NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 17, 21 January 1939, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Old Tahapuna Steam Trams. With the reconstruction of tlie bottom of the motor road leading to the Bayswater wharf, the last remaining traces of the old Takapuna steam trams have been removed. The work has involved the digging up and removal of some 100 yards of the old rails ! and sleepers. The road is now to be bitumenised, with a footpath along the sea wall. Keeping Cool. Many and varied were the means employed by people in Australia in order to keep cool during the recent heat wave. Writing to a friend in Auckland a resident of Sydney, an elderly woman, said that she did not think she could survive such intense heat again. After that the temperature soared still higher, and she is still alive. The method she employed to keep cool was to sit in the hath at her homo with the shower turned on. Tier son meanwhile lazed about in the scantiest of nttire in front of the electric fan. Of Interest to Sportsmen. Of particular interest to votaries of sport with rod and gun is a special meeting- of the the Auckland Acclimatisation Society called for next Tuesday at the Chamber of Commerce at the request of the lion. W. E. Parry, to consider instituting an intensive campaign, in co-operation with other bodies, for the destruction of vermin which prey on game birds nnd fish. Other points to be discussed will be the liberation or retention of Canadian mallard breeding-stock, and a re-allocation in the stocking of streams with brown trout, which have shown a decline in recent years. Record Number of Vessels in London. A record number of ships occupied the London docks on December .">0 of last year— a total of 1 ~»2 vessels, bearing, between them. 18 different flags, and discharging from or loading for over 100 different ports. The initial letters of the ships' names included the entire alphabet, excepting the lctlev-t X and Z. The largest vessel in port on that day was the P. and O. liner Strathallan, of 2.1 7(!t: tons, loading for Australia at the Tilbury Docks. Of the 823 ships that used the docks during the week ending December 23,41 ft were engaged in Empire and foreign trade, and 374 in coastal traffic. Took the Wrong Road. Passengers on a city-bound car from the top of Symonds Street about eight o'clock this morning had an opportunity of noting what patient, and long-suffering men are tram motormen. When the car got to the top of Wellesley Street East it came suddenly to a jarring stop. Everybody looked interested as the niotnrmaii left his scat "up forward," came round to the back and started the car in motion the opposite way. It appeared that the points had jumped and side-tracked the car down Anzac Avenue by mistake. The operation of getting on the right road again took only n minute or two, and the motorman did not even swear. Cricketers Take the An. When the Manawatu cricket representatives left Kongotai for Nelson by air yesterday afternoon they were possibly the first team to have done so in the Dominion. Football teams have made use of this form of transport for the purpose of making a rapid crossing between the islands. When a match against Nelson was first discussed the advantages attaching to air travel were examined, and upon further inquiries the Manawatu Crjcket Association decided to use that mode of transport in preference to ferry steamer. Two special aeroplanes were chartered and they departed from Kongotai at 5.15 this afternoon, landing at the Nelson airport early in the evening. Unusual Sunset Effect. Aucklanders are justly proud of the setting eun as it goes down behind the Waitakeres, and of the unusual effects often caused by it. Last night's sunset was unusual, even for Auckland. Heavy clouds were banked up almost all round the horizon, and most of the hills were plunged in gloom. As the sun the rim of the range, however, it broke through the clouds toward the southern end of the chain. It flooded a few miles of the hills with a glorious golden light, which was made particularly effective in comparison # with the dusky hue of the surrounding clouds "and mountains. For several minutes the light lasted, until, with the going down of the sun, it faded and the full length of the range resumed its former darkness. Radio Stations " Blanketed Out." Hundreds of wireless sets in the Opotiki district have been rendered of little use to their owners during the week as a result of a fault in the electric-power system which has been broadcasting static over a wide area. Sets as far away as Omano have been affected. Practically only one station did not have its programmes interfered with seriously. The noise blanketed out practically every other station and Opotiki wireless dealers have been inundated with requests to attend to sets. The fault has been located as somewhere in the Paerata. Ridge district, but the exact spot has not yet Men found. Power Board employees have conducted an examination of the board's system over a wide area, but the dry weather has been a handicap, as the leak has not been severe enough to cause a blowout. I

Mayor's Bowling Trophy. One ol the keenest members of the Morrinsville Bowling Club is the Mayor of the borough, Mr. W. Hethcrington, who has occupied the position of secretary for many years. Popularly known to fellow bowlers as "Heather," the mayoral-secretary ha« instituted a club competition for the "Heather Stars," the rinks trfking part to consist of recognised skips, measurers, scorers and leads. The donor of th * stars skipped the successful rink in the first game of the new competition. Both rinks had first-year players as their No. 2 men. The competition promises to. do much to encourage the club's many new members. Waterspout. "Yesterday we steamed ia&o the beginning of a waterspout," writes an Auckland able seaman as his ship nears Bermuda, in the Western Atlantic Ocean. "The wind was on the beam, and light, and it was pouring cats and dogs, when suddenly the wind came ahead with a roar, screamed through the ripping, lifted the tops off the seas, dropped, and then came light on the beam again. Looking n«tern we saw a spiral of water, from the clouds to the sea. moving rapidly away from us. A sailing ship would have lost everything with the wind coining ahead like that. It would have caught the yards aback and brought masts and gear down on the deck." Auckland's Good Milk. A Heme Bay resident, who has ju6t returned from a visit to Britain and the Continent extending over two years, wrote to the Auckland Metropolitan Milk Council yesterday comnicnding the quality of the milk 6old in Auckland. ''We lived in England, Scotland, Germany. France. Belgium and Italy, and consume a fair quantity of milk, and can confidently assure you that in no city or country have we met such good milk as in Auckland." wrote the correspondent. "Only once, lip in Scotland, did we obtain really "ood milk, and that was from the Duke of Bucclcijch's model farm. Often we have said: 'Oh. for some good Auckland milk!'" The : writer, a lady, added that *he had (riven this I rather critical tribute in coiuscquence of observing the work that council had always endeavoured to perform in raising and maintaining the standard of milk in Auckland. Earl Beatty Visits New Zealand. Arriving by the Matua from Suva on Monday will be the Karl and Countess Beatty, who are engaged 011 an extensive tour in the Pacific, following on a serious accident suffered by Earl Beatty in the hunting field last February.. Karl Beatty in the son of the late Admirnl of the Fleet and is 33 years of ace. He previously visited New Zealand as a midshipman in H.M.S. Danae in 1921. Countess Beatty was formerly Miss Dorothv Sands, an American. Tlicv will remain in Auckland until about .January 28. and will then visit other parts of the Dominion before going on to Australia. During his tour Earl Beatty will visit branches of the Navy League. Thev will be met 011 arrival by Commander C. If. T. Palmer and Mr. .T. IT. Frater, president and secretary of the Auckland branch of the Navy League, which is arranging a programme of entertainment for them. New Bridge Over Waipa River. Plans for a proposed bridge to replace the Whatawhatahoc Bridge spanning the Waipa River near Pirongia are being prepared for submission to the Otorohanga and Waipa County Councils. The new structure is estimated to cost £10,000, and the two counties would be asked to find approximately £1000 each, the State to grant a £3 to £1 subsidy, and the Kawhia county to pay a percentage of the cost. The Wbatawhatahoe Bridge was erected in 1882, being built of kauri and totara. It was one of the firet span bridges ever built in the Waikato and is still in fairly sound condition. Tenders for the new Narrows Bridge, to be built for the Waikato County Council have closed. The bridge, which is to replace the present wooden structure, is to bo constructed of concrcte in the form of a single arch. It will be 161 ft long, and will be in better alignment than the present bridge. Good Deed That Went Wrong. _ A commercial traveller on a south-bound train one night recently had an unpleasant experience when he tried to "do the right .thing'' by a fellow-passenger, the only other occupant of the carriage. This fellow-pati-senger was fast asleep, snoring loudly with mouth open. Glancing at him after the train had been travelling for a few hours, the traveller noticed the top set of his false teeth slipping out of his gaping mouth. Gradually the denture slipped down, until it was resting precariously on his broad chest. The window by his side was wide open, and, with every sway of the carriage, the teeth edged closer _to it. The well-meaning traveller accordingly went over and picked up the teeth to put them in a safe place. Herein, however, lay a problem. If he put them on the floor, someone might tread on them; if he put them on the window ledge they would surely fall out. What to do? Then a brilliant idea struck him. Beaching up, he hooked the set through the netting of the luggage rack. With the comfortable satisfaction of a good deed done with no thought of reward, he resumed his seat. Suddenly the train gave an unusually heavy lurch, "imagine his horror when he saw the teeth «lip from what he had thought to be a secure perch, bounce on the window-ledge, and disappear into the darkness of the night.