NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 179, 30 July 1940, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Cargo On Prize Ship. A considerable quantity of goods in the cargo of the Italian ship Kemo, which is held iu Australia as a prize of war, was intended for Auckland consignees. It is cxjx?cted that the cargo will lie transhipped to New Zealand, and the consignees must supply proof to the Collector of Customs in Auckland that they owned the goods before June 11. Auckland cargo includes quantities of olive oil, cream of tartar, lemon oil, tea. straw braids, electrical goods, rayons and rnyon tissues, vermouth, wine, straw hats and coir mats. Over 20,000 Volunteers. When tlie rolls of volunteer recruits in the Auckland military district were closed on July 22 the total of 20,1.">9 had been achieved. These wore divided among the four areas as follow:—Auckland, 10,232; Paeroa. 3319; Whanjrarei, 2507; and Hamilton, 4101. In addition there were 2G43 Maori registrations. The number of recruits available in the district is suftieient to fill the quota in the Fourth Reinforcements, also the Fifth, although it may be necessary to transfer some personnel from the Auckland area to gome of the outside areas. Slips on Northern Line. Owing to the possibility of slips, the Brynderwyii deviation on the main highways from Auckland to Whangarei was closed for trnflic on Saturday, but was open again next day. For a'short time the section was blocked by a. slip on Friday afternoon, but this was sunn cleared. Slips have endangered a tine kauri tree growing on the side of this road. The tree i* known as the Packwood kauri, in honour of Mr. R. 11. Packwood. the Public Works Department engineer responsible for the construction of the deviation, who is now on active service. British Sympathies. "Thank God. the sentiment here is all British, and I sure hope Roosevelt goes back in November. If Churchill had been in power instead of Chamberlain, this country's attitude would have been very different two years ago." This comment on the international situation is made by Dr. Miles R. Hudson, a New Zealander now in practice as a dentist at Berkeley, California, in a letter to a Christehurch friend, states the "Press." Dr. Hudson coaches the University of California Rugby team, and the principal object of hie letter was to find out the rewnt developments of the game in this country.

Fowls Will Be Fowls. With reference to the paragraph in this column recently entitled "A Fowl Complaint," a correspondent writes:— "Being the owner of . the offending rooster, which crows every morning under Mrs. So-and-so's window, I feel I must reply to the complaint. From my experience it is only natural for a rooster to crow every. morning, and as many times as he thinks fit during the clay, I think, under the circumstances, I rhust remove the offending bird to a distance far away from the window where he can give his vocal chords their due. But I still think there are many more birds who will be disappointed at his removal, and will vent their feelings by taking up where he left off." Trout Fry in Rotorua Area. Over 4,000,000 trout ova have already been secured at tlie Tongariro stripping pens this season, which is approximately 2,000,000 more than the number secured by this period last year, reports a Rotorua correspondent. Stripping is also proceeding at Te Wairoa, Lake Tarawera, but here the fish appear to be later in running and the number of eggs secured is slightly less than at the end of July last year. There are at present over 3,000,000 eggs in the Ngongotaha hatchery, and the first liberations were carried out from there during the weekend, when 400,000 fry were liberated in various parts of Lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti. A further 100,000 fry will be liberated this week, probably at Tarawera. Bankruptcy Discharge Refused. An application by a Chinese, Chan Ah Lun, who, when trading as a fruiterer in Newmarket and Ponsonby in 1930, was adjudged bankrupt, for discharge from bankruptcy was refused by Mr. Justice C«llan in the Supreme Court yesterday after a hearing in which Mr. Dickson represented the petitioner and Mr. Ennor the principal creditors. In the course of crossexamination, the bankrupt admitted that in 1934 he bought a motor car, which he said he had paid for with money obtained by gambling. His Honor said that he was not satisfied the bankrupt had fulfilled his obligations as required by the Act by denuding himself of all his assets, and the application would not be granted. City Populations. Palmerston North citizens have a keen desire to see the population of their city greater than that of Invercargill,: said Mr. J. H. Dick, of Wellington, at a. tea attended by directors of the Invercargill branch of the Young Men's Chrietian Association and collectors for the campaign now in progress in Southland. The two cities, he said, were similar in many respects, and Invereargill's growth in population was eagerly watched in the northern city. The competition offered by Wanganui, he declared, was not taken nearly as seriously as that offered by Invercargill. The 1030 Year Book gives the populations of the three cities as on April 1, 1938, as follow:—lnvercargill, 26,200; Wanganui, 26,000; Palmerston North, 24,800. Jurors' Time Wasted. Another reference to the last-minute settling of cases, as a result of which jurors were needlesslv called to Court, was made in the Wellington Supreme Court by the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myera, when it was announced that a settlement had been reached in a case | pet down for hearing. Sir Michael said that if he had the settling of the fixture list for the next session he would see to it that no cases were set down for hearing by juries unless they were to come to trial. If that did not get over the difficulty he would take further steps. He might even approach the Minister of Justice with a view to introducing the system introduced in England for the war period of doing without juries in i certain cases and judges alone hearing them. He wished it to be understood that such a system would be for the war period only, as he was not an advocate of doing away with juries. His Honor said it was wrong that 40, 50 or 60 men should be brought to Court at inconvenience to themselves and their employers and pecuniary loss to some of them.