NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 85, 10 April 1941, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

No "Star" To-morrow The "Auckland Stat" will not be published to-morrow—Good Friday —and the office will be closed. For the convenience of advertisers, the Shortland Street office will be open as usual till 9 o'clock to-night. There will be no variation in office hours on Saturday and Easter Monday. Fine Bag of Trout. One of the best catches of trout made at Tokaanu for some years was obtained by Mr. R. Lee, of Putaruru. Mr. Lee caught 14 fish, the heaviest of which weighed 131b. Five others averaged 111b, and the remaining fish averaged Silb. Snow on Mt. Egmont. A fall of snow on Tuesday night in the bijzli levels of Mount Egmont provided the mountain near the top with so heavy a mantle that it is expected to remain throughout the winter. At the hostel yesterday, where the snow lay an inch deep, the temperature was that of a whiten day, and there were hail showers. All Seek Re-election. The present Mayor, Mr. T.J. Goldstinc, and councillors of the One Tree Hill Boroujrh Council propose to seek reelection as one party at the forthcoming municipal election. This was mentioned at a meeting of the council la»t night, when reports put before the meeting showed that the borough had had a record year of building progress and that the accounts of the year showed an all-round credit and a record collection of current rates. Campbell Statue Reserve. A proposal whereby the Cornwall Park reserve facing Manukau Road is to be made more attractive was mentioned at the One Tree Hill Borough Council meeting last night, when the park trustees intimated that they were willing to consider removal of the iron fence round the statue reserve. Mr. I. .T. Goldstinc, the Mayor, explained that the idea was to remove the fence and street rockeries and provide footpaths, which would make the reserve more readily accessible to pedestrians. Devonport Dwellings. A decrease in the number of new dwellings erected in Devonport for which permits were issued—State houses being excluded—for the year ended March 31, 1041, compared with the previous year, was shown in the report of the borough engineer, Mr. A. T. Griffiths, to the meeting of the Devon port Borough Council last night. The number this year was eight, and last year 10. The valuer were £9750 and £20,891 respectively. Since the commencement of the State housing scheme, 129 dwelling units have been erected in the borough, and these are not included in the above figures. Miners' Train at Huntly. A miners' train for workers returning to Huntly from work in collierics in the Glen Afton and adjacent districts will bo inaugurated next week, according to an announcement made yesterday by the Hon. R. Semple, Minister of National Service. This will replace the existing mixed goods and passenger train. Mr. Semple said the change had been agreed to with the hearty concurrence of the Hon. P. C'. Webb, Minister of Mines and Labour, and at the request of the miners' executive. The service, which would cost the Government £700 a year, would reach Huntly at 4.40 p.m., and would enable miners to reach their home* 20 minutes earlier than now (j 0 _

"In the Money."

A novel postcard received this week by his parents in Ellerslie from Private Rov Lett, of the N.Z.E.F. in the Middle East, is one picturing a Palestine £1 note. Apparently there is not the legal restriction in the Orient on photographic reproduction of currency notes that exists in British countries, and a Palestine £1 note has been photographed and the photograph printed on a postcard. Like the Xew Zealand Reserve Bank note, the Palestine counterpart has a circular blank watermark on the right-hand side, and imposed on this circular space is an excellent bust photograph of Private Lett himself. The printing craftsmanship of the reproduction is of the highest class, and t lio card makes an attractive novelty by which visiting "Diggers" can keep themselves "in the money." Commendable Spirit. "I am sure that this war is doing a lot of good to the life of England," writes a New Zealander at present in London, commenting on the great change in the attitude of people towards national and social issues. "The challenge ,to existence is introducing measures of efficiency and fairness in social life that could scarcely have been deemed possible in pre-war days. People are reviewing whether what they are doing is in the 'war interest,' which, of course, means the best for the whole State. There is a questioning in the minds of most as to whether they are doing all they can for this purpose, placing individual motives and objectives, otherwise desirable, in the second place. One feels the complacency and 'laissez-faire' spirit being ousted right and left. I get the impression that this is more «o than in 1914-18, probably one of the advantages of a totalitarian war," concludes the writer. Bomber's Experience.

The unexpected thrills incidental to air raiding over enemy country are described by Sergeant Alan Campbell, of Hawera, in a letter to his parents relating an experience when he went with his R.A.F. squadron to raid the docks at Brest, France. "We were circling round at 100 ft for an hour," he writes. ''When we did go in over the harbour we had 'flak' and searchlights in front and on both sides of us. The captain was going to dive-bomb. I had the guns ready for the searchlight, we were so low. Suddenly we went straight into a dive, nearly pulled out, then dropped like a stone again. When we did pull out we were 100 ft ojjf the water. When we found it wasn't a dream we had a roll call. I thought the captain was dive-bombing, but it seemed 'flak' lifted the tail and we went straight into that dive. The second pilot was thrown down the bomb hatch, and when he came to he grabbed the stick, and the captain had to beat his hands off. The captain said we turned over and went straight down again after nearly pulling out. It shook us all up. I was hoping that we would go in again, but we just went above the clouds and dropped bombs on the docks."