NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 97, 24 April 1940, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Anzac Day. There will be no publication of the "Auckland Star" to-morrow, Anzac Day. The Shortland Street office will be open as usual until 9 o'clock this evening for the convenience of advertisers. He Didn't Mean It. At last night's meeting of the Mount Eden Rorougii Council a letter was received from the Auckland Suburban Local Bodies' Association asking if the council was agreeable for a campaign to lie launched, the same as hist year, for tin- destruction of rals. The Mayor, -Mr. R. Mills, after reading the letter, remarked: "We have been giving the ratepayers free poison for years." Appreciated. In a letter to the Mount Eden Borough Council last evening the board of managers of the Presbyterian Church expressed gratitude for the work recently done in the Windmill Road reserve. The clearance was greatly appreciated. The resultant tidiness had made the Mount Eden Presbyterian Church surroundings more inviting, and had improved the whole distreit. End of Summer Time. Two o'clock next Sunday morning will mark the end of summer time, and all clocks will have to lie put back half an hour. The fourth Sunday in April is lixeil as the date for reversion to normal time in order to ensure a maximum amount of daylight for Easter holidaymakers. With the change back of half an hour, Xew Zealand will be ltli hours ahead of England, where summer time came into operation in February. More Motor Licenses. 1 lie number ,of motor vehicles licensed in New Zealand at March ,'!1 last was 315,520, an increase of tltiflti vehicles, or 3.17 per cent over the number of licenses at the corresponding date in I!>.'}9. The Postmaster-General, th' Hon. F. Jones, said that, compared with last year's figures, the ear licenses lrad increased by 7*ti—, or 11.4 per cent, and commercial vehicles by 42'2K. or s.St> per cent. Motor cycle licenses had decreased l.v I'JOS, or 9.04 per ceut. Showing Them How. As if to give players a hint on the value of speed in Rugliv, a large hare made its appearance at the Showgrounds yesterday just after the »tart of the Army trial game between Ngaruawahia and I'apukura Second Echelon teams. The fleet animal raced ottyds round the bank opposite the stand to the tune of delighted cheers from the soldiers on leave. An ambitious bystander on the bank rose to intercept it, but the hare had a swerve and a side-step for him and disappeared under the fence. "Must Be a Sergeant-Major." Although explanations have been published regarding the coloured patches soldiers are now wearing on their arms, indicating the units to'which they belong, many civilians were obviously 1 .izzled by them during the. , week-end. Speculation was life as to their meaning. One man from Papakura camp, waiting for a tram, heard a pair of youngsters standing behfhtT Tiim discussing the me.niiiig of the patches. After some weighty discussion the verdict was given: "He must be a sergeantmajor." Ups and Downs in Mt. Eden. In his balance-sheet presented last evening to the Mount Eden Borough Council for the year ended March 31 last, the town clerk and treasurer, Mr. A. .lack, contrasting items with the previous year, showed bath fees down £22, building inspection fees down £24, dog registration fees down £27, motor drivers' licenses up £00, Nicholson Park rents up £111, refuse tip charges up £17, fees and fines from Magistrate's Court down £Ui. Interest on bank overdraft and temporary loans was down £380, travelling expenses down £25, traffic inspection up £117. parks expenditure up £20«, and streets and footpaths expenditure down £1808. The Friendly Terrier. Buster, a meek and friendly Irish terrier, has acquired fame, but not the fame which any self-respecting dog should acquire. Kept by a man well known in Auckland public life, to keep down rats in his business establishment and act as a deterrent to burglars, Buster recently fell down on the job. When burglars ultimately did descend on him. he treated them like long-lost friends. lie barked not. but licked their hands, and submitted as peacefully as a lamb to being locked up in one of his master's cars, garaged on tile premises. Buster was sleeping blissfully wlten his owner arrived next morning, and the latter is now searching the city for a ferocious watchdog. Buster's fate is in the balance. Trees for Wellington. Fifteen thousand trees are to be offered by the Wellington Beautifying Society to the Public Works Department for planting near Wellington this winter. This decision was made at a meeting of the committee of the society. The trees, which are mostly poliutukawa«. are destined principally for the Plimmerton-Puekakariki coastal road. !Mr. R. L. Macalister, who supervises the society's nursery, said that this year the society would have nearly 20,000 trees ready to put out, and next year there would be 30.000 trees at least. He suggested that all the trees available this year, except 2000 or 3000, be planted alongside the coastal road in accordance with a promise the society had given the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple. Air Travel in America. That travel by air in the United States of America is not only much quicker, but, in some cases, slightly cheaper than by rail was a statement made to an "Otago Daily Times' reporter by Mr. E. 11. Forrest, traffic manager for New Zealand and Australia of United Air Lines of America, who is at present in Dunedin. United Air Lines provide a daily service between San Francisco and New York, by which* passeiigers may make in approximately 19 hours the long overland journey that •takes nearly five days by rail. An interesting comparison in rail and air fares was given by Mr. Forrest, who stated that" in the continental sleeper 'plane the fare was 157 dollars, compared with 103 dollars by streamlined express train. United Air Lines fly 52,000 miles per day. and for every minute of the day during the 24 hours there are 17 of their craft in the air. The air liners carry 21 passengers, hot meals are served in the air, and sleeper accommodation is provided.

Bombing Practice Target.

The fact that an air bombing range iiad been established at the entrance to the Henderson Creek has been commented upon by Captain H. A. Dillner, superintendent of mercantile marine at Auckland. Following the warning i.-sued by the Secretary of Marine, Captain Dillner states that the area of the target comprises a circle of 440 yards radius, and this has as its centre the northern end of the shell and mangrove bank at the mouth of the creek. A target is moored at the centre of the danger area, and two piles with warning notices are erected on the edge of the circle eastward and westward of the target. Situated on the mainland 44 degrees 23 minutes and 4083 ft from tile target is a flagstaff 50ft in height, and from this a red flag 10ft by sft will be 11 own when bombing practice is to lie carried out. The Hag, it is stated, will be hoisted half an hour before the exercise begins, and will remain flying until operations are finished for the (lav.

Black-out Fines. Few people in New Zealand have any conception of the rigours of the blackout in Kngland, nor of the strictness of the enforcement of the regulations. Many people have imagined it to be a voluntary plan, carried out at the request of the Government. However, there is more to it than that. The black-out is governed by a series of strict regulations, with penalties <jf varying severity. One illustration may be taken from the Police Court reports appearing in the "Romford Times," a small newspaper published iu Essex. With oue exception, all the prosecutions are lor breaches ol the black-out law, ami in each case a line was imposed by the ( olirt. A butcher was charged with allowing a light to show from his shop and was lined .CI. similar penalties being imposed on four other shopkeepers. lines were also imposed on a motorist who failed to paint the bumpers ami running-boards of his car white, and three cyclists were fined for using cycle lamps not properly dimmed. White Island Tragedy Recalled. The tragedy which occurred on White Island a few months after the outbreak of the Great War 25 years ago is recalled by the death of Mr. A. Litchfield, iigcd •>.!. of Opotiki. A week or two before the tragedy Mr. Litchfield returned to Opotiki for treatment to his eyes. When the launch returned to the island with supplies lor the sulphur workers there was not a trace to be found of the 12 men or the huts in which they had camped in the crater near the edge of the island. Mr. Litchfield held the theory that the walls of tile high dirt's at the back of the island had collapsed and an immense landslide had swept over the lake, filling the crater and obliterating the men's sleeping quarters ami the other buildings. For some considerable time before a gap iu the cliff hud gradually been widening, and the men felt that •some day. this would break away. When work was I'm timed on the island, many years later, Mr. Litchfield was again employed there, until the company finally closed down the venture. On this occasion substantial concrete buildings were erected to house the machinery, which has since fallen into disrepair as the result of the action of the sulphlur fumes. Yellow Pohutukcwa. Though rare, the yellow-flowering poliutuk)L\va cannot be claimed as a monopoly by any one district of the province. Since a correspondent made the claim that Motiti Island possessed the only two yellow-flowering pohutukawa trees in the world, a second correspondent has drawn attention to the presence of another such freak pohutukawa on the shores of Lake Rotorua. Mention of this recalled to the mind of an Auckland resident, Mr. S. Austin 'Carr, that about ten years ago, when motoring from Cabbage Bay to the East Coast, on the Coromandel Peninsula, he had observed a pohutukawa tree on the road which had both yellow and rul flowers. At the time this |ieculiarity, which was a subject of general discussion among Coromandel residents, was thought to have resulted from an accidental graft caused through a slashing of the tree by workers who lunl to partly cut it awav in making the road. -V university profe.-.-or to whom the peculiarity was mentioned remarked that the pohutukawa and rata were of the same botanical family, and he offered the explanation that the yellowflower indicated a jhrow-back in the stock. Should this be the proper explanation it seems likely that seasonal and soil variations may cause the yellow pohutukawa to crop up anywhere at iiiiv time.