NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 82, 4 October 1938, Page 10

NEWS OF THE DAY

Day of Atonement.

The Jewish Day of Atonement, a solemn fast which is held ten days after the beginning of the Jewish New Year, begins at sunset today. Vital Statistics. Wellington's record for this year as regards vital statistics continues to be an excellent one, and the figures for September show fewer deaths, more births, and more marriages, compared with the statistics for September, 1937. The figures, with those for the corresponding period of last year in parentheses, are as follows: — Births, 189 (171); deaths, 137 (143); marriage licences issued, 169 (137); marriages by registrar, 47 (35). A Worm of Worms. Whilst woj?ms are usually considered the most insignificant of creatures, one recently found in a garden at Puhipuhi certainly qualified for greater respect, says the "Northern Advocate." It was a brown worm, as thick through the body as a man's finger, and measured exactly two feet from! tip to tip. Extracted from the ground with care, the worm has been preserved in spirits, and is to be sent to ■a Dominion authority. Exhibition Parking. A statement that between 11,000 and 12,000 cars could be parked at or in the vicinity of the Centennial Exhibition grounds was made at last night's meeting of the executive of the Automobile Association (Wellington). It was reported that the Centennial Committee had agreed to the publication of traffic and transport suggestions through the association. Motorists' Conference. Wellington will be the venue of a national motorists' conference in February or March next, it was stated at a meeting of the Automobile Association (Wellington) last night. Representatives of the North and South Island Motor Unions are to attend, the object of the conference being to arrive at a single viewpoint on national motoring problems. New Education Board Office. Cabinet having approved of a grant for the purpose, tenders will, now be called for the erection in Abel Smith Street of the Wellington Education Board's new administrative offices. The site has already been excavated and is ready for immediate building operations. A three-storey building of reinforced concrete will be erected, the plans of which have been drawn by Mr. B. P. Kelly, F.1.A.A., Wellington. The ground floor will be devoted to the administrative staff; on the first floor will be the board room, and the accounts department, while the top floor will be occupied by the inspectors. Bottle's Long Drift. A souvenir of the New Zealand returned soldiers' visit to Sydney for the Anzac Day commemoration this year has been found on the West Coast, about ten miles north of the Kaipara Heads, states the "New Zealand Herald." A bottle picked up on the shore contained three sheets of newspaper from the liner Monowai, dated April 30, and signed by a large number of the men. The bottle was presumably thrown overboard in midTasman, as on April 30 the Monowai was en route from Sydney to Wellington. The finder expressed the opinion that the bottle, which he picked up on September 20, had just come ashore, as it was not buried in the sand. Shooting of Owls and Shags. Tlie wholesale shooting of shags and German owls and the justification for such action was discussed at a meeting of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, when it was sug- | gested that the birds had been condemned to slaughter on very slender evidence. Members approved a proposal that instead of paying a royalty !on shags' j^eads the society should pay ! the royalty on the receipt of a certificate from the curator of the Cani terbury Museum, Mr. R. A. Falla, stating that he had received a complete specimen. The object of this is to enable Mr. Falla to carry out further research work as to the diet of I the shags. The question of owls and their feeding habits was referred to the game committee for further inj formation. Brilliant Meteor. A meteor of unusually large size provided a brilliant display for the benefit of those who were abroad in Dunedin in the early hours of Saturday morning. At 5.10 a.m., shortly before I j daybreak, milk roundsmen ,and others whose duties brought them out at that hour were startled by an intense bluegreen light, not unlike that given off by a mercury vapour lamp, which lit up the city brilliantly. The origin of the illumination was an exceptionally large meteor, which appeared a few degrees south of the zenith and, travelling at a tremendous pace in a southerly direction, flamed across the sky for a period of four or five seconds. It disappeared behind a bank of clouds towards the southern horizon. About five or six minutes after the fast-travel-ling visitor had disappeared two heavy reports, arriving close together, shook houses in the city and awakened many | of the occupants. These were caused by the rapid passage of the meteor through the atmosphere. Cost of Helium Gas. Interesting statistics concerning the marked reduction that has been achieved in the cost of the production of helium gas in the United States are given in the August issue of "United Empire." Helium gas was first discovered in 1868 and in 1905 it was determined as a constituent of natural gases found in Kansas. No economic method of extracting the helium was known up to the time, of the Great War and early helium gas cost .as much as 2500 dollars per cubic foot to produce. In 1920, however, a plant was erected at Fort Worth, Texas, and this plant reduced the cost of extracting the gas to an initial figure of 500 dollars per 1000 cubic feet. In 1927' another plant was established at Amarillo, T^exas; to exploit a field of natural gas containing .75 per cent, helium. ' This new plant, at full capacity, produces 24,000,000 cubic feet of helium a year at a cost of two-fifths of a cent per cubic foot. The Kapiti Sold. One of the best-known of the fleet of small coastal ships which trade out j of Wellington, the motor-vessel Kapiti, I which was offered for sale at auction on September 28, has been sold pri- [ vately and will soon leave' here, ! probably for the last time. The Northern Steamship Co., Ltd., Auckland, are her new owners, and she i will run between Auckland and Opua ; for them. The Kapiti, which was formerly owned by the Coastal Shipping Co., Ltd., was built by J. Fullerton and Co., Paisley, Scotland, in 1902. She was lengthened by 19 feet j four years later, and in 1930 her' steam engine and boiler were removed and a five-cylinder Gardiner Diesel oil engine of 250 b.h.p., a new propeller j shaft, and a four-bladed propeller were fitted. Of 249 tons gross, the Kapiti has a dead-weight carrying capacity of 200 tons. Her holds, insulated for the carriage of dairy produce, have a capacity of 6700 boxes of butter or 2250 crates of cheese. A familiar sight at the wharves or in the harbour, the Kapiti, when she leaves Wellington, will be missed by I many who knew her. '

Part of Women. A tribute to the part played in. life by women was paid by the Bishop of Nelson at the annual Ladies' Day luncheon of the Blenheim Rotary Club. The Bishop stated that if they could introduce into world affairs the spirit that women possessed for keeping the home together, there would be less of the trouble that was affecting the nations at the present time. City Centennial Memorial. As one of the Centennial memorials proposed for Wellington will be a lookout station on Mount Victoria, just below the wireless masts, the Mayor, Mr. T, C. A. Hislop, stated at the! meeting of the City Council last night! that the Town Clerk, Mr. E. P. Nor-| man, had taken a particular interest in j the plan, and as a result of his in-i quiries had received a reply from the London County Council that that body J would be pleased to donate sufficient granite from the old Waterloo Bridge over the Thames to build a wall of approximately 100 square yards. The bridge, said Mr. Hislop, had been opened by the Duke of Wellington just after the Battle of Waterloo. Coun- j cillor W. Appleton suggested that in- j quires might be made of Edinburgh and other British cities. Councillor P. M. Butler thought that a chip or two from the Blarney Stone would be very appropriate, properly placed. Inquiries will be made.