NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 260, 2 November 1935, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Chance-grown Peanuts. That peanuts will grow in peculiar places has been demonstrated by some healthy plants in the ash tray of a Paeroa motor car. Following a visit to the Auckland Zoo a fortnight ago, the peanuts were dropped in among the cigarette ash, and :hey have sprouted sufficiently to justify transplanting to the ground. Another Live Shell. Another live shell, of a similar type to that which was the cause of tragedy on the North Shore last week, has been found by a boy while playing. It was an old Xordenfeldt shell and was 'ticked up by a boy near Upper Albert Street, Thames. It was found on examination that though the cap was missing there was still a charge of explosive, and the .projectile has been forwarded to the Defence Department for examination. Steel Work for South Island Bridge. The steel work for a 10ft wide bridge to span the Taipo Gorge, on the main Kuinara highway, near Arthur's Pass, is being made at a well-known Auckland steel works under contract to the Public Works Department. The blue prints for the structure show that (K) huge plates, each Sft by 20ft, will be utilised for the sides of the bridge, and n number of immense girders SOft in length have already been forwarded to the South by the works. Garbage for Food.

Civic authorities in the United States sell garbage to reduce the costs of collection. This was mentioned in an address to members of the Christehurch branch of the Town Planning Institute by Mr. A. R. Gr.lbraith, the city engineer. Mr. Galbraith said that according to figures compiled by- the United States Department of Agriculture, the garbage of more than 8,000,000 of the country's population was fed to hogs, 30 out of 200 cities using this method of disposal. It was estimated that 501b of garbage would produce lib of pork, and based on a live market price for pork of 10 cents a pound, garbage would be worth four dollars a ton. In very few cases was the return sufficient to pay for both collection and disposal, though the revenue might reduce such costs materially. Interest in the All Blacks. The interest which the periodical visits of the New Zealand Rugby teams arouses even in such a Soccer stronghold as Birmingham is amusingly illustrated by a paragraph which recently appeared in the radio column (of all places) in the "Weekly Post." A correspondent had evidently written asking the radio editor, one "W.G.M.," what year the first Xew Zealand team played in England. The editor replied, quite correctly, that it was in ISB9, this being the season of the ISSB-9 New Zealand- native team's visit. He also mentions the original "All Blacks" (1905), who received their now famous nom de plume from the "Daily Mail." There is quite a human touch in the concluding lines of the paragraph. "I cannot answer any more questions about football," writes "W.G.M., "so 'this correspondence is now closed.' " Grey Lynn School Celebration. Preparations for the celebration of the 26th anniversary of the opening of the Grey Lynn School are proceeding apace. By a "back tq school days" dance, community song evenings and other efforts, an, energetic committee, of which Mr. A. H. Hibburt is chairman and Mrs. Hines convener, has already raised money sufficient to meet preliminary expenses and to form the nucleus of the. "silver jubilee fund," which it is confidently expected will provide some permanent benefit for the school. The correspondence committee, with Mrs. Henderson as convener, has supplied hundreds of former pupils and teachers with details of the programme for February 29 and March 1 next, and the attention of those who have not already sent in their names and addresses is drawn to the committee's advertisement in this issue. Many Years in Fiji.

A splendid testimony to the healthy climate of Fiji is shown in + he case of Mr. Robert Blakclock, who is now over 80 years old and who has never gone out of the colony since he arrived there with his parents in 1858, writes the "StarV Suva correspondent. The older Blakelocks came from Dur' am, in England, and emigrated to Lyttelton, in Now Zealand, in 1858. Later they moved in the same year to Lakeuiba, where Robert's father, who was a shipwright, was engaged to build a small schooner for the Rev. Mr. Lyth, and also to roof the mission church at Lakemba. Four years after he built for the mission the Vale Kau, in Lakemba. He later settled on Yanutha Island, where he was attacked by the Lovoni natives, who claimed that King Thakaumbau had no right to dispose of the island. Subsequently the family too'; i p a plantation on the island of Kandavu, which they still hold. Mr. Robert Blakelock is probably the last survivor of those who attended the first jubilee service in Frji 75 years ago. Domesticity Under Difficulties. In spring, when the thoughts of birds lightly turn to thoughts of nest-building, it is a common occurrence to find nests in all kinds of queer places. An instance of this may be seen at a large steel works in Freeman's Bay, where a number of thrushes have set up housekeeping in the roof ridging and rafters of one of the workshops. Undeterred by all the bustle and noise of the activities below, and untroubled by the passing of huge cranes within a few feet of their homes, these übiquitous birds have hatched out their young and are now engaged in teaching them to fly within the shelter of the building. One pair thus engaged «. couple of weeks ago were seen to be in distress when one of their brood fell down the funnel of a tar boiler. The interested workmen had given the fledgling up for lost until -yesterday, when the mother bird was observed to be entering the funnel with food. Upon investigation it was discovered that the young bird was caught in the funnel's elbow, and was alive and extremely well nourished, evidently having been regularly fed during its imprisonment. Its parents gave! every sign of joy on its restoration to the family circle.

The Moaning of the Bar. There was once a time in Auckland when the state of the Mamikau bar was of more importance than it is to-day, for most of the passenger traffic for the South went that way. There was no wireless in those days to give out the weather reports, which made known whether the bar was workable or not. It was frequently a rough trip between Onehunga and New Plymouth, but as it was usually done at night the weary traveller could sleep most of the time, to awaken in the morning to see the sun rise gloriously over Mount Egmont, and at the same time sail under the lee of the breakwater into a snug berth at the wharf. Recently two old travellers, veterans of the road, spending an evening together, turned on the wireless just as the announcer was giving out that the Manukau bar was unworkable, so that both grew reminiscent as they talked of incidents connected with the sea trip down the coast, and more especially when the Parliamentarians travelled that way down to Wellington for the session. They remembered Sir George Grey, Sir Maurice O'Rorke, Captain Jackson, Major Harris, Major Hamlin, Richard Monk, David Goldie, Witheford and many others more or less dignified and open-hearted, amongst whom Jackeon Palmer, Bollard and Johnny Shcehan were counted second" to none. The C.T.'s of those days were not to be outdone, and it was hard to tell the men of the road from the lawmakers of the country.

Insufficient Light. "I am not satisfied with an electric torch. It docs not comply with the Act, and the trouble is that it is not put on until someone approaches," said Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., in the Palmerston Xorth Magistrate's Court when a cyclist was charged with riding at night without a light. Line Never Crossed. "They were proud years—the proudest vears in Taranaki provincial football," said Mr. W. S. Glenn, one of the original All Black footballers and a well-known Taranaki representative, when speaking at the Rugby reunion at Stratford of 1903, 1004 and 100."), when the Taranaki line was never crossed by an opposing team. In 1904, he said, the Taranaki team did not lose a single match, and had the culminating triumph of drawing with Sivrigkt's All-British team. The War Parade. "Coming through Aden, Malta and the Suez Canal, large numbers of British naval ships were to be seen, and the ship I travelled in brought 270 artillerymen and equipment fbr Aden," said Mr. E. S. Moss, of the Moss Agency Company, who has returned from a business trip to England. "When I left England the Italo-Abyssinian trouble was looming, and although business was proceeding as usual, a good deal of preparation had been made." Chinese Floods. Some idea of the extent of the floods which lay waste villages along the valley of the great Yangtse River in China was given to the Canterbury branch of the Sanitary Institute, when a letter was read from Mr. <!. B. Marsh, chief health inspector iii Shanghai. In one of the biggest floods, he said,when 100,000 people were drowned, an aerial survey of the area revealed that for 000 miles from its mouth the Yangtse had flooded 30 miles on either side, and to a lesser extent for another 200 or 300 miles. Trade With China. "New Zealand has not yet begun to realise the potentialities of China as a market for its goods," said the Rev. J. M. McKenzie, a former missionary in China, in an address at a Rotary Club luncheon at Christchurch. Before the market could properly be appreciated New Zealand would need to have able representation in China, he said, so that a first-hand study could be made of the needs and conditions of the country, and before even that was done there would have to be created a feeling of neighbourliness—a realisation that difference never meant inferiority. " How's That ?

Contrary to appearances, umpires at cricket matches have greater responsibilities than merely wearing a clean white coat and acting as clothes pegs. One of these gentlemen (for so all umpires require to be) realised at a game in the Wellington College ground that the position has certain risks of personal danger attached to it. He was standing at square leg, his attention on the game, when a fast ball was dealt with by the batsman, and it caught the umpire on the head, spinning him round. The game was stopped for a time, and the umpire was led off the field apparently not seriously injured.

Nearing Home. Disappointment with the whole trip is expressed by Mr. Lawrence Beavis, owner of the Gospel Ship, who undertook to wheel a barrow from Auckland to Wellington and back for the purpose of raising funds to rebuild his Gospel Ship, which was destroyed by fire. Writing from Iluntly, Mr. Beavis said he had "a stormy trip from Hamilton, and, being in ballast," it made things very uncomfortable. I expect to be in Papakura on Saturday night, and I will anchor over the week-end. 1 am due at Auckland not later than Wednesday." Over two rf the three months Mr. Beavis has been on the road have been wet. "There is apparently nothing I can do to raise funds honestly," he said. Napier's Lead to New Zealand. Napier has set a lead to the rest of New Zealand as a result of the town planning scheme adopted in respect to the development of the 475-acre block, a policy which is confirmed in the statement regarding town planning which has been issued by the Minister of Finance, the Rt, Hon. J. G. Coates. "It goes without saying that there should be a close relationship between housing programmes and town planning requirements, and that zoning proposals should be carefully considered before housing schemes are undertaken," he states. "A town planning sche.ru • will control future development and establish housing in suitable areas, preferably where there are existing services, and not leave it to the speculative builder and s.ubdivider to dump houses where they are likely to be very costly to service."

Carnegie Centenary. In preparation for the celebration of the centenary on November 25 of the birth of the founder of the free library system, Andrew Carnegie, the Carnegie Corporation of NewYork has issued a series of posters for distribution among libraries throughout the world. Several of these have been received at the Canterbury Public Library. On each is printed some saving by Carnegie, one of them on war being of particular interest at the present time° It states: "Surely no civilised communitv in our day can resist the conclusion that the killing of man by man, as a means of settling international disputes, is the foulest blot upon human society, the greatest curse of human life, and that as long as men continue thus to kill one another they have slight claim to rank as civilised." Surprise for Angler. An unusual experience befell a party of Palmerston North anglers who were fishing in the Manawatu River. One had hooked an average-sized tro"t when the other immediately had his line drawn taut, but he let the line almost right out before playing his catch. After'about 15 minutes' "play," in which time the angler realised that he had hooked something heavier than a trout, he succeeded in bringing the fish to the water's edge. He then, discovered that he had caught a huge eel 3ft in length, about Sin in width, and of an estimated weight of 151b. As the struggling eel was brought to the surface, its jaws opened and dislodged the hooked trout, which weighed nearly lib. Dealing in Potatoes. "Some of the speculators will get their fingers burnt yet," prophesied a man who a few years ago was very prominent in the grain markets, when discussing potato sales in a Southern centre. He recalled the boom in potatoes of 1924. As head of the grain department of a local agency firm, he went to Waimate and offered a farmer £10 a ton (on trucks, Waimate) for his crop of 100 tons. The farmer was optimistic, and held out for an 1 additional 10/ a ton. The buyer bought small quantities at his own price from other farmers and finally the Waimate grower consigned his 'opto T din for sale. When his account was settled the farmer received, instead of the original cheque offered for £1000, a debit note for £0 6/, representing the losses incurred on freight and cartage of the bulk of the potatoes to the dump. At this time of the year old potatoes deteriorate rapidly, and the. Waimate grower was caught by the incoming supply of the new season's crop. He walked off his farm after that disastrous experience.