NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 284, 29 November 1940, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

State Housing Revenue. In i»-1 •<11 t j'M'-i'iiti'i! t<> the meeting lit t tie \ 11'-'k i.MI. 1 ( ity ('oimcil 1: t— t evening it wa~ -trite 1 t 'lilt since .tunc 1. r.77 St;ito houses. (it a : i.t:ll rateable value of UJM.os:!, had lien tenanted in tlic city rating area, and tliat -nice the last ; [i'111 >'li Noveiutn'r I. SO houses tiad been completed and tenanted, the rateable value being £41Mi. Proposed Road in Remaera. The opinion that the expenditure would not tie justified at the present time was expressed by the city engineer, Mr. .1. Tyler, in a report to a meet ins of the City Council last evening in connectinii with a request from the I'einuera" East Ratepayers' Association for tlie construction of a road from the end of Koralia Street to Abbott's Way. St. Andrew's Day. St. Andrew's Day. to-morrow, the i.nniversary of his martyrdom, is a favourite occasion for social and national reunion among Scotsmen e\crywhere, whether residing at lionie or abroad. St. Andrew is accredited with having brought Christianity to Russia. The Order of St. Andrew, the highest honour bestowed in Russia, was founded by I'eter the lireat. St. Andrew's Cross is the Scottish national flag. After liiici it was Mended with the Cross of St. (.'corge in the Union • lack, and with the Cross of St. Patrick in ISO], New Zealand observes St. Andrew's 1 )a\ as a liank holiday. Drunk or Dragged? .Mention was made that ill England there is a provision ill the law for dealing with motor driters "drugged in charge" by the magi-tra te. Mr. ■!. Miller. S.M.. in the Magistrate's Court at Hast ing>s. The point arose in a ca-e in which a man, who was an asthma victim, was charged with being drunk in charge of a motor truck. When he was previously chained, the information was dismissed when lie explained that his condition was caused by taking powders for his complaint. The magistrate commented that a driver suffering from the effects of r-ucli drugs could be a menace on the road. Lost Track of Time. In these days of rapid communications it seems hardly feasible that anyone in this country could tie so far removed from civilisation as to forget the day of the week. Jet alone the month, but such wa» the experience of one young shepherd from the back of Hawke's flay. The man concerned went out to the back of the station on which he is employed early in September. Hp worked from daylight to dark for some weeks and decided to come to Napier. Arriving in town on Monday, he was surprised to tind business premises closed, and it was only after he had accosted a pol ic.-ma 11 that he learned of the Kirtliday holiday. Memories. Although it is nearly ten years since J Napier and flatting- were de\astated by earthquake. America well remembers the castastrophc. The occurrence of an earthquake in some remote part of the world is invariably grimly illustrated by at lea-t one picture of damage cau-cd by the disaster. This was well illustrated when Rumania, which has so far escaped the horrors of war, was smitten by an even more terrible stroke of devastation on November 11. Among the many pictures used by the American newspapers to the shake was one taken on tlie Napier Embankment showing' a tank wagon staggered in the deep ruts caused by the upheaval. Women's Cycle Corps. To inaugurate a new branch of emergency work the lirst rally of the cycling corps organised by the Women's War Service Auxiliary was he'd at the Domain last evening. Mrs. W. H. Cocker, chairman of the Women's War Service Auxiliary, explained that a total membership of I.">(| was aimed at. with patrols i:; the various districts. It was intended to provide members of the corps with khaki uniforms. The evening was taken lip with instruction in bicycle repair work by Mr. L. Wilson, honorary secretary of the Auckland centre of the New Zealand Cycling Association. A short address was given by Mrs. T. ]'. McC ready. convener of the bicycle section of the auxiliary. The next meeting will tie held at the Domain on evening. Small Pine Tree Forest. Covering about 4ft acres between the loner reservoir and Highbury Road. a stand of piims insignis at the Karori waterworks. Wellington, is to be felled and sawn into timber, probably by contract. An j'-timate of the usable timber places the amount available, apart from firewood, at at least half a million board feet. The tree* were planted til) year-- ago, and have reached tic stage where deterioration will be rapid: in a few years more they will be dangerously old and will then have to be lemovid with less likelihood of return. The |■ inii- insignis is a -hort-lived tree. !'o years being' the maximum known life. The cutting, which may extend over two years, is to be done methoddieally. The stand has been surveyed by ttie forestry officer and the trees will be marked for felling in definite ■ rder. Unmarked trees are to be left