LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 245, 29 July 1936, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Flying very low in heavy rain, Uie Mount Cook Tourist Company s Swa - low monoplane passed over Ashbuiton in semi-darkness at 5.15 o clock yesteiday. What is believed to be almost a •record for lambing occurred oil the farm of Mr J. \Y. Watson, Pendarves, yesterday moaning. Four hundred iambs were tailed at .this time, a most unusual number for this period of the year. “An empty house can ho let in a few minutes,” declared a land agent when discussing tho housing problem in Palmerston North. He said that an advertisement a few days ago of a house for rental in the city atti acted 122 written replies from would-be tenants. Furniture was at a premium and the position appeared to he gob ting worse. A. “bottle-drive” on behalf of the Crippled Children’s • Society had resulted in 170 dozen bottles being collected, said the headmaster at a meeting of the Westown School Committee, Taranaki. The sum of £6 6s lOd was realised from their sale. Members of the committee expressed their appreciation of the result, which was considered exceptionally good, as the drive lasted only a week.

A frank opinion of the duties incumbent upon a dramatic critic or commentator was given by Miss Elizabeth Loe, British Drama League tutor in New Zealand, during the Auckland junior festival. Miss Loe said she understood some people had considered her criticisms the previous day to have been rather harsh. “If you bother to do a play and you bother to get someone to come along and see it,” she said “surely the idea is to get that person to correct your mistakes and to help you to put (in a better play next time. If you are going to expect me to give you some ‘soft soap’ and to say, ‘Darling, how sweet,’ all the time, you have got hold of the wrong person.” Miss Loe added that her criticisms were: in no way personal.

A frigate bird was found dead in a paddock on a Te Kuiti farm last March, and had its head and wings cut off for identification purposes. Now the Auckland War Memorial Museum has received fragments from the man to whom they were first sent. The bird is the first known to have landed in New Zealand since 1903. None ot the others was found so far inland. It is thought that the bird, a Pacific Islands species, was blown south by north-west gales which swept the ocean in March. Other tropical birds were found in New Zealand at the same time. The fragments are not suitable for exhibition, but from the white head it is evident that the bird was a young one. Generally called tho “nian-o’-war bird” because of its size and piratical hid .'its, the frigate bird is very plentiful at certain of the Pacific islands, and figures prominently in travellers’ tales and in some native legends. Its European name was given to it because of its habit of living on fish caught by other birds. Other specimens recorded as having been found in New Zealand were picked up casually at Nelson, Westport, Cape Farewell, and Castle Point, so that this is only the second to have been discovered in the North Island.

Advice has been received in Invercargill that as a result of the exhibitions of Titan ia’s Palace in New Zealand a sum of £3200 li*as been made available for the Crippled Children Society. The palace was exhibited in six cities. The net takings in Invercargill amount to £441 2s 4d, which is about 14 per cent, of the whole total (says a Press Association telegram)

The remarkable record of having been a shepherd in the employ of one family for 74 years is held by Mr W. Bird, of Hinakura, Wairarapa, At the age of 13 lie was a shepherd on the late Mr Alexander Sutherland’s station at Lyall Bay, Wellingtonat the age of 25 he was similarly employed on his property at Hinakura, and to-day, aged 87, he is still a shepherd for the late Mr Sutherland’s grandson on the same Wairarapa station.

The guard on an Auckland suburban train had the unique experience one evening during the week of not having a single passenger ail the way from Papakma to the city, states the “Auckland Star.” There are 17 stations en route, and usually some regular passengers, such as nightwatchmen going on duty and young men. It is hardly necessary to add that it was a very wet evening.

Five New Zealand oil companies who had applied to the Arbitration Court for an extension of the working week to 44 hours withdrew their application yesterday, and an agreement was reached providing for Saturday work in certain circumstances, and for an extension of the period of continuous work without a meal to five hours (says a Wellington Press Association telegram). The Court said an order would be made for a. 40-hour week with the provisos agreed upon.

A first-class carriage of the Railway Department’s new design, shortly to he introduced on to railways, arrived in. Ashburton this morning on a trial run from the Addington workshops. The carriage is a. great advance on the most luxurious of the cars at present in use. The feature that will appeal most to the passengers is the comfortable armchair seats, upholstered in red, leather, which can lie turned round in any direction. The seats have lootrests attached, while there is a shelf on the .back of each for the use of passengers in the seat behind. Ihe carriages contain many other new features and are handsomely designed and finished.

A Press Association telegram from Auckland states that implicit confidence in the policy ctf the Labour Government was expressed at a well-at-tended meeting of the Auckland Tin> W Workers’ Union on Monday night. A resolution was passed, unanimously congratulating Mr Savage and the Government, on the legislation passed. It also congratulated the Hon. R. Semple oil the wages and conditions made for employees of the Public Works Department. Officials stated that the latter resolution was a reply to the adverse resolution passed last week by tho Builders’ and Labourers’ Union.

“The progress of the Waikato lias been nothing short of amazing, and the size and importance of Hamilton are practically beyond my comprehension. I naturally expected a vast change, but such scenes of activity and, progress I can scarcely believe as true. You are going to have a. great city here soon,” said Mr W. Ayson, of Dunedmi, a visitor to Hamilton, who was last m the district in 1871. Mr Ayson lias recollections of narrow, winding lanes for coaches and a small soldier settlement at Hamilton East more than 60 years ago.

There is one flag which has graced the Port Ahuriri School ballroom for the last 30 years. This is a pennant more than 20 feet long which originally fluttered from the masthead of an American pleasure yacht. Emblazoned cn the pennant are the words “John Guzzwell.” It was originally given for the hall decorations by Captain Bruscy, and has been handed down to successive members of the ball committee on condition that it is hung up at every Port School ball.

Five model aeroplanes were entered in the competition conducted in conjunction with the Aero Club ball held in the Radiant Hall last evening, and four of them were excellent examples of the model maker’s craft. The prize was awarded to Mr A. E, Chapman for his 10 feet flying model of his own design. This model, though spreading over 10 feet in wing span, weighs only 4jibs. It is powered with a petrol engine and with only’ two-thirds of an ounce of petrol in the tank it has flown for 8J minutes at a height of 200 feet. The contours of the ’plane are remarkablv clean. Another model entered by the same competitor, much smaller but of the same high wing monoplane type, holds the South Island flying championship, a title won by Mr Chapman’s ’planes in tho last three years.

Even a judge of the Supreme Court admits taking a paper cap home,«i£fim a function where these favours, were distributed. During the hearing of a claim for damages brought by a motor cyclist in Auckland, Mr binlay, counsel ' for the defence, asked tie plaintiff if he was not wearing a paper eap at the time of the collision which occasioned the claim. “You woo carrying home some of the spirit ot jubilation from the dance, then,’- said counsel, when plaintiff admitted i hat he did have the paper hat on. To his Honor Mr Justice Callan, the plaintiff said he was one of the “no iiat, brigade” and, the judge said there was nothing unusual about him wearing the hat. “You would do the same,” ho remarked to Mr Finlay. “Your Honor, it is such a long time sine? you and ] were beys that I have forgotten,” said counsel. The Judge retorted: “Well, I fate mine honm.”

About a fortnight ago a Te Awamutu resident was surprised to find in the crop of a pheasant he had shot in the Arohena district a mass of fat white grubs, numbering well over 100, and he was puzzled to know more about the grubs, explaining that a family of pheasants had been voraciously feeding on the grubs, scratcling them out of a bare patch of clay ground, states the “Auckland Star.” The grubs were sent to the Cawthron Institute by tho local representative of the Agricultural Department, and he has received the following reply from Dr. ]>. Miller, 0-liief of the entomological department.): “In reply to your letter of July 6 regarding speciments of a grub taken from the crop of a pheasant, those grubs are the larvae of one of the native bees (Dasy col lotos metalliea). These bees are solitary and are not injurious in any way; indeed, they are beneficial, if anything, in that they aid in the cross-pollination of various plants. The bee constructs a coll underground, in which its grub develops and feeds upon a supply of pollen placed with it ”

“1 don’t mind admitting it, hut after I returned from iny tour abroad. I actually had the ‘wind up’ when I had to turn round a corner in Blenheim,” confessed J>r. R. Noble-Adams at the meeting convened by the Automobile Association ' recently, to discuss the problem of road safety. This, he explained, was because he had become used to properly-controlled motoring abroad. The; wav people broke every conceivable by-law in Marlborough was appalling, he said.

“A thing that has been worrying me for a long time is the ‘one-eyed’ cars — i have narrowly escaped several accidents lately through mistaking vehicles travelling at night with one light for bicycles or motor-cycles,” declared Mr E. S. Parker at the motorists’ meeting recently (states the “Marlborough Express”). He added that he waT often tempted to drive straight on ancTEollidG with such, offenders in order to teach them a lesson, but always thought better of it when he considered the damage his own vehicle might suffer.

Signs cf the approach of spring are already apparent in Ashburton, testifying to the general mildness of the winter until this month. Some residents have primroses and. violets in full bloom. A few trees are beginning to but, and it appears that a few warm days will bring some, particularly pussy willows, into flower. The buds on some of these trees on the traffic bridge approach are quite conspicuous. The poplars along tire approach have been trimmed well .back.

The engines of motor-cars sometimes play pranks and refuse to function for no reason that can Im> ascertained and an Ashburton motorist relates an experience lie bad the other day. He was travelling to Tima.ru and was about six miles short of his destination when his engine stopped. Cranking did, not produce any life in the motor and he had to telephone to Timaru for assistance, He was towed in at a fee of 255. Tile following morning he v ent to the garage, cranked the engine once and it ran beautifully!

Tilings to be learned by geologists from the discovery of fossil formations were described by” Mr A. W. B. Powell, geologist at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, in a lecture at the museum. Until recently, said Mr Powell, very little was known about the fossil life of Auckland. But erosion and landslides led to discoveries of deposits which enabled geologists to classify the fossils into certain geological periods and to form an estimate not only of the age of the place, but also cf its climate. For instance, some of the fossils found acre the ancestors of marine life found now only in such warm waters as those off the coast oi Queensland, California, the Philippine Islands, or Japan. The conclusion from this was that once New Zealand’s climate was much warmer than it is now, for the same types were no longer found in New Zealand waters.