NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 22, 27 January 1939, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

No Bread on Monday. Anikliiiul liMiisi-w ivi'i lmve this evenin-r and tn-iiiiuTiiw nmriiing tn lay in rtunw for the I'ijit: week-eiuL As Monday is okx'i\t'd a> Anni\vr.-ary l);i\ the majority i»f shoj>.-, and <jin<-<'-- » ilj be cioeed. The Auckland Ma**t*"i" JJnk*-r>" iia.s aniiouuced that ho bread will be baked for delivery on Monday. MUk, Milk All Arommd. A mis'jnotation of tke Aiu'ivnt Mariner's plaint liais [joint iji tjie ex|«'iif nc.e of one family in Wiiakataiif. They live on the outskirts of the toviK-hiji, and have Uie only home in the street that duri not keep at least one cow. All round tlieiu are dairy fariud —yet they have to u»e <-oiKleused tiiiJk! They tftate that the milkman in the district will not sirjiply them as they are too far off his round, and the neij-hboiii* cannot sell to them without s. vendor* license. PUgme •§ Rmts. Rate of large size and various hues are much in evidence hi «ne part of PoMsonby, fhe infested area being the *ite of tJs* old fci'aaibarn at \4 dJiace Mre#t, »hi<'h \* no«' covered with houses and flats. During recent weeks resident* there have remarked on th.e larj:** number of rats »een. <>iu> re<siclent counted five playinjr round his back lawn, and this moiiiinjr. when another householder opetu>d tlie back dour, he saw a rat of .remui kal»lf size tiittinj* on the back verandah. It is supposed that the concrete foundation of the old barn was the original liome of a rat colony, whict appears to b»\e increased fousiderablv of lale. Amimal Cmre. In a letter from the Xbrtli Sliore collector, Mi«-s K. W. Perkiiw, which was rend at the iiMwtinjr of the JCorthcote, Borougli Ouu.-iJ thie week, it wa« pointed out that the work of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was steadily increasing. It was found necessary to employ anwtlier full-time i«*|»eot<»r. who wan dealing with cruelty cases concerning bobby calf traffic, and mainly work in the country. The work in the city was also increasing, and the destruction alone during JJewmber totalled over 400 animals. The veterinary hospital at Xew Lynn housed about 100 sick animals, many of (he*e l>einir treated gratis. It was found very difficult, she reported, to meet all the demands )»»&>• upon the society. City's Revenue Satisfactory. The receipt of £4(1,150 from arrears of rat**, and of £3423 in reepect to Vulcan Lane betterment were features of the city's timtnc.ee on which Sir Ernest Davis commented at the council meeting last night as indicating a aati»faetory revenue. At the present moment, with nine months of the year gone, the position, he said, wa« normal in the payment of current rates, and the careful attention given by the heads of department* and committees to the voted expenditure promised to have the gratifying result of bringing the expenditure near the original estimate, and thus freeing a great proportion of the •er>t>b?mentary authorisation of £10,000 voted for street improvements. GmUt * the CkMkmms. A etory of fierce gale* and heavy «ea* at the Chatham Islands was told on the arrival of the steamer Teee at Lyttelton. The Tee* was at the islands during the period of low atmospheric pressure which caused damage in Xew Zealand, and at the island* the weather wae very stormy. For nine days the little vessel wa« badly buffeted, moving from anchorage to anchorage as the wind shifted. Khe had'some passengers ou board, also four Maoris who had been -takes -on to a»<*i»t with the cargo. It was iuipossible to land these men and in th« meantime they had to be paid £1 a day each. There was a heavy sea running when the Tees arrived at Waitanjri. and the approach to the wharf was made with the greatest difficulty. A horse was landed, also general cargo; and 500 bales of wool were loaded. It was learned from those on shore that the sea had been the heaviest for many yeare. At one etage the water threatened the hotel on the beach. Big eeae had swept right over the wharf, damaging the approaches and entering the wharf office. Fault m Salome Telephone CaK . There has been no telephone communication between Inrercargill and Stewart Island sinee January 9, when the submarine cable 'service was interrupted. Stormy weather delayed the tests carried out to locate the fault in the cable, which liee between Ocean Beach and Lee Bay. A party headed by Mr. K. D. Grocott, telegraph engineer nt the fieneral Post Office Wellington, left KliifT by boat on Tuowlny afternoon to find the damaged length of cable, which will be replaced. The new length of cable has to bo obtained from Wellington, and it is not expected thnt communication will be restored before the end of next week. Although there is no telephone service to Stewart Island at present. wireless communication is being maintained by means of aa emergency ir«n»mitt'n<r and receiving set at the post office at Stewart Island.

Honey Will be Scarce. The Ijtmiini<>u's honey crop will not be a good one tjiis season. Bees do their job of gathering honey, both for themselves and for man. only under something approaching pleasant weather, but this season's gales, rain and cold have been all against them and honey i>; going to be scarce. Many bees have gathered no .more houey than they need for themselves, and there i.s no surplus. Indeed, in »ome cu.»es apiari-ts. are resorting to feeding tUeir hee~s. Unless there is a change to fummer weather very quickly, iipiurintn are faced v itli decidedly gloomy |>rospe<-ts. and not even the prices fixed for honey «ill enable them to show a profit on their beekeeping. Cat Goes to the Modes. Mucli aiiiwement was caused at * Invjic city theatre-one night recently, when, a cat crossed the stage during the showing of a film. The cat's stroll across the stage was not so funny in it.-elf. however. The. cream •of the joke lay in the fact that the screen was showing a scene of India, in which elephants were picking their . way among poultry that cluttered a market pla-ce. and the eat'* shadow wa* projected on the screen in wucli a way that it seemed to be walking alongside tlu> mammoths. Just about in the middle of the screen the shadow parsed a large fowl, which made a vicious peck at the β-pace occupied by the shadow of the cat's tail. Some time elapsed before the audience managed to become sile-nt again after the outburst of laughter that followed this incident. /a Cmse of Earthquake. Auckland is rarely visited by earthquakes or tremors of sufficient intensity to be observable, but as earthquake risk has always to be considered in New Zealand the Mayor i- having a survey made of buildings in the business area** with a view, esjiecially, to having unstable or overhanging parapets removed. Thus a possible risk to people in the streets from falling masonry may be averted. This information was given by Sir Ernemt Davis at the City Council meeting last night ill explanation of a report by the city engineer recommending removal of some of the brickwork parapets on the corner of the Victoria Arcade buildili<r in the Shortiand Street corner of Queen Street. The property committee was given power to act in the matter. "New Zealand May Disappear." Yet another visitor to Australia has returned home feeling somewhat annoyed at the publicity given by Australian liPWpfm.pers to earthquakes in the Dominion. Mr. 0. T. Thiiiwton, who arrived back in Ghrwtchureh last Wednesday, paid that the general impression in Australia was that New Zenbmd wsn» a place that was s-luiking every few minutes, and that the two islands would eventually I ■ swallowed up and disappear. He did not know what was the cause of such an attitude, but when there wan an earthquake at Christmas, the fact wan reported in the Sydney papers with big headlines, and posters in thr> streets carried the lilies. "New Zealand Shaken by Earthquakes." "Those of us who had cewe from Xeiv Zealand were able to combat that impression, but there is no doubt that it is doing Xew Zealand a lot of harm," he said. Birds Prey mm Trovt. During an insertion tour of fishing areas round Rotorua the Minister of Internal Affairs, the lion. W. E. Parry, was told that the Caspian tern wan a menace to trout. A sportsman at Hamurana claimed it had an appetite for trout equal to that of the shag. The sportsman told the Milliliter that he had tvatched the exploit* of the tern in the Hamurana stream and had seen it dive 20 times and obtain a iish each time it entered the water. Tlie Minister stated later that he was having an ofiicial investigation made concerning the jmatter. A little larger than the ordinary tern, the Caspian tern, a sea bird, can be recognised by the black patches running back from its eyes and its bright yellow bill. The way in which the shag preys on small trout was indicated Inst week when Mr. J. D. Orinond, a member of the Rod and Gun 'Club, shot 64 of the birds in three days on Lakes Rotorua and Rotoehu. In each case the sliatrs were found to contain email trout of a length of up to "in. English Dairy Expert's Visit. A visit was paid by Dr. H. H. Mann, of the Rothamsted Experimental Station, England, to the dairy of the Bryant House Trustees at Te Rapa yesterday. He was accompanied by Mr. C. L. MacDiarmid. chairman of the trustees, and Mr. D. V. Bryant, honorary manager. Mr. Brya'irt explained the syt-tein by which the proceeds from tlie dairy and other farm properties, were devoted to the upkeep of the Bryant Convalescent Home, Raglan. The milking ehed, which is equipped with a six-cow plant, .is particularly well designed, and is kept scrupulously clean. Dr. Matin was greatly impressed with the dairy and the farm, and the splendid condition of the 200 cows supplying the dairy. Dr. Mann will visit Ruakura to-day, and the small farm settlement at Whatawhatn on Saturday. He will then proceed to Auckland and. after a brief stay, will leave Wellington for England. He has ifpn in Xew for seven weeks, mid him been vli*itin«r Knglifh youth* in various ryrts of the country who have taken up farming.