NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1938, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Hospitality Overdone." "While appreciating the lavish hospitality extended by the New Plymouth Borough Council, it would appear that this phase of the Town Clerks' Conference is becoming overdone/' reported Mr. H. Firth, town clerk, at a meeting of the Petone Borough Council. He said that far too much time was spent on trips. Should Have Taken Vote. When the operator „f a school Lus was charged in the Thames Magistrate's Court with having insufficient brakes, the traffic inspector stated the usual bus had broken down and the defendant thought it was the better tnin<? to do to take the children to school, even though he had to use another vehicle. "He should have taken a vote of the children " j commented Mr. F. H. Levien, S.M. j Wairau Hospital Equipment. I le . installation has been completed ai I t .' u ' airau Hospital. Marlborough, of powerful X-rav equipment outhoritatlvelv stated to be the best in Australia and Xew "Zealand at | the present time. The plant, which incorl porates the latest discoveries and improvej inents. has been acquired by the Marlborough < Hospital Board at a cost of £2000. and r'e- ; places an obsolete machine which has been in service tor many years. It was selected for the hoard hy the iue<liral superintendent nithe hospital. Dr. T. Julian, during the visit he paid to Lnglaud and Europe last year. Where It Does Go! At the eoiiclusinii „f a Kly-grog ease heard before Mr 1-. K. Hunt. S.M.. vesterdav afternoon m the Police Court, and afte'r SubInspector 1-lati igan, who prosecuted, had obtained an or. n- for forfeiture of the liquor seized. Mr ,7 .1. Sullivan, appearing for defendant asked Mr. Flanagan what was done with the lie,nor. '"Do you still sen,l it to the hospitals?' asked counsel. "Xo, - ' said the subinspector. "It is sold by the police and the proceeds go into the Consolidated Fund" "I have heord that it was poured down the drain 1 but I ve always doubted that," said the ma"i<. trate, amidst laughter. c " Danger «5f Over-Caution. There is such a thing as over-cautiousness on the part of drivers using the roads." said Mr E. L Walton. S.M., in the Children', Court «it Gisborne. in reply to a parent who . stated that her girl, who was charged with negligently driving a motor car, was a very careful driver. In these circumstances, Mr. Walton said, slow drivers seemed to be similarly slow to react in a case of emergencv the girl was 1(5 years of oge. and Senior Sergeant .7 F. H. McXamara said she had been involved 111 a collision with another ear in tlic vicinity of the racecourse. She had been passinjr another vehicle, and seamed to "lose her head" by keeping well over on her wroii" side of the road. He suggested tluit it was a case in which a further driving test was necessary. The girl was convicted and ordered to pay costs amounting to 12/. Family's 250-Mile Journey. Footsore and wearv .nffer a 250-milp journey from the Far Xorth. more than half of which has been undertaken 011 foot over one of the roughest roads in the Auckland Province, eleven backblock settlers, a mother and her ten children from the most isolated of the northern peninsulas, arrived at the Auckland railway station la?t evening Fo'twelve years Mr/and Mrs. F. Wilkin ard tbeiiten children have laboured on a 000-aere allotment at Rangiawliia Peninsula. IVmbtlees Bay. 35 miles overland from Manjonui. In that time they have had few comforts, and, cut off from the world and. its modern amenities, they were eontent with their own companv. The only road connecting them with civilisation was a surveyed route that was mud in winter and baked clay in summer. As a result of an injunction against their property, the family have bad to give up possession, and, being practically destitute, were obliged to make their way to Auckland as beet they could. On their arrival last night they were given shelter by Sister Esther until such time as further arrangements can be made. It was ,due to the kindness of the Mayor of Whangarei, Mr. W. Jones, said Mrs. Wilkin, that they were enabled to complete a portion of their journey by train and were given meals rod shelter before they left ,on the last stage of their journey to Auckland. Bottle's Long Voyage. Found by Mr. A. Savage, of opoutere, near Waihi, on Ohui Beach, several miles south of Tairua, a bottle containing a message proved to be one dropped overboard from the Matson liner Monterey on November 26 last year. Advice of this discovery was contained in a letter received by the master of the Monterey, Captain E. R. Johansen, when the vessel reached Auckland yesterday. The bottle drifted about 300 miles in less then three months before it was found, and is one of several hundred cast overboard by the Monterey on every voyage. Although from 15 to 20 bottles were cast into the sea each day, only about one in 500 has been retrieved. As a means of assisting in the verification of the trend of ocean currents, bottle-drifts play a prominent part in the work of charting the seas, and the Hydrographie Office of the Navy Department, Washington, takes full advantage of the method. During the 16 years that Captain Johansen has been in command of various ships, he has gained an interesting record of long drifts made by bottles which he has cast overboard, the longest drift recorded being that of a bottle thrown from the City of Los on a cruise in 1934 and retrieved three years later in the Philippines after having travelled 7000 miles from its starting point between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Piha Bridge Restored. One of the local sensations on the West Coast of the storm of a few weeks ago, which will be long remembered for its tragic sequel at a public works camp on the East Coast, was the washing out to sea of the bridge across the stream at Piha settlement. For a [ period part of the settlement was isolated—in the modern sense; motor cars could not cross the stream. Xow, however, the bridge has been replaced by a structure which will carry f wheeled traffic, and Piha is itself again. Public Library Readjustment. According to the chief librarian of the Wellington Public Libraries, Mr. J. Xorrie, the rental ticket scheme introduced in July last has proved a success. It was designed to meet competition from shop libraries supplying fiction. The emphasis, said Mr. Xorrie, had to a large extent been taken off cheap fiction, and of ricent months there had been comparatively little fiction reading at the public libraries, more serious reading having continued to progress. The rental ticket system had resulted in new rs being enrolled. Country Side Roads. I am coming to the conviction that compulsory stop signs, instead of 'Major Road I Ahead signs, will have to be erected on side >oads which carry little traffic and where the visibility is bad, said Mr. (J. Laurenson, Commissioner of lransport. at a meeting of the executive of the South Island Motor I'nion in Christchurcli. Mr. J. S. Hawkes contended that the "Major I'oad Ahead"' signs had no legal significance, and would lull tourists from Kngland into a false sense of security when, Oil the highway, they upproaehed an inUr-i-ection: and Mr. Laurcnson admitted that New Zealand had no major and minor roads, the right-hand rule being operative at all intersect ions. Housing Shortage. "Are houses as short as that?" inquired ■ the magistrate. Mr. T. K. Maunsell, in the Nelson Court, when the defendant in an action for the po-sesMon of a house said that he had | advertised three times a week for a house and I had approached every land agent without sue-! ■ cess. "The position is the same at Blenheim, where houses tire evidently unprocurable," said the magistrate. When the defendant suggested that if an order were made it would mean his family going out on to the street, the magistrate smiled and said: "Do you mean to tell me that if these premises were burned down you would go out on to the street?" "Xo. I wouldn't." admitted the defendant. "It sounds well,"' remarked Mr. Maunsell, "but —!"' Irregular Fish Supplies. To overcome irregularity in the supply of fish in many parts of New Zealand, more cool storage accommodation is essential, according to Mr. F. R. Price, chairman of the Auckland Fish Export Committee. One of the commit-j tee's problems since it was set up hint year; has been to deal with the over-supply of fish in Auckland, and Mr. Price says a chief cause of the difficulties experienced by the industry is the narrowness of the local market. While restrictions have been imposed on catches by Auckland fishing craft, numerous country towns have experienced a frequent scarcity of supplies, ami the high prices charged have discouraged consumption. To remedy this position, he considers, more holding facilities must be provided. Myriads of Moths. Reports from Kawhia state that an invasion of the drngon fly moths, in countless thousands, has caused quite a lot of inconvenience in the Kawhia township and district, and along the western seaboard. On a district farm a barn dance, to celebrate the cominu-of-ftge of a member of the family, was being held, but it had to be abandoned when the moths took possession of the building. Shop keepers in Kawhia had to abandon artificial lighting on the late shopping night because the myriads of moths darkened the premises. A settler in the neighbourhood of Aotea Harbour declared that high tide mark was indicated by a heaped-up mass of dead moths several > inches thick and for miles along the beach, the < insects having fallen into the sea and been < carried in by the incoming tides. Lupins on the sandhills and ragwort in other places were • stripped of foliage, but other vegetation appears to have escaped destruction. Killing of the ragwort will be appreciated by settlers, but they take a different view about the lupins. r which helped to bind the sand and prevent it ■ blowing over pasture land. Museum Accessions. Xo fewer than 29 accessions had been j received since the previous meeting, making 1 53 for the year, reported the director of the > Auckland Institute and War Memorial Museum, Mr. O. Archey, at a meeting 1 of tho institute council. Mr. Oscar ' ■Raphael, of London, the report stated, had presented a Chinese bronze mirror of the 1 ! Chow period. Fifty-one photographs of specimens from its collection of Maori carving have ; been given by the British Museum, which has ' also given to the Auckland Museum a compre- ] hensive selection of photographs of Polynesian craft work. Among other gifts are a Donegal • spinning wheel, a Fijian kava bowl, Sudanese j leather shields, a bronze cat statuette from i Egypt and pottery amulets from Mecca pre- i sented by Dr. Grace de Conrcy. Mr. Harold J. 1 Harding has given a cloisonne water pipe from < Peking and three other types of wooden pipes < from the interior of China. A collection of < specimens of ethnographical value from the Pacific Islands, Egypt, West Africa and other , places has been presented by Mrs. C. McGuire. - Mr. Herring has given two stone adzes from , Mangonui, together with one in process of . manufacture, and Mr. X. G. Hawkins, of Titi- . rangi, has also given a stone adze. As types ] vary according to districts and periods, such j gifts are of particular value from the aspect ] of research. A small pumice bowl was pre- , sented by Mr. X. H. Taylor. .