NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 300, 20 December 1938, Page 10

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The Holidays. The "Auckland Star" wil! not be published on Monday next, December 26, nor on the following Monday, January 2. These days will be observed as the Christmas Day and New Year's Day holiday respectively. No issue of the "Star"' Sports Edition , will be published on Saturday next (Christmas Eve), but on New Year's Eve the Sports Edition will be issued as usual. For the convenience of ad- , vertisere and for public inquiries the Shortland Street office will be open each Saturday night till nine o'clock. "An Old Account The finances of the A lief. In Mil Hospital P ml have benefit <1 to the extent of CIO i!iioiij;h an anonvmou- <•■ i; 111 (i ni■ ■ • 11 i<•: i from V u I'lv mouth. The -urn of CM fi>rwanled. and the only intimation was "an old acnillllt.' 1 Increased Hotel Rates. l!i>e-; in daily tariffs, ranging from 5 per i .'tit to 71 per cent, have been agreed upon I>\ licensed hotel proprietors in Auckland. It i> Mated thaf. the ri-e i- due partly to the aililit iojuil waves ei»ts ari-ing out of llie operation of the new hotel uorke:-' av\a:d. The award eame into operation on D'eemb r Swimming Club Assisted. In response to a letter from the secretary of Ihe Newmarket Swimming Club a-k----f«ii" fill 111 ■ -i;i I a--is( uiee in a scheme for - poii -or'd meiiilii'ii-lii'ic, a doiiatio'i of Clo was made to I lie nub bv the Newmarket 1!< »;-< »i i 11 Council ,it it< meeting I:> ~ 1 e\en i n The el ii b bad endeavour. I jo inerea~e mem-ber-hip. e-peeiallv in Ihe junior r-cetioii. and the elf* 'i t was eo u-id i • red worthy of eneoiirageinent bv the eoiilieil. Royal Birthday. The Duke of Kent, who is to asMtiiie the po-it ion of («11 v i "nor-f lenera 1 of Au-tralia in November next, celebrated his .'ilith birthday to ilav. The youngest son of the late King Ceoige V.. lie is two and a half years younger than the Duke of (iloiicesfer, seven' years younger, than Kinu' fleorve VI., and eight and a half yea in younger than the Duke of Windsor. The indieatioiiH are that the Duke of Kent will spend his next birthday in the ( onmionwcalth. Island Nursing. Some of the difficulties connected with the nursing service on the ("Jreat Barrier Inland were outlined ill <i copy of a letter received at a meeting of the Auckland Hospital Hoard last evening. It was Mated that the district nurse had a call on November '21 to a part of the island remote from her head<|imrter«. To v<'t there .-he had to ride five miles, walk *i\ miles ov< r a ranue of

il M : - through a !>M-ii lr.uk. and then ri<l■■ o> ;> motor lorrv. Tin- \ i-it took !ht three davtwo lu-ing -pent mostiy ill travelling. The Best Cadet. Tlic William Robert Friar Memorial I'rizi has lieen awarded to Sergeant-Major (J. S Hurtem-lmw, of the Hamilton High School cadct company. as tin- best radii in tin 1 Northern Military District. Tin* prize is a book entitled. "Forty-one Warn ii: India." liv Field-Ma rshnl Karl Roberts. The com pet it ion was instituted in memory of William Robert Friar, of Onehunga. who represented the Dominion as «» cadet and was later killed in Flanders in 1017. It was donated liy Surgeon-' Captain R. J. E. Hanson, of Cornwall, Filmland. Youthful Postmen. Keen to play their part in the huge ta-k of distrihut in«r Christmas gifts and greet ings. the army of schoolboys which hiin been en rolled by t?ie Postal Department in the Auckland district, for duty <111rifi<r this week, is serving in a variety of capacities. The work inehides. besides the delivery of mail and parrels, the "faring up" of letters in the mail rooms of the various oflices. acting as telegram messengers. and generally assi-tinjr where the rush i« greatest. Mainly between the ages of 14 and 17. the boys have, in Mime instances, had previous experience, as the Department operated a similar schemewt year ago. Look at To-day! Defining "summer season" ns the period in which summer time operates, the cummer season in Auckland this year hiiK been a gloomy one to date in the lyatter of weather. The sunshine has been of a decidedly blinky nature, being constantly muffled by rain clouds, tending to rai«se the humidity, and tiewind, but not the spirits—goiwl growing weather, in which one ran grow anything, hut ':••• r f ill. Xaturallv the individual view of ■ 'ie season is governed by the weather on mi. "s day off. Take Tuesday, for Ini-tainv — 'lit not for a holiday. One member of tiestafF whose weekly holidnv fall- mi Tuesday states that sinew summer time started this year there have been eleven wet Tuesdays in Auckland, and he despairs of his ability to hold the lawnmower in leash much longer. On the law of averages he reckons he has <i great future before him for the rest of the summer, though his experience with doubles charts in racing somewhat tempers this optimism. Look at to-day!

Gift to Hospital. '"Their charitable system is wonderful Tliey help one another, and now they art helping others." said the chairman of th< Auckland Hospital Board, Mr. Allan J. Moody at a meeting of the hoard last evening, in announcing that the Auckland Transport (Jlul hod made a donation of f-'-0 to provide Christmas toys and comforts tor children at the Auckland Hospital. The hoard decided to send a letter to the club expressing warmest thanks. High Fibre Flax. Unusual among the plants now beiiiL' established at the plant research station fit .Mount Albert are several high-fibre producing types of flax. These have been brought to Auckland from Mussey College in continuanci' of the work carried out there over a number of yea re. The work is partly the selection of improved types and partly the investigation of the yellow leaf disease, which lias inmost wiped out the commercial growing of (lax in the south. A Personal Risk. In referring •to the recent fire at the .Veil-on Hospital nurses' home annexe, the acting-Director-General of Health, Dr. R. A. Shore, in a letter received nt a meeting ot t lie Auckland Hospital Board last evening, pointed out that losses by nurses of personal effects were not in ordinary circumstances a liability of a board. Hospital boards were urged. if they had not done so, to rccommend nurses and other employees to insure ihemsrhes ngainst such losses. Broadway Parking. An application for prohibition ot parking on a portion of the roadway outride the premises of a sfoiv in ((roadway. Newmarket, in " der t i facilitate loading and unloading ol •joods. was refu-eil by the Newmarket Moroiigh Council at its meeting la-( night. '!!•<• planting of the application would, according to a report from the trallic inspector, be detrimental to the control of trallic. and Mould establish a precedent for the prohibition of other areas under similar conditions. Safety of Waipoaa Forest. When replying to a c|iies<ion at the annual meeting of the Auckland council of the Xew Zealand Institute of Horticulture last evening Mr. \V. D. Armit. Commissioner of Crown Lands for North Auckland, said it was correct that parts of the Waipotia kauri forest could lie used for commercial purposes within the law, though there would be strong public opinion against such a course. The only way in which the forest could be fully protected against exploitation would be to bring it under the control of the Scenic Preservation Act. Still Going Strong. Reporting progress on his self-imposed fast of 100 days, Mr. F. W. Popham. of Symonds Street, called at the "Star" office to-day to sov that he had gone without food. >t her than water and tea, for K7 days, and had reduced his weight by filllb. At noon oil New Year's. Day the period of the 100 days' fast will expire, but he says he now feel* -o well that he may prolong the fast until Nature ndviscs him to break if. At the moment he is well and strong, he says, and ic is quite convinced that lie will have no IrfTiciilt v in pee inn out the 100 days, or more, ind that he will require no medical advice ibout when to start the delicate business of resuming meals. Mr. Popham added that when he broke his fast one of the first items hi his menu would be a nice tender, young ■ar rot.

Gay Christmas Shoppe—. Attracted by the bright sunshine, thousands of people thronged the principal shopping centres in the city yesterday, which marked the first day of Christmas week. Suburban shops also experienced their highest. rush of the pro-holidav period. People laden with parcels bustled from shop to shop, and there was a general spirit,of cheerfulness abroad. Money was spent freely, and the manager of one large firm said he had never known business to lie so steady as it was during the greater part of yesterday. On all sides there was evidence of the response by the public to the appeal tp shop early, and it was noticeable, too, that country residents visited the city yesterday to make their Christmas purchases earlier than has been their custom. Traffic on the roads was particularly heavy throughout the day. and parkins' places in the main thorough fart's and within easy walking distance of the city were at a premium. The Longest Day. Friday, December 23, will be the longest day of the year, writes a correspondent. In astronomical language, the summer solstice occurs on that day, when the sun reaches the most southerly point of its orbit. That means that the sun 1 II be the most directly overhead of any day in the year, so that the L'reatc-f amount of 1 i *_r h t from it, will be mailable to the southern hemisphere. 011 Friday and Saturd-v next the sun will be only 13 A degrees from the vertical, as seen from Autkliind. The summer solstice is taken as (he middle of the summer season, but Actually it marks the first (lav of the calendar season of summer. The fact of the sun giving the greatest amount, of light does not mean that that day will also lie the hottest. Some weeks ■ : II ehi|>se before the soil attains its maxim tun temperature, and only then, when the soil has absorbed all the warmth it can absorb, will the hottest days occur This will lie about the end of .lanuarv.