NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 308, 28 December 1940, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Wellington Christmas Trade. Wellington tradesfolk were enioyina an exceptionally brisk run of business at Christmas time when rain came on Christmas Eve and there was a verv sharp drop in buying and selling. Seen later, retailers appeared to be well satisfied with results, especially in view of the fact that the Dominion is at war and supplies of certain imported lines have been reduced. Sorting the Mail. The whole of the available staff at the thief Post Office, Auckland, worked at high pressure yesterday sorting the second class mail which had accumulated over Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and which had been added to by mail brought from overseas-by the Mariposa yesterday morning. A considerable portion of the accumulated mail had been dealt with before noon, and by three o'clock in the afternoon the whole of the mail had been sorted and most of it delivered. Fishing at Rotorua. More fishing licenses than ever before have been issued in the Rotorua acclima- ' tisation district this season, according' to the conservator, Mr. A. Kean. Many visiting anglers are in the district, but, as most are camping round the lakes, few detailed reports of the sport have been received. The weather affected the fishing this week, the extremely hot days resulting in a late evening rise. This has been specially noticeable at the Ngongotalia and Awahou streams, where best results have been obtained after dark. He Remained to Pay. . The first donation to the newly-formed Returned Sick and Wounded League of the 2nd N.Z.E.F., which held its inaugu-, ral meeting last night, was made in' unusual circumstances. The advertisements calling the meeting aroused the curiosity of the Police Department, who apparently thought that there might be some subversive motive and a- plainclothes constable made his appearance during the proceedings. When, however, he realised that the sole objective of the meeting, all the members of which had been invalided home from Egypt, was to assist others on their return, he promptly donated five shillings to the funds of the league. Another Mix-up. Censors working under pressure seem to mix up the contents of letters—sometimes it is a soldier's photograph, sometimes it is a letter itself. The mother of 27726 Sergeant A. W. Robertson, 17th Railway Operating Company, N.Z.E.F., can have a letter from her son if she communicates with Mrs. R. Ritchie, 4, Chamberlain Street, Grey Lynn, Auck-1 land, W. 2. Mrs. Ritchie found Sergeant! Robertson's letter in an envelope I addressed to her in her son's hand- j writing. Of her own son's letter there] was no trace. Lance-Corporal Ritchie is) also in the 17th Railway Operating Company. Mrs. Ritchie would be happy to hear from Mrs. Robertson, and effect an exchange of letters. In bringing the letter to the "Auckland Star" she expressed the hope that this paragraph would be Reprinted in the South, as Mrs. Robertson may not live in Auckland. Back In Circulation. Though he would fee the last person on earth to claim that he was a numismatist, the tram conductor freely admits, without any false modesty, that he has a Sharp eye for unusual characteristics in coins. He has to be constantly on the alert to make a ready discrimination between what can be regarded in New Zealand as good coin of the realm and what cannot, out of the' mass of battered and mutilated relics of our current coinage, that keep on popping up, mingled with all kinds of silver and copper "foreigners." Speaking to a journalist this morning, a conductor remarked on the unusual number of stained and dark-coloured "thripennies" he had handled in the past two days. This discoloration, usually accompanied by a greasy feel, had worried him for a time. Then he had come across one with a doughy fragment adhering ■to it, and he immediately realised that the coins from the Christmas puddings of the city were back in circulation again. Clearing Polar Bases. Members of the crew of the United States Antarctic service expedition flagship Bear are at Dunedin engaged in final preparations for departure to Little America to bring back 21 of the 59 men who have wintered at the two bases in the far south. In this work the Bear will be assisted by the other expedition ship, the North Star, now on her way from Seattle to Dunedin. The North Star, which was originally scheduled to arrive there on January 1, and was expected to sail' again for the, south on January 11, will not now arrive.until January 12. It is likely that she will make all haste to load stores and fuel there and will sail again as soon as possible. This is necessary as the ice pack begins to form about the beginning of March and it is desirable to complete the work of evacuating the two Antarctic bases before that time. From Little America the Bear will go direct to Buenos Ayres and a call will also be made at Rio de Janiero. She is due back at Boston on March 30. Trotting Crash. Much excitement was .crammed into the three and a half minutes which it took to run the Akarana Handicap at the Auckland Trotting Club's meeting yesterday. There were a dozen starters and the incidents began when the favourite, Whanako, failed to begin correctly and was pulled up. The field had gone but two of the twelve furlongs when Winning Post and Kewpie's Bingen fell. Petite Jewel and Cavalryman were left in front to be joined by the driverless Winning Post, and just behind them were Lynn Rey and Silver Watch. The driverless horse was pushing up between Petite Jewel and Cavalryman, and the driver of Petite Jewel, W. H. Andrews, was fighting Winning Post off with the whip, but the horse kept his position. About five furlongs from home Andrews pulled Petite Jewel out, allowing the driverless Winning Post to go through, and almost immediately Winning Post came in on Cavalryman, bringing the latter down. Lynn Rey, who was close behind, went over the top of Cavalryman, and the result of all these mishaps was to leave Petite Jewel, an outsider, with a big lead, and he went on to win from two other outsiders in Silver Watch and Monty Chimes. •