NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 228, 27 September 1938, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Jewish New Year. Celebrating the Jewish New Year 5699 a period of ten days' penitence and fnstinp- is'at present being otfserved in Jewish communities throughout the world. Social services were held at the Auckland .Synagogue vestertfav and agam to-day. The period of 'penitence , ends on Wednesday, October 5, when the Dav • of Atonement will be held as a rigid fast. Veterinary Laboratory. Preliminary work having been completed a start was made yesterday on the erection of the new animal health laboratory at Wal laceville (Wellington). The work will cost approximately £20,000, and is bein« undertaken by Mr. Joseph Jackson, of Trentham under contract , to the Public Works Department. With the accommodation alreadyexisting i„ the present buildings, the new structure will serve the needs of the Government veterinary laboratories for many years. Tests in Timber Posts. Interesting tests in the lasting qualities of po«ts ot various kinds of timber trees for posts are being initiated at the Government's plant research station at Mount Albert The posts have been supplied bv the State Forest Service, and include kauri from North Auckland, silver pine from the vicinity of Ton«ar.ro National Park, and creosoted larch from the State Forest plantations in the Rotonia district. The larch are thinnings, and appear beautifully even and straight. The kauri posts are split from the large branches of trees, and the silver pine also include split posts. Each post will be stamped with the dote on which it was placed in position The tests are being carried out in the passion fruit plantation, where the wires to support the vines are stretched between the posts. Visiting Hoars. A warning to the public that if they failed to co operate with the nursir.g staff and the lward in the matter of the conditions under which the Public Hospital may lie visited, the board would be compelled to take other steps, was issued at last night's meeting of the Auckland Hospital Board bv the chairman, Mr. Allan J. Moody. "I have lately made one or two visits to the wards durinothe evening visiting hours," Mr. Modclv Paid. "We dont want to be continually the public, but the nurses are not "ettin«- the ' co-operation they deserve. It is not rare to : •«e six or eight people around i bed when only two should be allowed. If the public do ' not co-operate with the nursing staff and ( with the hoard, I am afraid we shall have to 1 take other steps. The board is a'.ivo to what « is going on."

Coming Health Camps. Who will be the lucky youngsters? Each year many hundreds of town and country children are given a holiday at the Motuihi health camp, and this year the number selected will probably be a record. "We expect that ove T 1500 will attend the camps at Motuihi and Campbell's Bay during the coming season," said a member of the Auckland Central Council of the National Federation of Children's Health Camps this morning. "The first three camps, beginning early in December and extending into January, will be for city and suburban children. * After that children from the country will he admitted." She stated that arrangements were now being made with the Health Department to select through the schools the children most in need of a change. List* of names would be compiled and submitted to the council, after which medical examinations would be carried out as the holiday season approached. During the examination* the youngsters would be classified according to their state of fitness, and the under-developed would be chosen first. Depth Sounder on Southern Cross. Through the assi'tance of the Admiralty, the generosity of an anonymous dpnor and the efforts of a London firm which manufactures the "echo" sounding apparatus of Admiralty pattern for the charting of coasts and the surveying of unknown or unfrequented waters, the MeUnesian Mission ship Southern Cross has) been equipped with an "echo" sounder, which win be used for the first time during her coming cruise of the Solomon and other «■"*» of the Mission. By means of an electrical device a signal sent out from the amp travels vertically downwards until it reaches the sea bottom. The "bump" starts a return message, which, when it reaches the hull of the ship, is picked up by the receiving set of the machine. This received message is amplified and transmitted to the bridge, where it is recorded by means of a pen moving over nn arc on a roll of specially treated 'paper. The machine is capable of recording in either feet or fathoms, and for depths of from Ift to 200 ft or fathoms. The finished drawing, which is left by the moving pen. resembles a sectional sketch of a rano-e of mountains in • which the increasing depths are the valleys and the mountain peoki the shallower waters. ' The paper is scaled off in spaces of 10ft or fathoms, and the depth of the water in which ; the ship is located can be read instantly on I the bridge without stopping the ship, as is i necessary when a hand lead is used for taking s soundings. The gift has enabled the Mission ' to make a saving of over £300 a year in j insurance. Before the Southern Cross sails i the apparatus will he tested out under the f supervision of experts of H.M.S. Endeavour, I the Admiralty survey vessel which » now at i Auckland. ,

A Local Thunderstorm. While in ' one part of Auckland people were taking afternoon tea in their gardens in glorious sunshine yesterday, Howiek was being swept by heavy rain and a. thunderstorm. This happened in the middle of the afternoon, and after the first storm the weather cleared. About 4.30, however, down came the rain again. So heavy was the rain that stormwater drains were taxed to their capacity, the water gathering in low-lying parts of some of the streets. Later in the evening the weather cleared again for the second time. The Stanley Bay district was also in the track of the thunderstorm. What Stanley Bay Thinks. "What Stanley Bav thinks today Devonport thinks to-morrow, and the rest of Auckland after that," declared Mr. E. Aldridire in introducing Mr. H. T. Merritt (Nationalist) at Stanley Bay last night fpr the opening speech of his campaign as a candidate for Auckland East. The enlightened and progressive character of Stanley, Bav folk, as indicated by the longest wharf* in* New Zealand and other public anemitie** was stressed by Mr. Aldridjye, after which the candidate procreded to his task of making Stanley Bay residents National-minded, and so cash in on the Stanley Bay-Devonport-Aueklar.d thought sequence enunciated by his chairman. Man the Matter. A couple of the questions put to Mr. F. W. Schramm (Labour), at his meeting in Devonport last night concerned the grievances of members of the defe:io< force at Narrow Nick camp, in resrard to tiieir pay. After explaining that the camp would not be in his electorate until after Octolier 15, but that he ha 4 already looked into tli a matter of the grievances, Mr. Schramm sa'd he was wholeheartedly with the men. an.l promised to do his best to right things. "I find that the men could be better off than they are, but you must remember thnt it was the previous Government that slashed pay and conditions, , and not the Labour Government," he said. ■ "Although the Labour Government has im- ; proved the pay and conditions of tiwre in the public service, we must not let money he the master of man and society—let man be the master of both." . {

e Architects' Fees. „ "It would assist us materially were you [ to advise" us of your reasons for suggesting T that the charge made should be reduced by I 50 per cent." stated a letter received by the 1 Auckland Hospital Board last night from the 1 Melbourne firm of architects, Messi?. Stephen- ., son and Turner, in connection with their I claim for £3500 fees for hospital rebuilding , plans. The board had written to the t architects offering £1750, without prejudice, in settlement, but the firm, while appreciating the spirit of the letter, regretted that the board should have been so concerned over the amount of the foe. J After oil, the architects stated, the fee charged was only half the fulj fee \Aich could be | charged in accordance with the British Institute scale of charges, and for which they had ; carried out the maximum amount of work in " the preparation of a complete scheme for the . ultimate development of the institution. The \ framing of the board's reply was left in the • hands of a sub-committee. Modern Life and the Maori. "There is no doubt the young Maori is fast losing his beautiful and'expressive language, but the action taken by Mr. Rangi Marumaru in endeavouring to have the Maori tongue taught in schools to the Maor. children is most commendable, and deserves the hearty support of all his race and, too, the co-operation iof we Europeans," said Mr. Uregor McGregor, of Wanganui, in an interview. Mr. is one of the few remaining settlers on the Wanganui River familiar with the old-school Maori. "It is, however, unfortunately late in the day, as since our advent the whore whanga, or ancient Maori school, is now long a thing of the past," said Mr. McGregor. "It was in this school, a hard one, that'tHe old Maori taught the younger men th>?r "•enealogies, rehearsed to them the various 'wars and the reasons for them, the tribal land boundaries, and the use of their weapons. They were also taught manners, more particularly as they affected the behaviour of the young people in the presence of distinguished visitors. Choice of Rhodes Scholars. The reasons why few New Zealand Rhodes Scholars returned to the" Dominion were discussed by the Rev. Martin Sullivan, of Te < Awamutu, at the Hamilton Rotary Club luncheon yesterday. He said one reason was ' that there was not sufficient scope or oppor- ] tunity in Xew Zealand for men of outstanding ' lability. Mr. Sullivan asked whether the best 1 men were being chosen as Rhodes Scholars, ' and added that during the period from 1904 to ' 1028 only one or two of the selected candi- 1 dates had proved to be exceptional for quali- < ties of leadership. "It appears that the late » Cecil Rhodes' chief aim. the selection of men < having exceptional qualities of moral worth ' and leadership, has been overlooked," said Mr. < Sullivan. There was also a weakness in the « system under which the candidates were ex- * amined by the central selection committee in t Wellington. A candidate who had all his goods in the front window in the form of an d impressive personality had a better chance of r selection than a more worthy but more re- c tiring competitor. He knew several instances a where the best men offering had not been t selected.