NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 253, 24 October 1936, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Coronation Medals. To the present th© Taranaki Education Board has not received any indication from the Education Department of special grants to be made in connection with the Coronation. The board has received several inquiries from school committees whether Coronation medals or other souvenirs are to be issued to children, Crack! Crack! The people of Auckland are receiving early advice that Guy Fawkes day is near. Loud explosions in Karangahape Road startled passers-by, and sent a policeman off in swift pursuit of those responsible. It is well to remember that there is considerable danger attached to throwing lighted fireworks at the feet of pedestrians. Men suffering from shell shock have been seriously affected by shock arising from such thoughtless acts. The Correct Time. The accuracy of the time told by Wellington's ollieial clocks, and by the radio signals sent out, is statistically analysed in the annual report of the Dominion Observatory. Out of the 4G2 radio time signals sent out during the year, 441 were correct within a quarter of a second; 20 were between a quarter and a half-second off the mark; while in one case a correction between half a second and one second was necessary. The greatest errors in the clock on the Government Buildings were 31 seconds fast and 20 seconds slow, while the Post Office clock during the year was never more thali six seconds fast or five seconds slow. Measuring Harbour Depth. To ascertaia the actual depth to rock bottom, borings of the harbour bed are being made in Freeman's Bay, to the west of Prince's wharf, by the engineer's staff of the Auckland Harbour Board. Data will be obtained for use in connection with the board's future construction programme, which includes the erection of additional wharves for coastal shipping near the western viaduct. Mariners are warned to keep clear of the transport punt from which the boring is being carried out. It is moored 300 ft westward of the inner end of Prince's wharf and about 300 ft northward of the eastern portion of the yiaduct. Its moorings have been laid out in four different directions. Catholic Feast Day. The Feast of the Kingship of Christ, which will he celebrated by Catholics throughout the world to-morrow, is one of the solemn festivals of the Church. It was first introduced into the liturgy by Pope Pius XI. in 1925, and since then has been given added importance on the Catholic calendar. It is associated with processions and colourful ceremony. In Auckland the major ceremony will be at the 11 o'clock Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, which will be followed by a parade and inpection of the Catholic scouts. Later there will be the major procession in the grounds of the Sacred Heart Convent. New Road Signs. The Automobile Association (Auckland) has begun the work of painting, ready for erection, the new road signs to be erected on all highways in the Auckland Province. It is estimated that about 1000 signs will be prepared, and some of the roads will be equipped by Christmas. A photograph on the illustrations page shows the work of painting in hand. The signs are double-sided, one side with the numerals 30, denoting the entrance to areas where speed is restricted to 30 miles an hour, and the other side having a black strip, denoting "all clear." This type of sign is in international use, being approved at a conference in Geneva in 1931 and later accepted by the international motoring body. It is a familiar sighc throughout Europe, where, however, speeds are expressed in kilometres. •! Sunday Cricket at Morrinsville. A divergence of view on the question of Sunday sport was revealed when the Morrinsville Borough Council on Thursday considered a request from the Morrinsville Cricket Club to play Sunday matches with country clubs at the Morrinsville Recreation Ground, which is controlled by the council. A motion that permission be refused was moved by Mr. W. McPherson, a former Mayor, and seconded hv the deputy-Mayor, Mr. W. Morrice. These councillors asked to have their votes recorded against a successful amendment that the club be permitted to play practice games, but not to hold organised matches. The amendment was proposed by Mr. B. Chapman and seconded by Mr. W. Hetherington. "Golf and hockey have already been played on the ground on Sundays, and bowls and tennis are also played in other parts of the town," said Mr. Chapman. "Where is the difference and harm if outside teams are not allowed in?" Mr. Hetherington said it a matter for people's conscience. His opinion was that youth was better employed playing games than being on the streets. "If they think they are doing wrong they are doing wrong," he added. Patron of Travellers. The silver plaque depicting , St. Christopher on the dashboard of Miss Jean Battens aeroplane illustrates the wide use of this symbol of the patron of travel, and recalls the pious belief associated with the saint. While Miss Batten carries the plaque, which was the ; "ift of her mother, as symbolising the patron of air pilots, St. Christopher is generally accepted by Roman Catholics, and, in modern times, by some of the other dienominations, as the patron of motoring, and indeed all modes of travel. Many motorists have a figure of St. Christopher inscribed on the dashboard or on the ignition key, but some, wh they treasure the token and believe ivplinitJv m its significance of protection, are. not familiar with the pious belief woven about the saint. Christopher was a poor ferryman, who, one wild night, was roused by a traveller urgently wishing to cross the rivet'. Ever kindly disposed, 'Christopher undertook the difficult crossing without hope of reward, and when he , was half-way across the Holy Child was seen to be on his shoulder. Thus St. Christophei ; is usually represented with staff in hand and hearing on his shoulder the Holy Child. On the other side of the dashboard cn Mis? oatten's 'plane is a rcplica of St. Paul, witlitlio i words below, "Ora pro nobis." It wns given to her by Italian pilots some years ago.

A Suitable 'Patron

"I would like to see I>ord Nuffield as patron—lie might give us a motor ear or a million and a quarter, or something," said Mr. C. H. Croker at the annual meeting of the Taranaki Athletic Sub-centre at Stratford. The question arose whether the sub-centre should elect a patron, but it was decided, as in the past, not to do so. Big Whitebait Run. One of the biggest runs of whitebait in recent years occurred in the Manawatu River this week, says a correspondent. The run commenced on. Monday and continued throughout this Tuesday, with the result that a large quantity of whitebait was taken from the river. One merchant had 30 tins on hand by 5 p.m. on Tuesday. This is the first run this season. School Desks. A report on seliool desks in Taranaki is to be furnished to the Taranaki Education Board bv the senior inspector, Mr. C. N. Has3am. Action is beimr taken by the board at the instance of Dr. W. M. Thomson, Hawera, a member of the board, who,as a medical man desires that in the interests of the health- ot the children the desks now in use, if found to be unsuitable, should be replaced by desks that are suitable. Another Bottle. Yet another bottle containing an official paper of the United States Hydrograpliie Office, Washington, has been found on the New Zealand coast. This, the third reported within a few days, was picked up about ten miles south of Ivaipara Heads. The othei bottles, one of which was found near the South Manukau Head and the other near Maunganui Bluff, were dropped into the ocean in April, but this latest find was set afloat from the Matson liner Monterey on July 11, when the vessel was about 200 miles due west of Cape Maria Van Diemen. The bottle's drift was in a soutli-easterly direction. Single Women Locked Up. The difference between a trip from England in 1870 and a trip in 1030 will no doubt be remembered by a few hardy, pioneering souls in England. The following entry was taken from an old sailor's biography: 'We left England in 1870, bringing 314 emigrants to New Zealand. The single women, in charge of a matron, were stowed away aft, the married people and children amidships, and the single men forward. Each evening at 8 p.m. the" single women were sent below and locked up for the niglit. At 0 p.m. all niale passengers were ordered below. The ship arrived at Lyttelton on January 5, after 81 days' sailing." St. Paul's New Chancel. The beautiful new chancel of St. Paul's Church, Symonds Street, is to be dedicated next Thursday evening. As they take part in a fitting ceremony the members of the coni "rogation of the church will share with the vicar, Canon C. A. B. Watson, a feeling of pride in the consummation of dreams and work that have extended over a period of 20 years. It is hoped that a large number of clergy and prominent citizens will be present" at the dedication by Archbishop Averill. A programme of special festivities will also be held next week. The services at St. Paul's to-morrow will be the last held under the temporary arrangement of the church. In the Open. That the interest of Ancklanders in religion is still vigorously alive was demonstrated by a large assembly representing everv conceivable religious denomination, as well" as atheists and others, which gathered outside the Pitt Street Methodist Church last evening for the usual Friday evening "Christianity in the open" meeting. Questions on points in religion were asked which severely taxed the powers of the speaker, while frequent interjections showed the keen interest of the gathering. At 0.15 the meeting was supposed to end, but the crowd would not permit this, and even after the speakei for the evening had gone they stood round in groups keenly discussing points raised during the meeting. I Missing Boy Found. 1 Hungry and tired, having had only one meal at Hobsonville since he left his home '■ at Alberton Avenue, Mount Albert, on Wed- ' nesday morning, the 11-year-okl boy, Richard ■ Walker, was found by his father near the ' railway bridge at Avondale about 4.30 yesterdav afternoon. His parents became alarmed , when the boy did not return home from the ' Gladstone Road School on Wednesday after- 1 noon, and communicated with the police. Extensive inquiries by the police failed to : loo.ite him. Yesterday afternoon his father, < while searching with a friend in a motor car. ' came across the boy at Avondale. Although he had spent two nights ill the open and suffered from blistered feet, lie showed no illeffects after his long tramp, and recovered after a bath and a good meal. The Last to " Leave. "Naturalist" writes: —Every day many thousands of people pass the Maori A\ ai Memorial at the top of Wakefield Street. They seldom fail to turn a glance of appreciation at the noble bronze figure which symbolises homage to those who fought in the battles of long ago, and frequently, at the seasons of growing or of falling leaf, one hears the remark, "I wonder what those trees are." In the grassed enclosure of the memorial stand a number of trees, of singularly graceful shape and bright, attractive foliage, and it is at present a matter of intciest that they a*e only just approaching full perfection ill a new growth of foliage. They aie weeping oaks, and are a distinctly laie species. The name is not particularly poetic, but it suggests the trailing plumes of memorial pomp, just as does the dark bulk of the cypress, or the flowing branches of the weeping willow. Also it is of botanical interest that the weeking oak is the last of. all the imported, or "exotic" trees, to come into foliage—or to shed its leaves. Only a few weeks ago did the last of April's brown leaves fall from the small tree which stands about half-way up the enclosure on the Airedale Street side. The weeping oak is worthy of close inspection on account of its distinctive leaf formation, for the shape is much more attenuated than that of the ordinary oak. It is a tree of very slow growth, this being the reason why it is chosen for memorial purHowever, in Auckland s congenial climate, the specimens to which reference is made have developed unusually. Nevertheless they are 10 years old.