OUR AUCKLAND LETTER

Evening Star, Issue 16195, 17 August 1916, Page 5

OUR AUCKLAND LETTER

[Special to the ' Star.']

-■ AUCKLAND, Wednesday WEEK OF STORM,'

During tho past week Auckland has had - a ! whole winter crammed into a. few days. Gales and floods were reported from all parts of the country. Whangarei seems to nave experienced the thickest, end of.the deluge, and over 7£ iuche* of rain fell there in 24 hours. There were washouts and slips on tho North Aucklaud line and floods between Thames and To Aroha; the buildings in Paeroa- were rocked by the wind as if by an earthquake; several houses at Te Aroha were damaged, and some were unroofed in the great easterly gale; bridgos over numerous country streams were carried away or damaged, «nd tho telegraph and telephone wires suffered severely. Tho works carried out along the lower reaches of the'Waikato River have evidently served their purpose. A few years ago tho rain of the past week would havo resulted in a big flood, and probably with interruption of tie Slain Trunk Rotorua and Thames railway traffic. There was a very lioavy sea on the coast, and the Manukau bar was too dangerous for ! shipping. The To Anau took 56 hours from Gisborne, usually not more than a 26-hour trip. Heavy beam seas broke over the vessol continuously, and the rain carno down in torrents. The "decks were continually flooded, and a small quantity of deck cargo was lost overboard. The Tarawera, too, bad a rough passage, and arrived six hours late.

THE WRONG GAMP. A man was charged in Auckland Polico Court the other day with stealing an umbrella, but tho Magistrate admitted that he himself had recently found himself in possession of a strange umbrella without the remotest idea where he got it, and he therefore sympathised with the accused, who had forgotten ho had left his own -umbrella, at homo and picked up one beside him hi a tramcar and carried it off to hia otfice. The case was dismissed, the real owner got back his property, and the Court 1-aughe.d over the Magistrate's confession, while solicitors and reporters unconsciously looked al their own respective gamps to make sure they, too, had not committed the time-honored mistake.

PARENTAL NEGLECT. A sad case of parental neglect was revealed in the Auckland Juvenile Court, .when a hid of 10 years was charged with being a child not under proper control. The boy's father :s on active service, but he had allowed 5s 3d per week for the boy's maintenance. The stepmother resided at. Pukekohe, and in consequence, of complaints tho police visited tho place. They found the ohikl in a Btato of neglect, lying on some rags in a shed, and tho house, looked up and the woman away. The. boy was poorly clad, cold, and hungry. Tho police stated that the lad had greatly improved in two days under kind treatment. The Court handed the boy over to the Presbyterian Social Service Association. He will now be well cared for, but it is to be hoped some further proceedings will be taken against whoever was responsible for tho neglect of which tho poor youngster's condition gave conclusive evidence.

NO GERMANS WANTED. No German-born people are wanted in the King Country, and it the wishes of the people of Te Kuiti are carried out tho Germans will meet a " facer." A public meeting unanimously and enthusiastically resolved to endeavor to secure the following measures:—(l) That no German-born 'person shall be admitted to any of ihe British Dominions for at least 21 years after the war; (2) that no German-born person (shall be capablo of holding British property or of owning shares in any British company; (3) that no German-made ' goods shall be admitted into any British Dominion or used by any subject of the British Empire.

PROMISE OF SPORT. The Fisheries Department intends to experiment with quinnat salmon in tho Wangamii River, and an inspection of the upper reaches of the great waterway is to be made before next spawning season. Mr Ayson, Chief Inspector of Fisheries, was in Auckland last- week, and he was asked to discuss the question of slocking some of Ihe North Island rivers with this g.eat sporting (ish. which bus become so well acclimatised in ihe Vvaitaki, Rangitat.i, Rakaia, and other South Island streams. Mr Ayson said the southern rivers were snow-fed, and the conditions were similar to those of the native homo of the fish, which extended from Alaska to tho Ca'.ifornian coast. It was possible the fish might be successfully acclimatised in North Island waters, the spawn being taken from South Island fish. The upper reaches of tho Wanganui were fed by the snowficlds of Ruapehu, and might prove suitable. He feared the temperature of ihe great Waikato River was too high in tho lower reaches, and the Huka Falls debarred the fish being placed in the upper reaches, for the salmon could not surmount tho fails vi'. their return journey from the open sea.

NATIVES OF NICE. On the voyage of the Coriuthic. which landed a number of returned soldiers at Auckland on Monday, five soldiers from Nino Island died, ;in'd were buried at sea, the deaths being due io pneumonia. Evidently the experiment of taking troops from Nine ha- not been altogether a success. In their lonely island home, far out, of the. track of shipping, the Niueans live a simpler life than the peoples of any of the otho.Pacific Islands; they never wear boots, and iittlo or no work is necessary. Brought out to this ciimate and mixing with the hardier Maoris, obiigcd to wear boots, to exchange.

;• childlike existence for stern and ordered duties, the men do not stand the strain. They are willing enough and eager to play their part in tho great war, but Nature did not intend them f or it, and so Privates Pulu, Tineatama, Vailiola, Peni, and Pineki wcro committed to the deep. The great ship was slopped, the bodies were wrapped in the Union Jack, and ihe burial service was read. The simple people of the strange island will mourn th'-ir dead, but, they will long cheridi the. story of the respect shown to these live soldiers of the great, King.

THE LOYAL ARAWAS. The proud and aristocratic- Arawas have over been loyal, and this country has u-.i-rn to l>o grateful to them, for in the dark d.ijo of t-ho Maori wars tiieir great warriors i-'■■:-dered signal service t-o the pakohas. "io-day many Arawas arc fighting for tho King. On Anniversary Day the Arawas held °a koreio at, Kotorua, and the venerable and stately old chief, Miui Taupopoki, head of the Tuhourangi tribe, moved this resolution: '• Inasmuch as we are entering tho third year of the greatest war of tho world, tho Arawa people desire to again place on record their unalterable decision to assist as in the past their noble King and the Government, of New Zealand in this tremendous conflict of the world of light against the world of darkness and murder led by Germany, for ever, and ever, and ever." Chief Kiwi Amohau, hereditary head of the Wbakataivuc tribe, seconded the motion, and the meeting carried it with enthusiasm.

Firry years - service. Last week Mr A. D. Bruce, one of the night overseers of the ' Herald.' and for many years its racing news contributor, celebrated his jubilee of service with the pap:;r, and at a gathering of the proprietors and the "o'.d hands'' he was presented by the firm with a substantial cheque. This is the second jubilee lately celebrated on tho 'Herald,' as Mr M. Connolly, printer of the ' Weekly News,' has now completed nearly 52 years of service. Mr Bruce, who is known to racing men throughout the Dominion, entered the newspaper office as a boy of 11 years, and has watched all the great changes of the last 50 years. When he started work the machinery of the office consisted of one small press, which printed two pages at a time. He remembers, in the 60's the formc3 of both the first and last pages of the ' Herald ' were wrecked one morning just as the paper was going to press, and newspaper men can imagine what that meant. He also remembers two occasions when the light failed and the paper was brought out by candle light. The first race meeting he attended was at Potter's Paddock, when Dainty Ariel carried Sir George Grey's colors, and he has witnessed every Auckland Cup and Derby at Ellerslie since 187*.