NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 185, 7 August 1935, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Lengthening Evenings. Although the weather is still wet every day, and thoughts of epring are far from moet minds, there is at least the psychological effect created by the obvious drawing out of the evenings. Citizens homeward bound at 5 o'clock are noticing the longer period of daylight, and are facing the last stages of winter's blast with brighter faces and hopes of an early epring. Balmoral Lighting Scheme. The Mount Eden Borough Council last evening decided to approve of the community lighting scheme for Balmoral ehopping area put forward by Mr. E. R. Greenfield, a member of the council. Under the scheme 150 lights in a distance of 500 yards will be installed, and though the scheme will be carried out by the council, all the expense will be borne by the shopkeepers. Ngataki's Cruise. The departure of the yacht Ngataki, manned by Messrs. J. W. Wray (owner), J. Baxter and A. Colebrook, of Auckland, and a fourtL man not yet chosen, on a cruise to the Society Islands and the New Hebrides, has been postponed until to-morrow. The yacht'e first call will be at Sunday Island, in the Kermadecs, where Mr. Wray recently landed Mr. A. Bacon, of Devonport, and two companions, who intended to settle there permanently. The yacht will leave the Mar-o'-war steps, Queen's wharf, at 1 p.m. to-morrow. Pump to Clear Fiood Water. An electric pump was brought into use in Patrick Street, Te Papapa, veeterday, in an effort to reduce the flood water, which hae blocked part of the street for some days. The flood followed the recent heavy rains, and extended for a distance of nearly 100 yards. Owing to the iow-lying nature of the ground and the fact that there are several springs in the vicinity, the water ehowed only a gradual fall after the weather cleared, and the use of a pump was therefore decided upon. Ex-Mayor's Services to City.

Public recognition of the service* rendered to the city by Air. G. W. Hutchison during his occupancy of the mayoral chair and by Mr. A. J. Entrican, who was a member of the City Council for 36 years, is to be made at a public presentation ceremony in the Chamber of Commerce next Wednesday. The chairman of the committee appointed to make the arrangement*, Mr. A. G. Lunn, stated to-day that there had been am excellent response by citizens. Many letters had been received expressing the satisfaction of contributors at the conduct of the affairs of ; the city by Mr. Hutchison. Judge as Passenger. Mr. B. 0. Haggitt, counsel for a taxi driver, who wae charged at the Wanganui Court with driving in a manner and at a speed which under the circumstances mijrht be dangerous to the public, sprang a eurprise by producing a letter from his Honor Mr. Justice Johnston, who wae a passenger in the taxi at the time, and who stated that the defendant was driving in a good and careful manner. The driver admitted that he crossed the intersectio.. at more than the 15 miles per hour limit, but that it was a Sunday night and there was no traffic about at the time. Under the circumstances Senior Fergeant Capp agreed to amend the charge to on" of ordinary speeding over an intersection. Mr. Haggitt had intimated prior to this that he did not intend to call Judge Johnston ae a witness. "Can You Leave Me £5?" There is apparently no end to the variety of the approaches of the "gentle grafter" to the man from whom he proposes to profit, and a new idea has been introduced to Wellington during the last few days, but with what success has not been reported. The telephone is ueed in this graft. A business man is called to the telephone by "one of his cliente," or agents, Mr. So-and-so, and told that So-and-so has arrived from up country at a hotel in the city, and for one reason or another (a tale of a car accident and garage bills was need on two occasions) is short of money, leading up to "Can you leave me £5 at the — ; — hotel, where I will pick it up this evening?" The manager of a large city businese—£ls in his case—played safe, having no wish either to be disobliging to a client nor to lose his money too easily —and made a personal appointment to hand the money over and have a talk. His client did not turn up. Settling Unemployed on the Land.

"The scheme which is being pursued in the Waikato is now, I believe, assured of success. We have been through precarious times, but we can sec daylight ahead, and I am led to the opinion that the project will extend to an enterprise on a national basis," declared Mr. D. V. Bryant, founder and chairman of directors of the Waikato Land Settlement Society, addressing the Hamilton Rotary Club. Mr. Bryant paid a warm tribute to the work performed by his co-directors and expressed the opinion that the society would never have come into existence had it not been for the valuable work and organisation of the honorary secretary and treasurer, Mr. H. Valder. The average man was little interested, perhaps, in land development, but to those who loved the land it was a most fascinating work. He believed that the Waikato Society had paved the way for similar schemes in other districts of the Dominion.

Fidelity of a Dog. A story of the fidelity of a dog is told by a kennel writer in the Christchurch "Press," who writes: "I saw a pathetic eight, and one which aroused my curiosity, in the streets of Timaru. A dog of no particular breed, but of the Airedale type and obviously of advanced years, I noticed in the afternoon sitting facing the window of a certain public building. The same evening I saw the identical dog sitting for nearly two hours, still rigid and watchful, but oblivioue to all around and of passing strangers. My interest further aroused, I examined him closely and found him quite friendly, but unwilling to budge. Thinking he wae lost I made inquiries, and was about to entice him inside for a meal when I was informed by friends that this same dog carried out this daily vigil at the same place and time waiting for his beloved master, Mr. Ted le Cren, who died some months ago. My one consolation was that he was well fed and cared for."

Quiescent Rotorua. Thermal activity at Rotorua, one of the world's wonders for many years, has seemed, over the past few months, to have been much quieter than usual, and an old resident of the town says that the thermal regions of to-day cannot compare with the active conditions of a score of years ago. As he was one of the pioneers of the township, and assisted in the work of laying out foundations for Rotorua, he is of the opinion that the present position has a greater significance than would appear on the surface. The quiescent nature of the one-time famous geysers that played to heights of over 300 feet is due, according to this authority, not to any natural cooling process or lessening of activity, but to the erosion which is constantly taking place at the mouths of these outlets and the subsequent blocking up of the vents. He feels that there 5s a danger, if Rotorua is sufficiently bridled by the accumulated crumbling! of the rock foundations, that thermal activity: on a large scale may burst, out in one or other; of the many weaker portions of the Xorth Island's thermal crust. |

The Point of View,

When a letter wae received at last night's meeting of the Mount Eden Borough Council from a resident of Mount Eden pointing out that the treee on the mountain obscured the eun, the Mayor, Mr. T. McNab, remarked: "We were requested to remove all the trees on the western side of the mountain. It won't be done." Mr. R. Mills: "They will want us to remove the mountain next."

Just in Time. Considerable alarm was felt by several pedestrians in Upper Queen Street yesterday afternoon, when an old-type van parked at the kerb commenced to move downhill of its own accord. The driver had just left the vehicle, but in response to the shouts of onlookere he made a daeh after the van, which wae gaining speed rapidly. He accomplished the seemingly impossible, and managed to board the moving car and bring it to a standstill, after it had run about 40 or 50 yards.

Milk for Children. The campaign of the Auckland branch of the League of Health of New Zealand Youth, which hopes to provide for half a pint of milk daily free of charge to school children throughout the Dominion, is making headway, and it is expected that the mem v erehip quota fixed will be reached by the end of the month. The movement hae spread widely, and the Auckland branch of the league hae received correspondence from Mayors of outside boroughs. This has caused the national council to accelerate its schedule for the organisation of provincial branches.

Manukau Weather Reports. The Auckland Harbour Board received a letter at a meeting yesterday from the actingdirector of the Meteorological Office in connection with a proposal that with the evening weather reports a report from Manukau Heads should be broadcast. The cting-direetor said it was realised that such a nport would be valuable for local shipping, but the Department was unable to obtain approval of the expenditure involved. The board decided to inform the Minister of Marino that in its opinion the matter wae one for hie Department, and to request that the Marine Department undertake the service. " Converting " a Bicycle. "I want to point out to the public that when a person finds hie bicycle missing, that person ie not entitled to take a machine which he thinks has been left in its place," commented Mr. J. H. Salmon, S.M., in the 1 Wanganui Magietrate'a Court. The remarks ■ followed the hearing of a case against a young man charged with converting a bicycle. A similar charge was also laid against a friend who had advieed him to take the bicycle. The magistrate added that of late the Courts had been severe in cases of bicycle thefts and conversion, and were impoeing heavy penalties. In the present case, however, the defendants had inserted two advertisements relative to the lost bicycle. He would take these bona fides into consideration.

Greymouth's Coal and Timber Trade. Coa] exported from the port of Greymouth during the month ended July 20, 1935, totalled 17,245 tons, an increase of 2719 tons over the total for the corresponding period of last year, when 14,520 tons were exported. This year's total was made up from the various district mines as followe, the correoponding totals for last year being ehown in parentheses:—State mines, 4569 tons (3180 tons); Blackball, 2133 tons (1508); Rapahoe, 2287 tons (2339); Paparoa. 570 tons (015); Castle Point, tons (403); Wallsend, 1887 tons (2274); Dobeon, 2183 tons (266); Briandale, 513 tons (281); other mines, 3103 tons (3510). Timber exported from Greymouth during the same period amounted to 3,741,096 super feet, as compared with 1,988,611 super feet in the corresponding month of last year, an increase of 1,752,485 super feet. New Bridge Near Mercer. The Great South Road is to be made safer for traffic, as it is proposed to remove the Mangatawhiri Bridge, jus. north of Mercer, and replace it with a new structure. The new bridge will remove three bad bends, the two approaches and another at Kclly'e Crossing, 15 chains south of the bridge. Tenders for the bridge, which will be erected in reinforced concrete, will be called in the near future, and it is anticipated that the bridge will be ready before the end of the summer. The structure is to be 150 ft in length, and to have a minimum width of 24ft. It will be in line with the present northern approach, while from the southern end the road will follow a gentle curve to the straight leading to Mercer. The bend in the road north of the bridge also will be eliminated. A temporary bridge will have to be erected at Mangatawhiri to carry traffic • hile the new construction work is in progreee.

Danger of Race Mixture. In a paper on "Race Mixture," read to members of the Victoria Institute at Westminster, London, Dr. K. B. Aikinan, of Haiiey Street, said: "The impression I have formed is that until our real knowledge of heredity has made great advances any policy of encouraging racial mixtures is a gamble which is unjustified." Difficult as it undoubtedly was, lie continued, some form of maes segregation of races eeemed to be desirable. Commenting on the instability of the family life in the United States, Dr. Aikman said that he attributed it in large measure to the mixed blood of the bulk of her citizens. "It is said that peop-'e of foreign birth and their children made one-third of her population, while another third has had one foreign parent," he said. "Under such conditions it must be increasingly difficult to find two partners for lif*. with similar tastes and outlook. Serious writers hold that the ultimate future of the United States will be to be inhabited by a mixed race of Caucasian negro hybrids and mongrels, with a dash of Mongolian from the Red Indian stock." Dr. Aikman said that it was surely remarkable that Moses and Joshua, nearly 2500 years ago, should have devised laws in accordance with the latest scientific discoveries. They strove to prevent mistakes which men of our own race in the United States, in British colonies and even in England were still making to-day.

"Auckland, Gateway to N.Z." Still more information useful to visitors to Auckland is contained in this month's edition of the little booklet, "Auckland, the Gateway to New Zealand," issued by the Auckland Travel Club. Every page of this publication of 28 pages contains information which the tourist might find indispensable. It gives facts about exchange rates and postage, and maile and shipping schedules, shopping hours and holidays, where the banks are and what time trains leave. These it gives as well as information about what to see and where to go in the city. The booklet has earned the praise of Mr. H. T. B. Drew, publicity officer in the New Zealand Government offices, London. Mr. Drew writes to Mrs. E. G. Macky, J.P., the moving epirit of the Travel Club, as follows: "Xone of the other cities of Xew Zealand have shown the same enterprise in this respect as Auckland. I have asked for similar material from any other city of New Zealand. Dunedin some time ago sent us an excellent folder, but the supply has run out. They are not like Auckland. They do not send ue continuous supplies and keep us up to date. They think it is our duty to do the continuous asking. The people in charge of the publicity of the cities and other towns in Xew Zeab-id, who no doubt do not do it for nothing, really should show 6ome enterprise." Each month 4000 j' copies are distributed, and they go all over the world. " r