NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 261, 4 November 1935, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Site for Chest Hospital. A number of sites for the proposed chest hospital have been inspected by the Auckland Hospital Board. The chairman of the board, Mr. Wm. Wallace, said this morning that on Saturday he, in company with board members, inspected three properties, and a report would be made by a committee of the honorary staff. Fires in Auckland. Fire brigades were kept busy in the city and suburbs during the week-end, eleven engines being sent out altogether in answer to four different calls. Four from the Central station and one from Western districts were sent to the premises of Barry and Beale, Ltd., opticians, in Queen Street, late on Saturday afternoon, and one from Tamaki and one from Kemuera answered a call to Long Drive, St. Helier's Bay, early yesterday morning. Brigades from the Central and Western Districts stations answered a call to a house at 13, Richmond Road yesterday morning, and Central and Parnell engines were called to a grass and gorse fire in St. George's Bay Road, Parnell, on Saturday afternoon.

" Foot-fault ! " "Foot-fault!" called a line umpire at Stanley Street on Saturday when F. J. Perry had served a ball. It requires some courage to foot-fault a world's champion player, but there could be no doubt that the penalty was deserved. Perry's reaction was to laugh and toss a spare ball at the umpire. Later the same umpire foot-faulted the champion on two successive services. After the second, Perry, whose face always betrays his feelings, looked annoyed, and growled out: "You ought to be given a medal!" An instant later he was laughing again.

Purpose of Double Fence. Two priests travelling on the box scat of his coach figured in an amusing anecdote related by a speaker on Saturday night to a gathering of ex-Thamesites. One of the priests in the story, just arrived from Ireland, became interested in a double line of fencing along the road, the inside one being for the protection of a shelter belt. The newcomer asked his companion what was the idea of having two fences. Without a flicker of his eyelids, the other priest replied that the outside one was to keep the cattle from getting in and the inside one was to keep them from getting out.

A Wartime Anniversary. The seventeenth anniversary of the capture of Le Quesnoy by the New Zealand Forces fell to-day. The attack was part of the big push in the closing stages of the Great War, which culminated in the capture of Mons and the acceptance of armistice terms by the Germans a week later. The first New Zealanders to enter Le Quesnoy, according to official records, were Second-Lieutenant L. C. L. Averill, a son of Archbishop Averill, and Second-Lieutenant H. W. Kerr. The New Zealanders stormed Le Quesnoy, which was fortified by ancient ramparts, but wero prevented from storming the keep of the fortress by machine-gun fire. The German commander rejected a verbal summons to surrender, and the New Zealanders pressed forward on the flanks and broke through the enemy lines. Over 100 guns were captured, and they forced the ramparts and captured what remained of the garrison.

Bullion Displayed at Banquet. Eclating experiences of his association with the old Thames coaching firm of Bradley and Company, Mr. Nat. Ferguson on Saturday night mentioned that after the first crushing at the Waiorongomai battery, of which Mr. H. H. Adams was the manager, that enterprisinsr Aucklandcr, Mr. Josiah Clifton Firth, invited a large number of Auckland friends to visit the Waiorongomai mines. He wired to Bradley and Company, coach proprietors, to supply coaches to carry 100 people from Te Aroha to Waiorongomai. The firm advised Mr. Firth that the Waiorongomai road was impassable for wheeled traffic. That did not daunt Mr. Firth, who wired back: "Supply 50 saddle horses." And so the visitors reached the mines, and subsequently they were entertained at a banquet at the Palace Hotel, and the bullion from the first clean-up at the battery was displayed on the banquet table. Just the Way of Tilings. The case of the Southern farmer who refused £10 a ton for his 100-ton crop of potatoes and later, when he marketed them, found that on account of deterioration they had to be carted to the dump and he got, not £1000, but a debit note for £G 6/, as reported in the "Star" on Saturday, has brought to mind the case of a farmer in a neighbouring province. He grew a big crop of onions, and finding no market in his own district, sent them on to Auckland, where there happened to be a glut. After waiting for a couple of months for his cheque after all his hard toil, he got a debit note for carting the onions to the dump, and had to sell one of his best cows to meet the amount. For twelve months, till the next crops came in, there were lean times on the farm, but the farmer did not walk off it. Having faith in onions, he grew another crop, and this was sold on the top of the market, so that he was able to increase his dairy herd at a time when dairy produce was continually on the up grade.

Study Group Formed. To fill a want which has been felt for some time by members of the anthropological and Maori race section of the Auckland Institute.and Museum, and following a preliminary announcement at a meeting of the section at the museum last week, a meeting was convened by the chairman, Mr. George Graham, for the formation of a study group to bring together those interested in the systematic study of the science of anthropology. The group is fortunate to have secured as director Mr. W. S. Dale, M.A., Dip.Ecl. (N.Z.), M.A. (Yale), lion, research associate of Auckland University College, who lias recently returned from a research tour, during which he studied anthropology and ethnology under Dr. Peter Buck, M.D., at Yale, Dr. Buck then visiting Yale as exchange lecturer from Bishop Museum, Honolulu. The group intends to hold weekly classes at the offices of Te Akarana Maori Association, Endean's Buildings, and in addition to members of the section, members of the public who are interested in this science are invited to attend.

Boys' Work Director. A quarter of a century of work as boys' work director of the Y.M.C.A. has been completed by Mr. G. W. Adair, of Auckland, and during that period 10,18(5 youths have coine under his supervision. Many of them have grown to manhood and are occupying prominent positions in various walks of life, both in New Zealand and overseas. In reviewing his 25 years of work 011 Saturday, Mr. Adair said that boys themselves had changcd very little during that period, but the difficulties and temptations they had to face had increased tremendously. At the age of 19 Mr. Adair turned his attention to Y.M.C.A. work, when he joined the association in Wellington. After five years as a volunteer worker he became boys' work director in 1908. Two years later he transferred to Auckland in that capacity, and apart from doing Y.M.C.A. work in France during the Great War, he has occupied that position ever since. He introduced boys' Association football into the organisation in 1911, and was instrumental in the game being played in primary schools. In 1913 Mr. Adair spent nine months investigating training of the young in the United States. He also pioneered the boys' summer camp movement in the Dominion, and has been director of 31 camps vhich have been attended by over 40') lads. 111 the. opinion of Mr. Adair there is nothing like healthy camp life to bring out the best in boys.

A Tail That Wagged. The uncertain fluctuations of cricket were demonstrated in an intermediate game at the Domain on Saturday. Grafton had been dismissed for a mere 39 runs, and Turners and Growers replied with a confident 74 for nine wickets, and the match seemed settled. However, the tenth wicket pair regarded their turn as an encore item and delighted the spectators by rattling up 171 runs, of which C. Everitt contribfited 157 in quick time, being unbeaten when play ceased. The score board total was increased to 245. Independence of Panama. The independence of the Rejmblic of Panama was declared 32 years ago yesterday, and the occasion was marked in Auckland today, when members of the Consular Corps paid official calls on the Consul for Panama, Senor S. Quiros y Quiros. Before 1903 Panama was part of Columbia, but after negotiations with the United States for the site of the canal, Panama broke away and declared its independence. Columbian troops marched against the revolutionists, but they were met by forces of United States marines, and war was prevented.

'Varsity Students for Farms. A suggestion made by Mr. W. H. Allen, secretary of the Waikato executive of the Farmers' Unio:., that a fair amount of labour for farms could be made available during December, January and February by the employment of university students who were on vacation, was supported at a meeting of the executive. It was stated that the suggestion had been circulated among branches and had been generally welcomed as a means of relieving the present acute shortage of labour on farms. Steps are to be taken to get into touch with students willing to take up farm work.

Optimist and Pessimist. "We carried a good deal of gold on the coaches," said Mr. Nat. Ferguson at a gathering on Saturday night of former Thames residents, in relating incidents of the coaching days on the goldiields. "I have seen a mine manager leave £1000 worth of gold in a portmanteau in the boot of the coach and go and have his lunch, not a bit afraid of it being taken. On the same occasion an old Scotsman from Karangahake had a few ounces of gold in a small carpet bag. He took no risk of losing it, for while sitting at the table during lunch he kept his feet on the carpet bag to make sure it was quite safe."

Hand Weaving for Fijians. A new industry was inaugurated lately •through the energies of the Methodist Mission for the native Fijian in his home at Suva, that of hand weaving, writes the "Star's" correspondent. At the Suva Show Mr. Derrick exhibited some samples of finished and partly completed cloth woven at the Davui Levu Mission. The exhibit attracted much attention, being of beautiful workmanship, fine patterns and colouring, showing considerable skill. The industry will be peculiarly well adapted for the village life of the natives, and should prove a very sound economical proposition, as the village bill for clothing amounts to quite a substantial figure.

Goods on Footpaths Banned. What promised to become a municipal election issue in Morrinsville—the question of whether the Morrinsville Borough Council was right in enforcing the by-law which prohibits sliopkepers from displaying goods on the footpath in front of their shops—has been settled for the time being. After considering for a month a petition signed by 20 shopkeepers praying the council not to enforce this by-law, which was alleged to be a hardship to retailers, the council decided with only one dissentient vote to endorse its previous decision. As a by-election was pending, the petition had been held over so that it could be considered by a full council, and the newlyelected councillor, Mr. A. L. Waters, was the only one to vote in favour of relaxing the observance of the by-law and allowing shopkeepers to put goods on the footpaths. Councillors who thought the council should stick to its previous decision pointed out that the shopkeepers had kept their goods off the footpaths for'two months already, and had apparently suffered no hardship.

Pheasant and Quail Together. The unmistakable "waa-knk" of a cock pheasant, heard very close at hand, halted a pedestrian in his tracks at the corner of Bassett Road and Shore Road, Remuera (or is it Parnell?), yesterday afternoon. Peering over the board fence, he had the pleasure of seeing the majestic-looking bird at a range of less than ten yards. A few feet to the rear was, not a hen pheasant, but a pair of quail, which were of the somewhat uncommon brown variety. All three birds seemed to find insect food, of some kind or other, amid the rows of potato plants. It was impossible, even at such close range, to see what they were picking up, but it was obviously not of a vegetable nature. To round this paragraph oIF, one would have liked to mention how the sunshine glinted on the pheasant's brilliant plumage, and beautified the glossy brown of the feathers of the quail, but unfortunately it was a dull afternoon. However, it was interesting to see wild game birds so close.

A Maori Chieftainess. A personality who lias been attracting a considerable amount of interest in the city is a venerable Maori lady, most; strikingly clad in a cerise silk frock and head kerchief of the same vivid hue, which makes a most dramatic contrast to her dark complexion and snowwhite hair. She is the chieftainess Rere Arama, from the Kaipara district, and is an ariki of the Ngati-Whatua people, being the last living descendant in the direct line from the eldest son of Tuperiri, the eighteenth century chief who ruled from Kaipara to Tamaki, and from whom the leading Ngati-Whatua families claim descent. Although llcre Arama walks carrying a walking stick painted white, she moves with such confidence that it is difficult to realise that she is completely blind. A staunch supporter of the Church, as are so many of her kinsmen and kinswomen—and have been since the earliest days of missionary settlement—Rere Arama has been attending the Maori meetings and services in connection with the visit to Auckland of Bishop" Bennett, Bishop of Aotearoa, who is now on his yearly tour of his diocese.

Aucklander in Soviet Russia. A former Auckland join ..alist, Mr. P. L. Soljak, recently spent several weeks travelling through Europe, and visited Leningrad and Moscow. He writes that in his opinion the latter city is the brighter; he found that food, tobacco and cosmetics were plentiful, but there was a shortage of good clothing. He noticed a largo number of aeroplanes in use f6r commercial purposes, and building and railway construction were being carried on at full speed. The people have many opportunities for culture and pleasure, and can enjoy life on a small income. The free and easy camaraderie t>f the citizens, and the fact that visitors can come and go as they please, was all in keeping with reports made by other New Zealand visitors whom he had met in London. Mr. Soljak mentions the valuable assistance given by the girl guides from Intourist, and also the strange impression created by the sight of the symbolic hammer and sickle on palatial buildings of the Czarist period. Mr. Soljak travelled from London to Leningrad through the Kiel Canal by a Soviet motor ship, and describes his fellow passengers as a mixed assemblage from almost every quarter of the globe. The crew have accommodation of the same class as that occupied by passengers. They run their own newspaper, and have lectures and discussions under the supervision of the captain, wbo must make a report on fiheir cultural progress at the end of each trip.