NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 273, 17 November 1936, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Coming Conferences. In the early part of next year several conferences will be held in Auckland. The conference of Australian and New Zealand surgeons will be held from January 18 to 23, and the Australian and New Zealand science congress will be held from January 12 to IS. A chemists' conference will also be held in January! The holding of the conferences will bring a large number of visitors to Auckland. Another Record. Those who answered their Australian coirespondence from the Awatea yesterday by the return mail this afternoon will have shared in another trans-Tasman record, for never before has it been possible for the same steamer to take answers to Sydney in six days and a half. Even this is a day longer than the Awatea took for the opposite journey, for she left Auckland for Sydney last Tuesday afternoon, thus taking only five days and a half to do the return trip, arriving here yesterday morning. Overseas Visitors. ' Last year's figures, which themselves established a record, have been well eclipsed by tlie number of bookings made this year by the Auckland office of the Government Tourist Department. Overseas visitors are coming to Auckland in such numbers tins year, particularly from Australia, that some city hotels are already fully booked for the Christmas period, and from January 9to ~.3, while accommodation at Rotorua, W aitomo Caves and the lakes districts in the South Island will be taxed to the utmost. Waitemata Power Board. "The load throughout the whole of the board's area is growing by leaps and bounds, and this is reflected in the increased loadings recorded at the sub-stations and the increased output of units," stated a report on general sunplv conditions presented to yesterday s meeting oJ the Waitemata Electric Power Board by the manager, Mr. A. Main. Mention was made in the report of the greatly increased lengths of 11-k.v. transmission lines and the large addition to the system of dairying and industrial motors. The chairman, Mr. W R remarked that it was gratilyin it for the board to be able to record such progress. The financial returns for the month, he said, showed a very satisfactory position. Good and Bad Ye&rs. The percentages of boys leaving secondaiy and all post-primary schools for the university were illustrated by a graph prepared by the Registrar of the Auckland University College and placed before a meeting of the College Council yesterday. The figures were taken from the annual returns of the Education Department from 1027 to 1935. The percentage of boys going to university from secondary schools was as follows, the percentage from all post-primary schools being given m parentheses:—l 927, 7 per cent (4 per cent); 1928, 5 (3); 1929, 3 (2); 1930, 7 (4); 1931, 9 (4); 1932, 8 (4); 1933, 0 (3); 1934, 5 (3); ■ 1935 5 (3). Mr. O'Shea, in a memorandum, said'that it appeared that in years of good business the number of boys entering university from secondary schools decreased, the drop being to 3 per cent in 1929. In 1931 the maximum percentage was shown, this being 9 per cent —at a time when the depression was intense. Ragwort Extermination Pays. The Waipa County Council was informed yesterday by the inspector of noxious weeds that on one 'farm last year ten tons of sodium chlorate and lime had been applied, but this year onlv two tons of mixture had been required to' keep the ragSvort fh check. Actually the property owner had in the previous two years top-dressed with superphosphate as liberally as his funds would permit, but this year he had had to decide between topdressing or ragwort extermination, as funds were limited. He had chosen to kill the ragwort, and the sodium and lime applied had not only killed the ragwort, but also the buttorfat rc\turns had shown a very pleasing increase, which he credited to far better pastures. The ragwort had been killed out, allowing the grasses to grow luxuriantly. The inspector added that now the farmer was one of the warmest advocates of the county council's plan for clearing productive land of ragwort. No Shirkers, These! Long periods on relicT work or sustenance do not by any means induce in the average unemployed man an indifference to offers of private employment if the. conditions are satisfactory. Several instances recorded at the Masterton placement office emphasise the fact that the prospect of a settled job almost invariably acts as a magnet. The successful applicant for a position 30 miles distant was asked what means* he had of getting to the job, and replied: "Don't you worry, I'll get there all right." Next day the employer advised the office that the man had bicycled the whole distance. "You leave that to me,"'was the answer of another man for whom work had been found 14 miles in the country. It was later discovered that he had carried his swag on foot for nine miles, was given a lift by a motorist for the remaining five miles, aiul arrived in time to start on the job at 7.30 a.m. A "white collar" man'three years out of work looked dubious when offered a job as a builder's labourer; but he did not shirk it, and though every evening for about a week he thought lie was at death's door, he won through, and now lias a wholesome respect for 'his highly essential class of worker.

Memorial Tablet. The Auckland University College Council has decided to pay a tribute to the memory of the late Sir George Fowlds, who was president of the council from 1920 to 1933, by placing a mural tablet in the vestibule of the college buildingi A fund for an annual memorial prize for competition among the students is also to bo established. Railcars a Success. "We are building railcars as rapidly as we can, and they will be used 011 every appropriate line in the Dominion," said the Minister of Railways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, when asked whether there was any prospect of an early introduction of the new transport unit to Otago lines. The Minister agreed that there were lines adjacent to Dunedin, and, in fact, all over the Dominion, 011 which railcars could suitably be run. 011 the whole, he said, they were proving a great success. Brilliant Sunset Scene. If the western sky is as clear this evening as it was yesterday there will be an opportunity to witness a scene that cannot be surpassed for brilliance, and will not be again visitble for a long time. The crescent moon, only three days old, will be almost alongside the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter. These have changed places during the past fortnight, the upper planet now being Venus, so bright that she is easily visible at 7.15, although the sun will set on]y at 7.10, and Jupiter is so close, under Venus, that he can also be discerned a few minutes later. Counties Amalgamation. "The amalgamation of local bodies and counties will come within the next two years," said Mr. W. Morrison, chairman of the Waitotara County Council, at the monthly meeting. He said the matter would probably be finalised by the next local body elections. Amalgamation proposals were introduced by the late Government and were affirmed by the Counties' Association, conditionally that amalgamation should take place where it could be shown that a substantial saving could be made. "I'm not sure that our county could not amalgamate with Wanganui or Patea," said Mr. Morrison. More use could be made of the machinery now in operation in the counties for work that was now largely done by the shovel. Attire in Baths. "We can wear bathing shorts on beaches, even in Oriental Bay, but directly we cross the portals of the Te Aro Baths when mixed bathing is in progress we must wear 'full dress' togs," said Mr. L. Dawkins, at the annual meeting of the Wellington centre of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association. He went 011 to point «out the anomaly of the City Council's ruling. Mixed bathing was _ freely permitted 011 the beaches about Wellington, with the men wearing properly-cut shorts, of which there were many types available. On many beaches men were allowed to roll their full-length swimming suits down to the waistline. Why could this not be permitted in Te Aro Baths? It was decided to write to the reserves committee of the council requesting that it be for men to wear adequate shorts when bathing during mixed bathing hours in municipal baths. Summer Bloom. Reports of poliutukawas bursting into flower come from the North and from the more distant corners of the Hauraki Gulf, but Aucklanders do not need to look so far afield to gliihpse the early glory of the spiked crimson blooms. The trees along the waterfront road are already beginning their brilliant annual display. True, the gnarled old poliutukawas that cling to the cliffs from Parnell to miles eastward do not yet appear to be taking on their blaze of colour, for it is the younger trees that aro leading the way— those vigorous young specimens which were planted between footpath and road when the winding scenic drive was built. Many of theiii, at Kohimarahia, Orakei and nearer still to the city, are now bright with colour, and within a few weeks the drive will be fringed with a trail of crimson. It is plain that tlio older trees are not far from blossom, for they too are tipped with that whiteness that tells of flower buds nearing maturity. Equine. Aristocrats. Although those magnificent horses that until recently carted flour up and down Quay Street for the Northern Roller Milling Company have returned to tlie green pastures of (heir foalhood., Auckland still has some fine specimens of the horse that have stood their ground in spite of the almost completed mechanisation of the carrying trade. One that comes most readily to mind is a fine mare that observant Aucklanders must know well. She has been 011 the road for some years now, and although about eight years old, behaves like a two-year-old. With her arched neck and proud head held high in a manner befitting the bluest blooded equine aristocrat, she prances through the main city streets, impatient and high-spirited, between the shafts of a firm of butchers' delivery cartPawing the ground and dipping her head when pulled up in obedience to a traffic signal, she is a stirring sight indeed. A very fine individual, the horse is 011 tlie road only about two hours a day, and a fast trot is her slowest speed. Whether she feels any indignity in her position or not is not known, but if she does it is hidden under a cloak of absolute scorn. Those two hours are hours of comparative freedom, and if she has one bud habit, no doubt it is one way of lettiiur off steam, and two hours a day do not give her very much time to work off a whole day's supply, but she wears a muzzle just in case.