NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 242, 13 October 1942, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY

A action Sale Prices

Prices for second-hand articles at auction sales during the past 12 months have, in some cases, been astoundlngly high. Articles such as vacuum cleaners and hose piping have been run up to prices far in excess of what tney cost new, and purchasers honestly believe they have secured a bargain. At an auction sale in Wanganui a cup and saucer of floral design, with no special brand, were put up. Bidding was brisk from the start, 2/ being called immediately. Three-penny bids were taken, and to the auctioneer's amazement the cup and saucer were knocked down to a client for the record price of 15/. Later a lady's cycle (second-hand) was sold for £9 15/. Heketara is in Bloom Motorists and trampers taking advantage of the enchanting spring sunshine to visit the roads ana tracks of the Waitakere Ranges during the week-end found that the pristine freshness had gone from, the kowhai bloom on the bush-clad slopes, and the golden blaze had been replaced by the blossom of the heketara, gleaming snowy white adown the foliage of the hills. Giving the effect of snowballs, the flowers of the heketara shoot in panicles from the tips of the branches, each panicle a cluster of about 20 tiny florets about a quarter of an inch in diameter and spreading in starlike rays. Of the olearla family and first distinguished as a separate species among our forest flora f>y the botanist Cunningham, whose name it bears as olearia Cunninghamii, the heketara is a marked feature in the northern woodlands, where it is partial to shady spots. It varies in stature from a small shrub to a tree of over 20 feet in height, and flowers in greatest profusion in October.

The Tale of a Possum Thero are occasions when the use of his conveniently prehensile tail may cost an opossum nis life, writes a correspondent. This was illustrated recently in a bush district, where opossums are plentiful. Moonlight nights silhouette them playing up and down the power poles, blissfully unconscious of the warning notice of danger tacked on below. In the semidarkness their forms and actions much resemble those of monkeys up a pole in the zoo. As many as three together have been watched aloft on one power pole, and then, as if tired they sat for a while perched ] solemnly, one on top of the vertical,' and the other two at the tips of the cross-bar. One night, however, one member of the brotherhood must have done something that caused him to slip, and not being able to grip his claws into the smooth high-power line as be fell past it, his Jittle tail came to the rescue. Though it saved a fall, it cost him his life. There he was next morning hanging, suspended by his tail, electrocuted. A power board lorry was used to remove the mute and pathetic spectacle.

"Let the Bombs Fall!"

When the sirens sounded for an E.P.S. dispersal trial in Wanganui, an elderly man (approaching the 90-year mark) was walking down Rldgway Street. He gallantly joined the throng of evacuees to Queen's Park, but half-way up the hill he became out of breath. Sitting down on the side 'of the road, he was heard to exclaim: "Darn the Japs! Let the bombs fall. I am staying here." Discredit or Badge "It is people like you who bring discredit on an honourable badge. It is a serious offence, and I cannot treat it as trivial," said Mr. W. F. Stilwell, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court, Wellington, when Herbert Cecil Gilette, notel cook, aged 18, was charged with wearing a merchant seaman's badge to which he was not entitled. He pleaded guilty, but would not disclose how the badge had come into his possession. A fine of £5 was imposed. Greeti Lone Hospital The institution in Green Lane, Epsom, formerly known as the Costley Home, and in more recent years developed on hospital lines as the Auckland Infirmary, has now become, by resolution of the Hospital Board, the Green Lane Hospital. This action is regarded as a natural outcome of the very large building scheme at present in progress there, in the course of which the institution will become a spacious and fully-equipped hospital.

Long Waiting list "I inquired from the medical superintendent, who informed me that patients other than military might have to wait two years for an operation," declared Mr. R. J. Coates when suggesting at the Hospital Board meeting last night that there was need for reorganisation of the ear, nose and throat department of the Auckland Hospital. He urged that this indicated a chaotic condition of affairs, and on his motion the board decided to have an investigation made with a view to getting a better service for non-military patients. Fluctuation of Land Values An example of the fluctuation of property values was revealed when an application for remission of rates on a farm property at Pleasant Point came up for consideration at a meotCounty Council at Timaru. In support of the application, it was stated that the property was sold in 1915 for £3200, the c £ v ? er a mortgage for £2000 as balance of purchase money. The farm was again sold in 1922, for the sum of £5000. The first mortgagee recently obtained an order of the Court for leave to sell the property, and eventually an offer of £365 was received. This amount represented the Government's valuation of the Improvements. After considering the application for remission or rates, amounting to £122, the council decided to take no action.