NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 54, 1 September 1926, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

"Soup's Off." An amusing incident occurred at the Whakapara Huts, Tongariro National Park, on Monday afternoon, tolegraphs "The Post's" Auckland correspondent. A vigorous snowball battle was in progress when a .cry of "Pirel" caused a sudden cessation of hostilities. There was a wild rush for buckets and vessels to carry water, and one young lady dashing excitedly into tho kitchen seized a pail containing a collection of bones and meat simmering on tho stove to prepare soup for the evening meal. Tho fire was beaten with the pail, and the others on returning wero surprised to find a heap of glistening bones in the snow outside the door of the kitchen where the young lady had emptied them. No damage was done by the fire; the most serious consequenco was the absence of soup from the table. Out-of-Date Badio Sets.

"New Zealand has dragged behind torribly in the installation of up-to-date wireless sets," said an enthusiastic radio man to a "Post" reporter to-day. "That is largely owing to the difficulty of getting what one' orders. Inventions and improvements in radio sets follow each other almost daily, and tho purchaser is confused by both prices and performance. I tried out two sets in the one room, one costing less than £20 and the other over £60. There was no comparison between them. The cheaper set was stronger and clearer. Of course, there must be an enormous quantity of wireless material now out of date which has to be disposed of, and here in New Zealand it is not easy to obtain the latest sets for that reason. I heard from an American friend recently that there, apparatus better than anything yet put on tho market has been tried out, but it will not be made available to the public till a lot of material it will supersede has been sold off."

Taupo Fishing Beats Norway. "Writing from London on. 29th July to Mr. Frank Dyer, a friend of his with whom lie fished at Taupo says: "I have just returned from Norway. I fished hard for ten days, without a single rise, and then I caught five salmon, weighing 1051b. I would much rather have had one day's fishing on the Tongariro (Taupo) than the three weeks I had there; the fish did not fight so well as your trout, with one exception, though he did give me some trouble. My companion was a Norwegian surgeon, and he did not catch a fish, bar one of 61b. I am looking forward to seeing you all again soon, and enjoying every minute of my stay; this I certainly did not do in Norway. I had a Ghillie put on to me because he spoke English, or was supposed to; he. just knew one or two sentences, but could not understand what I saia. As he was a most awful fool, it gave me, as I thought, tho opportunity of relieving myself by using most awful language to Mm. I learnt before I left that he knew most of the English swear words, but told someone that he had never heard some of tho things I said.'' Damaged Cargo.

Tho Auckland Harbour Board yesterday, discussed a letter from tho Union Steam Ship Company stating that tho Kaitangata had been damaged when berthing at' the Central Wharf by a projecting bolt. A quantity of flour was damaged by water finding its way into the hold. On the solicitor's advice, tho acting-chairman acknowledged the liability, and in order to minimise the losa had the flour sold as damaged cargo at £17 10s per ton. This action tho board heartily approved.

At Moderate Speed. Tho degree of a man's intoxication is generally told from his rolling gait, thick speech, bleary eyes, or other such symptoms, but rarely is his speed taken into consideration. During the hearing of a Supreme Court ease yesterday, a sergeant stated that an intoxicated man had walked from the hotel entrance .to tho bar, a distance of about 70 yards, and it had taken him about a minute. "Well," observed Mr. Perry, "he could not have l>oeii very drunk if he walked 70 yards in less than a minute." Later in the case, it was stated that the man was seen leaning up against the '■ bar with his back to the barman at precisely one minuto to 6 o'clock. "I should say," said Mr. Justice MacGrogor, when this evidence was given, '' that if a man leans up with his back to the bar at one minuto to sis hoping to a get a. drink, it suggests something approaching insanity.''

These Deceptive Heights. Lack of accurate knowledge of the interior of an hotel bar <Sii the pait of counsel was the cause of an interruption during the hearing of a licensing ease in tho Supreme Court yesterday. It was' alleged that the licensee had permitted drunkenness on his premises, and the evidence showed that an intoxicated man had leaned up against the bar with his back to tho barman. At that stage his Honour wanted to know the height of the bar. The sergeant who was giving evidence hesitated, but Mr. Blair, who was appearing for the.licensee, interrupted. "It's about the height of that," he said, pointing to tho Press bench, "about 2ft Gin." "That's about 3ft," observed Mr. Justice MacGregor. "Oh, but these heights are very deceptive," replied Mr. Blair. "That's more than 2ft Gin," remarked Mr. Maeassey, who was prosecuting. "I have jumped hurdles myself once," ho added. Epidemic Among Dogs.

. A violent disease in dogs is said to bo giving trouble, from Bluff to Christchurch. Information received from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on Monday stated that the disease was prevalent in Christchurch,and nearly every stray dog that had come into the society's care had the distemper. Six affected dogs had boon treated during the past month. The distemper was of the typo that inevitably turned to pneumonia and spinal paralysis unless immediate attention was paid to it (reports the "Lyttelton Times")- Mrs. P. B. Bilcliff, a wellknown Canterbury dog fancier, stated that the disease seemed to have started in. Dunedin, where it attacked sheep dogs and toy. dogs. Prom Dunedin it spread to Timaru, and from there reached Ashburton, where, at the time of tho last June show, shepherds stated that they had lost many dogs through the disease. Some of the dogs in the show had traces of it. They were recovering, but it had left its mark upon them. Tho distemper was now in Christchurch, and, although some dogs had gone under to its ravages, it was not very serious. When a case of distemper is detected, the sufferer should be attended to at once. If a dog with distemper were allowed to get cold and was neglected, it contracted pneumonia or paralysis;' and unless the dog was a valuable one the. best thing to do was to put it out of its misery at once. The sensible thing to do, if it wero desired to save tho dog, was to keep it warm and nurse it continually. All the modicine in the world was of little avail unless the dog was kept warm.

Good Samaritans. When tho Auckland launch Euamano called at tho Island of Makogai, where the leper station is situated, it was found* that tho New Zealand leper patients were building a launch from the material that was available, telegraphs "The Post's" Auckland correspondent. However, the stumbling block was how to get an engine for the small craft. On returning to Auckland tho. Ruamano's crew, with the assistance of friends, collected sufficient money to purchaso a 4J h.p. launch engine with all the necessary accessories, and these have been dispatched through the Auckland Office of the Health Department to Makogai. A New Gasholder.

In 1871 the Wellington Gas Companybuilt its first gasholder, a Email affair with a capacity of 15,000 cubic feet; on Monday last the seventh built by tho company, with a capacity of 2,000,----000 cubic feet, one hundred and thirtythree times as large. Whether a gasholder, or anything else, however,' is small or large, depends on comparison, and the 15,000 cubic feet holder of 1871 was no doubt looked upon by some shareholders as being considerably on the ambitious size. Tho last rivet of the new holder was driven by Mr. Q. Fitzgerald, chairman of the company, in the presence of Dr. C. Prendergast Knight an& Mr. A. L. Warburton (directors), Mr. M. J. Kennedy (general manager), Mr. J. Hungerford (engineer), and a large attendance) of employees of the company. The height of tho holder when inflated, said Mr. Fitzgerald, would be 150 feet, and the weight of steel used was over 900 tons. The steel tank which would hold Hip water on which the gasholder proper would ride had a capacity of 3,800,000 gallons, and ths number of rivets required in construction was 536,000. "It is indeed a pleasure to me to acknowledge the good work that has been done by the whole of the men employed on the new holder," said Mr. Fitzgerald, "and it certainly speaks well for all concerned that the erection has been completed in the time specified. The fact that no serious accident has occurred shows that every care has been, taken in carrying out the erection. This year we have in view an extensive programme of extensions, the result of which will be seen later on." Mr. Garside. erecting engineer, presented Mr. Fitzgerald with a gold-mouEted inscribed umbrella as a reminder of the event.