NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24422, 7 October 1940, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

A LTHOUGH the events of the past 12 months have given rise to some remarkable rumours, it is doubtful if any one of them can equal the “well authenticated ” events of the Russian scare in 1884 and 1885. This period was referred to several times at the reunion of the Dunedin Highland Rifles Ex-members’ Association on Saturday night, and one speaker recalled a paragraph which appeared in a leading New Zealand paper to the effect that a Russian man-of-war, having mistaken the entrance to the Auckland Harbour, had carried on and been wrecked near Thames. Of course, the Russian Navy, said the speaker, was no nearer New Zealand then than it was to-day. Rumour has a numerous progeny and, remembering the uncertainty of the international position to-day, it is interesting to see that Russia, though a vastly changed Russia, is still the Power which the world regards with speculative doubt.

English Children for Dunedin A party of 10 English children who have been evacuated from Britain will arrive by the north express at 5.1 this afternoon. They will be met by the Mayor (Mr A. H. Allen) and members of the British Children Committee.

Mischievous Birds Farmers in the Shannon district (Wellington), and particularly onion growers, are suffering seriously from the depredations of birds, which are pulling up thousands of plants, not apparently with the object of obtaining food, as the plants are quite undamaged, but out of pure mischief. It is thought that the culprits are mainly skylarks and yellow-hammers. One farmer who sowed six acres of barley has had to resow this area.

CKeap Suits in England . “ Everything, with two exceptions—suits and overcoats—is far dearer here than in New Zealand,” wrote Sergeant L. E. Judd, of the second echelon, in a letter from England to his parents in Hamilton. Sergeant Judd said suits were extraordinarily cheap. An eightguinea suit in New Zealand would cost at the most £3 10s. He had seen nothing at all, even in Regent and Bond street shops, over £5 10s. The suits, he added, were of wonderful cut and style.

Cosmopolitan Collection Were he to judge by the various coins that have found their way into the collection, plate, the treasurer of a Dominion road church (says the Auckland Star) would imagine that he had a very cosmopolitan congregation to deal with—and a considerably aged one. He has accumulated a collection of 90 coins, some of them so worn and battered that it cannot even be judged what they once were. Sixpences and threepences with large chips and holes out of them are also prominent, but for the rest the coins include a William IV sixpence, a Canadian five-cent piece, a Canadian 20-cent piece of ancient mintage, two “ quarters ” (Canadian and American), and representatives of the coinage of Spain, Hongkong, Fiji, and South America. Apprenticeship As a Bait

“We have had a further case recently of an employer securing a good type of boy by holding out the bait of an apprenticeship without any intention of fulfilling the promise,” stated a report from the secretary of the Christchurch Youth Centre (Mr N. S. Woods) last week. “ The boy was kept on messenger work while his wages were low, and when at length he became rather urgent in his request to have the apprenticeship entered into he was put off. Such employers are very few, but naturally we shall do our utmost both in the centre and through the schools to ensure that boys, particularly good types of boys, do not fall into such snares. Parents should realise that normally the apprenticeship should be signed at the end of the three months’ probationary period, and that the employer should inform the industrial division of the Department of Labour at the beginning of the probationary period that he is taking the boy on probation.”

Lake in Ranges The Public Works Department is constructing a new water supply for the Papakura Military Camp, and is impounding Hayes Creek, in the Hunua Gorge, with a concrete dam, to form a small lake at the bottom of Holt’s old scenic park (states the Auckland Star). The water will be forced up from there by a low lift pump through filters and treatment beds into a filtered water sump. From the sump the supply will be lifted by a high-pressure pump to a height of 250 ft into a reservoir near the Maori pa, on the top of Red Hill. This reservoir has a capacity of 50,000 gallons. From there the water will be delivered by gravity through an Bin concrete main to the camp, at the rate of 500,000 gallons a day if necessary. A supply of these dimensions would meet the needs of a town much larger than Whangarei. The wmrk on the water supply was started a month ago, and is now' well advanced, and there will be no fear of a water shortage during the coming summer. At the present time the camp is drawing heavily upon Tie w'ater supplying Papakura and Manurew'a. While the new source will be sufficient for normal requirements at the camp, should there be an excessive demand it will be possible to draw again on the town supply.

Fewer Overseas Travellers A substantial decrease in the number of overseas travellers arriving at and leaving Auckland by ship during August, compared with the number for August, 1939, the last month before the war started, was shown in a report received at a meeting of the Auckland Harbour Board this week. Arrivals during August, 1939, were 1581, compared with 584 in August, 1940, while departures in August, 1939, were 1151, as against 450.

Use for Old Boiler An old boiler, formerly used at a sawmill, which has been lying near Mr C. B. Thacker’s homestead at Okain’s Bay. may in the near future be converted to a useful purpose after about 70 years (states the Christchurch Press). At a meeting of the Akaroa County Council, Mr Thacker, who is a member of the council, offered the boiler to the council and suggested that it should be used to make large culverts. It is 26ft long, and the outer cylinder is 6ft in diameter and the inner fire box cylinder is 3ft in diameter. The council will investigate the cost of cutting these two cylinders apart and using them for culverts. The boiler was built by John Anderson and Co., of Christchurch, in the fifties for Mr J. E. Thacker, Mr C. B. Thacker's father. A special truck was used to get it through the Lyttelton tunnel, and it was shipped to Okain’s Bay on the Jeanette, a schooner bought by Mr J. E. Thacker in Tasmania. The boiler was plugged up each end, rolled off the steamer, and Moated ashore. From the beach it was dragged to the mill site by bullock teams, Mr Thacker’s mill finished operations in about 1870, and since then the boiler has not been shifted from the mill site. The Railways Department advertises in this issue train arrangements and the issue of special excursion tickets to Dunedin in connection with the Dunedin races on October 12 and 14. Coffee for breakfast. Order Jrotr. your grocer a tin of “ Bourbon." the coffee of quality Instructions in every tin. Prepared by Durie’s. Coffee Specialists, 32 Octagon. Dunedin Advt. For rings, watches and jewellery try Peter Dick, jewellers. 59 Prince? street. Dunedin.—Advt.