NEWS OF THE DAY

Taranaki Daily News, 31 October 1935, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Man’s Independence. There are still occasions on which man is able to assert his independence. The Tariki Young Men’s Social Club always allows the women a night free from all work on the occasion of dances. Even the making of the tea and the arrangement and serving of the supper is carried out by the men and a workmanlike job they make of it. Car Hits Lorry. A brief traffic block in Devon Street, New Plymouth, yesterday afternoon caused a car proceeding down the hill to the centre of the town to crash into the back of a light lorry that had stopped at the Currie Street intersection. No one was injured and the only damage was a broken tail light on the lorry. Attitude of Borrowing. “Being a young man I am against borrowing,” said Mr. T. K. S. Sidey, National Government candidate for Dunedin South, in the opening speech of his campaign. He added that some of the “old chaps” in Parliament did not mind borrowing, because they would not have to pay the money back. Beach Patrol Unifotm. That a blue costume with three diagonal white stripes shall be adopted throughout the Dominion 'as the uniform patrols on duty was the decision of the annual meeting of the New Zealand Surf Life-saving Association at Wellington. The value of having such a uniform, it was stated, lay in the fact that the public would more readily assist and respect those so attired in the case of a rescue. Sale of a Lost Car. A certain young women at New Plymouth who drives a car of unmentionable age and condition to work each day came out of her office yesterday to find it missing from its accustomed place. Where could she have left it? Distractedly she hunted the town, but with no success. Everyone she met she asked if her car had been seen. Almost'certain it had been stolen, she chanced to call at a nearby garage—and there was the missing car where she had parked it out of the rain early in the morning! Cricket Autographs.

Because, as one member said, “autograph hunting had become a perfect pest,” the Wellington Cricket Association decided to suggest to E. R. T. Holmes, captain of the English touring team, that a limit should be placed on the number of books presented to the team and that a small charge should be made for each book, the money to be devoted to charity, tire health campaign being suggested. It was proposed that the books should be presented to the office of the association and then conveyed to the team, avoiding autograph-hunting on the ground. The charge suggested was 6d and the number of books 100. Floodlights for Geysers.

A suggestion that the geysers and steam in the Whakarewarewa thermal region provided a splendid opportunity for the creation of a unique floodlighting attraction at night was made by the Mayor of Rotorua, Mr. T. Jackson, when a deputation waited on Mr. L. J. Schmitt, general managei' of the Tourist Department. Mr. Jackson said he thought that, even though the geysers might not always be active, the steam in the region lent itself to great opportunities for spectacular effects by floodlighting at night. By this means Rotorua would be provided with one of the greatest attractions in the South Hemisphere, even better than the famous coloured fountain at Beverley Hills, Hollywood. Mr. Schmitt said the suggestion was a most valuable one, which he would certainly investigate. Beef—or Bull?

The famous roast beef of Old England is not always what history and the novelist claims for it, according to a Canterbury farmer, who has just returned to New Zealand after an extended tour of the British Isles. He didn’t get a “bit of decent beef” all the time he was away, he said, though he stayed at good hotels, And he saw something of the reason when he visited the markets in London, Dublin and Glasgow. A large percentage of the beasts offered for sale were old bulls. The same farmer commented, too, that the farming methods of England are not up to the standards of this country, and the farms could be made considerably more productive. It was notable, too, that the best- land was lying fallow in the privately-owned parks and game reserves of the big estates.

Seagulls Feed on Trout. Officers of the North Canterbury Aclimatisation Society are concerned over the depredations of seagulls. Regularly they have brought to them the mauled bodies of Trout plucked from the Avon by gulls and later dropped nearby. One day last week a badly-gashed fish was found near the Gloucester Street bridge, Christchurch, and the frequent reports of such incidents suggest a very real danger that the Avon may be depleted of fish. This is not all the damage that seagulls are doing. Reports have been received at the office of the society from Waimakariri River Trust workmen that gulls, in many hundreds, are feeding on young quinnat salmon in the Waimakariri near Halkett.