NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 66, 19 March 1937, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Hoping. J Giving evidence in an appeal case in the j Supreme Court yesterday, a witness said he; had "line to the homo of a friend late mi I Saturday nijrlit and had been given .-upper.' There were three other men there, and though they did not expect.it. their hostess served each with a small bottle of ale. Mr. Justice C'allan: "You went there. I suppose, not expecting, but hoping?" The witness smilingly replied that his Honor had summed up the position correctly. Scow Rangi Inquiry. A report on the loss of the scow Rangi is being prepared for the Minister of Marine, the Hon. P. Fraser. by the Court of luquirv, at which Mr. W. R. McKean. S.M., presided. Parts of the vessel, including the port side of the hull, were brought from Torbay to Auckland and inspected by the Court. * The inspection of the hull was ordered for the members of the Court to satisfy themselves about the condition of the fastening bolts. The finding of the inquiry will be announced by the Minister from Wellington. Tribute to Lady Luke. '"Digger" writes: "Along with many hundreds of ex-servicemen, I regret the death of Lady Luke, which has occurred at Wellington this week. This wonderful little lady, who was Mayoress of Wellington during the period of the World War. did invaluable work, and her presence, both at the departure and return of all troopships at Wellington, whether the weather was wet or fine, could always be relied on. The marvellous organisation of the Red Cross during this period was the result of great work by the 'Little Mayoress.' Any committee that was formed for the social welfare of Wellington citizens was not complete until Lady Luke was on it. Cod grant that she may rest in peace."' Memorial to Spanish War Victims. ; According to advice received privately in i Auckland, the deaths of Mr. G. C. Maclaurin! and Mr. John Cornford, both graduates of j Cambridge University, while fighting in the. International Brigade against Fascism and on behalf of the Spanish fJovernment, greatly stirred the youth of Cambridge. The feeling found expresson in memorial meetings and in the raising of a memorial fund of over £700 to be sent to Spain to help the cause for which they fought. Mr. Maclaurin was educated at the Auckland Grammar School and University College, and left Xew Zealand in 1032 to pursue his mathematical studies in Cambridge. He later opened a bookshop in .the town, and was carrying on the business at the time he left for Spain. Exits at Technical College. A decision to ask the Auckland Metropolitan Fire Board to report on the adequacy of the exits at the Seddon Memorial Technical College was made yesterday by the board of managers. A report by the principal, Mr. O. J. Park, stated that unless additional staircase accommodat'on were provided a serious accident was quite probable. The workshop block corridor had to carry nearly COO pupils. and if there were any alarm and classes were rushed to the exits a catastrophe could not be averted. In the main building also, the sole stairway resulted in acute congestion. In connection with the evening classes, the electric light might fail and an alarm might be raised as a practical' joke by some foolish individual. Mr. Park added that he felt, if this did happen, there would be loss of life. The small emergency light would probe My not avert the danger. Domestic Science Teaching. The opinion of the Minister of Educat'on, the Hon. P. Fraser, regarding the establ;shment of a separate domestic science school is to be sought by the board of managers of the Seddon Memorial Technical College. The object of the board is to relieve the congestion at the college. In reporting to yesterd iv's board meeting, the principal. Mr. G. J. Pnrk. said accommodation was fully taxed at the college, and about ."SO applications had Tieen declined. He did not feel responsible for any disappointment among parents of pupils who were refused admission, and his only in' Ihod of dealing with the enrolments was to 'elect' those most suitable for the courses giv n at the college. He believed that specialist institutions were more advisable for the larger cities than multi-course schools. He cruld not recommend that further buildings be erected on the present restricted central city tite. Spreading the Word. A rather unusual incident occurred yesterday afternoon in Shore Road, Hob ion Bay. An elderly man was observed to cycle along on a machine that looked as though it were fitted out for grinding knives and scissors. He was singing a well-known hynin. A few minutes later he was seen to park his bike at the foot of Brighton and Shore Roads, take off his coat, roll up his sleeves, and start preaching with great fervour to an imaginary! congregation. His discourse, delivered in broken, English, was somewhat disjointed, but references to Old Testament characters mingled with references to the Second Coming occupied some IX to 20 minutes. Then the preacher took out his hymn book, and, in broken words but in excellent time, sang "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms." When the bus arrived his congregation of one embarked, and it appeared the preacher was preparing for a further exhortation.

Football Club Loyalists. Complimentary references to lengthy service to the City Rovers Rugby League Club were prompted' at the annual meeting last evening, when the secretary. Mr. E. K. Asher. modestly acknowledged, amid applause, his reelection as hon. secretary for the 2oth consecutive year. ]t was mentioned when -Air. K. -T. Phelan was re-elected club auditor that j he had acted in this capacity for over 20 years. The patron. Mr. C. Raynes, who was also reappointed to office, has been identified with the club for 10 years, but his official connection with the game in A-uckland dates back to 1007. He was in turn player, coach and trainer with Xorth Shore Albums. Athletics. Ponsonby and Richmond Clubs prior to linking up with the Rovers. Stowaways on Land. The discomfort three young. men had endured to escape paying eighteenpence at the gate to see the Matamata Show was mentioned by Mr. H. Rollett at the executive meeting on Tuesday. Mr. Rollett related that a gatekeeper had noticed the lid of the "dickey" seat of a car move as it passed through the gate. Thinking it was a dog or some animal which caused the movement, curiosity caused him to follow the car with his eyes to the other side *of the showground. | where, to his surprise, three hefty young men] hopped out from their very uncomfortable' positions. Comment followed, indicating that next time such tricksters may find themselves subject to further proceedings and discomfort. Runaway " Baby." An unusual accident occurred at Blockhouse Bay yesterday. A "baby" car was left standing outside its* owner's gate, with a lady passenger occupying the back seat. Suddenly the car began to run down a slope. The passenger jumped out. and gamely tried to arrest the progress of the vehicle. The car. however, crashed into a low stone wall and dragged her with it. Portion of the wall was broken, and the car crashed through the opening and raced down a steep slope. Rapidly gathering speed, it broke through a wire fence, wrecking; it completely, and then came to rest rather violently against a large macrocarpa tree. An! amazing thing was that the car. which was of| the lightest type, was practically undamaged.; It was impossible to drive the vehicle up thej slope it had descended, but it was finally got j back on to the road under its own power audi the assistance of willing helpers. Mr. Semple* s Warning. "The Government is not going to be bulldozed or side-stepped by monetary cranks," said the Minister of Public Works*, the Hon. R. Semple, at Te Mata. near Raglan, yesterday. The public purse, he said, had its limits, and with the Government—which was nothing more nor less than an extended form of house* keeping—it was not practicable to take out more than was put in. Even if the people had a Reserve Bank, he said, it was not possible to issue more money than the nation's security permitted, and the Government was not going | to practise any cranky ideas on the public. "To do so would bring Xew Zealand to a state of bankruptcy in no time," Mr. Semple continued. "If we attempt to issue.money without the economic backing which gives' money its value, we shall come a cropper. I want to remove the impression in the minds of some people that w e ere going helter-skelter to the rocks of ruin or that we can turn on a machine and produce money like sausages."

Shortage of Houses. That there is a shortage of hruses in: Auckland is common knowledge, hut only 1 those who have tried to find » suitable house know just how acute the shortage is. After; several days of fruitless searching "for a house a young married man noticed a "to let"; advertisement in the "Star" on a recent evening. He went straight to the address given. only to find that the house was already let.j and that he was the seventh prospective tenant to call. Finally giving up the house search as hopeless, he determined to look for! a hach near some beach. There- again he| found the same story. In some places onetime week-end "shacks" had been permanently occupied for vears. Usually when a bach became vacant new tenants moved in as the j old ones went out. so that tlfre was scarcely a single habitable dwelling that was unoccupied, and in many cases people were beii)';. forced to live in baches that were not suitable for permanent use. "Autumn Cleaning" in Grafton Gully. * i "Naturalist" writes:—The unmistakable' tang of burning leaves, drifting in faint smoke | wreaths from Grafton Gully, betokens a clean-; up of the paths, and the spaces between t»>e graves. It is really an autumn cleaning, the fall of the leaf having come upon us almost unawares, and a coal, wet summer having passed so unobtrusively that its departure is as unostentatious as was its presence. However, there are <oni'»>nsations in an abundance of green native foliage, a glorious display of autumn flowers, and a freshness in the air that is infinitely preferable to the dust and heat of a long dry spell. The oak leaves are| falling fast, and thousands of acorns litter I the footpaths. In some countries these are! used as food for pigs; indeed, a nourishing! form of meal can be made from them, but so far the experiment has not been tried in New I Zealai'd, nor is it likely to be necessary, with! more palatable forms of food in such abundance. Three years have elapsed since Graf-! ton Gully had so thorough a clean-up as is ( now being undertaken. The work is being! done under No. 5 unemployment relief scheme, a gang of about oO men being engaged. Operations began about six weeks ago, following similar "clean-ups" in Parnell Park, Point Erin Park and Western Park.