NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 189, 7 May 1937, Page 13

NEWS IN BRIEF

Wadestown-Ngaio Road A proposed roadway to give acces--between Ngaio and Wadestown, which has been the desire of the Ngaio Progressive Association for some time, has reached a step nearer realisation, according to a letter from the Wellington City Council received at last night’s meeting of the association. The letter stated that a preliminary investigation of the route was being made by the Government Lands Department, which was in close touch with the city engineer. Green Clock Faces. Passers through Cathedral Square, Christchurch, on Wednesday night, who glanced at the Post Office clock found more than the time to engage their attention. The faces of the clock were a delicate green. This colouring of the clock has apparently been done as part of the coronation decorations of the Post Office, and its effective ness was clearly shown when the full decorations "were shining for a short period—the clock face being encircled by a halo of red, white and blue lamps. For most of the night, however, the coloured clock was the only sign of the decorations, and there was an excuse for the question heard asked by one pedestrian: “Is this a belated observance of St. Patrick’s Day?”

“A Good Mood.” Jurors assembled in the Supreme Court, Auckland, waiting for a subsequent case to be called realised that a criminal court is not devoid of pleasantries. Mr. Alan Moody, in the course of cross-examination of a detective, was endeavouring to get an answer to a question, pud he reminded the detective, with a smile, that he was not quarrelling with him. Later in the proceedings, wffien Mr. Moodv was addiessing tlie jury, Mr. R. Meredith, who prosecuted, disagreed with counsel concerning a legal aspect of the case he was submitting. “I do not wish to quarrel with my friend, either,” said Mr. Moody. “I am in a pleasant mood this morning.” Mr. Justice Callan (with a smile): “So long as you get your own way, Mr. Moody.”

Marked Down by Hawks. A white iamb has been born to a black ewe on the farm of Mr. Norman Austin, Papatoetoe. Whether this is particularly surprising is a matter for argument. One farming expert states that he would have been more surprised if the lamb had been black, like the mother, since the dam’s antecedents were probably white for several generations. The lamb, evidently because it forms a conspicuous mark against the black coat of its mother, has become an object of attention for hawks. It is stated that one hawk actually made an attack on the animal, which is now fourteen days old, but Mr. Austin’s son shot the bird before it could do any harm. Since then seven other hawks' have been shot in the same paddock.

City Officers as Gymnasts. A firm believer in the value of physical fitness in the men under his control is the chief traffic inspector in Christchurch, Mr. J. Bruorton, and his enthusiasm is spreading to other departmental heads on the city council’s staff. One of the latest of Mr. Bruorton’s supporters is the town clerk, Mr. J. S. Neville, and there are now at least four prominent officers of the council attending a physical culture class for an hour each week under Mr. Bruorton’s tuition. Point duty, according to Mr. Bruorton, adds weight, and he induced the five new inspectors to take part in strenuous physical training for an hour each week to counteract this effect. Since then this small band has been increased by the attendance of Mr. Neville, the assistant-town clerk, Mr. H. S. Feast, the city treasurer, Mr. J. • W. Niven, and Mr. H. M. Garrick, of the treasury department. The training Includes work on the parallel bars and with medicine balls, varied by other strenuous exercises.

Auroras and the Weather. A denial of the popular belief that a correlation existed between auroral phenomena and the weather on the surface of the earth was made by Professor F. W. G. White, professor of physics at Canterbury University College, in an address to the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Professor White said that, according to the theory accepted by physicists, streams of particles (electrons) from the sun, travelling across space, were influenced by the earth’s magnetic field, converging toward the poles. The lights would result from the impact of the electrons on the atmosphere. There was a definite correlation between the auroras and electric storms, and ionisation from particles in the air had been known to interfere with wireless messages, as in the case of the airship Italia when it was in difficulty in the Arctic. There was also a close relationship between the aurora and the activity on the sun: but there was not, he thought, any correlation between the aurora and the weather, as was often supposed.