Auckland Notes

Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 21, 2 December 1932, Page 9

Auckland Notes

By

Neutron

WHlitn there has been nothing out- '"* standing in the past week’s northern tadio fare, there has been something for everyone and most of it sufficiently pleasant to keep the dials still. Saturday's concert from 1¥A had a bright wrestling sequel, and Monday’s records were mixed with the N.Z. amateur wrestling championships, though the last were certainly not over thrilling. Wednesday’s concert was far more var- ’ pied than for-a long time past, and the balance of the evening concerts contained something of all sorts. x * a TTOWN planning was further eluci- | dated from 1YA on Tuesday, Mr. GC. K. Grierson having a good deal to say about public utilities. Not, of course, the sort of things one says in rush-hour tram traffic, but quite a deal of interesting information, The major part of public utilities are of comparatively recent growth, he said. Formerly the parish pump, the village green, and the local market were about the sum of olden public utilities-though I gs to remember that the Romans did rather better than the village pump. However, as he said, public utilities are a growth and a necessity of the industrial age.

The tendency in the U.S.A. had been for companies to be given franchises, but in Australia and New Zealand publie utilities had grown up under State and: municipal control, and this tendency was. spreading to the older countries. Transport was the most im-

portant of these utiliites, and town planning, as it affected this, was a question of economics. Hyery effort ‘ must be made, said the speaker, to deal with shipping, for instance, in the most efficient and expeditlous manner. The eountry’s shipping facilities must be surveyed, and, in the interests of producers and consumers, uneconomic schemes should be scrapped. There must be a decision as to which were

the major ports, and the uneconomic wayside ports should be done away with, so that 10,000-ton vessels, would not do work that could be done more cheaply by 259-ton boats. Then, too, the railways, which were capable of handling present and future traffic, were faced with competition from highways that often paralleled the rail tracks, though the country must find standing and running charges on its railways. Even under theoretically ideal conditions of electricity supply there was some duplication and some systems were years ahead of their time. The speaker concluded an interesting talk with an appeal for a complete survey of all public utilities with a view to eliminating duplication, estimating present and future needs and so reducing eosts to the public. No doubt when the community realises that town planning. means lower shipping, rail and tram fares and freights, and perhaps lessened local rates and eurrent accounts, they will demand that it be brought into operation, n

> YA’s Wednesday concert, as hinted, was a vast improvement on those of previous weeks. The Mati Trio, who have just come back from an Islands tour, Auckland’s promising soprano, Jack Gunman, Marian Irving in spoken humour, and Lilly Cabouret, combined to make a pleasant hour’s entertainment. I admit I may he biased against lady "elocuters" over the air, but I certainly enjoyed Miss Irving’s "Lock of His Hair," a capital storm-in-a-teacup lovers’ quarrel, capably done.

w nt ME. G. O'HALLORAN concluded his "Art of the Troubadours" series from 1YA with some stories of jealous barons, beautiful ladies, and dashing troubadours. There was one gruesome tale of a wicked baron who killed his wife’s too-favoured troubadour, cut off the ex-poet’s head, extracted the liver and had this fried for his lady’s breakfast, or perhaps it was dinner. At any rate when madame had eaten, the baron asked her how she .iked it,‘and produced the head in proof of his assertion that the liver really belonged to the late singer. "It was so good and savoury that never other meat nor drink shail take from my mouth its sweetness," the lady answered, with spirit and, with equal spirit, threw herself from an upstairs window. The

King of Aragon, troubadour patron. Was so enraged that he attacked the castle, killed the baron, and divided his possessions among the relatives of the two dead lovers, The speaker declared that these singers of old Provence laid the foundations of the pre-sent-day emancipation of women. & THE rebroadcast of the unveiling of the Port Said Anzac Memorial was interesting, but not clear so far as the north was concerned. Mr. Bell had warned listeners that there might be distortion ,and the prediction was faithfully borne out. However, it was decidedly interesting to hear from ancient Egypt the words of command to the guard of honour, the singing

cw and parts, at least, of a characteristic speech by "Billy" Hughes. % a * T OWE an apology to Mr. Culford Bell, by the way. When he announced that Mr. Samuel Gudsell, New Zealand’s champion walker, "whose name is a by-word in this country," would speak on old Auckland athletes, it seemed to me Homer was nodding. There is usually a suggestion of scorn and contempt about "by-word," and I knew that wasn’t meant for Mr. Gudsell, who is a fine sportsman and a first-class athlete. However, my dictionary said that by-word is "the object of a proverbial saying’ with no nasty back-slaps, so that Mr. Bell is. right and I’m wrong-though I think

T’ll get a new dictionary. However, the talk was decidedly interesting-full of memories of old athletes, starting off with Sir James Coates and Mr. R. B. Lusk, hurdler, Rugby full-back against Stoddart’s English team, and racing judge, and a host of other fine fellows. When he spoke of George Smith, famous All Black wing three-quarter of 1905, and of: Teddy Reynolds’s cycling feats, 1 recalled "full houses" and sunny days in the old Domain. And then there was Dave Wilson, Austral-

asian champion walker, who, we believed then, used to train for his walking championship with one hand on the stirrup leather of a trotting horse, and of whom a Sydney "Referee" writer said: "The faster he goes the fairer he walks," Mr. Gudsell told of the deeds of many famous Auckland athletes in the days when we really did have world’s champions in the north, And with enthusiasts like S. J. Gudsell giving sound advice, and young ones no less enthusiastic, it is just possible we may have them yet again. ~*~ *

pr you know that a New Zealander, trained at Auckland Varsity, is head of the British Nautical Almanac Department, which makes the calculations, from Greenwich observations, by which the Aorangl, the Diomede, the Mauretania, and all sorts and conditions of little tramp steamers and the few windjammers left find their several ways across the wet portions of our globe? I didn’t till Mr. Graham Bell told me from 1YA. And it seems that Dr. Comrie, the New Zealander in question, has revolutionised the laborious and never-ceasing calculations of the almanac tables by installing special machines to do the job. The Merry Monarch, we were told, was the founder of Greenwich Observatory. Charles II had an interest in science and sailors as well as pretty faces, and he voted £100 per annum as salary of the first AstronomerRoyal (out of which the latter had to provide all necessary instruments) and £500 for Sir Christopher Wren to erect a suitable building. It wasn’t a big start, but Greenwich men have done wonderful work. They have made sea-roads plain as the highways. and though they have devoted most of their time to severely practical work, it was the data supplied by the first Astronomer-Royal to Newton that enabled the latter to enunciate his epochmaking theories. Also a subsequent Greenwich man, Halley, predicted the

return of the comet, last here in 1914, that now bears his name, = bs * ‘AMONG the items of a quite pleasant programme on Friday evening was another interview with Dougal the dog, by Mr. 8, F. Temple, Dougal, the speaker explained, is a terrier of no known pedigree, although he denies this himself. He has been offcolour lately, so his "boss" suggested a condition powder, about which the terrier was rather scornful. "What is it, anyway?" he demanded. "Some: thing-to put you on your toes, to make you jump right out of your skin," he yas told. "No good to me," declared Dougal. "Why, s’pose I couldn’t jump pack again or got in back to frontevery time I wanted to wag my tail T’d tickle my nose." You'll find Dougal and his master a smile for the whole family.