NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 173, 24 July 1942, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Rough and Ready A Territorial was home on week' •nd leave and had taken the opportunity to bring home his washing for "mum to fix up." Well, mum "fixer! it up" and wag about to iron the clothes when the soldier spied his denims In the pile ready to be pressed. To put it mildly, he was astonished. "Gosh, don't iron them, mum, ' he protested. "Do you want the chaps to think I'm a pansy?" "As Your Honor Pleases" The propriety of appearing in •rmy uniform to assist In the conduct of a case in the Supreme Court was mentioned by Mr. Justice Fair yesterday when a junior counsel came before him so attired. In reply to a statement that it was compulsory for a man In the armed forces to wear the uniform, his Honor replied that the proper procedure was for counsel to apply to the Court beforehand for permission to appear without robes rather than to appear unrobed and then explain. Deoonport's Hospital Levy "1 see no reason why there should • opposition to such a proposal, said the Mayor of Devonport, Mr. R. G. May. at a meeting of the borough council last evening, when notice was received from the Auckland Hospital Board of Its intention to borrow the sum of £250,000 for buildings and services. The proposal, said Mr. May, would mean a charge on the ratepayers, but it would not be a big one. The town clerk, Mr. A. E. Wilson, stated that the levy for Devonport would be approximately 7-1000 d in the £ of the capital value. Waikato Response The development of the cheesemaking industry in the Waikato during the past two years was mentioned incidentally in the course of an action in the Supreme Court yesterday. A witness did not agree with a statement made earlier in the hearing that there were as many cheese factories in Taranakl as in all the rest of New Zealand. In the Waikato two years ago, said the witness, the production was about 19,000 tons of cheese, but as the result of the Government's appeal for a switch 51°!° , butt . er to cheese the Waikato factories last year produced 32,000 tons of cheese.

Women in Japan women of Japan have only Vitud« °tri ß^h 't 1 li,e ' ? nd that 18 ser " Hntv J their menfolk. It is the «mtor °,L eV £ ry J a P« ne s e woman to kI H household of a man and to be his slave, said Dr. O. Jobberns during an address to the Christchurch Business Men's Club With those who had been killed in the present war. said Dr Jobberns there would be only about one man to every ten women now. which was a poor prospect for the women. The factories were open to them and ■»?<■¥ tha'f i» also be geisha Sir Is'. He Mid that it was wrong to believe thnt all geisha girls were prostitutes. Some were, but many were not. and it was quite in order for a respectable married man with a devoted wife at home to go to his geisha club and discuss problems with his favourite geisha. The women of the household, he said, su were not encouraged in general conversation.

About the Tui Commenting on a paragraph apMonday stating that the first tui of spring" had been heard, a correspondent at Milford writes:— We have seen and heard .I s .J n th . e trees where we reside all through the winter. Your correspondent apparently has not noticed that the tui has a different note during the winter. We have repeatedly taken notice that the note-s alter at different seasons. Has anv other observer noticed this?" He's Got a Big Job You remember that old popular song, 'Go wash an elephant if vou want to do something big"? Well, there is a man in the employ of the Auckland City Council who can recommend you to an even bigger lob. He is the assistant foreman nt the Zoological Park. At the meeting of the council last evening the curator of the zoo reported that so many of the zoo staff had now joined the forces that this assistant was "combining the duties of elephant keeper, storeman and lorrv driver, with additional responsibility for the aviaries on two days a week." Doubtless the rest of the time's his own! Street Incident A young newsboy standing on the corner of Queen Street was trie cause of a great deal of amusement to bystanders on a recent evening. He had on a paper hat in the shape of a forage cap, and an elderly gentleman, his senses very obviously muddled by what he had partaken of earlier in the day, came up to the bov, and, giving him a fatherly thump 'on the back, said, very solemnly, "God bless you, my boy. May you have a shafe return." Then brightening up considerably, he said, "Let's have a drink to shelebrate." He pulled from his pocket a flask, but the bewildered boy politely declined to celebrate his going overseas, and the gay gentleman wandered happily away. Outlived Their Usefulness "There are many places In the older parts of the city that have long outlived their usefulness and could with advantage be removed if it wore not for the impossibility of the occupants securing alternative accommodation," said the annual report of the chief sanitary inspector, Mr. H. Paul, which was presented to last night's meeting of the Auckland City Council. He said that the shortage of houses rendered the work of the sanitary department more difficult. During the year five dwellings had been condemned and had been demolished; closing orders had been issued for eight dwellings, and notices for structural repairs had been served in respect to 254 houses. Egyptians and Butter-making The' art of butter-making was first discovered by the ancient Egyptians, stated Mr. H. G. Mills in an address at the Palmerston North Rotary Club. Milk was carried in containers on camels, and at the end of a journey it had become so churned up that butterfat formed on top of the milk. It was, however, seldom used as a food, being utilised for dressing the hair, rubbing on the skin, and burned, the soot being used as a form of treatment for sore e>es. It was also used in the bath to close the pores cf the skin, and in some places was burnt in lamps. Its ? t ,st »? e food was made in Spain, it was stored underground, and a man's wealth was judged by th! quantity of butter he held, it was sometimes kept for 100 years, and was looked upon as a great appeUser.