NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 179, 30 July 1936, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Explanation Wanted. The Minister of Public Works, the Hoi R. Semple, is to be asked for ail explanatio: of his viewpoint touching the recent disputi with relief workers at Motueka. This wa decided at a meeting of the Auckland Car pouters and Joiuera* Union held last evening 1 ;ie matter was discussed at length, and pending a reply from the Minister, it was du cided to withhold any decision or cxpressioi of opinion. Tokyo, City of Contrasts. "Tokyo is essentially a city of contrasts,' said Mr. F. L. Kendall in relating his experi ences in Japan at yesterday's luncheon of tin Karangahape Road Business Men's Society "Alongside luxurious motor cars you see ox drawn carts. Then there is the glorified hand cart, a sledge-like vehicle with large wheel: pulled by human horses. Casual labourer: are waiting- at the foot of hills which are toe steep for the men to pull the hand-cart: without assistance. The sight recalled to mi the earlier days of Auckland, and of the citv'i horse-drawn trams, when the extra horse was kept at the bottom of AVellesley Street." Karoro Catches Fire. A Tiinaru correspondent slates that the prompt action of a boy named Kay Brown in extinguishing an outbreak of lire on the ail liner Karoro at the Saltwater Creek airport 011 Friday morning probably saved the aeroplane from destruction. .Just before beginning her journey to Christchurch at 10 a.m. the port engine backfired, igniting some petrol which had dripped into a pool of water on the ground, and the flames set tire to tlie petrol feed. Brown used a coat to battle with the lire till a chemical extinguisher dealt with the outbreak. The Karoro was not damaged, and was able to proceed to Christchurch. Keas f >r Germany. Six keas travelled to Dunedin yesterday by rail, housed in a large packing case. The birds were captured in the Hollyford district, near Lake Te Anau, and were forwarded to Mr. Arthin- Paape, in whose charge they will remain until next Tuesday, when they will be shipped by the Northumberland on the first stage of their journey to the Berlin Zoo. This enterprise is the outcome of interest taken by a recent visitor from Germany, Herr Bruno Beyer. He also collected some stags' heads to take to Berlin, where he intended to present tliem to students of comparative anatomy, who will make a scientific examination of the skulls to determine the changes produced by the Antipodean environment. Special permission to ship the birds overseas has been obtained from the Minister of Internal Affairs. Unrest in Japan. How the unfulfilled promises of the Japanese Government have led to considerable discontent and resentment among the workers was told yesterday by Mr. F. L. Rendell to Karangahape Road business men. Mr. Rendell said he had been told in Tokyo that the broken promises had had a relationship to the military rising in March. Recruiting for the East was carried on mainly in Tokyo and north of lokyo, where there were large farming communities. The farm workers were obliged to give about GO per cent of their produce to exporting organisations, and eked out a living from their rice crops. As compensation the recruits had been promised holdings in Mancliukuo, but these promises had not been fulfilled, and the powerful financial organisations in Mancliukuo had imported Korean labour. Thus was bred discontent and resentment.

t s East Coast Roads. e The reconstruction ami permanent surfac e ing of further sections of highway in Poverty Bay, Bay of Plenty and the northern part o Hawke's Bay, with a resultant iniprovemeir in visibilty and comfort for motorists, wa: reported by Mr. R. E. Champtaloup, touring manager of the Automobile Associatioi (Auckland), on his return last nip-lit from i ,• 1300-mile motor tour of those districts. Fur 5 ther works were, he stated, now in hand. Mr Champtaloup said that potholes were preva 3 lent in loose-metalled roads, the niainteiianct l of such roads 'being difficult in wet weather 3 and he had heard many complaints, bill graders seemed to be working regularly. A 5 comprehensive report on the maintenance oi l metalled and tar-sealed roads is being pre- - pared by Mr. Champtaloup from data gathered ? during six months' close observation of highway conditions. I 3 Not a " Mystery " Building. The erection of a small square building ' in reinforced the Pitt StreetBeresford Street corner has aroused much interest during the past few days among ! local residents, as well as many of "the travell ling public who pass this centrally situated ; spot on their journey to and from* town. It ( is a new "transformer kiosk," not a "mystery" building. The heavy steel frame is now in position, just below the road level, and the wooden framework for the thick walling will soon be ready to receive the liquid concrete. The transformer plant which the building will house performs that function which always sounds so mysterious to the lay mind, , namely, transforming high pressure 'to low pressure. Among the more or less speculative opinions which had been heard oxpressed regarding the destiny of the massive little building are that it is part of a new powder magazine, an anti-aircraft gun emplacement, or an extra strong police post. Now the mystery is solved. " Wattle " and " Mimosa." , "What an unromantic name!" exclaimed an English visitor to Auckland when informed that the tree with flowers "like tiny yellow pompoms" was the wattle. She remarked that it was called flowering mimosa at Home, where it was comparatively rare, and seldom grew to such perfection as in New Zealand and Australia. However, there was consolation for the "unromantic" name when it was remembered that Kipling immortalised it in his poem, "Lichtenberg," in which the colonial soldier, "riding in in the rain," was reminded of his own land by the smell of the wattle, fragrant after rain, in the environs of an unlovely South African town. Mention of this year's wonderfully fine show of bloom induces a correspondent to ask why Auckland has not more of the trees. They are plentiful in many parts of the province, growing along the roadside on many a southward route, and the winterless North has its full share, but the city could do with thousands more. At Helensville this winter the display lias been magnificent, and an object of much admiration by visitors. Ranfurly Shield Fever. The Ranfurly Shield fever spreads far, and for next Saturday's game 'between Otago and Southland enthusiasts are going from all parts of the South Island, but it is doubtful if a more arduous trip will be made than that by several parties of men going from Homer tunnel, 203 miles from Dunedin, by motor truck. The advantages of the 40-hour week are shown in this instance. The men will have their tea at Hollyford, leaving for Dunedin at 6 o'clock on Friday, and expect to reach Dunedin about 2 a.m. on Saturday. They will make their return on Sunday, reaching Homer tunnel in time to start work again on Monday morning. In Invercargill, states a Press Association message, an offer of £2 15/ apiece for grandstand tickets for the shield match at Dunedin next Saturday is made by an intending buyer, whose advertisement appears in a local paper. Tickets were sold originally at 3/5, they quickly jumped to 30/, and sales were reported on Wednesday at £2 2/. Sellers generally are not prepared to put a price on tickets. "What offer?" they ask.

Gives Us a Pain." ''The sight of a pakelia doing a Maori liaka gives us a pain," said Mr. Pine Taiapa, speaking at Wellington. ''It might be compared with a Maori trying to perform a Highland fling." In the first place Mr. Pine Taiapa ! pointed out that pakehas do not seem to understand that the liaka should be worked up to a climax. It should not be one long "bawl" from start to finish. Speedy Run. 1 rim-looking and smooth-running in a fiesli coat of paint and after a recent overhaul, the Devonport ferry steamer Toroa lived up to her appearance with an unusually fast trip across the harbour yesterday. She steamed from Devonport to the city via Stanley Bay in 15 minutes; leaving Devonport at 1.3b p.m. with an incoming tide, she took 011 some 20 passengers at Stanley Bay, and drew into the ferry wharves at Auckland at 1.51. 1* if tec 11 minutes is a quite normal time for the trip from Devonport to Auckland direct, but when Stanley Bay is visited on the way the journey often takes between 2.1 and 30 minutes. Visitor's " Interest." "When I was in Auckland I was struck by a particularly well-lighted window," observed Mr. 1). H. Ifa.stic, electrical engineer to the Napier City Council, when explaining community lighting at a meeting of the Napier Retailers' Association. "The window contained a quantity of ladies'—er—apparel," he stated, to the accompaniment of laughter, from his listeners. The speaker only added to his contusion when he hastened to explain that he had been interested merely in the lighting effect. ' 1 Running Shoes for Wheelbarrows." The decision of the Government to use < machinery where possible on public works ' has had an effect at Pacroa, for steam has been got up in one of the big excavators j which has been parked near the Public Works Department's Puke depot since the early days of the depression, when work was stopped on ( the Waihou and Oliinenuiri Rivers improvement scheme. However, the work for which steam was raised is not in this district, but on the South Island Main Trunk railway at Parnassus, and the immediate job was to (lis- j mantle its 90-tou mate for transportation to the location where it will provide the "running shoes for wheelbarrows." Missile From Blast on Football Field. J An incident with unpleasant possibilities 1 occurred during the representative Rugby 4 match between Manawatu and lforowhenua 1 011 the Palmerston North Oval at the Show- " grounds yesterday. Workmen were engaged ' in another part of the grounds splitting up a ' pine stump, and to facilitate operations had 1 set one and a half plugs of gelignite in an t auger hole bored a foot from the end. The ' charge exploded like a gun, and a piece of - wood weighing near 12M> shot out of the end a of the stump, landing 100 yards away right behind the goal posts, on which both teams a were at the moment converging. The missile continued its career across the Oval, crashing s into a fence in front of the grandstand. (

War and Longevity. "How many returned soldiers do yc think will be living in ten years'/" asked M W. D. Frame at the annual meeting of tl Hawke's Bay War Relief Association, when was stated that its fund would be probabl exhausted by that time. "I should say nc i - ery many, an large numbers have passed o luring the last few years," replied the chair mail, Mr. J. N. Barrio. "According to a ictuarial calculation, the life of a returne soldier has been shortened by years, lointed out Mr. C. V. Chamberlain, who adde that during the next few years it was poi ;ible that many of the returned soldiers wh lad not sought any help from the associatio night be in need of assistance.

Dancing and Dairy Costs. "I think that many dairy farmers wouli be surprised to know exactly what it cost tliem when those who are engaged 011 the fan go to several dances within a short space o time," remarked Mr. C. M. Hume, herd record ing supervisor to the New Zealand Dair Board, when addressing the Heretauuga Hen Testing Association (reports the Nnpie "Telegraph"). "The milking is always carriei out most scrupulously when the herd testin; olliecr is present, but I'm afraid not quite sc carefully at other times." said Mr. Ilumc, ii enlarging upon this point. Sir. Hume addet that when there were several dances on dur ing a single week the cost to the dairy farmei through loss of buttcrfat was probably nion than the cost involved by attending tin dances. From South Africa. That there is some foundation for the instinctive feeling of many Maoris witl regard to the South African's general attitude towards the coloured races is to some extent borne out by a report of Oxford Group activities in South Africa, just received. The group movement, says the report, is holding out hope for the native races in their relations witli the white population. A group leader, Professor Edgar Brookes, of Pretoria, said recently: "We must be ready to surrender oui ecclesiastical, racial and national prejudices Political and church life does not exist for its own sake, it lias force and meaning only if we place it under God's almighty leadership. ... I have seen miracles of reconciliation and mutual understanding in political and religious life. If our principles become a living power among our white people, their attitude towards the blacks will be wholly changed."

Tidier Borough Streets. A suggestion that an effort should be made to keep the streets of the Birkenhead borough in a tidier condition than they are at present was made in a letter received by the borough council last night from the secretary of the Birkenhead School Committee. "There are rubbish receptacles in the school grounds, and the children are being taught to keep the grounds clean and tidy, but once they are away from the school the present appearance of the streets does not offer any great inducement to them to carry 011," the letter stated. "The few wire baskets in use at present do not make the best receptacles, as the wind blows underneath and scatters the papers. It has 'been suggested that some of the business firms be approached to supply receptacles as an advertisement, with their name and business printed thereon, and an appeal to the public to use them." The matter was referred to the chairman of the public services committee. "When is a War Not a War.?" "A question that has been too much overlooked even by those who have talked and written a great deal about the League is, who is to decide when the Covenant has been broken, or when is a war not a war?" said Sir. W. T. G. Airey, lecturer in history at the Auckland University College, during the course of. a lecture last evening'on "The League of Nations and the Peaceful Change." 1L: said that although this might be a simple question, in practice it had been proved very important. A provisional and non-binding resolution of 1921 seemed to have become the basis of procedure, and was acted upon in the Abyssinian case. "Few seem to have realised its full significance, for it destroys the whole basis for a collective system," said the lecturer. The 1921 resolution stated that it was the duty of each member of the League to decide for itself whether a breach of the Covenant had been committed. "A more exact statement of the intention would have been. "It is the privilege of each member to decide in accordance with its own conveni^:'je whether a breach has been committed," J dded.