NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 172, 23 July 1941, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Hide Range for Home Guard The Kohimarama - Mission Bay Home Guard has obtained a suitable site for a miniature rifle range close to Kohi Road, and the range has been put in order by a working bee. An official opening is to be held at a later date. Arrangements are being made for ammunition, which will be paid for out of the unit's own funds. Conversion of a Tractor The unlawful conversion of a tractor, considered to be the first case in New Zealand, is occupying the attention of the police at Ranfurly, Central Otago. A contractor left one of these motor machines outside a garage on Saturday and it disappeared during the week-end, to be found on Monday afternoon 11 miles away. The machine was undamaged. The Rat Did the Trick Supporting a par in this column recently on the sagacity of the rat. a Sandringham resident writes: "I set a wooden trap, with powerful metal spring, cheese baited, and in three weeks trapped 20 rats. On setting in the same way on the 21st time, the cheese was gone, but the trap was not sprung. So in setting it again I passed a thin wire through the cheese and wired it to the trigger. In the morning the trap was not sprung, but cheese and wire had vanished. To test the trigger. I dropped a wad of blotting paper on the trigger, and off went the trap. I cannot solve how the rat's trick of removing wire and cheese is done; it is passing sagacity." Harbinger of Spring The shining cuckoo appears to have made its appearance in Auckland early this year, as Mr. J. H. Leonard, of Queen Street, Northcote, reports seeing one of the birds in his garden yesterday morning. The shining cuckoo can be easily recognised by its green plumage on the back and speckled grey breast. The bird is migratory, and at one part of the year flies to South Pacific Islands, returning in the spring. Usually the bird is noted about September or October, and an earlier appearance is usually taken as a sign of an early spring. The shining cuckoo, which is a different bird from the long-tailed cuckoo, is known to the Maoris by a number of names tlie most familiar one bcint? nini\.ly*iaui'oa.

Glassy Road Surfaces The formation of Ice on damp surfaces of tar-sealed roads in bush areas constituted an unusual hazard of motoring in the Rotorua district during the heavy frosts of last week. Portions of the roads in the shade remained frozen, with a glassy surface calling for the utmost care and skill from motorists using the roads through the Rotorua bush, the Mamaku hills being particular iy affected, and on the Rotorua bush road a small motor car, on being accelerated, went into a sudden skid and capsized. Land Tax and Values , A system of annual land revaluations should be introduced to ensure equity in land tax. declares the Dominion secretary of the Farmers' Union, .Mr. A. P. O'Shea. Government valuations to-day, often made many years ago, bore little relation to the real value of the land, as indicated by the net return that could be obtained from it, said Mr. O'Shea. For several years prices of produce had been more or less stationary, while costs and charges had risen steadily. When this happened the real value of the land obviously decreased. Landholders were being taxed on fictitious values. In Canada Mr. O'Shea understood, land was revalued each year. If this system were adopted in New Zealand the incidence of the tax would be more fair. A Soldier's Son A well-known battle-scarred veteran of the last war tells a good story concerning the warlike instinct of his offspring. Like most juveniles at the present time, the lad bristled with all the imitation lethal weapons imaginable, but his heart was set on something with which to wage war on the bird population. His pleadings finally produced an air gun. So far so good, but father received a rude shock when his offspring "bumped off" a neighbour's prize Persian cat. That little bit of bother more or less satisfactorily settled, he was required to foot the bill for a dozen pullets which the lad had considered were sitting shots, and proved it. The old soldier was then convinced that his son had the makings of a sniper and he promptly , got the axe to work on the air gun I He then decided to appease his son i by purchasing him a pop gun. But even that was not safe in the hands of the soldier of the future, for he ended up by giving a pal a choice black eye such as may be seen outside a Police Court r.fier a parade of inebriates. • • \