section's first chairman, and he himself the first secretary and treasurer. Mr. Porter's lecture is entitled, "Greenstone and Its Importance to the Maori," aild will be illustrated by beautiful examples from the museum and private collections.

Marooned Pigeons. Of 10 pigeons who sought refuge on the liner Rangitane during her voyage from England, 12 arrived by the liner yesterday. Four took fright when an attempt was made to secure them, and they were drowned, their exhausted condition not permitting them to stay in the air longer than a, few minutes after having alighted on the deck. It was on June 30, when the Rangitane was three days out from London and 700 miles from the nearest land, that the birds were seen hovering around the ship. The weather was fine, but strong winds had evidently blown the homers off their course. It is presumed that the birds were taking part in pigeon races between France and England. These races are important fixtures for fanciers, and big prizes are awarded. Birdi owned by His Majesty the King and Mr. J. B. Joel, the South African millionaire, were flying in these races during the week-end in which the birds came on board the Rangitane. After 24 hours of reet and careful attention the pigeons completely recovered, and were placed in a specially-prepared cage. The Rangitane will take the' birds Home. There is a special fund in Great Britain to pay for the care and return of pigeons lost in long-distance flights.

Wagoning Days Recalled. The feat of. transportation by motor lorry of a Xgatea butter factory boiler from Thames to Xgatea, mentioned in this column on Monday, recalls to a correspondent, "Bi'llvue," one of the many incidents of wagoning on the Bnller Road iii the old days. "Some 28 years ago," he writes, "a boiler for the Bellvue dredge, MataMtaki, Murchison, was conveyed from Kohatu station to the dredge site, a distance .of about f>S miles, over mountainous country roa.de, on an ordinary timber wagon. The boiler was 10ft long, 10ft diameter, and weighed 10 tons. Twelve horses were used to draw the load. The drivers were Dave James and George WoocThani, and the time taken for the journey six days. On one occasion the rear wheel of the wagon broke through a bridge. So steep were some of the banks oil the road that a wire rone was used to ease the wagon do.wn and take the weight off the double brakes. The rope was put round a stump at the top of a bank and paved out as the wagon descended. On one bank, at Doctor's Creek, the 'weight of the load uprooted the stump, but by good luck disaster was averted. This trip was taken ;is if it were an everyday occurrence, and little if any notice wae paid to it, except that six days were taken instead of three days for the usual trip. There were drivers those days."

New Defence Policy. A statement on the Government's new defence policy was made by the Minister of Defence, Mr. Cobbe, yesterday. The new policy, he said, involved a considerable increase in the Dominions expenditure on defence, and in order that that expenditure might not press too heavily upon the taxpayer the implementing of the new measures was being spread over a period. Xew Zealand's expenditure per head of population on defence, lie added, had for (some years been the lowest in the Empire. Totara as Jubilee Tree. Following the example set by some other districts recently, the Morrinsville Beautifying Society, in arranging a tree-planting ceremony for Arbor Day, decided to invite the Mayor to plant a totara tree at the Recreation Ground to commemorate the Silver Jubilee celebrations of King George V. Members agreed that a totara, being fairly slow growing and hardy, would be the most suitable variety of native tree to plant. The banks of the" rivers flowing through the borough are already bordered by a natural growth of totara" trees, which give a distinctive appearance to the locality.

The Way of a Jury. During his reply to the farewell tendered liini by the younger members of the legal profession and law students at the Supreme Court yesterday afternoon Sir Alexander Herdinan- related an experience he had in his early career. He was sent to a provincial town to defend n loci-1 hotelkeeper charged with a criminal offence. "The man was something of a hero in the town, he owned racehorses, and was regarded as a good .sport," said Sir Alexander. "I was young, but had plenty of law ready to quote. However, the evidence was so irrefutable that I saw the accused's case was hopeless. When the time came to address the jury 1 had forgotten all that T had intended to eay, hut 1 made an address —no doubt a lot of iioneense. To my surprise the jury returned in ten minutes with a verdict (if not. guilty. They cheered the man outside the Court."

" Next Business, Please." "I reckon that it is disgraceful, the deputy-Mayor advocating extravagance," said Mr. J. Guiniven, at last night's meeting of the Takapuna Borough Council, after Mr. White Jiad advocated the setting up of a committee to consider drainage and sewage facilities in Norwood Road, Bayswater. Mr. White jumped up and hotly contested the Mayor's remarks. "I am not advocating extravagance," he paid. "I only want the matter considered. 1 want to see the engineer authorised to carry out some preparatory work. I have never been connected with a body which takes such negative action as thie council, led by its Mayor. We do nothing and always wait for Devonport to do something." "Next business, please," eaid the Mayor. "You will feel better after that." A Schoolboy and Matches. The mischievousness of boye at timee knows no bounds, and often leads to trouble. A party of Wellington schoolboys between the ages of" eight and 12 were strolling home after school in one of the seaside districts. Apparently one of them became inspired, for he suddeiifv left his companions, and, rushing into a vacant section, set lire to a patch of dry scrub. Xo doubt he thought the blaze would be only momentary, but out of his vision were some more dry scrub and grass, which carried the llanies to two or three young pine trees. The latter were eoon flaming torches, and it required several buckets of water and much beating to prevent the (ire from spreading to adjoining property. The boy who caused the trouble was not to be seen two minutes after he had struck the match.

Ponsonby's Old Reservoir. « A proposal is to come before the next meeting of the Auckland City Council for the utilisation of the old reservoir site at Ponsonby. Recently a deputation waited on the council with a request that the area should be used for a public swimming bath to benefit 30,000 to 50,000 people in the immediate area. The representations were referred to the public services committee, the chairman of which, Mr. C. Bailey, stated this morning that it had been decided to forward to the council recommendations for the construction on the site of a public swimming bath and a new service reservoir. It was proposed to release the main road frontages for building sites, he said. It was thought that apartment buildings would be suitable for the Ponsonby Road frontage, with possibly a shop or "two. and that modern .*.iops should be erected on the Karangahape Road frontage. Along the Iloi.etoun Street frontage the swimming bath would be erected. The committee had in mind a swimming pool of a size that would conform to world standards for swimming races.

The People's Savings. The Post Oflice Savings Bank has very closely reflected economic conditions during the last few years. There was a period when the withdrawals exceeded the animal deposits, showing that money put by to meet emergencies .had to be utilised. It is some time since this position commenced to show improvement, deposits beginning to exceed withdrawals, and a further reassuring indication of improving financial resources and of confidence in the future is shown by a remarkable extension last year in the number of jK'ople who have heen able to open savings bank accounts. The number of depositors at March 31 of this year, compared with those at the corresponding period of 1934, was as follows:—817,017 (1035), 795.2G2 (1934), increase 19,355. The substantial increase includes approximately 17,000 new accounts of under £500, the majority of these being new depositors, who have commenced with small balances of under £100. The average amount at the credit of each account readied its highest point in March, 1925, when it wiw £03 17/3. This average decreased steadily until 1932, the loweet point being £49 C/ 4. The popularity of the Tost Oflice Savings Bank with the small investor is demonstrated by the fact that there are 817,017 accounte, with no fewer than 093,000 for amounts under £100.

New Zealand Products in Britain. The reports which appear from time to time of special publicity arranged by the Xew Zealand Dairy and Meat Boards to promote interest in the Dominion's products among British consumers indicate an intensive drive to capture the market against all comers. Most of thcee highly attractive "stunts" are conceived and carried out by a former "Star" reporter and Auckland University honours graduate—Mr. P. L. Soljak—who for the past two years has been employed by Editorial Services, Ltd., in close co-operation with the advertising staff of the two boards. The spectacular launching of the Port Chalmers —the first of the nine new Dominion and Commonwealth Line ships specially built for the New Zealand, Australian and British trade—laet year's "wireless" launching of the Star of New Zealand, when, by pressing a button in Wellington, Lord Bledisloe released the vessel from the stocks, and other innovations were arranged by the young Xew Zealander. Among his more recent activities on behalf of the boards' campaigns was the publicity drive throughout the English pottery districts, where, by a combination of Dominion foodstuffs and high-class table crockery, an attractive and noteworthy advertisement was placed before the British public. In a letter received here a few weeks ago Mr. Soljak says: "You will soon see Pres.s reports of a new 'stunt' of mine—the British and Xew Zealand breakfast table— Staffordshire pottery and our breakfast foods. We had Mr. Forbes giving an address, and the whole thing went off well."