NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 297, 14 December 1940, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Home Guard and Funds. A letter requesting some tinaiiei.il ;i --i-t it nee, Al'-O being suggested, in order to give the Whakatane Home (iuard central committee something to work on. was received at a meeting of tho Borough Council. The Mayor, Mr. B. S. Barry, said with regard to the administration of the Home Cuard that the fJovernment could lie likened to the cuckoo, which laid it* egg in another's nest and then expected the other to hatch it. The council <lecide<l to j>rant £10, the sum to lie part of any l|IIOt!l. Discovery of New Zealand. Oil December 14. 1(142. Abel Tasuian. a captain in the employ of the Dutch Kast India Company, discovered New Zealand, and so was the first European to set foot in this Dominion. Arriving at the coast of Westland. the navigator rounded Farewell Spit and anchored at (•olden Bay. This he christened Murderers' Bay. because Maoris killed four members of the crew there. Xext port of call was t'a|>e Maria Van Diemen. named bv him after the wife of the Dutch (iovernor who had sent liim on his mission. The Dutch never made any claim on Xew Zealand, for in their opinion Tasman's voyage was -a failure. Saluting the Flag. Children whose parents do not desire them to salute the Hag or take part in any patriotic observance cannot be compelled liv a teacher to do »o. That opinion, expressed by jhe Taranaki Education Board at a nieetin g last week when discussing instances that had occurred at Taranaki schools, hits i>ecn continued in a letter from Mr. G. K. Overton, writing for the Director of Education. In the broadest sense, such ceremonies formed part of instruction in history, the reply stated. The Education Act provided that no child should be compelled to lie present at ! the teaching of history if its parents or guardians objected. On the Bridge. "I fed as if I were on the bridge of the Achillea giving an order to open fire," said Commodore \V. E. Parry. C.8., H.N"., Chief of the Naval Staff, when he rose to express the Navy's thanks for the thoughtfulness of the citizens of Auckland in erecting such a memorial to the action of the Achilles at the River Plate. With its low concrete walls and arrangement of rails, the memorial is not unlike the front portion of a ship. Referring to the absence of the men of the Achilles from the ceremony, Commodore Parry said: "Recent events mean that our ships must spend even more time at sea today than formerly. I hated leaving this ship, and being demoted from its command to the mere landlubber I now am," he added amid laughter.

A "Commandeered" School. Asked when the new Hamilton West School, which has been used as a hospital annexe cilice July 4, would be returned to the educational authorities, the Minister of Health, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong. said he could only be guided by his advisers and the military authorities. It had to lie remembered that t'lere were no military hospitals for treating infectious diseases among soldiers. Wherever there were aggregations of troops, he said, there would almost surely be an epidemic. Mr. Armstrong said the school was serving a, very useful purpose as a hospital. It was Ktated that since July 4 over 400 soldiers had received treatment in the school. There were at present 33 men in the institution, mumps and measles patients coining from the Xgaruawahia camp and influenza patients from the Cambridge camp. Bishop's View of God. "A lot of rot is talked about God in these days," said Bishop Holland, addressing candidates for confirmation at Miramar (Wellington) this week. He was speaking on the words, "Be ye followers of God as dear children," and went on, "People say why does not God do this or that; why does not God stop the war? The answer to that question is: We will not let Him! God, I think, must be wringing His hands over those who just sit in pews instead of being something, doing something, instead of following Christ. Why follow Christ? If we do not follow Christ then we shall follow the Power of Evil. Unless (Jod controls our lives, then the Power of Evil certainly will do so. It has been said that the war has 'ruined 400,000,000 happinesses.' The Power of Evil has ruined all that is holy, beautiful, good and true. Had Germany chosen Jesus Christ as its leader instead of Hitler then this war and all its suffering and evil would not have happened." Money-from-home Swindle. A blatant attempt to swindle a Gisborne woman of i'i.j by cabling from Egypt in lier soldier son's name asking for money was revealed by messages which pai-sed between mother and son. When the mother received from Egypt a cabled ap|>eal for £2.1, the amount aroused her suspicions, as she was aware that lier son knew enough of the family circumstances not to make such an appeal without some extraordinary cause. .She cabled to her son stating that she was puzzled by hi* Techiest, and promptly got a reply from her son not to send any money. The Egyptian address from which this cable message was dispatched did not coincide with the dispatch point of the first message, and it seems obvious that some unauthorised person has used the fiisborne soldier's name in an effort to swindle his parents. If that was the intention, the effort was a clumsy one. for the would-be swindler evidently did not know that the limit of any money remittance to a New Zealand soldier serving abroad is £20 in any one year. Homing Pidgeon Gets a "Lift." A curious incident in a pigeon race from Invereargill to Wellington, conducted by the Wellington Homing Pigeon Society recently, would lead to a belief that, in addition to the homing instinct, pigeons remember where they may get, friendly help. One of the pigeons, which were liberated at Invereargill at 4.40 a.m., reached Lvttelton at <i p.m. on day of liberation and landed on a wharf there. It was observed by a member of the inter-island steamer's crew who is a ihember of the society. The pigeon walked up the gangway of the steamer and was followed by the man, who eventually got the bird into the steerage compartments where it was caught. The bird was cared for and was released when the ship was entering Wellington Harbour next morning. It was timed in by its owner some hours ahead of the race birds. This pigeon had been sent south for five races during the season, and evidently knew where it had been fed and watered previously. At least this is the opinion expressed. The bird could not be credited with having flown the distance, naturally.