NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 24, 30 January 1939, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

On/ 0/ s*ocit. Tlie total prohibition of the importation of all safety matches has already been felt li.v at least one Auckland firm. Only one liiund of .-afety nuilrln'-.- is made in New Zcahuid, and the nianapvr of the Auckland lit in ihi- week >ent un order for five cases to hi.- Wellington iij-entc He received tlie follow r( .j)iy:— "We rejrret that we will be unable to t-hiji the safeties as the factdry is at present out of stock and is inundated with order*..' , A Hardy Weed. One of tlie troubles that caretakers of Auckland bow lino ;:reen* are faced with is the prolific of a plant known a* One-hunj-a «ecd. wliicJi ha> a tap root and spreads "lit tUit on the Mirfarc of the ground. It makes (jtiite a ,u'"od Mirfaee for juirt of the summer month*. Imt its seeilinjr *taj»e later brings a roiijin surface, and for that reason it is At Eden Park the weed i« much in evidence. One experiment was made there to exterminate it. All area was poisoned, and both the weed and jrrass disappeared. Later tlie weed appeared as luxuriantly as ever. Some Baby! A man wa«i pushing a covered pram up tile -tei'ji r-lope fi ..1.1 our of the 'J'it Ira 11-i \y.\\- lii-l e\..Miiiiu. while tin- iHilt pelted down. l(.' «a> ,i|...iii hulf-uav up the hill when a "ii'jrt modern r,ir tlie ITIIIIII bcliind liim. The motiii'rly in-tliict- of :l l.nlv plts~cnuT,- were by I lie sinht of the jiraiii. and with \ i-imu- of i<01111; unfortunate baby living with jiiteumonia after «oake»l by the rain -Iμ- |k-i ntuidcd the driver t.» offer tinunhappy pair a lift. The car .-lowed as it neared the pram, then unexpectedly accelerated. The occupants had ,-een the '"baby." The plain pusher wa« evidently returning from a successful n"*hin<r trip, for hie pram contained a nice catch of flounder. Dome to m Tarn. It wa* a scene of near trajredy—a fire in a suburban home in the early hour* of the nioininjr. An oven had been left on, and had it not been that the housewife was awakened by the funics and Mitoke the whole place inijrht have jroriP. Hurried measures confined the blaze to the stove and the kitchen, but the fire engine turned out from one suburban station. Tlie ]iad jiust been assured that everything was ajrain when yet another enjrine arrived on the scene. "It's all ri"ht, Bill—just the oven," called one of the earlier arrivals to the newcomers. The driver started up his engine ajrain in silence— but then a \ oice came from under one of the helmet*.-. "You can turn the meat now, darlinjf. I think it's done." "Code of the R00d. ,, Tourists who have been over the country during the holiday season are enthusiastic concerning tin- 1 (induct of compared with former years, and attribute the greater care beinj; taken on the niad to the aafety week campaign and other propaganda of the Transport Department. "Wherever 1 went from Auckland to Dunedin I noticed the marked change in the cunduet of motorists.' , said an Auckland resident who returned from an extended Dominion tour this morning. "The old-time courtesy of the road »eeni« to lie receiving a new lease of life, and the peneral body of drivers appear to be alive to their responsibilities. Overtaking on bends and on rise* has been reduced to a minimum, and a tendency is being shown to follow aa far as possible *he code of the road." The Lost Straw. In these da ye of Government control of external trade, you can apparently call every man with a beaming smile a manufacturer and every man with a look of bewilderment, or even worry, an importer, and you won't be very far wrong. The re«t of them are mere "neutiaU." Theee neutrals do not often make themselves heard, but the other day some of them found it difficult to restrain a cruel chuckle at an ironie coincidence which accentuated the misfortunes of the importers. The occasion wae the arrival at the Auckland railway station of an express which brought back a large contingent of the importers who had attended the Dominion conference in Wellington. Aβ the train swept in and came to a etop, big yellow letters on the side of the engine's tender screamed at spectators: "Buv X.Z.-made Goode!" German Owl and Morepork. In their eagerness to wage war on the "little owl," commonly known as the Geman owl, an enemy of native birds, some persons have made a mistake, wye the Forest and Bird Protection Society. " They have shot nioiepoiks, which are on the protected list. One of these enthusiasts proudly brought into Wellington the body of a bird" which he had shot in the Upper Hutt Valley. It was identified by an expert as a morepork. The native and the alien are about the same sizn, but the imported pest (which the society holds to have been one of the mistakes of the Otago Acclimatisation Society) has rather lighter plumage and whitish legs. The morepork Las yellowish legs. The society appeals to people to refrain from killing owls t.'nles.H. they are eure that the birds are the German speciee.

Tanks Now Fall. Many week-enders-at the beaches for the Anniversary Day~ holidays have not seen the #ea. .yet. Yesterday's thick fog blanketed Jflost bays, "And" the rain discouraged most people from.going outdoors. However, there was one faintly bright spot in a cold and uncomfortable week-end. In some places water has been at a premium for the past few daye, and supplies in bach tanks were perilously low. Few there were this morning not filled up and flowing over. Nazi Marching Songs. The spirit .of the wandevogel was brought to Auckland on Saturday evening, when 45 cadets and officer* from the German training barque Konimodore Johneen marched from King's wharf up Queen Street singing various German marching songe. They were on their way to a dance and social evening tendered to them by their compatriots in Auckland, and it was explained later by one of the officers that whenever the cadets inarch they '-ing. It was an unusual incident in city streets, and was much appreciated. Visitors to Sailing Ship. A popular object of interest to citizens yesterday throughout a Sunday which was unpromising from a beach holiday point of view was the German barque Konimodore Johneen. Throughout the afternoon the ship was thrown open for inspection by visitors, not more than half a dozen being allowed on at one time, am) there was a constant stream •if interested citizen*, who were kept to a line of one-way traffic by the two obliging «nd courteous cadets on duty. A contribution t<i tli" Seamen's Mis-inn fund wns the cost of a visit of inspection to the «Uip. Making the Best of It. "A wet seat and no fish" would have been an apt description for at least one city office worker this morning, except that he had not been fishing, but merely walking part of the way to work. Living 'some distance from the trains, he had had to make the be-t of his way through the rain for about half a mile. On arrival at work he found there was nothing for it but to make the best of what the office could offer in the way of a change of clothes. After rummaging high and low. the "white collar man" eat down to his day's work in borrowed dungarees, several sizes too large, to the ill-concealed amusement of his fellows. Without Any Fuss. Remarkable coolness and presence of mind were shown a few evenings ago in a wellknown household at Kawhia, when the curtains of a bedroom window caught fire (reports the "Star's" local correspondent). The lady of the house had retired to her room ♦ o read in bed. while the other members of the family and some friends enjoyed a game of bridge in the sitting room. Play was interrupted by the appearance of the' good lady. who, in a quiet voice, said, ''Pardon me for interrupting your game, but the curtains jue nn fire." A young man tabled hi* cards and went to inspect. He sprang on to the bed and rl rugged the blazing curtains down. A few moments inter hu returned to the brid-je Itshle. noncbalaiitlv picked up his cards, mid I said, "'.Yh;it was if you went. if" All of which goes to Khow'thnt the modern •mioration is not a* decadent as many would have us ltclieve. also that the ladies' of the older generation do not faint or go into hysterics ut a sudden emergency. Caused by Absent-mindedness? The antics of a young man in Quay Street on Saturday -evening caught the amused attention of several past-ers-bv. The man had apparently forgotten something at hie ottice, and could not get in, as the front door was locked. He was stymied for the moment, but then he struck upon an idea to attract the attention of a colleague who was still working at the office in an upper storey. He had a medium-sized parcel in hi* hand, aiid this he tried to throw in the window. It wae not so eaey as he thought, however, and he vraV'mide. of hie mark. He thereupon had attempt—then another, and another. He 'seemed unable to judge the distance accurately, and he eventually had to desist and go away in dieguet when the parcel started to distribute its contents over the footpath. Tale of Gloomy Weekend. After a eultry day on Saturday the dry spell of weather which the city had experienced for a period gradually gave way to rain, which stole in from the sea on* the wingg of an easterly breeze as a dripping fog that cast a brooding gloom over Sunday and developed during the night into a steady downpour a» the wind shifted towards the south a point or two. Under the cloak of the fog on Saturdav night and Sunday came accidents and knavish deeds. Xcar midnight on Saturday in Albert Street a constable "set up a chase of two men upon hearing the sound of smashed glass in the doorway of a jewellery fehop; the same night two motor car* collided disastrously at the corner of Mount Eden and Balmoral Poads. a tnan wa« found unconscious on the road near Te Kauwhnta, n ear left standing on the road at Surrey Crescent was stripped of many parts. and a jeweller's slu.p was raided by thieves. On Saturday nicht. too. a young 'man was lost from a sinking dinghy in Shoal Bay. Knnrlav n rid Ml to the gloomv tale. A man wan lo*t in the surf at Maioro Bench, near VTaitiku; four persons got into difficulties on Kiirekare Reach, but were rescued; throe persons thrown into the water by the capsize of a hoat off Palm Beach (Waiheke) bad a ion* swim to safety; and a motor car which wag swerved to avoid n dog on the road near Southdown crashed into a telegraph pole.