NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 40, 15 August 1940, Page 10

NEWS OF THE DAY

Record Book Issue.

Books issued from the Central Lending Library during July numbered 39,288, a record, stated the report of the libraries committee presented to the City Council last night. The previous daily average figures for any month were also exceeded, a new daily average record of 1455.1 for the month being achieved. The previous weekly issue record figures were exceeded in the week ending August 3, when a new record of 8961 was set. City Milk Sales. City milk sales for July averaged 8431 gallons daily, being 903 gallons (or 11.99 per cent.) in excess of the sales for the corresponding month of last year. By the same comparison cream sales showed an increase of 13.34 per cent. The sales of milk to nearby farmers averaged 438 gallons daily as compared with 718 gallons daily for the corresponding month of last year. Planetary Display. In the early morning sky at the present time three planets are grouped together and form a very fine celestial spectacle. These are Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus, and the two former are about in conjunction. They pass one another in their journeying round the sun once every eighteen years or so, and this is what they are doing now. Although looking so close together, they are of course many millions of miles apart, and there is no danger of a celestial collision : startling the astronomical world. Achilles Memorial. Work is to be started shortly on the lay-out on the headland to the east of St. Heliers Bay, Auckland, as a memorial to the part played by H.M.S. Achilles in the action against the German pocket-battleship Graf Spec, states the "New Zealand Herald." The scheme designed by the Auckland City Engineer, Mr.' J. Tyler, will provide a distinctive termination of the waterfront drive, and in addition to suitable terracing with a paved look-out over ! the harbour and gulf will embrace an inscribed tablet commemorating the [engagement. Provision will be made !on the upper terrace for the erection of a bronze direction table on which will 'be engraved a map of the harbour, |Rangitoto Channel, and the Hauraki Gulf, showing the points of interest [within the range of vision. It is 'planned to have the memorial ready for opening on December 13, the first [anniversary of the River Plate battle. | Paekakariki Hill Road. On the clear understanding that he would not commit the council in any way, Councillor R. A. Wright agreed at the meeting of the City Council last evening to represent that body at a meeting called by the Automobile Association (Wellington) to discuss the question of whether it would be desirable to ask for the'Paekakariki Hill Road to be kept open. Councillor W. Appleton said that he did not think the council should take an active part in the discussions. The Government had already decided not to find the £6000 necessary to keep the road open, and the City Council might be called upon to contribute to any expenditure required. The Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) said he thought the council should be represented at the meeting but that its representative should have no power to bind it to any scheme There might be some question of access or egress of interest to the council. Councillor Wright said he would make his position quite clear. "I will say it before the afternoon tea," he added, amid laughter. How Are the Mighty Fallen. "In 1812 Napoleon dominated Europe, aiid in his campaign against Russia 170,000 soldiers, drawn from countries outside France, were included in his grand armies," said Mr. J. T. Martin at last night's meeting of the Englishspeaking Union. "It seemed incredible at that time that this great military genius, who had for years dominated Europe, could ever be defeated and his vast dominions wrested from him and restored to their rightful owners. The defeat by the Spaniards in Andalusia, the retreat from Moscow, and' Waterloo sealed Napoleon's fate and the hegemony of Europe. History again proved that attempts to subdue smaller nations of different race, successful as they might be through force and strength of armaments, are doomed to inevitable failure. Just as surely as Napoleon was defeated in 1812, so will Hitler be before this war ceases." The World of the Future. "There is a duty which lies upon those of us who are unable to go to the fighting front," said Mr. A. Leigh Hunt at the meeting of the Englishspeaking Union last night. "Our duty is to try and do the very best and uttermost we can while the war is proceeding to make the world a better place when the war is over. Our boys are fighting at the front, and we don't want them to come back and find a world worse than they left it." . Mr. Hunt said they, should hitch their wagon to a star, and work for complete unity between the great English-speak-ing nations of Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States of America. "The ideal is." he said, "that all these countries should work together and be practically one nation, except for their domestic affairs. What an ideal that would be; what a new world! And is that impossible?"

Girl Farmers. Advice has been received by the Wellington Central Provincial Executive of the Farmers' Union that there is quite a number of girls in Wellington keen to do something on the land during the summer, states the "Post's" Palmerston North correspondent. The desire is to arrange parties to go out and hoe crops, such as turnips,, mangels, etc., and to take part in harvesting. Whether there will be a demand for such labour rests with the farmers. An Early Spring:. Indications of an early spring are apparent on all sides. After a very pleasant winter, during which there has been a pleasing absence of storms and heavy rain, vegetation of all sorts is sprouting and blossoming earlier than usual. Prunus and other similar trees have been flowering for some time past, and. the early spring bulbs and flowers are already beginning to add vivid splSfehes of colour to gardens, public and private. Undeterredapparently by the numerous frosts experienced last month, garden occupants have made up 'their minds that spring is already here, although August is generally considered a winter month, and, generally speaking, most blossoms are two or three weeks ahead of the normal time. Nature has certainly been encouraged by the recent mild temperatures, but of course the pessimists say that we shall suffer for it later. Be that as it may, Nature is apparently willing to take the risk, and at the moment she is doing her best in the way of polychromatic spring adornment. "Neutral" Christians. Commenting on a statement by the Bishop of London, that the people of England were less Christian than the people of Uganda, the Yen. Archdeacon H. W. Monaghan, of Timaru, speaking at the Anglican Board of Missions rally last evening, said he did not agree with that remark, but he did agree with the view of T. S. Elliott, that the people were "neutral." That was the trouble with secularised democracies —the people, in a Christian sense, were neutral. Being neutral in peacetime was different from being neutral in war. Were the people still going to continue that state of neutrality? The King, the British Prime Minister, and Lord Halifax had all spoken to the nation as a Christian nation, and today the Church must be ready to go forward in the new world, to seize the opportunity or lose it for ever—history did not make faith in God, but faith in God made history. A Walking-stick Tree. Notable alike for its size and its curious history—it is said to have sprouted from a walking-stick—a ribbonwood (hoheria) tree in the grounds of Mr. A. Wildey's home, 41 Antigua Street, Christchurch, had recently to be felled, as it was showing signs of decay, states the "Star-Sun." Three feet from the ground, the bole was six feet in circumference, and many people well acquainted with native trees considered it to be the largest specimen they had seen. According to tradition, it had an extraordinary origin. About sixty-five years ago, so runs the story, Mr. T. D. Harman, the well-known Christchurch solicitor, whose family then occupied the house, returned from a hiking trip with a hoheria walkingstick that he had cut in the bush, and someone stuck it in the ground. The stick was seen, some time later, to be sprouting leaves, and so was left in place, to grow into a giant specimen of its kind. It was always known to the Harman family as "the walking-stick tree." Seasick Troops. When comforts for use by New Zealand soldiers on the voyage from this country to their disembarkation point are packed in the National Patriotic Fund Board's gifts depot in Wellington the possibility ol seasickness among some of the troops is not overlooked, soda water and other drinks being included in the consignment. This week an offer to provide something additional in this connection was received from Miss E. M. Bur§ett, of York Bay, who has undertaken to make and give for the benefit of seasick troops a number of large bottles of lime juice cordial. It was Miss Burnett and her sister who a few weeks ago wrote to the officer in charge of the board's gifts depot offering to give two 601b tins of honey well sealed and packed in a kerosene case, as well as a number of large jars of marmalade. This splendid offer was gratefully accepted, and among the large assortment of goods in the depot at the beginning of this week were the honey and the marmalade. Referring to the case of honey, one of the store assistants said that if it contained only 1201b it was the heaviest 1201b he had ever handled. The assistant was no lightweight, but it was all he could do to move the case about. Church Offerings. The systems of maintaining clergymen in England and in New Zealand were contrasted by the Bishop of Waikato, the Rt. Rev. C. A. Cherrington, in an address at the rally of the Anglican Board of Missions last evening. In England, he said, the clergyman and his house were paid for by pious benefactors of the past, and not a single halfpenny was contributed to the minister's upkeep by the congregation except at the Easter offering. In New Zealand the parishioners had to do the whole thing from the beginning, and he ventured to say that they made a great mistake in their doing of it. He referred to the practice of making a collection in church, putting it on a plate, and taking it to the Holy Table, and there the clergyman presenting the alms to God. It must make many a clergyman wriggle when he had to think that some of the money would be spent for paying for the children's shoes, his wife's new hat, or his bread and butter for the next few weeks. Most of the money given was not alms-giving—it was paying for something parishioners needed, not giving it to God. Money was not given to God unless it went right away to where it was needed. New Tunnelling Scheme. Gradually the plans are taking shape in the draughting rooms of the Public Works Department in Christchurch of one of the most ingenious engineering tasks yet undertaken in tlie Dominion, states the "Press." This is the driving by a method new to New Zealand but successfully used in England and the United States, of the 6000 ft tunnel, 20ft 4in in diameter, which will carry water from Lake Tekapo to the projected electric power station on the bank of the Tekapo River. The careful work which the designing engineers are putting into the detailed and complex plans will enable the tunnel to be driven and lined by a continuous and automatic process, and almost entirely by machinery- Cylindrical steel shields, 23ft in diameter, will be driven forward, inch by inch, by hydraulic rams as tlie pneumatic drills and picks operated from safety platforms inside them bite through the glacial moraine which divides the lake from the powerhouse site. As each shield goes forward—one will be operated from either end of the tunnel—a cylinder of steel will be left, temporarily, behind. Inside this cylinder the tunnel lining proper will be built up from pre-cast reinforced concrete blocks which will be carried into the tunnel by rail, swung into place by a mechanical expanding and contracting arm, and bolted together—l 3of them to one complete circumference of the tunnel and each one 14 inches thick, three feet long, and weighing 19001b. No fewer than 26,000 of these concrete blocks will be made by the time, the tunnel is complete. I