NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 123, 26 May 1928, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Another Loan.

A special meeting of the Auckland and Suburban Drainage Board is to be held next Wednesday to pass a special order and resolutions to borrow a farther sum of £25,000" to enable additional work to be carried outv Exhibits at Zoo. The annual report of the curator of the Auckland Zoological Park states that there are 1338 exhibits there, the total being slightly in excess of the number at the close of the last year. During the year under review 34 mammals died of natural causes, five were killed either by accident or other specimens, and nine were destroyed, being unfit for exhibition. Only one death was attributed to climatic conditions. Queen's Birthday. His Excellency the Governor-General has dispatched the following message to the Queen on the occasion of Her Majesty's birthday: "His Majesty's Government and people in New Zealand join with me in submitting to Your Majesty respectful congratulations and good wishes on the occasion of Your Majesty's birthday." Manukau Reclamation Scheme. Authority has been received by the Auckland Harbour Board to proceed with the reclamation of a tidal area at Karaka Bay, in Manukau Harbour. The matter has been before the board for some time. At Karaka there is a lagoon, and it is considered that by shutting out the tide a big. area can be built up and later used for farming purposes. Destruction of Deer. In order to reduce the deer herds of the Dominion to reasonable proportions, the Government has decided, provided that approval is given by an acclimatisation society, to allow red deer or fallow deer of either sex and any age to be killed in any number for a period of twelve months. The new regulation, which is applicable to any part of New Zealand, will be welcomed where the animals have become a nuisance. Loan of Dust Coats. The Railway Department, which at present supplies pillows for passengers for a small consideration, and has intimated that paper bags for ladies' hats may shortly be available, lias decided to issue dust coats, at a small charge, to people travelling by rail between Auckland and Rotorua. As pumice dust is .decidedly disconcerting on this journey at times, the innovation is expected to be both popular and profitable. Wet with Spray. It was mentioned some weeks ago that at high tide during stormy weather waves would probably wash over the decking of the new Devonport wharf. Last night, when the tide was not quite full, the spray was flying on the smooth concrete surface, making it very slippery, and ankles, both dainty and otherwise, got wet. It is to be expected that before the wharf is completed a sheltering pallisade will be erectedr Hori's Expenses. Hori as a rule is a gentleman very much alive to business. Hori had to travel some distance down the Main Trunk to a Wanganui Court the other day, as a witness in a forgery case. When it came to the matter of expenses, Hori, in addition to his rail fare, handed in a railway ticket for 1/ for the hire of a cushion. As the Wanganui Court has not been paintedjjbr 13 years and urgently needs a coat, the officials were not so benevolent as to hand out shillings for luxuries for Hori. Motor Ship Maui Pomare. Leaving Apia on Thursday, the Government motor ship Maui Pomare arrived at >.iue yesterday. The vessel is due at Wellington on Friday next, and will make her first Isiand trip from that port. The cancellation of the commercial delegation which the Government proposed to send to the Islands on the ship's maiden voyage was partly due to the unsatisfactory way in which she behaved when crossing the Atlantic. It is hoped that the overhaul which the vessel received at Panama will have placed her 1n firstclass order, and that no further delay will be experieaced. Building Stone in Waikato. New Zealand, is not particularly rich" in stone suitable for building purposes, the North Island being worse off than the South Island in this respect. Hence the discovery m the Waikato by Dr. P. Marshall of a building stone of splendid quality is of more than passing interest. Perhaps discovery is not quite the right word, as the stone he has been testing has been used in the past for building purposes on a small scale, but its good qualities seem to have been forgotten, and no extensive use has been made of it. The tests and observations carried out by Dr. Marshall liave been in respect to a rock of volcanic origin, known as vitric tuff, occurring in the Hinuera Valley and other localities in the Waikato. A Tunnelful of Mushrooms! This stupendous inspiration comes from the '"New Zealand Smallholder."' A reader mentioned that he believed a former railway tunnel near Caversham, Otago, was still in disuse, but at one time local ideas regarded it as a possible mushroom cellar. Estimating it to be 1| miles long and five yards wide, the "Smallholder" reckons its mushroom-growing area, with shelving, at 20 acres. "The potential output (at £1 to £2 per square yard per annum," says the magazine, "would be £50,000 or £100,000. Wouldn't 20 acres of good, desirable mushrooms create a stir on the markets of Dunedin and the cities of the north! Yet there are unemployed people in New Zealand begging the Government to find them a livelihood." Nothing Better than Kauri. Over. seven hundred piles have been drawn from the old mill wharves at Te Kopuru. which were purchased by a local resident from the Marine Department. Apparently totara 'was' not thought of in those days for piling, or else kauri was cheaper, for in the whole of the* wharves there were only about three totara piles. There are kauri piles from 6in to lain square, and of the whole of them there is not one which "shows any sign of deterioration below the mud line. The timber is apparently as fresh to-day as it was when the flitches left the circular saw. The original wharf was built of kauri rikas. Appar : ently later a larger structure was needed, and a new wharf was built over the top of the first. Fire damaged this structure, and a third wharf, larger and extending' to deeper water, about 20ft at low water, was erected. A Christehurch firm has purchased 40,000 ft of these piles, which will shortly be freighted to the South. Scientific Mushroom Culture. Discussing mushrooms as a branch of farming, the "New Zealand Smallholder" says: "Outdoor mushrooms have a season of about two months. Mushrooms professionally grown out of season have a monopoly market measuring ten months long. Ten months of money 5 It is worth while cutting off a length of that to pay the mortgage with, isn't it? Oat-of-season mushrooms depend on just a .few things —warmth, moisture, darkness, nitrogenous manure and the spawn. The optimum (best) temperature for mushroom growth ia about 57 degrees. The" right moisture is just that which loose soil would hold in suspension without saturation* Darkness is acceptable to mushrooms, though light is not fatal. This is secured by planting in cellars or in darkened sheds or on shelves; or in frames or on mounds covered with straw or sacks. Outdoor mushrooms were retailed in Auckland shops early in the season at 1/6, 2/ and 2/6 per lb, and only very poor ones fell to 6d in the height of the season." One ton of stable dung, the magazine estimates' to jicld 401b of mushrooms, worth £4.