NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 227, 25 September 1929, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Wonderful Peach Blossoms,

The district on the northern border of the King Country has been noted for years for its peach-growing properties. At this time of the year travellers coming towards Auckland on the main road are impressed by .a magnificent show of pink blossom in the vicinity of Kihikihi and Te Awamutu. As one enters the former border township there is to be seen a small orchard containing about 100 peach trees, which are now in full bloom. The mass of pink colour compels the attention of passing travellers. All through the Auckland district peach trees are flowering, and if all goes well there should be an excellent crop of fruit this year. Civic Square Buildings.

Now that it has passed through the iuitial stages of construction, the large new cinema theatre which occupies the main corner site of the Civic Square is attracting the attention of pedestrians in Queen Street because of the pictorial relief work which is being carried out on the higher portions of the facade. Certain parts of the building have already taken on a rich sandstone appearance somewhat similar to that of the large new structure erected by Smith and Caughey, Ltd., on the opposite side of Wellesley Street West. Very soon now the open space which for long marked the site of the proposed Civic Square will have given place to a new block of buildings in the very heart of the business portion of the city. The Earthquake Area. An Aucklander who has returned from a visit to the South Island earthquake area expresses the opinion that the Buller Gorge will not be open for through traffic for a considerable time. Ihe route to Westport and Rcefton, as the result of the deviation, is about 24 miles Apart from the general damage, the visitor was interested to find conclusive evidence of the direction of an asbestos reef that is being worked. Ihe reef is proved to run in an opposite way to that reported by an expert. Incidentally asbestos is still a highly valuable world product. Ihough its use in connection with fabrics has been known since the days of Pharaoh, its demand has been increased greatly by use as an insulating material, and for other modern manufacturing purposes. ° The "S" in Front of "He." The trans-Tasman stowaway by the Aorangi on Monday probably gave the local authorities °a good deal less trouble than one who arrived at Kouen from Hamburg early last month. The captain said he discovered three people in the hold whose only provision for the trip was bread and water. All said they took the liberty in order to join the Foreign Legion, two behi" medically examined and accepted. The third, "Paul Herman," claiming to be a waiter, objected to examination, but when compelled to submit, the "he" turned out to be a '.'she" who had all the appearance of a healthy young man. But for the thoroughness of the port health officer, "Paul ' Herman" might by now be a soldier of the French Legion—and a future sensation. Win for the Scientists. Very few Aucklanders who go down to the sea in yachts will agree with the scientists when they say that there are no such things as •equinoctial gales." Everyone who knows anything about the weather in Auckland knows very I well that on September 22, or, a day or so on j either side of it, there should arrive'a howling gale. And everyone knows that its name is

equinoctial and that it will last two or three days. The thing has happened so often that all the science in the encyclopedia will not convince the old-time yachtsman that the equinox does not bring high winds. The most they will admit is: "Well, anyway, I know that gales always come at the time of the equinox." This year, however, the scientific folks have had a clear win. Not even the most fanatical devotee of the windy equinox theory could suggest that we have had anything like a gale anywhere round about the equinox of 1929. Even the spring meeting out at Avondale passed off.without a deluge, and such a thing is so uncommon as to be almost unique. Altogether this spring has proved quite exceptional.

Spring Blooms Go South. Fortunate Auckland people who take the lovely arum lily as a matter of course, if not as a weed, have no idea how it is treasured in colder climes. At Home it is a hothouse plant, and if one could transport one of our Auckland gullies with its winter clumps of these queenly flowers showing up against their dark green leaves, to the Old Country, it would be far more popular than Kew when the bluebells come out. And even nearer our own doors there are people who have a proper appreciation of the arum. Perhaps very few Aucklanders are aware that down in Dunedin these blooms bring threepence or fourpence each. In the sunny North we don't realise how far south Dunedin really is, and that the arum is there regarded much as it is in England Enterprising Auckland gardeners send the arums down to Dunedin by mail, and make quite good money. The blooms are cut just when they arc m the "roll" stage. Packed in long boxes with wet moss, they land in Dunedin as. fresh as when they left latitude 37. Large quantities of the paper-white narcissus are also sent down from Auckland. A Real Travel Poser. 7 Officials of. tourist agencies have every opportunity of keeping their geography well polished, and it is seldom that they are asked to plan an itinerary without being able to do so. One of these rare occasions was known in Auckland recently, and it will be readily admitted that the problem set was a poser indeed. A lady living in the South Island wanted to travel to and, on the way, to make a statin British East Africa, visit Kirkuk, in Mesopotamia, and later spend a few weeks in Algiers before going on to Southampton. The complication arose over the e second stage, Kirkuk being a remote desert town nearly 200 miles north of Bagdad, and the tourist agent could well be pardoned for not having even heard of it. The best that could be devised was for the lady to travel to Sydney by intercolonial steamer, re-embark for Capetown or Durban, and then take a coastal boat to Mombasa. It was suggested that after her return to the Last African port she should embark for Port Saul, and there catch a boat to Beyrout, making the long journey to Kirkuk by desert transport Iveturned to Port Said, a homeward-boun.* liner • would take her to Naples or Marseilles, ami from either of these ports she could sail to Algiers the final stage to Southampton being a very simple matter. Other routes, such as Bombay to Basra and Bagdad after leaving Mombasa might be feasible. In any case, the itinerary is one of the most difficult any traveller could have to plan.

Lively Monkey Tricks. Grey Lynn residents would not envy the experience of householders at Southend (England), where two monkeys recently escaped from the zoo. One of the animals particularly favoured the home of a Mr. .J. Squire, who failed to effect a capture by a lasso to which a banana •was attached. Then the little scamp spran"- on to Mrs. Squire's shoulders, and she fell over with fright. Entering the home, a pitched battle ensued. The monkey tore down- curtains, threw pots and pans, bundles of wood and boots from one side of the kitchen to the other. After hurling a pile of dried washing out of the window the disturber completed the rout by bringing to bear the full force of superstition. He smashed a mirror. After having lured the monkey into the scullery, Mrs. Squire telephoned to the Zoo. The keeper arrived, and the miniature war was resumed.' A fresh lot of culinary appliances proved good ammunition, and the monkey then turned on the gas jet. The keeper was nearly suffocated with the fumes, and ■, had to call upon the family to turn off the gas at the main. The monkey was caught under the j sink none the worse for his great adventure. j