NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 138, 13 June 1941, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Maori Boy Bushed While pig hunting in the Mount Pirongia district, a Maori lad from Kawhia, Tony Porima, aged 17 years, was lost in the bush for two days. He was accompanied' by his father and another native in the pig hunt on Tuesday, but got separated from them and lost. A search party of settlers set out to look for him on Thursday, and in the afternoon lie was found near Waitetuna. He and his dog had wandered round in circles. Though cold and exhausted, tfre youth quickly recovered when given food and rest. Lena: Remarkable Hen This is the story of Lena, a hen, owned by a Hastings resident, and surely one of the most remarkable hens in Hawke's Bay. Lena flies through the scullery window, alights on the sideboard and lays an egg in an ornamental fruit bowl. Always the same bowl, always on the sideboard, but Lena will not lay elsewhere. Her owner has taken steps to correct the somewhat icmbarrassing trait, but Lena has proved incurable and makes a daily visit to the bowl. Speaking to a reporter, the owner vouched for the truth of the story. The telephone conversation was abruptly ended. "You must excuse me," said the woman. "There's that darned fowl again!" Oar Hopes of the Future Describing the boy scout movement as "the one star that never sets," the Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall, addressing the Gisborne Savage Club, appealed to members to foster the organisation and induce people of the right age to devote their time to the allimportant work (reports the "Star's" Gisborne correspondent). "Although last time w r e won the war we lost the peace, we must devote certain of our energies now to the future of ihese islands and of the Empire," he said. It depended on how we built up after we had won the war, his Excellency continued. The people who were going to build the world afterwards were the boys and girls of to-day, and it was our duty to see that they were put on right lines. There were grand youngsters about the place, all searching for leaders. What we could do best in that direction was to enrourage boys and girls to join the scout movement. If we could only get leaden; '"e had the materia 1 , and should make it fashionable for the lads and girls of 19 and 20 to come forward to train those going to follow ihem. There was no greater thing we could do for New Zealand and the Empire or the world, he concluded.

Taranaki River Floods A flood on the Kaupokonui River, J the highest for five years, was j caused by Wednesday's storm in Taranaki, and in overflowing stopbanks at several places it threatened to burst the Kaponga Town Board's dam, and to overflow the towm of Manaia. Fortunately, the flood started to fall when the dam was in danger. Much damage was done where the river overflowed at places and scoured roads and considerable areas of paddocks. Injured Soldier's Escape Injured by the premature explosion of a cartridge in his rifle during the retreat in Greece, Private S. Dixon, of Mokauiti, King Country, suffered paralysis in his legs that hindered the speed of the party, and he and a fellow signalman were left to be taken prisoner by the Germans. Writing from Crete to his wife, Private Dixon tells of how a stray donkey came along before the enemy, and was used by the two wounded soldiers as transport to enable them to make their way to the coast and join others who helped them to escape. At the time of writing, Private Dixon reports having recovered considerably from his wounds. Friday, Thirteenth To-day, Friday, the thirteenth, is a day carefully observed by superstitious persons. The ill-luck associated with the day originated from Friday's connection with the Crucifixion. Thirteen is also considered unfortunate, because that number partook of the Last Supper. Almost everywhere in Christendom Friday is alleged to be a day of proverbial bad luck, on which it is considered unwise to set out on a voyage, to marry or commence a new venture. The coincidence of the two unlucky omens only happens once in 1941; next year it will occur three times. Strange to say, many people will spend to-day endeavouring to avoid spilling salt, breaking mirrors, walking under ladders and other acts of proverbial bad luck. Fibre-glass Uses of fibre-glass, described as the fabulous infant of the glass industry, are increasing very rapidly, said Mr. C. J. Phillips, a research expert on industrial applications of glass, in a recent address before the Royal Canadian Institute at Toronto. He explained that some of the smaller fibres have shown what might compare roughly to a tensile strength of 2.000,0001b per square inch. Fibre-glass is made by aHowl ing minute droplets of molten glass to drop through a 100 ft chamber, he went on, in which steam jets pull the droplets out to 18in fibres to onetenth as thick as an ordinary hair. A Sin glass marble would make 101 of these fibres, each 100 miles long. By re: llation of tensions within thn glass, glass stronger than steel can now ba produced, he said.