NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 302, 21 December 1937, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Far East Relief. Tlie Auckland City Council at a meeting last evening decided to vote £100 towards the fund for relief in the war area in China. Hie -Mayor, Sir Ernest Davis, said that it would be fitting to help the fund which had been oponed in Auckland, and the decision was made without discussion. A " Professional " Tenant. Hea professional," stated, a landlord, who had obtained an order for possession of a flat from a defaulting tenant, when asked by Mr. W. K. McKean, N.M., to-day what the defendant was. The landlord went on to explain that his unsatisfactory tenant was a manual worker in regular employment, but the implication of his reference to "professional" was that defendant had been ejected from other places for non-payment of rent. Copper Wire Supplies. Whether or not tenders for the supply of copper wire should be open to both British and foreign firms was a question debated at a meeting yesterday of the Waitemata Electric Power Board. When the chairman, Mr. W. R. T. Leighton, moved that the recommendation of the engineer. Mr. C. M. Grav, that the tenders be invited, be adopted, Mr! J. Guiniven wanted to know if the contracts were to be given to British, German or other foicign firms. Mr. Leighton explained that so far the company tendering the lowest pi ice had always got the contracts. The hoard had never received tenders from foreign | firms for the supply of copper. "1 think the tendering should be confined to British firms," said Mr. Guiniven. Mr. S. E. Kennings pointed out that there was a provision in the board's minutes favouring the giving of preference to British firms in ordering supplies. The motion was carried without further discussion. She Lived in Stirring Times. Bom in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1830, Mrs. Mary Dillon, of Xiion Street. Hamilton East, who has been a resident of the Waikato for the past 73 years, is still enjoying good health at 98 years of age. Mrs. Dilion recalls clearly the terrible famine which swept Irelaud when she was a child. She is able to remember how America sent across shiploads of Indian meal in an attempt to save the starving, who were dying in the ditches. At the age of 10 Mrs. Dillon went to America with her sister, and lived with her aunt in Xew \ork until she was 18. She remembers the celebrations which marked the completion of the laying of the Atlantic cable on August 5. 1858, and the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865. Her father came to Xew Zealand with the militia, and later she made the hazardous journey out to the colony. Mrs. Dillon, who was then 25, settled at Pirongia. then called Alexandria. Raids by bands of marauding Maoris were not infrequent, and panics often occurred. Scholar's Fruitful Years. The importance of pupils' third and fourth years at secondary schools was emphasised by Professor G. E. Thompson, when speaking at the Otago Girls' High School break-up qsremony. Professor Thompson said that both from the point of view of the university and of the pupils' later life, it was desirable that these years should be spent at school. "I notice from the report that the average stay of a pupil at the girls' high school is two years and a half," Professor Thompson said. "I suppose it is the same in most schools, but to me it is disastrous that this very expensive part of the Xew Zealand education system should be availed of only to that very small extent. I think the years spent at school, particularly the third and fourth years, are productive of development and change in the life of a girl or boy that no other year will produce. Xo matter what walk of life may be entered, it is difficult to find any year that will make up for those." Perhaps it could not be helped, but it would be desirable if the post-matriculation period could be extended, so that the young people of Xew Zealand could grow up to make an educated democracy. A Confusion of Awards. "The Auckland Gas Company is working under a large number of awards, in fact a very large number of awards," remarked the Inspector of Awards. Mr. C. P. Smith, in the Magistrate's Court yesterday, when explaining that he did not press for penalty in the event of the magistrate finding that the company had committed a breach of the drivers' award, as claimed, by having the drivers work a 44-hour week and not a 40-hour week. "In fact, you might say the company is labouring under a number of awards," commented Mr. C. R. Orr Walker. S.M., with a smile. Mr. Smith added that the question at issue was whether the case of the company's drivers was governed hy an exemption from the Factories Act clause allowing a 44-hour instead of a 40-hour week to workers in gas company yards, or whether, seeing that they worked mostly away from the yard, they should come under the award clause prescribing the 40-hour week. His Worship remarked that the matter appeared to him essentially one for an Arbitration Court ruling, but he agreed to hear the facts in order that a case might be stated to the Arbitration Court for interpretation.

Down the Ways. The twin screw Diesel deep-sea fishing launch Movarie. understood to be the first of her kind in Auckland, was launched from the yards of the builders, Messrs. W. G. Lowe and Son, Ltd., this morning. As she. took the water she Hew the burgee of the Moral Yacht Squadron and the Royal Thames Yacht Club, with both of which her owner, Mr. W. R. Macpherson, of Portsmouth, England, is associated. Payment for Land. I'ayment of £50 for a small area of land in Grafton Gully was approved by the City Council last evening. The land in question, owned bv Mr. 11. I'. Burton, was taken under the Public Works Act, and as claim for payment was not made within the prescribed period of five years legislative authority had to be secured to make the payment.. The special clause included in the legislation also provided that Mr. Burton should not be disqualified from being a member of the City Council for accepting payment. Origin of Weekes* Island. A collection of documents of great interest in connection with the early settlement of Taranaki has been handed to the High Commissioner, Mr. W. J. Jordan, by Mrs. Arminel AVerring. F.R.G.S.. daughter of the late Dr. Henry Weekes, who was surgeon-superinten-dent of the ship William Bryan, who sailed from Plymouth on Xovember 12, 1810. for the Xew Plymouth settlement. The names of f>l> passengers include some whose families are among tho foremost settlers to-day. Dr. Weekes became the first settler on an island in tbe Manukau Harbour. The island is still named Weekes' Island, and was included in the Manukau electorate when first represented by Mr. W. .T. Jordan, now High Commissioner. A full account of the voyage of the William Bryan in the handwriting of the doctor, as well as otlier most interesting documents, comprise the collection. Centennial Funds. At a meeting of the Waitemata Electric Power Board yesterday it was decided to donate the sum of £180 to the funds of the Xew Zealand Centenary Exhibition, 1040, and a further amount of £50 to the Auckland Provincial Centennial Council. The first amount is to be payable in tliree yearly instalments of £60. A brisk discussion ensued when the chairman, Mr. W. R. T. Leighton, moved that the board contribute the £50 as requested, several members contending that the board should have been furnished with details as to how the Centennial Council arrived at that assessment. Mr. Leighton explained that he, as the board's delegate to the council, had agreed that the board would pay its share of the funds to be raised, and tho council had assessed that share at £50. Mr. J. Guiniven, who maintained that the board should have full details of the assessment in black and white, moved that the question of making the grant be deferred, but finally the chairman's motion favouring the paying of the contribution was carried. Apostles of " Natural Food.** The chef of the Orient liner Orford, which is due at Auckland on Thursday, is likely to be thrown "out of his stride" during the Tasinan crossing on account of having to provide a special menu for 200 members of the Xatural Health Society from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, who are oil their way to Xew Zealand to attend an annual holiday conference. For the duration of the cruise the delegates will lead a "natural, regulated life." Members of the society believe in certain varieties of natural foods and dietetic combinations. They will be heard on the Orford singing songs deriding the folly of drinking tea and smoking. Banners bearing health slogans will be displayed when these "tourists" parade on the sports deck to take part in the daily "curative exercises." These will be followed by a short health talk, and then a breakfast consisting of cereals, milk, coffee made from dandelion roots or soya beans, raisins, dates, nuts and asparagus, celery or spinach on toast. Smoking is not indulged in by members, while sugar, tea, meat and intoxicating liquor are forbidden. Delegates to the conference are not permitted to eat fruit and bread together, and they are cautioned against eating fruit and cooked vegetables at the same meal.

The War as a Stepping-stone. How officers in a Turkish concent ration camp in Central Asia Minor, who took advantage of their imprisonment to study, later became distinguished men, was related by the Hon. T. VV. White. Commonwealth Minister of Trade and Customs, in a short talk to pupils of the Hutt Valley High School. Mr. White, who was a lieutenant-colonel, said he was a prisoner in the camp, where for the fii-st year there were no books or writing materials. It seemed then that their starvation for book* was greater than that they felt from shortage of food. Some of the 200 Allied officers who were there determined to profit by their enforced idleness by studying. One of the officers was a tinsmith's apprentice before the war. He learned French, Turkish and Arabic in the camp. He (Mr. White) escaped through Russia, and the next time he saw the extinsmith's apprentice he was rowing for Cambridge, being a student at Pembroke College, where he was qualifying in Arabic. Later this man became Vice-C'onsul at Constantinople. and he was now Vice-Ambassador at Athens. Xo doubt he would go on to greater tilings. Another officer prisoner in the same camp who used the time to study was now Governor-General of Burma. Other* achieved distinction—one being Yeats Brown, the author.