NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 126, 31 May 1939, Page 10

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Harbour Bridge. In compliance with a request from the Auckland Harbour Bridge Association, Incorporatiml. tin' Auckland Harbour Board at a meeting yolerdav decided to ask the (ic.vertlluent to expedite the holding of an inquiry or the netting lip of si commission to go into the question of a I.arbour bridge for Auckland. Next Monday's Holiday. As Monday next, the celebration of the Kinp'w birthday, is an award holiday for tradesmen, both unions am! employers' organisations have issued a reminder to housewives that it will be necessary to obtain sufficient supplies of bread, meat and other requirements to tide over from Saturday until Tuesday. Tt i-s expected that Friday and Saturday will be busier than usual for attendants in the shops and those on the rounds. Waitakere Park. A decision reached in committee to support the Waitakere Park scheme as a Centennial memorial was confirmed at a meeting yesterday of the Auckland Harbour Board. The chairman, Mr. W. B. Darlnw, and the deputy-chairman. Mr. R. T. Reid, were appointed the board's delegates to a conference to be held on .Tunc 0. when the delegates will be asked to vote oti the three proposals for a memorial, the other two schemes being a physical welfare centre and extensions to the Karitane Hospital. State Building Tenders. Owing to a further modification of the 'original plans, new tenders arc to be invited within a day or two for the construction of the < ioverinnent building in .lean Mattel! Place, the >lccl frame for which was completed in February. It is likely that the time for the closing of the new tenders will be • lime 1:5. The plans for which new or revised tenders will he invited show internal alterations. which should effect economies in the cost of the building. The original scheme for an cight-storev building has been retained and there is no alteration in the external design. New Number Plates.

A few Auckland citizens evidently took advantage of the fine weather experienced j over the week-end and attached the new registration plates to their cur-;. Although these are officially not to he affixed before .Time 1. many residents liave their ears adorned with the gaily coloured orange and black plates. As well as serving their intended pui-pose, they add a definite touch of colour to the city streets. Also it was a breach of the regulations, as to-day is the due date (by special permission) for the change-over of plates. Mount Roskill Building*. The erection of municipal buildings at Mount Roskill was advanced a stage further last night, when the standing committee reported that after discussing the relative claims ami the professional standing of the three gentlemen from whom the architect for the building was to be chosen it was decided that the selection be by drawing "I bits, and Mr. M. K. Draffin was successful in the draw. Arrangements were made for an early interview by Mr. Hamuli and instructions «jivcn to prepare sketch plans fur the design, after all information as to tlio hoard's intentions hail been given to Mr. DrafTin. Horses In Battle Practice. Horses have still a part to play in modern warfare where the country is broken. That seemed to be established by the week-end battle manoeuvres near Waverlev. when men of the '2nd Composite Mounted liifles Regiment. in camp at Waverlev. found themselves pitted against the 4th Motorised Sijuadroii. Manawatu Mounted Rifles, which came from Marlon, in an exacting test over rough terrain. The strictest secrecy has been preserved bv Responsible officers, who alone know how the practice progressed from the time troops slipped away from the Waverlev camp during Friday iiiulit. but it is believed they were satisfied with the way everything went. White Man's Lonely Life. After three and a half years spent on the lonely island of Atiu. in the Cook group, where the only inhabitants are the resident agent and HMMt natives. Mr. <!. 1.. Snow. Atiu manager for A. R. Donald, Ltd.. arrived by the Matua last night to spend three months' furlough in Auckland. He stated that for six months each year, during the hurricane season, the island was isolated, no schooner or other boat calling. During this period he lived on tinned food, but at other times it was possible to get fresh meat and vegetables when a ship called. A favourite item of diet v"s the flying fish, said Mr. Snow. In the iantti in ii. for two or three (lays after the full I noon. the water off the reef was j v ith the fish, which the natives netted in I thousands.

Centennial Motor Plates. j New Zealand motor plates for 1040-41 | will l»e made at tin* Centennial Ivxliiiiil ion. j This will lie 11 highly educative mannfactiir- j in? exliiliit on a I»i «jr scale, and every process will lie carried out in view of the public. Making of the plates involves elaborate and expensive machinery. To complete the annual requirement* of motor plates, the contractors usually have to operate three shifts a day for seven weeks, lint arrangements made with the Post Office for production of the 1040-41 plates will enable manufacturing to extend practically throughout the exhibition. About 2"> operators are to be employed at the hours most suitable for the convenience of visitors, who will be able to watch every process, though some of the operations will have to be carried out behind glass partitions. The " Tin-Can " Mail. An opportunity of obtaining the interesting "Tin-Can" mail covers will bo afforded philatelists when the steamer Maunganui call < off Ninafoou Island during the course of her cruise to Tonga, Samoa and Fiji in August. Last year jubilee stamps were issued by the Tonga 11 (lovernment to celebrate the "20th year of Queen Salote's reign. and these will be used for the "Tiii-Can"' mail, a special cover with a full set of the jubilee stamps being available. Niuafoou or "Tin-Can"' Inland, an outlier of the Tongan group, is a small volcanic island about live miles in diameter, its whole centre being a crater lake surrounded bv a ting of cliffs. It has no harbour, and the natives pro out in canoes to collect the mail, which is put overboard in sealed tins. To obtain the "Tin-Can" mail postmarks on envelopes, they should be addressed to the intended recipient, and sent under cover of another envelope addressed to the Union Steam .Ship Company, Wellington, and marked on the outside "Tin-Can Mail." Sixpence in loose New Zealand stamps for each cover to be postmarked (21d for the necessary Tongan stamp and the balance for the Islanders' services in handling the mail) should be enclosed, and the packet must reach the Union Steam Ship Company. Wel- ' lington, before Friday. July 28. One shilling .in stamps should be enclosed, for each cover on which a full set of jubilee stamps is re-] quired. The envelope should be of a size to show off the postmarks satisfactorily, about fiiu wide by sin deep. The letters will be taken to Niuafoou by the Maunganui. and after being dealt with there they will be returned by a later opportunity. It may perhaps be two or three months before the letters are received by the addressees, as, apart from the infrequencv of calls at the island, occasionally there is delay through the 1 island's supply of Tongan stamps running I out.

Harvest From Sea. Amateur gardeners in the eastern seaside have reaped rich harvests from the sea during the past few days. Fast-running M'as toi'e great quantities of luxuriant seaMeed from the reefs oil the shore at Kohimarama and St. Hclier's Ray and dumped it in convenient piles on the beaches. Inspired not by the desire to "keep our beaches clean." but by rapturous thoughts of what that brown weed, dug into suburban gardens, would do for tomatoes and other <Tnps. householders pounced on it and carted il away by the barrow load. Mr. Nash's Hope Dashed. Postponement of the Tasman air service i inaugural flight, until October is- likely to | cause disappointment to the Hon. W. Nash, i Minister of Finance, who, on the day of his departure from Auckland for England, said it I was possible that lie might be a passenger on , the first trial flight. "That is. of course, if I can get to England and back to Australia in time." he remarked. As Mr. Nash hopes to leave Britain about the end of .Tune, arriving back in the Dominion a month later, he will be several months too early, instead of too late, to complete the last stage of the trip bv air. " Made In New Zealand." By the Aorangi to-day there will sail a band of 21 charming lads, whose street attire will be an advertisement for New Zealandmade goods wherever they go. They are the members of the Vienna Mozart Boys' Choir, who have just concluded a successful tour of the Dominion, successful not only on the concert platform, but also on the football field; they played eight games of Soccer against other teams of boys on their travels, and lost not one. While they were in Wellington the boys were provided with a complete outfit of New Zealand-made clothes. Attired in grey shorts, woollen pullovers and coats, tliey tiow might easily be taken for Xew Zealand public school bovs—if it were not for distinctive sailor caps they wear. Cereal Foods Banned. A large Australian company engaged in the maiiufactu e of cereal foods has notified wholesale merchants in Auckland that, owing <o the effects of the import regulations, it has been forced to discontinue (lie sale of its products in New Zealand. Tn consequence, it is stated, the public will Ih> deprived of certain brands of manufactured Cereals which have become very popular in recent years, and the disappearance of the products at hotels and accommodation houses is expected to cause disappointment to tourists. Before reaching its decision the company fully investigated the possibility of manufacturing its products in Xew Zealand, but was unable to reach a satisfactory arrangement with the Government regarding the financing of the proposed enterprise.

Exchange Rates. In view of Government control of New Zealand'* trade and exchange funds, the comments of the Association of llritish Chambers of Commerce 011 exchange policy and management have a special significance to this Dominion. "The association is much impressed with the injury which can be done to export trade either by instability of exchange rates or by stability at a level which fails to correspond with true currency relations","' states a report by the association 011 Britain's export trade. The report adds that currency instability introduces into export trade an added element of uncertainty and unwarranted risk, while persistent overvaluation of one currency in terms of others puts a brake on the power of exporters to compete in overseas markets. Extra Work For Officers. Many officers in Government Departments have been relieved of their ordinary work temporarily to undertake duties in connection with the Centennial celebrations. "I should say thatf this year could be described as one of the busiest in the history of the New Zealand Public Service." s- 1 -' Minister of Internal Affairs, the T "■ ■■ K. l'arry. to-day. "Changes in the If" n-v legislation have brought to th •••11 and women of the service continuous!v heavy work. A great test of the skill. ellc-Vn-v ai'l conscientiousness in their obligations to the public has been imposed on the officers, and no one can cavil at the victory won.'' The Minister added that the decisions of the meeting of the National Centennial Council, to te'e place in Wellington on .Tune 9. would still further add to the work of State Departments. City's 12,500 Trees. Winter pruning of.ornamental and shelter trees is now in progress on Auckland roads and streets, and scores of trees are receiving their annual shingle. Altogether, there are 12.500 trees planted along the thoroughfares of the city, and four men are permanently engaged keeping them in order. Oriental planes. which number "000, arc most popular, with elms, totalling 3.">00. a close second. Pohutnkawas. to be found chiefly on the waterfront —Hof) of them are planted along the waterfront drive —total about .">.">o. Oaks, contrary to the general impression, are few: actually they number only -10 011 the streets in the older parts of the city. Among ticother trees are the ash. karaka. kowhai. puriri. lime, scarlet gum. poplar, flowering 1 cherry, silver birch, pepper and titoki. To keep this varied collection under control — flint is. clear of overhead wires—is a full-time job. and summer pruning is as important as [ winter, but the heaviest limbs are lopped off 1 at this time of the vear.