NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 149, 27 June 1933, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Few Auroras. During tho first few months of this year displays of the Aurora .Australis have been comparatively few and feeble, according to a paragraph in the New Zealand Astronomical Society's "Notes." That this should have been the case was not unexpected, for in a year of minimum solar activity, such as the present one, auroras aro generally leas conspicuous than in other years. The auroras reported by observers as having been seen this year fail to show the maximum which; occurs at tho time of the equinox. At such a period the relative positions of the earth and the sun are such as to provide the best possible chance of displays, and Northern Hemisphere results,' taken over a period of years, show a wellmarked maximum in March and September, with a corresponding minimum in June and December. Probably in the present caso cloudy conditions during March accounted for the small number of. displays reported. There is still also time for Tcportg to come to hand from some of the more remote lighthouso stations, especially in Tasmania. Time Off to Vote. The City Council yesterday afternoon decided to allow Corporation employees and relief workers one hour off in order that they may record their votes in the council by-election next Thursday. A suggestion was, made that as many relief workers h£d a long walk from their work two hours should bo allowed in their case, but the Mayor replied that the Unemployment Board had agreed to one hour only. Rates on Waterworks Developments. Very shortly .a commencement will be made upon tho waterworks develop; ments authorised at, the poll of ratepayers last.month, and an item upon the order paper of the special meeting of the City Council yesterday afternoon proposed that the council should decide the conditions of work and the rates of pay. The Mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, said that as the Loans Board had not yet met, though it had to do so the following day (today) there was no urgency and tho matter could stand over till the next meeting of tho council,, next Monday. Councillor P. M. Butler urged that tho question should be determined at once, for it had been in the air for months, but on a vote being taken tho discussion was deferred till the next full meeting. A Reminder of the Past. In Wellington in years gone by Chinese carrying tvcll-laden baskets of fruit and vegetables attached to tho ends of a long bamboo pole placed across their shoulders was a fairly common sight. Tho Chinaman today is well abreast of tho times, and most of those who hawk produce from the orchards and' the gardens hav,e a motorlorry or a horse and cart. The basket method of hawking has not died out entirely, however. One Chinese lately has attracted more than passing interest with his two baskets and long pole. Ho was out in One of the suburbs yesterday, the long pole across his shoulders bending to the weight he was carrying, and his baskets swaying rhythmically to his littlo jog-trot. All that was missing to complete » once familiar sight was a long pigtail down his back. Housekeeping in Australia. A Wellington business man who returned today by the Marama from Australia commented on the low prices charged for furniture in Melbourne as compared .with those' ruling in New' Zealand. He said that a young married couple ho had met there equipped thoir house completely-. for £140, and he estimated that tho outlay in this country for th© Baltic furniture would be-not less than £250. Walnut suites sold for as low as £27 10s. ■ House rents were about the same as in No.w Zealand, or possibly a littlo lower on the average. • With judicious shopping it was possible to livd more cheaply in Melbourne than in Wellington. Tho Australian butter could not compare, in his opinion, with the New Zealand product, but th» boef sold .in tho shops and restaurants was of beautiful quality. The unemployment figures were down in Melbourne, and business was packing,up generally, and th© prospects for tho' country as a whole were most encouraging.. Disease-resisting Swedes. Agricultural circles in the Manawatu are laughing at the announcement from Nelson that a variety of swedos, known as Homing's, will resist clubroot discaso to ft remarkable degree (writes "The Post's" Palmerston North correspondent). The position is that Nelson has awakened to tho fact at least threo years lato. Homing's swede seed has been on tho New Zealand market for four 'years, perhaps longer, and the value ol the variety has boon pointed out time'and again, during the last thfee years in the farming columns of the daily Press. The Plant Research Station tit Palmeraton North has distributed an abundance of literature on the subject of club-root and tho need for growing such'disease-resistant varieties Of swedes, and in the courso of ixporimeftts has evolved a variety which 'promises to be even better than Her&ing's. . , ■" Irksome Regulations. '.'That the Dominion Bowling-Coun-cil be asked to approach the Minister of Transport with tho recommendation that all sports or athletfo, clubs be freed fJOto the irksome provisibns Of transport regulations when_ travelling for the purpose of exchanging interclub visits," wiia a motion unanimously adopted at the annual meeting.of the Tarahalri Bowling Centre 0)1 Saturday (reports the "Taranaki Daily News"). Members roundly condemned tho present regulation* as harsh, unjust, and against the rights of-.citizenship.- -The hope was also expressed that the1 inbve thus taken by the bowlers of Taranaki would, be taken up by; ■ other sports bodies,

Boots for Unemployed. Orders for 8700 pairs of. working boots for issue 'to relief workers have been placed among Auckland manufacturers during the past few days, mak-! ing a total of lu,ooo pairs ordered in Auckland since the Unemployment Board introduced its boot scheme a few ■weeks ago (states an Auckland telegram). It is anticipated that all theso orders will be xeady for delivery by' August 12. It is also expected that it will bo possible to commence the issue of boots to relief workers in the Auckland metropolitan area about the middle of next month. The Building Subsidy. More than 70 applications for assistance under the Unemployment Board's building subsidy scheme have already been received by the Auckland offico of the board, the total estimated value of the works amounting to over £44,000 (states an Auckland telegram). It is quite apparent that the subsidy scheme is being favourably received, for nearly 250 application forms have been taken by 'builders and others, and, in addition to tho 70 applications already received, it is anticipated that many more will be submitted during this week. A large number of applications already received are for dwellings cost-, ing from £700 .to £1000, but several of the major works specified in the applications involve a total outlay of more than £1000. The largest is for business premises to cost £13,500. Bare Wood Parasite. Excellent specimens of a beautiful and rather rare parasite, known to the botanical world as .dactylanthus Taylorii and colloquially as woodflowers, were found by Mr. H. J. Frost when excavating at a houso site in New Plymouth. The specimens are valued by the finders and are being prepared to be kept as a souvenir. The beauty of the' parasite lies in the formation re-, sembling a flower which characterises ' each of the stems and which is revealed , after a rather prolonged preparation, j which involves boiling tho growth in j order to separate the flower from the ' adhering pulp and then scrubbing and i scraping it. The flower formation In good specimens is four or five inches across and is most peculiar, considering that tho beautifully shaped "petals" are of solid, hard wood. Though the parasite is found to be a little more common in the north, it is considered rather irare in Taranalri (saya an. exchange). It is understood that good examples have brought as much, as £10 in the King Country. They are of ten used for fireplace or mantelpiece decoration, for which their ©rnateness, as perfect as any carving, makes, them eminently suitable. Frontiersmen to Co-operate. With the object of keeping up the morale of boys who, on leaving school, may feel themselves "unwanted" becausfc, they cannot obtain work, the Legion of Frontiersmen has decided to co-operato in any movement designed to occupy the spare time of such boys. The subject was discussed at the annual Dominion conference at New Plymouth on Saturday as a result of a remit from To Kuiti (reports the, "Taranaki Daily News"). Trooper' Wright suggested, that evea if they could not find work for the boys, Frontiersmen could do their jtart by assisting in the organisation of beneficial * games and physical drill, and by the \ Legion as a body co-operating withj local movements for vocational training.^ The conference approved the recommendation,- and Major Findlater (Hawera), said that New Zealand Headquarters would ask squadron and troop commanders to forward details of suggested methods by. which th& Legion could carry ; out 'the • object. ■ Headquarters would then investigate the problem in the light of tho suggestions made. :It was-agreed that it was of great importance to keep tho boys off the streets and to provide facilities for physical'drill for those boys who were not Territorials. The conference docided that tho Legion should offer to co-opcrato with the V.M.C.A. and other organisations that had interested themselves in this phase of social service. \ Seal's Identity Doubted. Doubt whether 'the seal lately discovered in Wellington Harbour, and .now in tho Wellington Zoo was really a "crab-eating seal" was expressed by Mr. L. T, Griffin, curator of tho Auckland Zoo, when asked what he thought of the animal's chances of surviving in captivity, states the "New Zealand Herald." Mr. Griffin said that, from the published photographs he was inclined to think the seal was a sealeopard. In any case, neither the crabeating seal nor tho sea-leopard was well adapted for life in captivity. Both required a special diet, the sea-leopard's food being mainly penguins and squids. Neither took kindly to & diet of fish. On the other hand, sea lions and fur and hair goals did quite well in zoos. Specimens had been kept in tho Auckland Zoo for three or four years and were great favourites with their keepers, whom they followed about like dogs. These animals had boon brought from the Southern islands by Government steamers^ but as the latter no longer mads regular, voyages south, there was no prospects of' getting further specimens. Mr. Griffisi said that tho Wellington seal was probably an old animal, and had almost certainly come ashore because of sickness in some form. Some years ago a very large soa-lcopard had become stranded in the Mnnukau Harbour and had been shot by settlers.