NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 110, 11 May 1936, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Meaning of Worship. About 50 teachers, representing nine different schools, attended a meeting at the Epsom Presbyterian Church yesterday afternoon, organised by the Presbyterian Sunday School Teachers' Association to discuss the meaning of worship and its place in the Sunday school. These questions were first discussed by primary, junior and intermediate teachers in separate groups, whose findings were then summarised by Miss E. Allan, the recently-appointed youth worker of the Presbyterian Church. Birkenhead Bus Service. A new bus was placed on the Birkenhead service to-day. This is the seventh bus employed in the service by Birkenhead Transport, Ltd. With the exception of the painting, upholstering and blacksmith's work, the bus was built single-handed by Mr. R. V. Shepherd, of Birkdalc, who a year ago turned out a similar type of bus, which was the first motor bus built on the North Shore. Plans have been prepared for the construction of a larger bus for the company. Up-to-date Paving. Up-to-date materials have been used for the replacement of two very worn sections of pavement in Broadway, Newmarket. Concrete paving stones, presenting a smooth surface, on which rainwater cannot gather, have been laid down on the west side, between Mortimer Pass and the shopping area, and on the eastern side from the Khyber Pass intersection to Station Street. The Borough Council intends to complete step by step the paving of the whole borough district in this manner, which is a great improvement on the broken surfaces which characterise so many footpaths in the city. Death of Hon. W. F. Massey Recalled. Yesterday was tlie anniversary of the death of the Et. Hon. William Ferguson Massey, who was Prime Minister of New Zealand during the difficult period of the war years, and who died on May 10, 1025. Mr. Massey was born at Limavady, County Derry, Ireland, in 1850, and came to New Zealand at the age of 14. After leaving school he went on to the land, and 20 years later entered public affairs. He was elected to Parliament as member for Waitemata in 1594, and became Leader of the Opposition in 1903. In 1912 his party defeated the Ward Ministry and took over the government of the country as the Reform Government. After the outbreak of war he arranged a strong Coalition Ministry with the Opposition. After the Coalition came to an end he continued as leader, and died in harness. As a tribute to his memory, the country built the beautiful memorial tha* marks his resting place on Point Halswell. Shopping in America. Some of the difficulties of pronunciation and nomenclature that are encountered by the New Zealander visiting the United States were related to a "Star" reporter this morning by an Aucklander who lias recently returned from America. Being familiar with the more common American expressions, such as street car, sidewalk and the "ell" (elevated railway), he prided himself that he could pass as a "100 per cent" American citizen, and, full of confidence, undertook a shopping expedition. He found, however, many pitfalls. Shop assistants were in a quandary when he asked for a "reel of cotton," but eventually it was discovered he wanted a "ball of thread." They , also stared in amazement when confronted with a request for a "tin of tomatoes." He should have inquired for a "can of to-mat-oes." -

Helping Indigent Maoris. To meet a situation of some urgency created among the Maori population of tlio Gisborne district, supplies of potatoes have been obtained by the Native Department for distribution to indigent families in various settlements. The distribution is scheduled to commence immediately. Special committees of leading Maoris have been formed in the principal kaingas to review abdications for relief under the scheme, and all relief will be granted on the recommendations of those committees. The action taken by the Department follows oil a report obtained from Mr. R. J. Thompson, registrar of the Tairawhiti district. Statements that many of the Maoris on the East Coast were suffering from malnutrition, and that the failure of the crops in various settlements threatened a severe hardship during the winter, gave rise to Departmental inquiries, and these inquiries established the fact that many Maori people were, in fact, facing a winter of seiiii-starvation. The floods of February and March were the particular causes of the widespread concern, crops of potatoes, pumpkins, kumaras and maizo having been ruined by the floods or by surface water lying on the fields.

I Mothers' Day Observance. j Striking evidence of the increasingly j widespread observance of the animal Mothers' Day, held yesterday, was the number of per- > sons wearing white flowers. The white flower ) is the observance of the day. Services were j held in churches; .there was a rally in the i Town Hall, while in many homes remembrance of the day was given material form by the 1 giving of small gifts to mothers. As far as > church services are concerned, it is becoming increasingly common for children to go with their mother to service on the second Sunday in May, the day set apart for Mothers' Day. The rally in the Town Hall in the afternoon was arranged by the Y.M.C.A. and the Ngaruawaliia Convention Committee, in connection with the farewell visit of the young Irish evangelist, Mr. Edwin Orr. The hall was filled, and many people were not able to gain admittance. The Rev. Knowles Kempton presided. Special prayers for mothers were said by Adjutant V. J. Dick, of the Salvation Army, and the lesson was read by the Rev. A. S. Wilson. The Congress Hall Band was in attendance. At the opening of his address Mr. Orr stressed the significance of motherhood. The Mother of the Saviour represented the ideal type of mother, he said. His words were given added weight by the fact that practically the whole audience, men, women and children, wore the symbolic white flowers. Cricket Scores in Football Games. "Time is out of joint," said Shakespeare, or, to put the matter more simply, the games were played out of season. When you abandon the bat and the ball and put on your football boots (not your running shoes), you should keep to a score indicative of the appropriate game. For that reason, then, four games played in the football season should have been managed differently. The players should have put their brakes on. The first was the "big game" at Point Chevalier, that is to say, it was played at three o'clock. The fourthgraders from City met the fourth graders from Point Chevalier; and though only a fourth grade game, it was played with vim and a good deal of zest, particularly on one side. Anyway, all the players in the Point Chevalier game did a good deal of moving about. So did the referee, but one set of 13 players seemed to move towards a more tangible result than did their opponents. Something happened to the City team on the afternoon. Or perhaps it would be more true to say that something happened to Point Chevalier. You see, City scored 84 points, but the local team —well, wait till you hear the rest of the story. Two fifth grade teams also met. Suburbs ] confronted Nortlicote, and another team from the same club met Manukau. In these games, • too, Rugby this time, all 60 players moved i about a good deal, while it is also true that : 30 of them moved to a more tangible result, i The two Suburbs teams scored 130 points j between them, but had Nortlicote or Manukau I been playing cricket, each of its Batsmen ( would have scored a total something the shape < of an egg—or a football. <

Millipede Invasion. People have been sending to the Auckland War Memorial Museum lately numbers of common millipedes. It seems that there has been an invasion of homes in volcanic and sandy soil areas for some reason or another— perhaps the weather—and the insects have crawled up out of the earth through gaps and cracks in the floor. Once in, however, tliey do little else than curl up and flic- The inhabitants of the invaded hous«s have been concerned about any damage likely to bo dono by the insects, but Mr. R. A. Falla, assistantdirector of the museum, points out that they are quite harmless. Ladies at Middlemore. The privilege of playing on the course 011 Sunday afternoons will be extended to ladies in consequence of a decision at a special meeting of the Auckland Golf Club 011 Saturday evening. The ladies' and men's clubs at Middlemore are two separate bodies, and the former is allotted two days, Tuesdays and Fridays, for its competitive events, and on those days the ladies have the right of way 011 the course. On Saturdays, when the men's competitions nrc played, the ladies are not permitted to play, and they have been similarly restricted 011 Sundays. The decision reached on Saturday last is limited in that the ladies will not be permitted to play until after 2.30 in the afternoon, and they must be accompanied by a male member.

Noise in the Courtroom. "Bring tfiat man before the Court," ordered Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., in the Wellington Magistrate's Court, when a rather noisy newcomer entered the body of the court. The man was forthwith brought before the magistrate, who delivered a lecture 011 courtroom etiquette before instructing the Court orderly to see him off the premises. The magistrate's action was taken as a result of a threat made earlier in the week, when he complained that the noise was so great that it was difficult to hear the evidence being given. He then promised the occupants of the body of the court that the next offender would be dealt with before him. Intense silence followed the magistrate's action. The University Frolic Season. Capping Day frolics by university students in Auckland have been subject in recent years to restrictions, but a modified version was presented to citizens on Saturday evening in byways handy to Queen Street. Careful to observe the by-law against the carrying of banners in Queen Street, nine "Abyssinians" and "Italians" engaged in the sound and clamour of war at strategic points. Ere they were "moved on" by the law's guardians for causing congestion of foot traffic, the citizens had gathered, through the medium of topical songs, etc., that the demonstration had been made in the interests of the forthcoming capping revue entertainment, proceeds of which are°in aid of the Crippled Children's Fund. Scarred Trees. Broken and scarred in the big storm of February 3, a number of trees in Albert Park have suffered further in subsequent gales. Amongst the worst sufferers were the two big Moreton Bay figs at the head of the Victoria Street pathway. In February huge branches were torn from them, and others, weakened by the buffeting, have since fallen. This morning again workmen were engaged in trimming broken stumps of branches, but the trees by now turn a scarred face towards the centre of the park. Other small trees have since been removed, and the ground has healed, but the clump of poliutukawa facing Victoria Street East, which at Christmas time presented such a fine show of red-starred green, had been irreparably damaged.

Advice from America. A correspondent, "Reader," supplies the following reply to a youtli who wrote to an American relative about chances o'x work in America. "In regard to Jim's idea of coming here now (the answer comes from America), tell him to get that idea out of his head right now; lie would only be looking for trouble. There are 11,000,000 people out of work in this country, and most of them are young single fellows. Bread lines everywhere, and Government relief stations; and they are only for citizens, so you see it would be nothing short of insanity to come over to these conditions, and much as I would like to see him, in all fairness to him I must discourage the idea. I have had pretty tough sledding myself this past five years, but why disclose the darker side of the cloud. This letter is getting too gloomy. I often look back to our pleasant home life in New Zealand, with its nice climate and pretty scenery. Brother Leo lost his nil here, and is having a tough time of it, but he's a fighter, you know, and will come out on top in the finish."

The Pumpkin as a Missile. As a vegetable the humble" pumpkin is greatly appreciated by everyone, but when ' on Saturday afternoon it was used in a new ' role as a missile it suddenly became more formidable than most people would imagine, causing damage to the Rotorua-Auckland express as well as injuries to one of the passengers, writes the "Star's" Pukekohe correspondent. The pumpkin, grown in fertile Franklin, was thrown from an overhead bridie between Paerata and Karaka at about halfpast three on Saturday afternoon, when the express was passincr underneath at a speed approaching fifty miles per hour. The pumpkin passed between two old-type carriages. However, such was the speed of the train that before the pumpkin could drop right through it crashed against the plate glass of a carriage door and shattered the pane, showering the interior of the carriage with pumpkin and glass. One passenger received two deep cuts in the side of his face, while fair-sized fragments of the broken glass were later found deeply embedded in the inside walls of the carriage, thus revealing the terrific force of the As a result of investigations made by the Pukekohe police, two local youths will appear in the Pukekohe court to explain the reason why a pumpkin should suddenly drop from the sky. City Drainage Scheme. Improvements to the stormwater drainage system in the central city area, which were designed to eliminate the flooding which occurred in the businpss area in Lower Queen Street when a high tide and a tropical downpour coincided, are Hearing completion. The work has been in progress for three years, ,-uul is costing the Auckland City Council £50,000. Previously all the stormwater from the Queen Street valley was carried by a single large | sewer running down Queen Street, along Customs Street East and Britomart Place to an outlet under King's wharf. There was also a small sewer running from it to another outlet under Queen's wharf. Now the main sewer has been tapped at the intersection of Victoria and Queen Streets and in Fergusson Street to carry the whole of the stormwater from above Victoria Street and Bowen Avenue into the harbour by a new sewer which discharges at the foot of Albert Street. This section of the work was completed towards the end of last year, and the outlet is so constructed that the flow of water is not impeded even at high J spring tides. An extra outlet has been provided for the lower business area by building a large new sewer from the old main in Customs Street East along Gore Street extension to the waterfront under Central wharf. A pipe sewer has also been put in to carry storm water in the Queen Street sewer from the western half of Fort Street, where flooding used to cause the lifting of the wooden paving blocks. The last stage of the work is now in hand. This consists of laying a 3ft pipe sewer from the junction of Fort Street, Customs Street and Emily Place to the inner end of the new sewer in Gore Street, and will carry away the rush of water which comes j down Emily Place when it rains heavily. J