NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 68, 22 March 1937, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

"Forty-hour Week to Stay." "The Labour Government has established an ideal in the 40-hour week that will be for all time,"' stated Mr. L. Mcllvride, general secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, in responding to a toast on ! .Saturday night at the anniversary banquet of the Otahuhu branch of the society. "Xo matter what (iovernment may come*into power," he added, 'no one will ever be able to take it from us. 7 ' Machine-guns Not Used. Any suggestion that machine-guns were being used for killing deer was unfounded, said the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon. W. E. Parry, in an interview in Timarii. The Minister said machine-gunning certainly had no part in the Department's campaign for the extermination of deer. He added that the campaign was progressing extremely well, and a very good body of men had been organised by the Department. *• Best in the World." • "I want to make New Zealand's railway system the best in the world," said the Minister of Railways, the Hon. D. O. Sullivan, in making a plea for co-operation from the service at a gathering of railwaymen in Auckland on Saturday evening. Preparations were in hand for improvements that would enable the railway system to deal not only with the increased freight transportation but also with the increased tourist traffic that was assured as a result of better transport facilities through the Dominion's scenic resources. The Minister told the men he aimed at efficiency and humanising of relations in the Department. "I want every one to co-operate with the (lovernment and the management to bring about even more efficiency in this great railway undertaking and national transportation system," he added. Not Even Thanked. Visions of a large gratuity were raised in the mind of a night porter of a Dunedin hotel recently when he found in one of a pair of shoes left outside a guest's room th" sum of £31 in notes, reports the "Otago Daily Times." More mature reflection, however, convinced him that a mistake must have occurred. He roused the occupants of tne room, and diecovered that one of them had placed his friend's shoes outside the door, believing that they had been overlooked when his friend had retired. The porter's action was met with a storm of abuse from the owner of the money, who resented having been awakened from his slumbers. He apparently did not realise that •he might hare risen in the morning a much poorer man. The porter's reflections on the incident may well be imagined. - Sir Harry Lauder on Himself. : Sir Harry Lander is not mean. He says so himself. Many of the stories about his socalled thrift are concocted by himself, and they all have his full approval. "It's just a wee bit joke o' ma ane," he confessed in an interview with a "Southland Times" reporter. "Folks like to think I'm stingy, and they chuckle over stories of my stinginess. Now, I like to have folks laugh with me —not at me — and I make much of my canniness, and chuckle, too." Sir Harry would not discuss his many acts of philanthropy, but admitted he was generous to those he thought were worthy. After discussing a number of subjects he' hurried away. He was anxious to have a final look at hie rode preparatory to packing for hi** trip to Wanaka. "Man, 111 have some fine fish stories for ye when I come back,* , he said, -ir- ■' '-.'

His Firat " Motor Race."

An event which caused much merriment at the Papa kura 'sports on Saturday last was the email boys* quarter-mile "Tyre Derby." The 'handicappere had difficulties at the outset in not .■•knowing the previous performances of the'' starters, though syetematic training 'been indulged in for some days prior to*-the meeting!! The size of the youngsters and the weight••■■•l'pf theur tyres were the determining: factor*';. that settled the handicaps. From a good etart the embryo track • racers soon bunched, so much- so that they were all soon in a heap. This brought the "Zambuke rushing to the scene of the disaster,' but their services were not required. The fallen "motorists" were quickly up again and off at full speed. They then began to string out, and one future motorist, getting the knack of steering his tyre, plodded on to win handsomely the first great motor event of hie young life.

Ratana to Shift Camp.

Ratana, head of the Ratana Church and self-styled spiritual healer and mouthpiece of Jehovah,. has declared that he ia about to leave' Wanganui and live at Matamata. He has apparently acted on the Biblical injunction, "But when they persecute you in thie city, flee ye into another." Ratana's secretary, Mr. Matiu Tane, in a statement, said that Wanganui had always received the principal share in the business of building and maintaining Ratana pa, and Ratana had taken the lead in assisting deserving causes there with parties from the pa. These services had been received by rebuffs, while allegedly unjustified legal processes had been set in motion against him. A tract of land for residential and agricultural purposes has been given by the Matamata Maoris to the "prophet," and a staff from the Ratana pa ia now erecting buildings to house visitors to a meeting in April. It is claimed that the Ratana pa is the largest in New Zealand. It com-' prises about 200 residential- buildings of all sizes and styles, a. concrete temple, church, hall, dining hall, stores, billiard saloon, engineering shop and garage, power house, printing office, post office and museum.

Loud-speakers for Trams. Melbourne trams have'now been fitted vith loud-speakers, which announce the name of the street, avenue, terrace or road as a tram draws up a stopping place. This is done by the driver as he sits or stands at his lever. By this means people are never overcarried; the stranger is made aware of his position, and people do not have to question the conductor to ascertain their whereabouts. Interests of South Island. "I have heard it seriously said in the p£st," remarked the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon. W. E. Parry, at Timaru, "that the South Island should have its own Government. That was when it was considered by the people of this island that they were not being treated in the same way as the people of the North Island in the matter of public expenditure and in advertising the southern tourist resorts. The people of the South Island have as much right as the people of the North Island to equal treatment in everything which tends toward the development of the Dominion as a whole. The Government will see to that; it can be taken as a guarantee." Presentation to Cricketer. During the tea interval at the Devonport Domain on Saturday the captain of the Grafton team, Jack Cowie, was congratulated by the Takapuna Grammar Old Pupils' Association on his selection for a trip to England with the New Zealand cricketers, and presented with a folding camera as a token of their esteem and good wishes. The presentation was entrusted to Miss Pat Waite and Miss J. Martin, of the T.O.P.'s ladies' committee, and Cowie was also the recipient of many good wishes front old Shore friends, as he was born in a house overlooking the cricket ground and learned his cricket there. Cowie has the unique distinction of having represented both Mount Albert and Takapuna firanimar Schools at cric-ket and Soccer, being a foundation pupil of the Takapuna School, and transferred there when it was opened. Woolbuyers* Training. > Woollniyers attending sales bring with them expert qualifications for a difficult and exacting job. While each buyer has his own mannerisms and method of bidding—often highly amusing to those watching a sale—he has the same background of arduous training as the others. Buyers usually serve a fiveyear apprenticeship, two being spent in office and warehouse, and three under the guidance of one of the firm's buyers. Many years' experience are necessary before a buyer can venture with accuracy an opinion on the yield from a given quantity of raw wool, and intricate computations, taking into account the many costs from raw wool to manufactured article, are necessary to arrive at a buying price. An error of 1 or 2 per cent in the yield estimate can make a very serious error in the final cost yields, which cannot be learnt bookfashion, and are the study of a lifetime. Big Quarry Blast. Accompanied by a roar heard for many miles, more than 30,000 tons of granite was blown from a cliff face in the Oparara quarry at Karamea, on the West Coast of the South Island recently by the firing of two tone of explosives, one of the biggest -blasting charges ever set off in the South Island. The object was to provide stone for the training walls l>eing built at the mouth of the Karamea River as part of a £75,000 river protection and harbour improvement scheme at present being done by the Public Works Department. It was hoped that the explosion would bring down 30,000 tone of stone, but it ie thought that that quantity has been considerably exceeded, and that enough atone has been made available for the next 18 months. Railway Finances Buoyant. •The fact that had it not been for the epidemic of infantile paralysis the Railway Department would have absorbed the total cost- of the increased wages and the 40-hour week was mentioned by the Minister of Railways, the. Hon. D. G. Sullivan, at a railway social gathering on, Saturday evening.' As far as the past month was concerned, he added, the Department had done so. For the four weeks ended February 27 the total railway revenue in the North Island increased by £64,940, or 18.16 per cent, compared with the corresponding period last year. The total North Island goods tonnage carried from April 1, 1036, to February 27, 1937, was 2,927,934 tons, an increase of 10.64 per cent over last year's figures, and the total North Island railway revenue in the same term was £4,016,612, an increase of 11.34 per cent. For I the fonr weeks ended February 27 there had | been an increase of 131,563 in the number of passengers carried by railway road motor, services. Speeding Up Cricket. The experiment of one-day games which the Auckland Cricket Association has staged on two Saturdays this year proved highly j popular with the public, and revived much of the old village green spirit in the game, the passing of which Jardine was recently lamenting. One-day matches are also the popular •rame in the north of Knglund. where many good New Zealand cricketers have been! tempted to assist league clubs. The equal shaving of time makes quick run-getting the essence of the batsmen's job, but ultrasuicidal tendencies may mean a team beini all out before their time is up. The sight of local batsmen rushing to the vacant crease as soon as a man is out, and having a dash at anything pitched up or off the wicket, is exhilarating after the cathedral calm of timeless cricket. In one finish on Saturday, with throe] minutes to go, three runs wanted to save the j game and the last man in. there was a vivid reminder of Newbolt's "Vita Lampacla." with its "whispered liu.sli in the close to-night," but without the "blending light," as it was Hearing dusk when a hoarse roar signified that the! last man had missed the bus.