LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 303, 4 October 1938, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

White butterflies are numerous in the Anama district, reports the local correspondent of the “Guardian.

An unusual fish was caught at the New Plymouth breakwater recently. It had a flabby body with no scales, large eyes and half a dozen curious feelers,' the outer two of Avhich had suckers like those on the tentacles of an octopus. The fins on • the side of tlKe body were like flanges. it was about 12 inches long.

Without any appeal having been made, debentures to the value of £6200 in the Ashburton Borough Council’s street paving loan of £IO,OOO, have been taken up and a further sum of £IOO was expected today. The Town Clerk (Mr 11. C. Major) stated this morning that he was not experiencing any difficulty in obtaining the money which was at interest- of 34 per cent for 10 years. He had, not made any appeal in regard to the debentures and from inquiries already to hand it apeared as if the full amount would be taken up very soon.

Patented by two members of the staff of the New Plymouth Borough Council, a permanent method of marking pedestrian crossings is being used experimentallv for one crossing in the borough. If the experiment is as successful as is expected, all crossings in the borough] will be laid down in the same way. The advantages of the method are that even on wet, dark nights the crossings will be clearly visible to motorists, and the heavy periodical} cost of painting crossings will be avoided. It is stated that toie system is much superior to otliei patents 'with similar objectives that have ‘been seen at New Plymouth. The system is the joint invention of the town clerk, Mr F. T. Bellringer, and the foreman, Air W. G. Bethel. The patent covers oval blocks of a special white concrete mixed with marble chips, red reflectors being inset.

“There will be no war between the nations of Europe,” said an eigniy-year-old Maori chief at Waitotara on Wednesday night at a time when the latest dispatches from London indicated the blackest of outlooks, says the “Taranaki Daily News.” How the old chief formed his prediction is an intriguing story of Maori lore. At the end of July. 1914, the planet- venus was in proximity to a crescent moon. As the nights passed the two came together until Venus appeared to more within an are of the crescent. Almost immediately there followed a war that involved the- world. For some nights this week the chief watched Venus and the crescent moon slowly coming together. Wednesday, lie was aware, was the day which the fate of the world would he decided. If Venus descended into the arc of the crescent, as in 1914, war between the nations was inevitable. Venus sank in the licaviens —but the brightness of ttie planet shone from behind the shoulder of the moon.

According to a motor official, Hamilton has more cars to its population than any other place in the world except Now York. c

A'li; involved transaction, or rather series of transactions, for the acquisi--tion of a motor truck, was authorised by the New Plymouth Borough Council. One truck will lie accepted as part payment"of an account and traded in on another truck. The balance on the second truck will not be paid in cash, for the firm from which it is to be purchased will set it off against the cost of a battery charger set and itself make a. cash payment to the council.

As a. token of the assistance given in the reconstruction of Napier’s reserves following the 1931 earthquake, the Napier Borough Council, at its last meeting, decided not- to charge the Wellington City Council for 75 plane trees forwarded to Wellington to lie used in connection with the centennial celebrations in 1940. Reporting on having sent the trees to the capital, the superintendent of reserves, Mr C. W. Corner, pointed out to the council that the Wellington City Council had been, one of the first to offer anything at all from its reserves to assist in the rehabilitation of Napier.

A splendid example of a Maori whalebone mere was found (recently by Mr R. Hoffman, of Invercargill, at Mararoa, near Lake Te Anau. The mere, which is 18 inches long and five inches across at the 'widest' part ot the blade, weighs three pounds, and is absolutely without a flaw. The handle has been drilled to carry a thong, and, is carved to a peculiar design, suggestive of two human faces. The adge is sharp and unshipped. Air Hoffman discovered the mere among several Maori ovens and other signs of Maori life.

It is reported that an unusual number, of opossums have been seen in the vicinity of Hastings recently. Several, of these' litle animals have been surprised on the roads around tile suburbs of the town, and it is thought that they may be opossums which have been domestic pets, and have either been turned loose or have ventured forth on their own initiative in search of adventure.

When Johnnie Foster, the Canadian boxer, chose a shop window in Princes Street, Dunedin, to go through his “working out” exercises on Saturday morning, he attracted considerable attention from passers-by. Before long a considerable crowd was seriously impeding pedestrian traffic along the pavement, and it was not until the police intervened and asked the boxer to carry out bis exercises in a more private place that the street became normally clear again.

Reference to the Ashburton representative Rugby team’s bold bid for the Ranfurly Shield was made by the retiring president of the Ashburton County Cricket Association (Mr F. Pritchard) at the Association’s annual meeting last evening. In expressing the hope that the coming cricket season would be a propitious one, Mr Pritchard said that if the cricketers gave anything like the excellent performance of the representative footballers, the Association and all interested in the game would be well satisfied.

Several votes for the 1938 parliamentary election -have already been cast. Observing, the usual procedure, between 30 and 40 men on tlie Union Company’s intercolonial steamer Waikouaiti recorded their votes at Bluff before the departure of the vessel for Sydney oil Thursday night. As the ship may not return to New Zealand until the election is over this is the only method of voting possible. The votes were cast before the Customs officer (Air E. R. Murray), who will send them to the returning officer oi the electorate in which the votes are to be recorded.

A letter has recently been received by the Wanganui Rowing Club from Mr W. J. Jordan (High Commissioner for New Zealand), saying that when visiting Ramsgate he saw a fine motor launch hearing the name “Wanganui.” Being an old Wanganui hoy, he inquired into the matter, and found that the owner was a former Wanganui resident, Air T. G. Galbraith, who is now the motor commodore of the Aledway Yacht Club. Ho found that Air Galbraith visits many countries in his launches, all of which bear the name “Wanganui.” Air Jordan suggested that the club might care to present Air Galbraith with a club flag, or that the city should present a flag. The Rowing Club .intends to secure the interest of the City Council in the matter.

There is still no demand in Poverty Bay for breeding ewes on forward delivery to the Waikato and indications continue to point to the assumption that practically all mobs going north early in the coming year will he on consignment, states a Gisborne correspondent. Waikato farmers appear content to wait until they can ascertain whetlie|V conditions point to a further outbreak of facial eczema in the autumn. If such conditions rule Gisborne farmers may find difficulty in securing markets in the Auckland Province. In the meantime large numbers of cattle continue! to travel between Gisborne and the Waikato gnd on Tuesday approximately 1200 were counted on the road, between Motu and Te Karalca. It has been suggested that the Waikato farmers may turn their attenion to fattening cattle until February, when a decision can be reached as to whether it will he more profitable to continue with cattle or revert to sheep.

A cheap rate for the purchase of eggs in China was revealed, at a meeting of the executive committee of the Joint Order of St. John and New Zealand Red Cross Society Far East Relief Fund at Wellington when the chairman (Sir Janies Elliott), in piesenting his report for the period June 23 to September 27, read a letter received from Dr. T. Watson at Cliengkow. “The children of the camp are often poorly nourished,” Dr. Matson said, “and I was approached by a representative of the League of Nations Commission to make a donation towards buving eggs for these children to supplement- their diet. 3 lie amount asked was 60 dollars a month, and for this sum 375 dozen eggs can be bought.” “That works out at approximately 1.4 pence per dozen,” remarked Mr C. Meaehen. Asked by Sir James Elliott what the size of the eggs would be, Air Yue Id. Jackson, 4 iccConsul for China, said that they ivould probably resemble New Zealand pullet eggs.