NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 50, 28 February 1940, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

A Bee in a. Bus. An unwelcome traveller in a Milford to Bayswater bus this morning was a large bee. Flying in through an open window, it settled on the glass near a woman passenger, who, however she might have felt, showed no outward signs of agitation. Nevertheless, she was the first out of the bus when it reached its destination.

"Hallowed." Xew Zealand's high repute for education suffered a bad blow on Monday, when 22 pupils of a certain Bible class in a city school were asked to write out the Lord's Prayer. 'They were Standard V. pupil?, and their ages 11 and 12 years. The word '■hallowed" was spelled incorrectly by 15, of the 22, while two did not even make an attempt. The efforts of those who failed at the word were: Helam, halow, hollow, hello, hallo, alevea, holy, Thou God, halowed, halowded, hal Lord, halloe, hellod, alu, hell o. In two cases the words "which art" were written "witchit" and "wechart."

They Liked It! Typical of the attitude taken by many of the railway passengers who were held up by the slips is that of one man, who sent a "message to friends in Auckland stating, "Don't worry about me; I'm enjoying it." Except for those who had pressing engagements, the travellers, on the whole, seemed to have been more pleased'than sorry to have had a share of the' excitement, and, while sleeping in train seats for two nights was not so pleasant, there were many who gained an extra day's holiday from work. Anyway, they have got something to talk about.

Dogs in Swimming Pools. Bemarking tuat ae had seen as many as six dogs in one ' school ew;*inming pool, Mr. H. L. Kayes, a. member of the Mount Albert Borough Council, suggested at last night's meeting of the council that barricades should be erected round each pool to safeguard the health of those using .the pool*. He emphasised the possible danger to children, as many dogs roaming the streets suffered from hydatids, and at present there were no fences to prevent the dogs entering the water. The council decided to advise headmasters of schools in the Mount Albert district of the danger and suggest that fences should be erected.

Will Climb Agon. "Even if I am politically thrown downstairs every year, I shall be climbing up again so long as I am member for Grey Lynn," said Mr. J. A. Lee, M.P., addressing his constituents at an open-air meeting at the Westmere School last night. Mr. Lee said he would not be happy until the Government owned and controlled in its entirety the Bank of New Zealand. The Labour party had made substantial advances, and* Mr. Xash, as Minister of Finance, had overdrawn at the Reserve Bank to the extent of £22,000,000. This was -preferable to a cut in wages and pensions, which would have obtained had Mr. Forbes, Mr. Coatee or Mr. Hamilton been Minister of Finance.

Bridegroom Delayed. When in the early houre of Monday morning it became apparent that paseengere by* the Auckland-New Plymouth express train could not hope to reach New Plymouth before midnight, there were several perturbed persons, but none so worried as a young man and hi* mother. The man was to be married at New Plymouth at two o'clock in the afternoon, and he had no way of informing hie bride and her parents of his position. First it was thought that ,Te Kuiti'e flying Mayor, Mr. H. T. Morton, might run him down in his Rearwin, but information from Te Kuiti etated that the flying field was almost under water. i By the efforts of the railway officials, telephone communication was established with the Hawera railway station, and finally a telephone message wae passed on from there. The young couple were married at New Plymouth next day.

A Popular Sports Area. Probably few racecourses are so much used' for gatherings tending to encourage interest in horses and horsemanship as is the Ohinemuri Jockey Club's course at Paeroa. The club itself conducts, four days of racing each year, and for its autumn meeting next month the nominations exceed 500, and constitute a record which has not been equalled locally or at neighbouring meetings for many years. Each winter the Maraiuarua Hunt Club uses the course for its gymkhana, which concludes the Paeroa ward hunt week. This year the Kerepeehi Sports and Racing Club is to move to Paeroa, as its own race track has been cut by the PaeroaPokeno railway embankment. In order to conserve benzine the polo clubs of Matangi, Morrinsville, Waihou, Hikutaia and Hauraki Plains have decided to seek permission from the Jockey Club and the Racing Conference to hold a combined closing tournament at Paeroa instead of each club holding its own function.

A Coaly Action. The hearing of the application by Whafcatane Paper Mills, Ltd., to the Price Investigation Tribunal for permksion to increase its prices, which concluded on Monday, occupied ten days, each of five hours. There were 600 foolscap sheete of typed evidence, each of which averaged 500 words, making a grand total of 30,000 words. While there is no known price for the supply of evidence in such a proceeding, this 'being the first public hearing of the Price Tribunal, the supply of such evidence to parties in Supreme Court proceedings would probably cost at least £50. The legal costs will probably be among the highest in any proceedings because of the time involved not only in the case but in the preparation. Further, the company has the expense of its executive officers, a number of whom were present for the whole of the inquiry, in the matter of hotel accommodation for a fortnight. In addition there are travelling expenses. When the bearing was concluded Mr. Justice Hunter expressed appreciation to counsel for the able way in which the case was put, and also to the expert witnesses, who had put in a considerable amount of time in the preparation of their evidence. He appreciated the evidence of all, particularly the Crown experts, because he realised the long hours of preparatory work entailed.

Army Secrets. A warning to- members of the Forces that telephone conversations are liable to be overheard is. contained in a recent issue of the New Zealand Army Orders. Copies of the order are to be posted in every military telephone booth in the offices and on the field. It states: "Xo matter, the knowledge of which might be of value to the enemy, should ever be discussed over- an open line. The consequence of such indiscretion may be the loss of many lives."

Around the Capstan. Workmen engaged in the re-erection of a furniture factory at the corner of Kitchener and Williams Streets, recently badly damaged by lire, came upon a most interesting link with early Auckland history. Under the charred floor they found part of a massive capstan, of the type used in the old sailing ship days. Bound with iron bands and with a strong core of iron, the capstan is about Bft long and , was cut, apparently, from the trunk of a tree. It is octagonal in shape and about loin in diameter. So heavy was the relic that it was not shifted, and the floor is again being built over the top. Perhaps some time in the future it will be discovered again —recalling once more the days of New Zealand's youth, of capstan ""chanties" and the crack of white sails in the wind. n

Baker Boy to Gunner Boy. A little over a year ago a 16-year-old boy delivered braid in Paeroa on a bicycle. Now preparations have been made to accord him a civic reception on his return in the next day or two. He is Boy-Seaman J. S. Christie, son of Mr. E. Christie, a railway employee, of Aorangi Road, Paeroa. Boy-Seaman Christie, who celebrated his seventeenth birthday on Saturday last, joined the Navy a year ago, and was one of the lads chosen from those training on H.M.S. Philomel for transfer to the Achilles when she was dispatched from New Zealand on the eve of the war. Paeroa's welcome will not be due alone to the fact that Boy-Seaman Christie was a member of the Achilles' complement in its historic battle, but also on account of the fact that reports received from officers and ratings indicate that he acquitted himself in the engagement in such a manner as to evoke favourabfc comment. This was the theme of a letter received by the lad's parents from a resident of Buenos Ayree, Argen- ! tina.

Offer of £10,000 for Section. An offer of £10.000 for an area of land in Garden Place, Hamilton, formerly suggested as a eite for a Town Hall, is to be made to the Hamilton Borough Council by the Waikato Winter Show Association, as a result of a decision reached at a meeting of the executive committee of the association. The association stipulated in its offer that the land should be free of rates for ten years. If it succeeds in acquiring the land, the winter show association intends to use it for extensions to its present buildings. The land, which is almost an acre in area, has been the subject of considerable controversy in recent years. -When the Garden Place scheme was first evolved; a suggestion was made that a Town Hall should be built on the site. This proposal, however, was rejected by the council. Plane for its use as a transport terminal were then drawn up last year, and ratepayers were asked to approve the raising of a loan for £10,500 in order to make use of the area for civic purposes. At a poll last November the loan proposal was rejected.

Hitch-hiker's Experience. A university student who recently arrived at New Plymouth to take up a new job had an adventurous journey to Taranaki. On one of his last nights at Auckland, when he was starting the motor cycle on which Re was to make the trip, it caught on fire, and in a few minutes petrol flames were- leaping 20ft into the air. When at last the fire was put out with earth and wet sacks, there was only half a gallon of petrol in the tank, which had fortunately stood the pressure without exploding. Having unfortunately spent all his spare money on buying petrol, he eet out to hitch-hike to New Plymouth. Leaving Auckland late in the afternoon, he reached Te Kuiti in about live hours. But after 10 o'clock, though he kept going all night eo.as not to miss any opportunity, there were only two or three pairs of headlights, and for five or six hours absolutely no traffic, until quite late in the morning. At last about nine o'clock, a honeymoon couple who had given him a lift from Otorohanga to Te Kuiti the evening before and then spent a comfortable night in n, hotel, came past and took him on to Waitara. He arrived at New Plymouth after more than 20 hours on the road, which he considered good time for a hitch-hiker in days of petrol rationing.