NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 25, 31 January 1938, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Liner Departs. With her three giant funnels and high superstructure flood-lit, the liner Strathnaver was a spectacular sight when she left port at 11 p.m. 011 Saturday for Wellington, the big vessel giving the appearance of a floating grille of lire as she made her way down the harbour with many lights reflected on the water. There was a large crowd of spectators at the Prince's wharf to see the Strathnaver leave. "Pushers" and "Chasers." An amusing incident took place at the Western Springs speedway on Saturday evening (hiring the progress of the midget car _racing. Two dogs wandered on the arena, and immediately the white uniformed "pushers" went at a gallop across the ground amid the ilw ers of the great crowd to push the dogs •ml of the way. One dog evidently knew something, and got out in double quick time, but the other, of the sheep dog variety, "laid doggo" and possibly took the oncoming white brigade for a new brand of sheep. However, one pusher, more venturesome than the rest, charged at full tilt and off went the dog, over the cinders and up concrete, with the man close on his tail. Change of Name. A "(iazette" notice notifies the change of the name of Kioreroa. near Whangarei, toj Port Whangarei. and by the latter name the! deep-water port of Whangarei will be known! in future. It was -at Kioreroa that the pas- | senger steamers from Auckland use,] t,, berth; in the early days, hut lat. r the railway was! extended to Onerahi. further down the liar j four, and a wharf was constricted there.! Siiu-e then the Whangarei Harbour !!<i?ird| made harbour improvements at the new port, with the object of berthing there the larger \ti-sel- which visit Whangarei. Stranger than Fiction. i A set of remarkable circumstances marked i an episode which occurred at Parnparaumu. north ot Wellington, on Saturday* afternoon. A lorry wa- towing a farm tractor across the railway line adjacent to the station at the time when the up Auckland express was passing through. The lorry had got across the rails and the tractor was about to follow when the train shot between the two vehicles, severing the tow rope like a knife. Xothing else happened, but it would be hard to say' who were more amazed, the engine crew or the man on the tractor, or those who witnessed the happening. That's London." "As I came out into the courtyard at Burlington Hhiikc. London, in the du-k of late) afternoon, after viewing wonderful special j exhibition of seventh century works of art. 1 was amazed at the chorus of twittering birds, that made thi *. niche which opens 011 to noisy Piccadilly like a bird sanctuary," writes Nelle Scan lon to thj "Auckland Stat." "The caretaker, seeing my bewilderment, told me they were starlings—thousand* of starlings, who spend their winter nights in the shelter of the ornate decorations that surround _ the courtyard. 'We n<*ver sec one ~ x them in summer, but every winter they come back—thousands of them. First thing in the morning you hear them, then they are off. Have to clock-in at their job somewhere, I suppose,' he said, smiling. 'Then, as soon an it is dusk, back they come, and fill the old courtyard with their twittering till they £o to sleep.' That's London." Monarch Butterflies. A report that at least five Monarch butterflies have been seen at Devonport within the past few days was received by the "Star" this morning. The butterflies seen in the marine suburb are described as being brownish red on the body and possessing black-edged wings relieved with white spots, and this coincides with the official description, which states that the insect "has wings of an orange brown colour, veined and bordered in black. Round the margin of the wings are two rows of small white spots." The specimens at North Shore, are claimed to be beautiful and so ldrge that they would not comfortably fit into a round two-ounce tobacco tin. Recently a local naturalist, Mr. T. Skeates, stated that the public were destroying the beautiful ( Monarch butterfly in ignorance, and this claim was supported by the acting-director of the Auckland "War Memorial Museum, Mr. A. W. B. Powell, who suggested that instead of destroying the butterfly when they saw it nature-lovers should note the time and place and notify the museum. • Primitive Railway Methods. "Great changes have taken place in railway work," said Mr. P. T. Hunt on his retirement at Papakur on Saturday from the maintenance staff of the railways after 40 years' service. "Some of the old ways seem very funny in the light of modern methods." Mr. Hunt said that when he joined the railways there were no iron shoes on the brakes, but wooden blocks were used. And there was trouble with these when the brakes were screwed on at the top of a long hill. Before long the blocks would catch fire, and flames were shooting out at various points. So the engineer had to come along with buckete of water to put tlieni out. There was another amusing contrast to the way things are done ' noyv. The small engines could not carry much . water, so at each station the buckets would be used again, this time to carry water from the station tanks to fill up the "iron horse." Some of the engines had small hand pumps, so 1 the trains were stopped at creeks and water i was pumped up to replenish the engine's water tank.

H.M.S. Leith's Southern Cruise. The Imperial escort vessel, H.M.S. Keith, which left Auckland 011 Jai wnrv 0 oil one of the most extensive southern cruises ever undertaken by a ship 0:1 the New Zealand station, arrived at Dunedin on Thursday after visiting the Marlborough (sounds. Picton, Tiniaru and Oamaru. On her trip down the coast she encountered fog, and did not run out of it until nearing Tiniaru. The remainder of the cruise v ill include following calls: — Bfuff (February 4-9), Stewart Island and West Coast Sounds (February 9-23), Nelson (February 24-March 1), Wellington (March 1April 1), Lyttelton (Apr'. 2), Akaroa (April 2-8), Lyttelton (April S). Pink Pavements. Now and again vast quantities of old I bricks fall into the hands of the Wellington j City Corporation. While in the past a partial! saving has been made by cleaning up such bricks as lend themselves economically to the process, the latter-day cement makes it ditlicult to clean up bricks for further use as bricks. In order to use the material the brinks are being crushed up finely and incorporated in the concrete paving slabs that are used all round the railway station streets, and are now being used in the city, where the pavement calls for renewal. The result lends a warm flush to the full k rey of concrete. Another advantage is that the rough finish to the new slabs makes the footing more secure in wet weather. Known By His Handclasp. A N'ow Plymouth man received a pleasant surprise recently, when, after five years without any spoken word, he was recognised by a Hind girl merely by her highly-developed MMise of touch. The circumstance was that on her previou- visit he danced with the girl, whom he had nut seen since then. Tlii* day he noticed ii blind girl alighting from a New, Plymouth tram, and his chivalrous instincts prompted him to offer assistance by taking her by the hand. His surprise can be imagined when, in acknowledging liis help, the girl a-iked if he was the person with whom she danced at the Agricultural Hall over live years ago. Tin; recognition was instant. Nationality of Syrians. All Syrian and Lebanese over IK years of age, who were settled in foreign countries before August 3<>. 1934, are authorised, by the clauses of a treaty sfgned on May 29, 1937. between the French and Turkish (iovernments, I to claim the Syrian or Lebanese nationality it' application is made to the French consular :Milhorities before May 29, 19,'SH. Those who. lip to that date, have failed to choose either nationality, will be finally considered a« Turks and thus lu-e any right '1 the protection of French consular or diplomatic authorities. Married women take the nationality of their husbands, and children under IS that of their parents. Interested parties should apply to the French Consulate in Auckland. The acquisition of a foreign nationality does not relieve Syrians and Lebanese from the onus of complying with the above regulations. Over a Thousand Cars. Following the Ai versary Day holiday, the inward week-end motor traffic to the city across the harbour yesterday evening was very heavy, and kept the vehicular ferry service fully taxed between the hours of 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. In that period, reports the Devonport Steam Ferry Company chairman, upwards of 1100 motor cam and other vehicles were transported, and despite the formation of long queues of waiting vehicles at Devonport at periods within the time stated, the longest wait imposed on any of the returning motorists was 23 minutes. Four vehicular ferries were employed in the task, and on the Devonport side the local police assisted in the control of traffic. The Church Down the Ages. "Primitive Christianity was a revolutionary movement.'' said the Rev. J. C. Chappie in an address on ''Orthodox Christianity" delivered under the auspices of the Rationalist Association in the Strand Theatre last night. It was not what Christianity had evolved and been developed into that concerned us so much as the origin of the movement. "Thy Kingdom come," had been a revolutionary statement, and it had meant universal brotherhood irrespective of station or nationality. But this spirit had been adapted until it had first suited the policy of Imperial Rome, and later the policies of modern imperialisms. The Church, whose Founder had stood for the downtrodden and the poor, hr I become reactionary and had taken its stand in favour of the rich, and Church teaching to-day was far removed from that of the Man who was considered seditious by the Romans and blasphemous by the Jews. The speaker concluded his address by appealing to youth to stand in a united front for all that meant social betterment and justice. Tuna Caught off Breakwater. When Nobel's explosive vessel, the Miro, was lying off the Napier Break\v*ter this week, a member of the crew, while engaged in a little impromptu fishing, landed a tunny, more commonly known in New Zealand as the tuna. The tuna, which is rarely caught in New Zealand waters, is of the mackerel species, sometimes attaining a length of 10ft and a weight in some cases of over IOOOIb. The fifih are abundant in waters from the South of England to Tasmania, but are very rarely seen north or south of those places. They are most common in the Mediterranean. The tuna caught by the member of the Miro's company was not a particularly large specimen, but put up a good fight. The tuna resembles the kingfish, and it was at first thought that it was a fish of this species which had been caught.