NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 250, 22 October 1945, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Wanted by Services ".•■"~\-. Notwithstanding the termination -. -of hostilities the demand for Aus'l iralian rice from the Services is as .:, strong as ever, according to advice received by a New Plymouth merchant. It seems likely, the letter ~ -states, that none will be available ;i--for Australian or New Zealand -"■• before the middle of 1946 :---at the earliest. YsjJMlimicry Of The Tvi - "■ The powers of:mimicry of the tui \\ Severe mentioned by Mr. Johannes C. Andersen in an address recently to the friends of Te Wai Pounamu, After referring to one instance of a ~gii having imitated a person coughing, Mr. Andersen said he had heard of an elderly, woman in the North ---Island who had a tui for a pet when she was young. She was at that time learning to play the piano, and, j..; -Reluctantly, had to practise. One ''"tfay she took the tui with her for ; company. She had played half of a *. jiiece of music when she was sur- • prised to hear the tui repeat it, r -including, to her horror, the same ;V _ mistakes she had made. Rhododendron Collection in, A rhododendron collection which -;js expected in the course of time to one of the most complete in ■ =the country, has been commenced at 7" Jrlassey Agricultural College, which ■ —Is working in close co-operation -with the recently-formed New Zealand Rhododendron Association. Seeds of many high-grade species were recently received by the college from the Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh, and the seedlings of the larger-growing ones should be • y-from four to six inches high by next r. ..ja utumn - 1° addition, over 100 cut--c?!ltings have been planted to provide . .iistocks for grafting. Cuttings of ;: .'f .rhododendron species and hybrids - : -have been donated by Mr. E. F. Stead (Christehurch), who is presi- . :dent of the association, and Messrs. -P. Thomson (Stratford) and P. Black k -HPalmerston North).

Strange Find in Cabbage Unknown to the purchaser, a lOd cabbage sold at Inglewood. last week was an exceptionally good bargain; The buyer, however, after opening it up lost no time in returning it to the vendor, who, with even greater speed, exchanged it for another one, for, embedded in its heart was a perfectly good golf ball. The cabbage had been purchased from a North Taranaki market garden near a golf course. Not So Old An impression that bowling is a game played largely by old men who have been in it for a long time is not borne out by figures given bv Mr. A. Fletcher (president at the opening of the Wellington Bowline Club's new season. "It is hardly believable until you study the records," he said, "that, even with men who have had continuous membership of over 40 years, the average length of membership in this club is under 12 years." In a total active membership of 193, only two had been members for over 40 years ten others for upwards of 30 years) and 15 who had been members for from 20 to 30 years. Those whose period of membership was from 10 to 20 years numbered 32, and those who had under ten years' membership totalled 134. Esperanto As School Aid "One of the most realistic ways of presenting geography lessons to the child is by encouraging him to correspond with children of other lands," said Mr. E. Thawley at a meeting of the Karori Esperanto Society recently. "The exchange of stamps, curios, magazines, photographs, etc., assists in developing a sympathetic understanding with the boy of another country who has similar interests, to his own arid often paves the way to a lifelong friendship." Mr. Thawley added that, through the introduction of Esperanto into the schools of the world, teachers would have an invaluable medium of fostering international co-operation between children by means of friendly correspondence.