NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 13, 16 January 1940, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

They Don't Salute,

Civilians in Italy don't "ivc Uio Fascist salute, said Mr. (J. W. M. Preen, of Timaru, who has just returned from a trip abroad. The only occasions on which lie saw the salute exchanged was when uniformed Fascists met. Valuable to Cyclists. An Aucklande.v, who has returned from a push-cycle trip to Te, Awamutu, stated to-day that while riding at liiiilit lie had found the white lines painted down the centre of the main south road invaluable. He spent most of the time on the road at night, and, while he was travelling, the moon was obscured by clouds. Had it not been for the white lines, which even a bit-vole lamp pieks up, he would found it difficult to keep to the road, unless lx> had travelled at a very restricted speed. City Water Supply. Despite exceptionally hot weather during the past fortnight, there are ample water supply reserves in the Auckland City Council's dams on the Waitakere Manges, and it care is exercised by users, no diflieulue> should We experienced. Ilosing of gardens has increased the draw-oil' during the past week, and inspection is being made in the citv area to see that water is not wasted. I'arly In December 'he levels ill the dam-, fell, but heavy rain shortly before Christmas greatly improved the position. Gardens Suffer in Gale. Following the week-end storm, amateur gardeners have been kept, btisv repairing the damage done. tomato plants suffered heavily, being torn away from the stakes in positions where they were exposed to the full force of the gale, and peas and beans present a bedraggled appearance after the experience. Flower gardens, too, weie heavy sufferers, and it will be several days before their former order is restored. Hydrangeas appear to have withstood the wind well, but many beds of dahlias had their beauty destroyed for the time being. Houses in Matamata. Steady progress is shown in the building returns for t he. Matamata borough; the lignre- show that, during the past five voars i:!l permits to a value of .C 111,747 have been issued, making an average ot annuallv. During this period So private dwellings have been erected, apart from 13 .State houses and three flats. 'Ibis is an ayeiage of over lt> houses annually, or just under 20 if State houses and flats are included. In the "last three years 73 new houses have been built. Mine Disaster Ended Tour. The world tour of the Xicola company of magicians was ended with the mine disaster in Singapore harbour, when the Kirdhana, on which the members of the company were passengers, caught fire and sank. An Auckland friend of members of the company has received a belated Christinas card, which stated: "We are on our way buck to the United States now. The tour is over, since the show went down on the ill -1 a ted Sirdhaua when she struck a mine in Singapore harbour oil November 13. We all escaped without injury." Ihe card was from Lucille Huberts and her husband, l.ddie (iaillard. British Motor Vehicles. New Zealand, it is stated, will play ail important part in the wartime policy of the llritish motor industry. The New Zealand demand for British motor vehicles is expected to be a vital factor in the wartime production of British motor factories. While it is realised that New Zealand may not be able to maintain the peak demands of the 1030-38 period, representing 15,000 to 20,000 vehicles a year, every order will help to ease the economic burden on ail industry which, having lost much of its basic home demand, will be striving to maintain its export trade. British car manufacturers express appreciation that (50 per cent of the New Zealand motor trado depends on British machines and are fully prepared for an increase in this proportion. Gale Unroofs Lake Residence. With the roof of their lakeside resilience torn off at'the height of the gale, all alarming experience befell the occupants of a six-roomed house owned by Mr. Jj. Leary, of Auckland, at Kotoiti early on Sunday morning, reports a Hotoiua correspondent. Shortly after midnight Air. Leary went to the lake shore to ensure the safety of a launch, and it was while he was away that the roof of the liouse was lifted off and thrown about 100 yards in one piece. At the time the gale was accompanied by exceptionally heavy rain, and the furnishings ami bedding, which were exposed to the rain, were considerably damaged. Fortunately no one was injured. The roof was deposited on a hillside, and much of the timber and iron was undamaged, and has been replaced oil the house. island that Disappeared. Visitors to Sumner are curious to know the reason for the lighted tower out in the estuary near the long causeway (states the Clii'istchurch "StarSun"). At nights its coloured lights claim attention directly the causeway is reached. It is a pumping station for five Hat Island artesian wells. Though nowtfno sign of the island is visible, except for a bare pejee of inudflat, at low water, during the Great War the island was really there. One of the oificers of the Lifeboat Institution, Mr. P. N. Kerr, recently recalled the fact that, on one occasion, when members of the crew were being given a farewell about 1015, the old rowboat Rescue was pulled up at Bat Island, and moored there while a "very exclusive ceremony" was conducted and the last good-byes were said. Less than 25 years ago the island was high and dry at all tides, boasted a fisherman's hut, and was covered with rushes and other growth. Pedestrian Crossing Shifted. Seeking to cross Queen Street in accordance with the regulations, a pedestrian this morning was about to step into the roadway at a point where he had been wont to have the safety and backing of a pedestrian crossing towards the lower end of the street. To his consternation, there was no crossing there. After searching the roadway for a few moments his roving eye discovered the familiar whitepainted signs higher up the street, the crossing having been shifted to the next block. It is of topical interest to recall that these pedestrian crossings first came into use in London when Mr. Hore-Belisha was Minister of Transport, and were nicknamed "Belisha crossings." The shifting of this Queen Street crossing at the moment lias no reference to the shifting of Mr. HoreBelisha from the British Cabinet. Queen | Street pedestrian crossings have been shifted they seem to be peripatetic.

Cigarette Tobaccos. Local tobacconists have been advised that an the near future one-ounce tins and packages of cigarette tobaccos will not be available and those smokers who •'roll their own" will have to purchase tins containing two ounces. So far there is no hint of any further increase in prices. A couple of months back' the price of several lines of cigarette tobaccos was raised threepence per two ounces. Queen's Parade Reconstruction. The reconstruction of Queen's Parade, Devonport, from the ferry landing to the naval base, is being pushed ahead rapidly. Following the grant made by the. (loveriiment towards the cost of the work, the Devonport Borough Council lost no time in commencing to relay the road in permanent materials. The concrete channels at the footpath side of the load are being laid, and the remainder of the work will be under way shortly. Worm Pest in Poverty Bay. Apart from causing damage to cereal crojis in Poverty Bay, an army of worms of the. Cirphis unipunitata caterpillar variety has been making its presence felt in fields where harvesting is being carried 011. Stoppage for the greater part of an hour was caused recently while a threshing mill was denned, according to the report from one farmer in the district. The s<|uu*hcd bodies or the caterpillars formed a thick paste that blocked the feed into the drum of the mill. Thousands of .starlings and some mynas are frequently .seen in the fields, and it is presumed that the birds are doing their part in killing the many worms. Pet Lamb or Tigress? Mr. Oliver Stanley, the new Secretary of War, in a speech made at the opening of extensions at a high school, said it was not necessary that woman should be either a pet lamb or 1111 economic tigress. In, the long struggle which had concentrated on the equality of sexes and the possibility of girls competing with boys in the economic Held, they had swung from one extreme to the other, Mr. Stanley said. There was some place for woman in between those two extremes. The most fundamental change which had taken place in 100 years was that they could no longer rely on the standards erected in the Victorian era. The task of those educating the young to-day was to try to get bins and girls to erect for themselves new standards of their own, by which they were prepared to abide. Half-way House Crowded. A striking example of New Plymouth's position as a half-way house between Auckland and Wellington was afforded by the large numbers at the hotels during the week-end. Both on Saturday and Sunday the accommodation at most hotels was taxed to its utmost capacity, some having to turn travellers away. A feature was the large percentage from Auckland and Wellington. Though the main cause was the return of many visitors from the Exhibition, there was a fair sprinkling of racing enthusiasts making their way to Wellington for the Centennial Cup race meeting and the national sale of yearlings, both of whieh take place this week. Watching for Millionth Visitor. The attendance at the Centennial Exhibition 011 Saturday was 2.>,;i;W. This leaves only gg.otil) before the millionth visitor enters, to be presented with a cabinet radio set as a souvenir. The general manager. Mr. C. P. tlainswortli, will himself tick off the last few hundred entrants through the Kjngsford Smith Street gate, and will identify the millionth arrival by means of a mechanical meter manually operated. She or he will then be conducted to the administrative building', where the chairman of directors, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, Mayor of Wellington, will make the presentation. The daily average attendance since the opening of the exhibition is 10,852. Let the Bayer Beware. An enterprising young professional man with an eye for a bargain recently purchased a gross of wooden matches at a particularly low price at a "throwing them away" sale, lie was surprised and disappointed, however, to find that only about one in six would strike. Once again his business instincts came to the top, and he launched a raffle among his fellow workers on the basis of "threepence in." Naturally, he said nothing about the quality of the prize, and reaped a nice profit. The wide variety of remarks about lotteries in general and the raffle promoter in particular that were made by the lucky winner were much more illuminating than the matches. There is 110 chance of launchI ing another ralfle in that office.