LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 81, 17 January 1936, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The picnic of the combined Christchurch insurance companies will be held in the Ashburton Domain next Tuesday. It is expected that about 200 people will travel by a special tram, arriving in Ashburton at 10.35 a.m. and leaving at 5.15 p.m.

Wrapped in a handkerchief and carried in the trousers pocket cf one of the joint owners, a slug of smelted gold measuring oin x lAin x l£in, weighing 720 z., and worth about £6OO, was brought into a bank at Warwick, Queensland, recently. The slug was the largest to be brought to Warwick since the early gold mining days. The gold was recovered from an old mine which had again**become payable owing to the high, price of gold.

The Alexander Museum (says the "Wanganui Chronicle") lias received many incpiiries regarding the Antherea eucalyptus moths which are reported to be fairly prevalent this year. The mothers, which attack gum trees and other members of the eucalyptus family, in addition to pepper trees, arc from two and a half to three inches in length, and have pretty eyes on their wings. Owing to their destructive habits people would lie well advised to destrov the moths cr their grubs.

Arapuni is famous for more than the crack in the spillway canal, according to Mr J. S. Edstrom, of the Swedish firm which supplied equipment for the power works. Speaking at a t-Jvic -e----eeption given him in Wellington, Ml' Edstrom said that in his native town, Vesteras, Arapuni was very famous. The town and Sweden had appreciated the honour of supplying equipment for the power works. Indeed, so famous was the New Zealand name that at one of the hotels customers could" obtain an "Arapuni cocktail."

So violent was the wind early, this morning that a large signboard on Mr W. H. Hunt's butcher's shop in Burnett Street was torn from tiie shop verandah and fell into the street. Fortunately there were few people about, and no injury resulted. Many found it impossible to ride on bicycles for any distance against the wind, while hats were firmly gripped to prevent thorn being blown off. Despite these percautions many lost their hats, their efforts to recover them causing some amusement.

Work was commenced on Dalgety and Company's new building at Methven to-day. The building;, which is situated on the main street, will be of the most modern type, and will consist of office apartments, grain store and merchandise stare, together with a railway siding. The grain store will hold from 16,000 to 18,001) sacks of wheat, and in order that the building will be ready to take in wheat from the harvest this year, a large number of workmen are being employed to complete the building by the first week in March. The contractors are Messrs Smith Bros., of Ashburton. Messrs Harnian and Cotterll (Christchurch)i are the architects.

Napier's hotels and private guest houses are still accommodating visitors who arrived in Napier during Christmas week. This indicates (says a northern exchange) that Napier is very much to their liking as a summer holiday resort. Their number was augmented by a fairly large number of farmers who went to Napier to see their wool sold on Saturday morning.

Aluminium paint has been used for some years on such objects as petrol tanks to reflect the beat of the sun, and keep the contents cool, and its use has now extended to roofs, states the "Dominion." A large Wellington warebouse has an aluminium-painted roof which from the heights is a patch of glistening silver among the black and red corrugated iron surrounding it.

The provisional estimate by orchardists of the Nelson district of apples and pears to be exported this season totals 902,591 cases. Mr J. H. Brunt, Nelson branch manager for the New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation, said that the figure mentioned, While giving a general indication of the probable, expert, would be revised in February.

A new departure so far as the Olympic Games are concerned is to be made this year when a camp, similar to the Olympic village in which the actual competitors will be housed, is to be held in Berlin. "Boys from various countries will be under canvas together," said Mr J. S. Edstrom at Wellington, "and in this way it is hoped to secure a free interchange of ideas, and so build a still stronger foundation for the Olympic Games of the future."

One peculiar result of the depression at Sydney has been the tremendous growth of the deposit purchase system (states the "Taranaki Daily News"). Miss Nancy Kent, who returned to Hawera last week from New South Wales, found the sytem in operation not only for the purchase of Christmas presents but also for dress lengths, frocks, and any kind of merchandise. Everybody, young and old, rich' and poor, made use of the system, depositing possibly a Is for a dress and a similar amount for a purchase from a jeweller's shop.

One of Sir Harry Lauder's most abiding and grateful recollections of New Zealand is that of his success as an angler, and in his home he keeps two trout as remembrances. Talking with a reporter of an English newspaper, he said that nowadays he spends nearly all his spare time in fishing. "I just make spring and autumn tours, and for the rest of the year take life easily. You should see the two grand rainbow trout I have at home. One weighs lOJlb and the other 9ilb. They are just like salmon, and I. caught them in New Zealand in the river Waikato."

When the Minister of Education (the Hon. P. Fraser) visits Hawke's Bay he probably will be asked to consider an application for an intermediate school at Hastings. Visiting educationists from various parts qf the country have passed most favourable comment upon the success-of the Intermediate School at Napier, and two years ago the Hawke's Bay Education Board decided, that, if the experiment at Napier was successful, and because of the educational needs of Hastings, as soon as practicable the (Department of Education should be urged to institute an intermediate school at Hastings.

The general opinion that clegs are fearless creatures, particularly that pugnacious representative of the species, the fcx terrier, was confounded the other afternoon, when a. terrier at New .Plymouth was utterly routed by a lion. Walking boldly through a front gate, one of those pert little dogs unexpectedly met with a fine pullet of the Black Orpington variety. Tlie dog displayed interest, the hen was merely bored. At last, however, the fowl was enraged by the temerity of the dog's advances and flew wildly at him. Without more ado his courage completely evaporated, that brave little dog turned and fled.

An indication of the fall in value of real estate which 'occurred in Dunedin during the depression years was given by a well-known land agent last week. Taking a general average over Dunedin city freehold property, he said, the fall would be about 15 per cent., but it varied according to circumstances. Thus it was estimated that on old buildings or in the case of very large houses the decrease in value ranged up to 40 per cent. It was stated that the drop in prices had been arrested and that property values were now steady, while the outlook for the coming year was brighter than it had been for some years past.

Lights seen on a rock off the New Plymouth breakwater at an early hour on Monday morning revealed the presence of a young man who was trapped, and the Harbour Board launch had to be run out to rescue him from a severe ordeal (states a New Plymouth correspondent). Wilfred Woods, aged 20, paddled a canoe to the rock on Sunday afternoon, anchored his craft offshore, threw his boots and trousers on the rock and swam to it. He spent some time on the rock, and as dusk fell found himself trapped on the steep face without being able to move up or down. Darkness came and after a time he was able to slip into the water to regain his canoe. However, he was seized by severe cramp and was forced to return to the rock. The night was then very cold. Iwo matches he found in his pocket at about midnight proved his salvation. A party fishing from the breakwater saw his signals and informed the harbourmaster (Captain O. P. Mc-Intyre) who instructed the pilot launch to investigate, with the result that the youth was brought back to land.

The mere changing of course by the Yellow Rivet recently resulted in 6,500,000 persons being rendered destitute This fact was mentioned by Mr 1? W Sturt, F.R.G.S., who is on a visit to Napier after 30 years spent in the dual role of a missionary-explorer in China. Mr Sturt said that it was impossible to appreciate the vastness of disasters of this nature unless one was on the spot. "Have you had any earthquakes there?" he was asked. "Oh we had one about 1923 or 1924, when 500,000 were killed, but we did not see anything about it in the outside papers. Communication is bad and it takes months for the people of China itself tc learn what has happened," he replied. In regard to the 1925 flccd of the Yangtse River, Mr Stuart said that over 1/000,000 were drowned and 10,000,000 rendered destitute. Reverting to the most recent disaster, Mr Stuart said that the Yellow River, upon which many millions depended indirectly for their food, had suddenly changed its course completely and was now flowing out to sea more than 100 miles frcm the former outlet.

While rivers in the Ashburton County were recently in excellent fishing order, it is expected that the rain this morning will cause them to become dirty later, with the result that there will be little week-end fishing.

During the last year all the gold won by subsidised miners in Marlborough cost, on an average, £3O per ounce to procure. "I thought it might interest councillors to know that," observed the county engineer (Mr B. Hundleby) when presenting bis report to a meeting of the council. Mr H. J. Stace: "I think the scheme gives the men a much better outlook."

During the recent rough weather in the Bay of Plenty a large whale was sighted near the beach between Ohope and Ohiwa. The monster was so close to the shore that a number of Ohope residents thought it had become stranded in the breakers and went along the beach to obtain a closer view, but after spouting in the vicinity for a short while the whale made out for the open sea. ' -

Contending that the rabbit gate on the Mokau bridge was serving no useful purpose and yet was probably causing some expense to ratepayers, a Mokau property owner recently requested the Clifton County Council to take some action to remedy the position. Was the gate, the letter asked, supposed to prevent rabbits from travelling north or south? It was recalled by councillors that the Farmers' Union had considered the matter "some months ago, but it was then decided not to interfere. The gate was a definite protection against rabbits coming from outside the boundaries. It was decided to take no action at present, although it was pointed out that if a number of ratepayers in the district took the view that the gate was unnecessary, the matter would be re-opened.