NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 154, 1 July 1937, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Canada's Dominion Day. The 70th anniversary of the assumption of Dominion status l>y Canada fell to-day. The Canadian Trade Commissioner, -Mr. W. F. Bull, received calls from members of the Consular Corps, and also from representatives of local bodies. Ferry Boat Crew Thanked. Appreciation is to lie conveyed to tlin Ferrv Company by 1 lie Birkenhead Borough Council for tl-e free carriage of ambulances on 1 lie vehicular ferry steamers. Thanks are also to be expressed to the crew of the special vehicular boat which transferred Mr. A. K. Henley, a member of the council, to hospital on Tuesday night, especially for so willingly and promptly turning- out after the service had stopped running for the day. Charity Ball Results. The financial results or the Catholic Charity Ball this year were over .C 377. At a general meeting held at the Catholic Women's League rooms this week a cheque for this amount was handed to Bishop Listen, and the whole of the amount will be devoted to the orphanages. The Bishop thanked all who had helped to make this year's function such a success. From To-day. The Post and Telegraph Department announces that from to-day the rates for inland telegrams exchanged between New Zealand offices and Kawau Island, Milford Sound, Glade House, Portland Island, Puvsegur Point and Stephens Island will be. charged for at Id a word, with a minimum of 6d. Urgent telegrams will be charged the urgent rate of fid extra. Night letter telegrams will be 1/ for 24 words or less, and Id for each additional two words or fraction. In addition, no extra charge will be incurred for overseas messages from and to these points. Startled the Town. The shriek of siren which lasted for nearly five minutes, shortly after seven o'clock last night, startled many people all over Auckland. The noise was caused by the whistle on the Limited express becoming jammed just as the train was pulling out of the station. Only a few yards had been covered when the whistle jammed, and it was over four minutes before the worried engine crew, working feverishly amid dense clouds of smoke, were able to put matters right. Six minutes late, the express finally drew out from the platform with a brief blast on the whistle—just to show that it really did work. Cattle on the Line. The Wanganui to Xew Plymouth express was delayed an hour yesterday morning when it encountered cattle on the line. Seven cattle that were being driven over a level crossing of the line between Mokoia and Hawera broke away from the herd, jumped the cattle stops and ran along the line just before the express was due. The engine driver saw the cattle in time to stop without running into them. The cattle, after careering along the line, ran on to a bridge, and four fell into the creek below. The other three were driven off safely. Had the cattle been struck by the train on the bridge, a derailment would probably have occurred. The train was an hour late arriving at New Plymouth. Waikato Farms and Houses. Land agents in Hamilton record decreases in sales of as much as 10 per cent compared with business last year. Government mortgage legislation has had a retarding effect on farm transactions, they say, as vendors, fearing that when they have agreed to sell the Government would step in and reduce the value of the property, are asking for much higher deposits than buyers are able to give. The average buyer offers £500 or £800, only to find that a deposit of £2000 is asked for. Dairy and sheep farms are affected in this w'ay. An agent who specialises in town properties said that houses and unoccupied sections were selling freely. Owing to the general housing shortage great difficulty was being experienced by tenants whose homes had been sold in finding other places, in which to live. Bobby Calf Problem. A full day was spent yesterday by representatives of the various interests concerned in the bobby calf trade in discussing reorganisation, and finally it was announced that the delegates would report to their organisations. In the discussions it was contended bv a leading delegate that it would be difficult, if not impracticable, to bring into operation a completely new system at this stage of the season, and mention was also made of the difficulty of securing complete co-operation in zoning the transport of calves in North Auckland under a systtm that had been introduced there. A suggestion which came from a Matamata delegate was that the co-operative dairy companies should undertake the collection of the calves. As the dairying season is beginning in the Waikato the matter is urgent, but a new organisation for the disposal of calves from one of the most important dairying districts in the world is unlikely to be worked out and put into operation within a few days, or even weeks, so the pressure of circumstances may decide that the problem cannot be solved before the 1038 season. Meanwhile the calves may raise their voices shiver, and carriers continue the chase along country roads.

Lucky Dogl City-bound tram passengers from Westmere this morning had their attention attracted by an insistent veiling as the car was speeding down the decline by the Zoo. Eventually the niotorman realised he had a dog trapped under the tram, and pulled up. It was then found that a small dog of the terrier variety had been caught up by the bogie of the back wheels, and the driver and conductor trembled to think what serious injuries they should find on the unfortunate animal. When extricated from its parlous position, however, the dog merely whined and limped awav on three legs. It had travelled a hundred yards, or so on a, tram-wheel bogie at the expense of part o[ a forcpaw.

Seasonal Unemployment,

As in previous winters, a seasonal increase is occurring in unemployment. Tim May increase of 1(121 compares with lS2ii in May, lt)."s(i, and 12;}0 in May. l!>.'i">. The rise! seems to start about Mareh or April each year, and «ro on until duly or August. Then > the improvement begins. It is a fairly even wave-like movement, which occurs whether unemployment is hi,ah or low, and on the • figures of the past it is a fair assumption that 1000 or more men have lost their employment since the latest published figures were compiled, but they should be back in work again within three months. The best months of the | year for employment are in the summer, par- 1 tieularly in February and March, apparently

due to harvesting, fruit picking and other seasonal work.

Drought on West Coast

The shortage of water at Cobden, near Grevmouth, among residents who are still dependent upon tanks, has become acute, and demands upon the services of the Cobden lire brigade to till tanks from the lire plugs on the new mains have become so insistent that the brigade has decided to inaugurate a systematic service. Arrangements wera made at a meeting of the brigade yesterday, when all applications for water were dealt with. Tho township of Kumara is similarly affected by the dry spell. The lowest June rainfall since 1033 was recorded at Grevmouth. In spite of the dry spell this month tho rainfall for the past six months exceeded that for the same part of last year. Singing in the Rain. Battling home last evening through rain and wind, an Auckland suburban resident was surprised to hear the merry whistling of a bird. The hour, he reports, was just on six o'clock, when all self-respecting birds should have been nestling down in their nests. Not so this particular bird, something like a sparrow with a tinge of yellow in his feathers, which was perched high up on an electric light bracket, and singing as lustily and tunefully as many a canary. Apparently the bird had delayed its homeward journey just before dusk, and when'the street light was switched on had been deluded into the belief that dawn had arrived. The suburbanite contented himself with that explanation of the unusual occurrence, and went on his way. The bird was still "singing in the rain'' when ho reached his back door, and shut out its melody. .

Ships That Pass. The only occupant of a suburban tram shelter wlien a belated traveller arrived last night was a large black cat, coiled up and apparently asleep on one end of the seat. Hardly bad the traveller become seated, however, when puss opened one eye, then the other, rose, stretched, yawned, and walking confidently along the seat, climbed first 011 to the lap, then on to the shoulder of the traveller —purring meanwhile like an Arapuni dynamo. The traveller said all the customary things, to which puss replied with augmented purring and licks from an extraordinarily raspy tongue. When the city-bound tram approached puss got down, and walked ahead practically under the traveller's feet to hinder departure, but once the road was reached turned and trotted briskly back to the seat. A last look through the windows revealed puss, at the end of the seat, coiling himself neatly up again, evidently to await tlie next sympathetic visitor. Onehunga's Rates. The Mayor of Onehunga, Mr. .T. Park, when shown a letter appearing in our correspondence columns in regard to rates in Onehunga over the nom-de-pltime of '•Onehunga,'' said that it was apparent that the writer did not know what he was talking about, and if it were not that people reading the letter in a casual way might be misled he would have had nothing to say 011 the matter. The actual position last year was that a Government revaluation of the borough took place, by which many properties were reduced in value and very few, if any, were increased. The ratepayers would find on the liack of last year's rate notices an explanation over his signature of how variations took place. The result of the revaluations myant that when the rates were struck those people whose valuations were reduced only slightly did suffer an increase in rates, while those whose valuations were considerably reduced, and these were very numerous' either received a reduction of their rates or did not suffer anv increase. The total reduction in the unimproved value of the borough as at March 31, ]03G, was over 30 per cent, and this fact alone raised an acute problem to the council when deciding on their best course of action when making the rates. The Mayor also deprecated anonymous attacks of this nature on the council, especially when the statements made were so wildly exaggerated.