NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 205, 29 August 1936, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Yesterday's Street Collection

Yesterday's street collection in aid of the funds of the Royal Life Saving Society, the Surf Life Saving Association, the Navy League and the Victoria League, resulted in the sum of £192 being raised. This was below the amount gathered at last year's collection, £203. Northcote Council Vacancies. Two vacancies have occurred in the Northcote Borough Council by the resignation of Messrs. A. G. Osborne anil E. W. B. Herriek. The election for two new members to fill the vacant seats lias been fixed for September 21. Nominations close on September 10. Police Raids.

Simultaneous raids were carried out by the police last night on a house in Hardinge Street and at a city cafe, search warrants being executed at both places. The raiding parties were in charge of Sub-Inspector D. Scott, Sergeants Jones, Holt and Bissett assisting. Quantities of liquor, it is alleged, were seized, and no doubt more will be heard of the raids in subsequent Police Court proceedings.

Suggested Exchange of Souvenirs

A suggestion that the Hamilton High School should exchange souvenirs with the high school in Hamilton, Victoria, was received by the Hamilton High School board of governors yesterday. The suggestion emanated from Mr. J. Payne, assistant trade commissioner in New Zealand for Australia, who recently visited Hamilton. The board approved of the suggestion, and appointed a committee to put it into effect. " More Honoured in the Breach." "Probably nothing is so inimical to good government as the existence of a law that is constantly broken by every section of the community," said Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., when speaking on "The Legal Machine" at a luncheon of the Wellington Returned Soldiers' Association. "The classic example in this country is the Gaming Act, so far as it attempted to outlaw the bookmaker. No law has been more openly flouted. In my considered opinion a substantial proportion of adolescent crime must bo laid to that source— not the crime of betting with bookmakers— but the impotence of constituted authority to enforce that law."

Youth for Christ."

In many churches throughout the metropolitan area, final thanksgiving services in connection with the "Youth for Christ" campaign will be held to-morrow. In the afternoon a mass Interdenominational procession of witness will be held, when it is expected that about 4000 young men and women will march from Symonds Street, Karangaliape Road and Upper Queen Street to the Town Hall, where -a big rally and service will be conducted by Archbishop Averill at 2.45. In the event of rain the procession will not be held, but the arrangements for the meeting in the Town Hall will stand. Sunday Funerals. Although a Wellington Provincial Funeral Directors' Association is in process of formation and is planned to represent the entire North Island area south from New Plymouth on the west and Napier on the east, the organisation is by no means complete. Some time must pass, a leading Wellington undertaker told the "Dominion," before questions such as Sunday funerals could be considered. "For this reason alone," he said, "I do not think it is likely that Wellington funeral directors will follow the Auckland lead, at least in the meantime, of discontinuing Sunday funerals. Wellington ministers have approached us to abolish Sunday funerals, and there was a time in Wellington when the ministers of some denominations absolutely refused to conduct funerals on Sundays." Education as Adventure. "I look forward to education being more of an adventure for children," said the Minister of Education, the Hon. P. Eraser, in an address to the Christcliurch branch of the Workers' Educational Association. "I look forward to seeing the children acting history." The Minister indicated that eucli a system of visual teaching could not be introduced for some years. "It will take years to put our school buildings—particularly _ the primary schools —in a condition that will allow us to say wo are not ashamed of tlieni," he said. "The more urgent things must come first, but I hope that before many years there will be provision in our schools for the pageant of history to be carried out by the children." Wild Budgerigars at Titirangi.

The report that budgerigars escaped from captivity are thriving in the Waitakere Ranges is confirmed by an Auckland bird fancier, who states that on a recent afternoon he saw at Titirangi three flocks of eight or ten birds each. When casual observers reported the presence of these birds in the Waitakeres a short time ago, some fanciers, believing that "budgies" could not survive a winter in the open, thought that the birds seen were actually rosellas, another species of Australian parakeet, which were liberated some years ago and are increasing. At Titirangi, however, they were seen' and identified as budgerigars by an expert, who remarked that, as these birds in the wild state in Australia commonly bring out two hatchings in a vear, they might be expected to increase rapidly. In this event, tliey were likely to prove a serious pest to farmers and orchard - ists at Henderson and thereabouts,, as they were most destructive. Their favourite food was grass seed, but they would peck at most kinds of fruit, spoiling much more than they ate, out of pure mischief. One of their annoying little games, he stated, was to pick blossoms to pieces, petal by petal. On the other hand, they were undoubtedly beautiful birds, showing, even in the wild state, many variations in colour, this being the characteristic that had first 'brought them to the notice of fanciers, and they might prove a source of income to boys, as breeders would like to get birds raised in a wild state, so as to strengthen their aviary-bred varieties with a strain of hardier blood.

Films of Maori Life. The interesting collection of cine films made by. 'Mr. Henri Bennett, son of the lit. Kev. F. A. Bennett, Bishop of Aotearoa, was shown at a social evening convened in his honour on Thursday. Mr. Bennett is leaving for Wellington in a day or two. The collection, although only recently begun, is of high ethnologic value. It includes pictures of Maori historical events reconstructed and filmed on the sites where they occurred. Also shown are scenes in many Maori villages and settlements. Several scenes show the blending of traditional and modern, for example a group of young people assembled to foe confirmed by the Bishop on the occasion _of his yearly diocesan visit, while on his arrival he is "reeted by a hearty Maori welcome with powhiri and haka all complete. Of great interest are the studies of the various Maori secondary schools, especially of St. .Stephen's College and Queen Victoria Maori Girls' School. As a contrast the "farthest north" school in New Zealand is shown, Te Hapua, and other native schools in the north. Some idea of the difficulties which beset native school teachers is given by the pictures of the rivers beside the schools, trickling streams in summer, a quarter-mile wide torrent in winter, strewn with great logs from the back country. The oldest oak tree in New Zealand is shown, and the oldest house (at Kerikeri), as well as* the largest Maori meeting house, Te *Poho-o-Rawiri, at Gisborne, which cost £SOOO to build. It is Mr. Bennett's desire to secure by moving picture an historical and ethnologic record of the evolution of the Maori people.