NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 165, 15 July 1939, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Feathered Alarm Clock. The outstanding exhibit of the cajred bird show held at the Town Hall this weekend is the be»t bird in the foreign section. A noble crested creature, it comes from West Africa, where it is commonly known ae the clock bird, since at sunrise—when all f good people leave their beds—he start-; calling. This feathered alarum clock of Nature . lias the high-sounding name of touraeou. Insurance in Britain. '"Marine underwriters were quick to respond to the easing in international tension, and soon reduced their war rates." said Mr. T. Wallas, a representative of British insurance interests, who arrived at Auckland to-day by the Mataroa. Although European conditions were still unsettled, this was not adversely affecting the volume of insurance business; in fact, business was expanding. particularly motor insurance. Out of Date. The march of time puts things out of date ill the most unexpected way>. Motorists may have noticed that several "vilent policemen."' or traffic domes, in various parts of the city have lately been removed from the streets or replaced. The reason lies in the low-slung nature of the modern type of motor car, which do not have sufficient clearance to l>o driven over the old domes without ri»k of damn ire.

St. Thomas Assists. ".Vow that the C'lcrjry Hon-e looks more like a house and less like a liit nt' the factory next door, the Elain School of Art is fining to make it look ninrc like a clergy house by .he addition of a ntatiic of St. Thomas, which will ho plnced in a niche on the corner where Siili- Street and Centre Street meet." says the Rev. .\. Unwell AlWton, M.A.. vicar of St. Thomas' Church, in the parish magazine. •'T.nter when the material has weathered it will he coloured and add to the paiety of FroeimiMH n,»y." Widely Fluctuating Prices. Krratic weather has caused supplies of vegetables, especially preens, in Auckland to rise and fall rapidly in recent weeks, and retailors say they have been at their wits' end to follow the market. Cauliflowers, for instance, were more plentiful nnd cheaper Inst week Ihnn ever liefore this year. Then stormy weather at the week-eiul damaged the crops, with the result that the market was short early this week, and prices were almost doubled. The last few days, however, larger (|iiantitics have been coming forward, and the trend of prices has been downward. Peanut Shell Nuisance. Nearly as difficult as the vehicular ferry staff's task in preventing motorists from lighting cigarettes while their cars are on tho boats is tho passenger ferry mate's job in restraining young men —and women—from scattering broken peanut shells on the lower dceks. This practice has been a source of annoyance to mates on all runs for many vears. Despite their protests a n<l the official notices drawing attention to the nuisance caused l>y the ehells. the public continues to litter tho decks with peanut shells, and the j mates aro forced to get to work with the broom sometimes as often as three times a day. The general reply of young men. when asked to throw their peanut shells overboard, snys one mate, is that the ferry company's staff is paid to sweep them up. Vanity of the Male. Vanity, by the male half of the population, is almost universally held to be an attribute to the other sex, and the wearing of feathers for adornment would appear to be one of its manifestations. Many varieties of brilliantly-pltrmaged birds have suffered in consequence. However, it seems that men are just as amenable to the dictates of faehion. A member of the council of the Acclimatisation Society at Dunedin remarked on the practice of shooting chukor with pearifles, statinp that there was a good deal of it going on in the Roxburgh-Alexandra district. The method was for the hunter to lie hidden among the rocks and wait for tho birds, to come up. Shooting was done for the sake of the feathers. lie added that chukor feathers were being worn in men's headgear 111 that district. Another " Sea Serpent." Once again a "sea serpent , ' is reported to have been seen by a launch party off Pepin Island. Cable Bay, reports a N'elson correspondent. On this occasion it was no fearsome monster, but comparatively small, little more than Bft long and about the same size round as a large conger eel. The creature was seen by Mrs. K. E. Kawharu. of Purville Island, and other member* of a launch party which was proceeding past I'epin fxland recently. Mrs. Kawharu said that when first seen the creature was some distance from the launch and about a chain and a half from the shore, basking in the sunshine, and was thought to be a piece of driftwood. Aβ th«» launch drew near a small head with very tiny ears could be seen perched on a long neck about 2ft out of the water. The. head appeared to be covered with a growth of hair. Curled over its back was a tail about 4ft long, fish-tail shaped at the tip.

More Chris Marry.

A paradoxical position has developed in connection "with the employment of girls and young women in New Zealand, according to the experience of large employers. While the expansion of industry has provided jobs for many additional girls and had created attractive position* for those with experience, higher earnings received over the past two or three years have enabled an exceptional number of girls to leave their positions to become married. In consequence, the ratio of juniors to seniors in some establishments recently has doubled, as compared with a year ago. A Monster Eel. A huge eel, weighing 3011b, and 4ft !)in in length, was speared by two Maori residents, .Awahou H. Hakopa and Tai Ehu, in the Awahou Stream about half a mile above Taniwha Springs on Thursday, reports the "Star's" Rotorua- correspondent. The presence of eels in any of the lakes and creeks of the district, with the exception of Tarawera Lake and Kaituna Stream, is almost unknown, and the catch, apart altogether from its size, attracted a great deal of interest. As a result it is thought that the eel may have been resident in the stream for some considerable time, and in some quarters it is associated with the legend giving the name to Taniwha (monster) Springs. Glutted Wheat Market. The seriousness of glutted conditions in the wheat markets of the world, from the viewpoint of producers, was stressed by Mr. •I. Ellis, corn merchant, of Hull, who arrived by the Matiirna this morning on a brief visit In Xew Zealand. He said the world harvest had produced a heavy carry-over in the past two reasons. It appeared that the coining crops in Canada, where a scries of droughts had been experienced, would be the largest for a number of years, but producers who had hoped to recoup some of the losses of past years were confronted with the prospect of abnormally low prices. Knglish wheatgrowers were partially protected by the Government's subsidy, which assured them of a return of about 40/ a quarter, but this did not enable them to realise a profit. Sent by Quickest Route! Most people on some occasion have been guilty of nliMMitmimledne.ss, taking home a lonf of bread in-tead of n pound of steak, or buying a mouse trap instead of a packet of cheese, but one of the most dreaded lapses of memory is that of posting the wrong article. When in a hurry it is a very easy matter to pop your library book into the letter box with your left hand instead of a parcel with your right. An Auckland woman recently wrote a letter, with which she was eager to catch the* mail. After waiting some time for the rain to cease, she gave it up as a bad job and donned coat and hat and slipped the letter in her handbag. On her return she said to her husband. "Well, I'm glad that's posted," and thought the matter had ended, but a couple of days later the postman called, and, after questions about the tradesman she dealt with, to her astonishment, handed her an old envelope with her grocery list and other notes on the back. The urgent letter was still in her puree! Refugees Go Back to School. A class of grown men and women —all of them well educated and some of them highly educated by any standard—attended for instruction at the Christchurch Technical College this week. They were refugees, come for a lesson in English, the language of their exile. Some of them know hardly a word of English, and some approach fluency; but none showed anything but eagerness and enthusiasm to begin a new life at the very beginning. Conversation, newspaper excerpts and letter writing were the methods adopted, according to varying familiarity with the language of the several pupils, and some of them plunged quite cheerfully into an essay entitled, "What do I think of winter in Cbx|etchureh?" The refugees are themselves paying for the classes. They were approached individually, and informed of the fee fixed, 15/; but they were told that anything they could afford would be accepted. Most of them were willing to pay any sum at all within their means for instruction which they value so highly. Death Looms for Octopus. An octopus is now at home in a spot which may prove his tomb unless he gets out of it quickly. This place is the circular framework erected round the Steeple Hock navigation light, otr Seatonn. for strengthening purposes. Shortly concrete will be poured into the framework, and. if the octopus does not shift before then, his end will be as sudden as that which he deals out daily to those small, fish on whom he feeds. *There is room for him to quit between the spaces of the framework, for, though he ha,s 7ft tentacles, his body is little bigger than a Soccer football. He has not been disturbed by the near presence of divers working" on the job. so the chances are that he is so enjoying the comfort of a home in an underwater battlement that he will bo caught nnpping when the concrete filliri" , j R poured in. Mr. Cam Wineera, a Wellington Harbour Board diver, told the story of this octopus when lie. was up for the usual "smoko" after two hours at 19ft down, working on the Miramar seawall strengthening. His practice with an octopus—and it was not unusual to come close to them in the course of his work—was to leave well alone, he said. When he saw one he showed no undue interest in it. and. so far, the octopus family had treated him the same way.