NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 238, 8 October 1928, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Just in Time. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. A. Nedham, of Botanical Road, Palmerston 'North, had a narrow escape from serious injury on Saturday, when they were attacked by a Jersey cow whilst crossing a paddock. One child was knocked flown. The alarm was given by neighbours who witnessed the incident, and Mr. Nedham seized a rifle and shot the animal just as it charged the second child. The youngsters escaped with a fright and slight bruises. Bargain for Bowlers. Right from the heart came the earnest appeal of the Papatoetoe Bowling Club's president (Mr. Smytheman) to the large crowd that had been attracted to the greens on Saturday. The flags waved o'er the pavilion, there were the greenest of lawns, and there was also the tuneful music of the local brass band. "Don't always stand on the bank," said Mr. Smytheman. "We've got a good membership, but we've got room for more. Join up, and for half-a-crown a week you can bowl for six days out of seven for seven months of the year, and with half an hour's special summer time thrown in." "A Very Sensitive Giant." Vivid imagination is evidently not lacking in the case of a youthful author who left a message for the "Brownies" of a North Shore troop of Girl Guides. A neatly written sheet of paper which was found on the grassy slopes of Mount Victoria read as follows:—"Brownies, this a very sensitive giant. Before you can pass him you must hop three times on the left leg and three times on the right leg, and then jump till you come up to him. Then you must bow very politely and say, 'Good afternoon, giant,' and you must not smile. If you smile lie will not let you pass. Oh, the robbers are so cruel, so do hurry up.—Princess Clematis." A Good Sunday Show. The repair work which is in progress on the steamship Antonio provided quite an interesting entertainment for Sunday morning visitors to King s wharf yesterday. The propeller which was smashed on the vessel's voyage to Auckland has been replaced by a "spare," but a good deal of testing and repair work remains to be done, and the Antonio is not likely to be ready for sea until the middle of the week. Work was in progress yesterday on the tailsliaft, and onlookers were able to obtain a very clear view from the wharf. Not until he sees a propeller at such close quarters does the average landsman realise its enormous size, or the bulk of a steamer's hull. ° * Beach Vandalism.

The broken glass season has begun," laments a correspondent, in deploring' the carelessness, amounting to. vandalism, which causes rubbish to be left on beaches, m and near Auckland. "I often wonder," he adds, "whether people who break bottles and leave the fragments on the foreshore have children of their own. His plaint will be echoed by many North Shore residents, for the glass nuisance is a very real menace at Devonport, Takapuna and Milford. The trouble is that it is so difficult to catch the vandals in the act, and also that it is not easy to ensure that they shall be adequately punished. J -Do, Re, Me, Fa! A young male teacher who was keenly interested in musical education was posted to the country, where he had charge of a part-time school with an attendance of five pupils. He was informed that he need not hope to impart a sense of musical appreciation to his new charges, as they had never heard good music, and all were tone deaf. The case of this teacher was mentioned in the course of a lecture which was given in Auckland last eveninsr by Mr. E. Douglas Tayler on the subject of "Music in Life and Education. This young teacher, the lecturer said, found that one of the pupils could sing to the accompaniment of his cornet, but only on one note. However, after a few months of patient coaching he was able to write to the effect that the pupil who had started on one note was already able to sing the musical scale both up and down, and that the remainder of the children could sing at least four or five notes. Mr. Tayler is doubtless sufficiently optimistic to expect to learn from the next report that at last a school quartet party has been formed, with one musical pupil in reserve. Pish with Whiskers. The decision made to drain Lake Waiatarua 19 expected to furnish some evidence in regard to the cat fish which have been acclimatised there for many years. It was in 1877 that the American catfish, scientifically known as Ameiurus natalis, were placed in the lake, and although they were lost sight of for some years they e\entually reappeared, and there was evidence that, they multiplied. The most striking feature about the fish is a plentiful supply of large whiskers, which gives it rather a repulsive appearance. It is one of the hardiest of fishes, and will care for itself and thrive in the muddiest of water. It will endure complacently every hardship of drought, extremes of temperature and lack of food. Every trait of the catfish bespeaks its stagnant, mud-loving nature; dusky in colour, sluggish and blundering, furnished with long and tacile barbels. One of its habits is to burrow deeply into the mud. Pursuit of Happiness. Certain modern tendencies in the use of time which is devoted to leisure were mentioned by Mr. E. Douglas Tayler in the course of a lecture which he gave in the Tlieosophical Hall last evening on the subject of "Music in Life and Education." Five of the ways in •which people spent their leisure hours, he said, were in sport, in dancing, in the form of entertainment represented by the cinema, in reading, and in the enjoyment of music. In explaining how each of these was more or less representative of creative ait, the lecturer laid special stress on the fact that sport was an excellent substitute for war a.s a means of giving vent to certain primary instincts in mankind. He also expressed the opinion that the era of higher wages and shorter hours which had been brought in with the wholesale introduction of machinery in the realm of industry was encouraging the pursuit of happiness by enabling people to devote a larger proportion of their time to the creative things in life which were most worth while. In this lespect he thought that the world was passing from an era of complexity to one of "reater simplicity. ° "What's in a Name?" Such is the intriguing title of an article which appears in the latest issue of the "Auckland Chamber of Commerce Journal" in reference to the duplication of names in New Zealand. "New Zealand is a small country," states the article, "and there should have been no difficulty in preventing two boroughs from appropriating the same name, especially as in this country we have a choice of both European and Maori apellations. Yet two boroughs, one in each island, have appropriated the name Palmerston, with consequent confusion to the general public and especially the commercial community. Strictly speaking, the Palmerston in Otago is Palmerston, and the Palmerston in the Wellington provincial district is Palmerston North, but what North Islander is going to add the word 'North' to what is already a long enough name?" The writer 0 points out that in the duplication of street names Auckland compares very unfavourably with other New Zealand cities. There are at least eight distinct Queen Streets in Auckland city and suburbs, not to mention a Queen's Parade, a Queen's Avenue and a Queen's Way. There are twelve distinct cases of Victoria in a street name. There are, in Auckland and suburbs, an Eden Crescent, three distinct Eden Streets, and an Eden Terrace, in addition to an Edendale Road, an Edenvale Road, and an Edenview Eoad. As a street name there are two Earls, three Easts, and three variations of East, two Edwins, two Eglintons, three Eldons, six Elizabeths, two Empires, five Esplanades, two Essexes, two Exeter*, and two Exmouths.