NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 208, 3 September 1938, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Target Practice. An empty beer bottle propped up on a handy fence post has an inexplicable fascination as a target for irresponsible youth. In one of the city side streets this morning a small group of lads had obtained such a target, and -were busy bombarding it with a ehower of more or less well-directed missiles. It remained for a full-grown man, however, who should presumably have known better, to speed the shot which shattered the bottle. Doctor From Germany. The first doctor to be stationed at Piopio for four years, Dr. Einstein, a refugee from Germany, will arrive from England shortly. His appointment is the result of the efforts of Piopio residents, who approached the Jewish community in Xew Zealand. Dr. Einstein will serve a wide area, including Piopio, Malinomii and Mokan. Previously doctors from Te Kuiti hod to travel as far as CO miles to their patients. Consecutive Twins. AVhen Mrs. Jack Dye, 36-year-old wife of nil unemployed chauffeur in Vancouver, gave birth to a third consecutive set of twins (all doing well), the doctors claimed the event as a record in Canadian medical history. The town of Perth. Cinario, UUs issue with this statement, howe.vr. maintaining one of its towroswomen, Mn. David Publow, bore four successive sets of twins over an eight-year period. J Kingfisher and Motor Car. Iwo women were travelling south by motor car yesterday, and had reached a point close to the, T amaki bridge when the driver pas amazed to see a kingfisher flash through the driving window, narrowly missing her face. The other passenger was not so fortunate, for the bird struck her on the forehead. reports the '"Star's" Papatoetoe correspondent. So forceful was the impact that the passenger was .momentarily stunned, while the bird was instantly killed, ft is easy to imagine that the conseij -- nces might have been very serious had the driver received the blow. Dairy Factory Managers * Award. Jhe -Arbitration Court to-dav issued an order amending the Northern and Taranaki industrial districts' dairy factory managers' aw aid, providing that all workers employed 1 under the award must be members of the union. By the order a clause has been inserted in the award providing that it shall not be lawful lor any employer bound by the award to employ, or continue to employ, in ' any position subject to the award any adult person who is not for the time being a member of the union, with the customarv exception that a non-unionist may be employed while there is 110 member of the union avail- • able. For the purpose of this clause a person of IS years or upwards who is in receipt of ' not less than the minimum rate of wages pre- ; scribed by the award for workers of the age of 21 years and upwards «-hall be deemed to be an adult. The new order takes effect from : to-day. Alberta Appeals. |

Those Untenanted Houses. In spite of the shortage of houses at New •Plymouth, dwellings are being permitted to stand empty for periods of as much as two to three months while owners make efforts to sell them, reports a correspondent. House agents state that, although the number was , not large, there were always houses left empty • because under the Fair Rents Act owners found it impossible to sell while tenants occupied houses One aprent gave as an instance a I V ouse was allowed to stand untenanted for more than two months before a sale was effected, although there were always many tenants seeking to rent it. * Australia Helps Oat. ' Drawing attention to the close unity beween Australia and Xow Zealand, the Minister of Lands, the Hon. F. Langstone, at the c.mc reception to Sir Earle Page yesterday remarked that Xew Zealand's Prime Minister! — • i a ?-°' was a " Australian though be is also the white-headed boy of Auckland, he said. Other members of' the Ministry were also Australians— the Hon R p en c Wehh ni Ar r -°/ Works - the Hon! • J/ eon, Minister of Mines, and the Hon Mark Fagan. M.L.C.. Leader of the Le£slaU™ Council. That shows extraordinarily ~ood judpment on the part of Xew Zealand." com ," ia 3 deputy-Prime Minister, ni uinpfM. Information Passed On. Australians take their cricket seriously. A Sydney man, who has lived in Christchure'h trai.?f."* V 'I* I *' " aS 3 l la^ on the ui-ht ti am from Sydney to Melbourne, when a Test th!v%'f!''n ~lu- v cd - ,- U CVol '.v wayside station i'.V f ?," °' lone<l the windows and askedWhat is the score?" The whole population ~h m'° ! R was listening to the ball-to-ball description, and was able to "ive he exact score, with details as to how *tb» batsmen were out. Tin- lost progress report of the game was received by the travellers at - a m. from some enthusiasts listening in at a station, almost four hours' run from Alburv toria ° XCW South Waios aml v '>" Auckland a Winter-weary City. Winter illnesses continue to affect the city and suburbs, in which many cases of measles influenza and tonsilitis * a ,e reported. Whooping cough has also been imported by doctors to be troubling children in the metropolitan area. Doctors advise exirt™r*?r? a / t f F nieas,rts - patients, in their debilitated state, can easily contract influenza ?i t .° ne <lo( ' tnr stated yesterday that the whooping cough epidemic was the serious since 1932. W r hooping cou"h ho said, was serious in its effect on children and in his opinion every child should receive protective inoculation. Another doctor stated that the long period of damp, dull weather had affected people; the advent of sprin<* would remedy matters. 0 "Insulating" New Zealand. A country with the enormous per capita trade of this Dominion cannot be insulated against a future depression." savs the September quarterly journal of the \\>w Zealand Institute of Secretaries. The journal adds that even the United States, where the proportion of external trade to internal trade is far below that of New Zealand, is vitally affected by world conditions and cannot mainhoT standard of living except on a, basis of international commerce. New Zealand is stated to bo much more vulnerable than the United States to the effects of changing overseas conditions. If it were possible for one country to insul -te itself, says the journal, so coSld others, and the absurd conclusion would ' be reached that in difficult, times every nation could shelter itself from the depression of the rest of the world. "From 102!) onwards this ' is exaotly what all of them endeavoured to do," the journal remarks,' "but with how much success everyone knows." 1 Erosion on Mission Bay Beach. Prolonged easterly and north-easteTly con- j ditions at Auckland have caused considerable i erosion of sand on the beaches along the i eastern waterfront. At Mission Bay the I damage has been so extensive that the City 1 Council has been compelled to take action to i protect the foundations of the recently con- i etructod retaining wall. The Bweep of the ( tides along the beach from the eastern r end has reduced the sand to sft below < the original level, and a portion of the beach i is now almost lmre. To arrest the drift, and ] if possible assist in making good the damage, < the council is preparing to place rock boulders : along the ba»e of the wall. At present the t sand is piled up in the middle of the beach to ] a depth which covers the wall, and the drift ( has continued around towards the clubhouse i of the Tamaki Yacht Club. It is expected that < when the movement of the prevailing tides is i reversed by a change to more favourable wea- i ther the beach will gradually resume its norma] i appearance. The council is also placing a < quantity of scoria behind the wall in several < places where an exceptionally high tide a t week ago, accompanied by strong nor'-easterly j winds, scoured out the earth filling. For- < tunately the wall, which was reconstructed i last summer, has been sufficiently strong to 1 withstand the seas without damage. t

Ihe Judicial ( onunittee of the Privy Council in London dismissed the appeal of the So.i«il Credit Government of Alberta and upheld the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, jn declaring outside the powers of the provincial Legislature a bill to tax chartered hanks with branches in the province. This was the last ot three Alberta appeals against Canadian Supreme Court judgments 011 Alberta legislation. Previously the .Tudi-| rial Committee liad discontinued the hearing n f appeals on the Alberta Press Bill, designed to exercise a depree of control over newspa per* of the province, and on a measure to regulate credit. The Supreme Court declared these bills also unconstitutional. Premier William Aberhart of Alberta said dismissal nf the province's appeals by the Empire's highest Court would make no'difference whatever to his Government's programme or plans for the future. Cruelty to a Dog. "If the dog had been seriously injured I would have imposed a term of imprisonment," said Mr. H. W. Bundle, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court at Oamaru, in imposing a fine of £5 on William John Irving, a stock dealer, ivho was found guilty on a charge of cruelly ill-treating a dog. The magistrate instructed Lhe police to have the dog destroyed by the Tispeetor for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Irving was also ordered -o pay costs. "Any man who knows anything about dogs must know that throwing a dog )ver the cliff at that spot was a cruel and ■allous act," said the magistrate. "No reasonable man could have thought that the dog 'ould have been thrown down into the water ind that that would hnve been the end of it." [rving was seen leading a collie dog round the •1 iffs by the lighthouse on July 25, said Senior ?erpreant T. I. McGregor. He was seen by some men working on the breakwater to tie a >iece of iron weighing about 121b round the log's neck, and throw it over the cliff. He vas then seen throwing stones over the edge >f the cliff. The dog was later heard barking, md defendant was brought back by 6ome nen. He scrambled down the cliff and cut ;he rope from the do? s neck. The dog was >n the rocks clear of the •water, and was halfIrowned. The dog had suffered from disemper and he was determined to get rid of t, said Irving, in evidence. There was plenty >f water at the «<pot where he threw the dog n, and there was a heavy sea running. He lad not heard the dog barking, and denied browing any stones.