NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 150, 26 June 1937, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

London's Green Belt. Another 550 acres, mainly woodlands in Hertfordshire and riverside meadows in Surrey, are being added to the so-called preen belt around London. At a meeting the London County Council will be recommended to make contributions totalling £12,800 toward the cost of acquiring the tends in question.

Farm Replacements. "On my own farm my experience during the last year has been that the cost of replacements of stock has been less than in other years," said the Hon. W. Lee Man in. addressing a meeting in the To Kowhai Hall. "This has been largely due to the higher prices we have received for bobby calves and for our culls, which have offset our payments."

The First Steamer : Sunday was the sixty-third anniversary of the arrival at Lytteltoii of the Atrato, the first steamer to make the trip from England to New Zealand. She called at Port Chalmers, and left there on June IS. 1874, arriving at Lyttelton on June 20. The voyage occupied about six months, owing to a breakdown in the engine near the Cape of flood Hope, after winch the vessel put back to Plymouth, under sail, for repairs.

The World's Sheep. There are 715,000.000 sheep in the, work! of which 114.000,000 are in Australia and .'30,000,000 in Xew Zealand. This information is given in the "Wool Review," prepared for the annual conference of the National Council ».f Wool Selling Brokers of Australia, held this week in Sydney. Of the total annual world production of 3,774,308.0001b of wool, Australia cor,tributes 1,308,708.0001b, or 20.27 per cent. The next largest producers aro South America with 14.6(5 per cent, North America 12.r>l per cent, and Europe 13.80 per cent. Xew Zealand 13 seventh with 8.4 per cent.

Devotion to Duty. "I have to thank you for vour co-opera-tion and your support and your devotion to duty," said Mr. A. Morton, chairman of the Xew Zealand National Dairy Federation, to delegates at the close of the annual conference of the federation at Hamilton yesterday afternoon. He was personally of the opinion that much valuable work had been accomplished. Judging by remarks heard after the conference, the consensus of opinion appeared to be that there was evidence that the conference wished to co-operate with the Government and the various Departments.

Telephone System Additions. Since the installation of the automatic telephone system in Auckland in 192,5, when tlwre were 9375 subscribers, the business has increased to such an extent that there are now 18.385 subscribers—2ooo more than in any other exchange in the Dominion. In consequence the Postmaster-General, the Hon. F. Jones, has sanctioned an extension of the services by the installation of new automatic exchanges at Avondale, Mount Albert and St. Heller's, and extensions of the present telephone facilities at Takapuna, Devonport, Ponsonby and Mount Eden. The work will !>o started in a few weeks, and is expected to bo finished within two years. Simultaneously additional carrier circuits to Whangarei, Rotorua, Hamilton, Xew Plymouth, Xapier and Tauranga will be installed to the toll call business, which has doubled since 1925.

"Abe, My Boy." Many and varied are the letters received from all parts of the world by the Xew Zealand Tourist and Publicity Department, but few are quainter than that written by an elderly Austrian, who stated that he desired to settle in the Dominion, far from the alarms of Europe, and was willing to tackle any kind of work—even marriage if necessary. "Gentlemen," it read, "I like to come to your wonderful country, with its nice people, and get away from this European quarrel. I was 25 years in U.S., am 54 years of age, divorced in San Francisco, California. My trade ist Auto Painter. I did belonsr to Labour Union. I am also a chauffeur and understand farming work, so Please if you can to me be of assistance I will much appreciate and it may put a Xew Zealand newspaper a couple lines in their papers, they said I am fair looking, am healthy with good habituate, wishes to marry or will take any kind of work, am hard worker. Yours very truly, Frank Abe."

Bottlenecks and Trolley Buses. Holiday-makers thronged the footpaths, motor cars squeezed through the jam of traffic and buses at the stopping places filled up for the city, writes a correspondent. The scene was Mission Bay, or Kohimarama, or St. Helier's last summer, and the route that along which it has been suggested Auckland's first trolley bus service should be inaugurated. On Boxing Day, New Year's Day nnd the other important holidays of the year the beaches of the eastern suburbs are crowded with picnickers, and the Tamaki Drive at various points becomes a traffic bottleneck. Cyclists push through, young men and girls in bathing costumes cross and recross the road, children run to and from the shops, and the more sedate type of holiday-maker pulls up in a car for afternoon tea. In the midst of this a trolley bus lumbering along would be like a tram in Queen Street on Christmas Eve. Less mobile than a motor bus, though freer of movement than a tram, it would set the pace for traffic and monopolise the narrow centre ] of the roadway. j

Where Ignorance is Bliss. Few people in Auckland have realised that winlc long lines of motor traffic were feeling their way across Grafton Bridge at the restrained pace of ten milea per hour during the past 18 months the girders of the structure were being chipped away until only the reinforcing was left. This was revealed by Mr. J. Tyler, city engineer, in a talk at a luncheon of the Optimist Club in the Y.M.C.A. conceit had. "I was determined to keep Grafton Budge open for traffic," said Mr. Tyler, "'knowing how important an outlet it "was. The only way we could do this was to support the bridge by means of scaffolding. This wu-: done at a cost of from £5000 to £0000 lor timber, which, of course, can be used again. The west end of the bridge is now going through this process."

Emotional Relief at Hockey. The ladies who are taking part in the hockey week at Renuiera have an expressive language, and the sideliuer is thereby entertained. On lady hurrying for the little white ball was interrupted en route by another lady, of course quite accidentally, and the interrupted lady almost shrieked "You! You! You!" and then the crowd laughed and the delicate situation was eased. Another little lady who was having trouble in getting a ball away from an opponent, who was hooking her friend's (?) stick, called out in her excitement: "Here, you country girl, cut out those cow tricks." But the best came from a real lady, who, hitting more mud than ball, made one vicious smack and missed, and exclaimed in very manly and robust English: "Oh, blast it!"

The Yellow Peril. Meeting in Queen Street yesterday friends who might rather have been expected to be on their farm in the Bay of Plenty, a city resident expressed surprise. An inquiry as to guaranteed prices and farmlanders' luck elicited the astonishing statement that they had walked off the farm. They explained carefully that it would be more accurate to say they were driven off—by ragwort. The farm is one of over 1000 acres, and apparently only dense bush and fern was a match for this most obnoxious weed. The instant one ploughed for crops or put down grass for pasture, up came the ragwort and completely took charge, declared the ex-farmer. Hence flight to the Queen City, and years of pioneering work wasted.

At the Filling Station. "Worse than a Christmas Eve rush," said the petrol station attendant, as he dropped the metal end of the pump connection in the tank of another ear. Instead of being the quiet spot it was on nearly every other night of the year, his station had become one of the busiest. At least, so ho thought. But other attendants at other quiet spots were having the same experience. Some had pumped their storage tanks dry before the rush had well begun; others, more fortunate, had hopes that their supplies would last perhaps a day or two. How long would depend upon the thirsty Auckland motorist. Some motorists, so it was said, were buying benzine to meet their needs for weeks ahead, and one admitted that he had secured a 50-gallon drum and a tank full, to boot. "I don't need much," he said, "but just in case." So the shortage developed. »

Air Mail Postal Rates. The ultimate aim of the Government to establish an air mail service linking Auckland and London in seven and a half days is mentioned by the Postmaster-General, the Hon. F. Jones, in referring in the "Standard" to overseas air mail charges and the agreement reached at the Imperial Conference concerning the establishment of trans-Tasman air services early next year. The British Government, said Mr. Jones, had decided to charge only ljd for a half-ounce letter to Xew Zealand. It remained for the Dominion to decide whether to reciprocate in this respect, or to make a higher charge, but the cost would certainly be much lower than the present postage rate on letters sent by steamer to Sydney and then to London by air. The present cost of sending an air mail letter to England from New Zealand or Australia was 1/G, but under the scheme which would operate from January 1 next the charge was being reduced to 5d per half-ounce. That was a substantial reduction, but it was not the scheme originally visualised—a IJd rate both ways from England and Australia.

"Mystery" Accident Explained. A full-sized electric cable pole, still firmly planted in the ground, but moved a full six inches in its foundation, has been an object of curiosity during the past fortnight to passers-by on the steepest part of the Ayr Street hill, Parnell. At first glimpse it would appear that underground force had been at work, for the hole in the ground is obviously deep, extending to the full length of the pole. However, there is no gas pipe or water main anywhere near to have caused the movement of the pole, and the mystery to the uninitiated deepens. What happened was that on a recent Sunday afternoon a motor car, carrying four persons nnd a dog, crashed into the base of the pole, bringing down fragments of a broken insulator, and loosening one of the lower wires. The front of the car was smashed, and a breakdown car was needed to dislodge it from the pole. The passengers escaped with a shaking, and the dog, after being liberated from the rumble seat, made its way home on foot. It is a tribute to the solidity and soundness of the totara pole that it was not split or even badly damaged by an impact severe enough to shift it in its foundation.