NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 296, 13 December 1940, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Conveyance Insurance.

Tiie rpiP-ti'.n n* t-i whether members of tile committee were liable if they conveyed pupils in their own cars to a beach for the purpose of receiving instruction in swimming lias been asked of the Auckland Education Hoard by the Pukeoware (Waitiku) School Committee. It i* jsiinted out to the board that no other arrangement can l>e made for the conveyance of the children. The Istard ha* decided to refer the question to the Kducation Department. Family's Scholarship Record. Advice has l>een received that T. A. Wayward, a juijiil of the*N';rarua School, hu* lieen u«iirded a Taranaki Scholarship. with a total of marks. The M-h<dari>]ii[i in competed for by pupils in the Wuikato district, and i« tenable for three year* at the Xew Plymouth Hiyh School. The winner is a son of Mr. ami Mr«. A. Wayward. Two other members of the family, both girls, won the scholarship in lW.'Mi and 1938 respectively. The scholarship has been won five times by a Xgarua pupil. Allowance of Toheroas. Maoris in the Auckland provincial district will in future l>e able to take MO tohorons in one day from beaches in that district, instead of 00, but not more than ."»0 may In- taken in any one day in any other part of the Dominion, according to an amendment to tlie Sea I'islieriex Regulations gazetted last niylit. The use of spades, shovels or similar instruments having a blade of a width not exceeding 4in will be allowed in the Auckland district, but not in the Wellington district. Beaches Clean Up. In preparation for the reception of large crowd-* during the. holidays, beaches are .it pre-eiit bVing cleaned up bv Auckland ( ity Council workmen. They are being raked clean of debris which iia- Im'e ii war-lied up in recent month'*, straggling growth is being chopped out. and grassy stretches trimmed to a straight alignment. Friday the Thirteenth. This is Friday the thirteenth, one of those days when one should lie particularly careful to avoid walking under ladderx. noting cross-eyed people, spilling salt, owning umbrellas in houses or starting out on new ventures. Or, at lea*t, that is the attitude taken up by the su[>erstitioiis, though the hardened man of the world will go about his business as though there was nothing extraordinary about the date. The last Friday the two ill omens coincided was in September, and next year it will hap|*en only once—in .lune. Both superstition* have their origin in a religio 4 source, Friday lieing considered unlucky ltccauxc it was the day of the Crucifixion and 111 because that number partook of the Last Supjier. The Battle of the Plate. A year ago to-day the Oraf Spec, which had l>een acting in the Atlantic as a commerce raider since the outbreak of war, was intercepted by the Hritish cruisers Achillea, Ajax and Kxeter, the engagement being known an the Battle of the Plate. The action called for hi*rli technical skill, courage and seamausliip. The <<raf SjM-e concentrated fire on the Kxeter, and the other two continued the battle. The cruisers achieved a victory over their more heavily armed adversary by the use of smoke screens, which confused her aim. After being seriously crippled, the Graf Spce sought refuge in the neutral water* of Montevideo harlwur, and was later scuttled by her captain outside the entrance to the harbour. Amother Mystery Solved.

Another mix-up iu photographs from Egvpt has lieen solved as the result of a paragraph which appeared in the

"Auckland Star"' last week, stating that Miss V. Martin, of Otahulm, who had received a letter from a friend serving with the forces, had discovered within two photographs of New Zealand soldiers, each of whom was unknown to her. One of them was claimed yesterday by a resident of Christchurch, and to-day the second photograph was identified as that of Private J. D. Kodgers. of 38, Rothwell Street. Timaru. Following on a letter from his mother to the chief reporter of the "Auckland Star," the photograph was submitted to a former Timaru resident. Mr. A. Wyatt. now living in Auckland, who had no difficulty in recognising Private Kodgers, a member of the First Echelon, who is serving with the Field Ambulance in Egypt. The photograph is being sent on to Mrs. Kodgers to-day. A 110-Hour Week.

Days are long and the nights short for women and children aide to work on the farms at this time of the year, says an Auckland girl who has returned from a vi>it to a ">O-acre farm in a distant part of the province. "The day starts at "i o'clock," she says, "when the farmer's wife goes to the milking shod with her husband to milk 35 cows. Two and a half hours later she comes to the house to cook the breakfast and get her children off to school. In the evening milking takes another two and a half hours, and is finished at 7 o'clock. After that tea and the work in house keeps the farmer's wife busy until well after ft o'clock. Every day. for seven days in the week, she ha* five hours in the milking shed, and over ten hours' work in the house. I suppose there are thousands of women doing their part in the sam-> way to keep up the country's production, and they are doing it with a cheerful spirit."

Truancy Increases. Truancy, which in modern days only occurs sporadically. lias this year raised its lioa<l ominously, said the headmaster of the Mount Albert Grammar School, Mr. F. W. Gamble, in his annual report. "Whether this is an effect of the unsettled times, or merely one of those queer coincidental gather-ups of delinquents in one year remains to be seen. Strangely enough, the golf links, which for years have been the happy refuge of truants, seem to have lost their attraction, for the culprits now confess merely to walking around, accompanying the postman, or seeing the shops; certainly nothing very enterprising. This truancy, what a painfully cumulative offence it is! While interviewing boys concerned. I can se»» one day leading to the next, each succeeding dav adding its misgivings as the rascal packs lim bag. and wonders whether his 'plant' is still a secure one. The hours that must drag dreadfully till it is safe to return home again, with then the pretence of settling to homework in the last pitiful struggles of deception. Tliese boys earn their day* of freedom hardly, and, except in .very rare caaes. they are glad when the eye of authority falls on them and a clean new start can be made."