General News

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21120, 22 March 1934, Page 8

General News

Paths in Hagley Park The cycle track and footpath , through Hagley Park from the Ar- | magh street entrance to the Fendalton boundary are to be tar scaled I by the Christchurch Domains Board. Work was commenced on the paths yesterday, when they were levelled off with a grader and the tar seal- • ing will be commenced to-day. The main cycle path across the southern half of the park was tar sealed last year. The chairman of the Domains Board (Mr H. Kitson) state! vesteij day that the tar sealing would be I completed before Easter. The sui--1 face would be grey chip and consc- ' quentlv the paths would not have I the shiny black surface of ordinary : bitumen paths. Funds would nut i permit the board to seal the path to the Riccarton read gate in the nic.TiI time, but he hoped that would be j done some time in the tuU'iv. Sanders Clip Contest Suggestions for the allocation of the next Sanders Cup contest were 1 considered at a meeting of dele- | gates to the Canterbury Sailing and i Power Boating Association last | evening. The meeting decided after | considerable discussion to recommend to the New Zealand Yachting Council that the contest be allotted !to the Southland Association and . that it be held at Stewart Island. 1 The Habits of Deer The segregation of the sexes m deer herds was commented on yes- ! terdav bv Captain G. F. Yerex, who lis in charge of the Government's j deer destruction work. It was not I generally known, he said, that ex--1 eept in the mating season any one I piece of country would be found j to be inhabited either by stags or ' bv hinds, but not by both together. . So there was slag country and hind ! country, each mother hind being j accompanied by her yearling call |as well as by this year's calf. An Unusual Conjunction '['lie unusual spectacle <>f a Minister of the Crown and two blue | mountain ducks swimming within a : few feet of one another was seen (and photographed > in the uppei . reaches of tlie Wills river m South Westland last week. The Minister was the Hon. J. A. Young, who has been inspecting deer-destruction work m that region, and who .throughout !ns tour rarely missed his morning swim, although the rest of his party considered that the mountain water was tar too cold. | The ducks, which are seen nowadays I only in remote areas, are usually 'afraid of human beings, and their, i presence in the pool near the Min- I ister was only noticed as the photo-j ' graph was being taken. !' i j Prosperity and Generosity | ! A definite sign of the return to! ' prosperity among farmers was j I shown by the figures given by Mr j I Iv F. Wiilcox concerning the sale; oi l J poppies at ewe tairs to a meeting ot | 1 the poppy committee of the- Re- | turned Soldiers' Association last j night. "In most cases the amounts ; collected this year have shown sub- : | stantial increases on those of last." |he said. "At the Amberley ewe fair C 23 lis was collected. At Sheffield, ' last year, we collected 112 7s: this j vear we collected ,11 10. ' The idea of i selling the poppies at the ewe fairs, j he explained, was to reach the j ' farmers when they were most ae- j ccssible. ' Hat's Nest in Motor-car A Tatipo motorist whose car is-in ' daily use was puzzled recently on | stopping after a run of about a mile, bv fumes which indicated that the engine was over-heated. 'I lie radia- . tor was found to be full of water and the fan to be working satistae- ; ti'fily. Further examination sho-.vrd s the 'eau.-e of the trouble, a rat's j nest of dried grass and pieces of J string on the exiiau.-t manifold. The, scorching of this had caused the! smell of "over-heating." Need for Simple English The use of simple English m ; drafting legal documents was re- ; commended by Mr J. Caughley. tor- ! mer Director of Education, in an ad- ! dress on rating systems at Papatoe- j toe. He said that the proscribed form j iof ballot papers used in polls on rat- j ing issues was an instance of the j use of involved language and a case; Hi "doing thing- backward." There 1 had been occasions when he had left j polling booths with a doubt how he | 'had voted. Mr Caughley said that ! while he was Director of Education, he had frequently quarrelled with! the Crown officers on the style ol' j English used in drafting legal doeu- ] monts. "I cannot set: any reason ; 'why plain English should not be; used in drafting laws and document:; • to be placed before the people," ho said. A possible explanation, he hinted laughingly, was that there | was a profession to interpret legal phraseology into everyday language. Keas as Food i Keas are often amusing visitors to mountain camps, but they can do serious damage to gear left in the open. When the Minister for Internal Affairs (the Hon. J. A. Young) and his party arrived at their camp in the valley of the Wills river in

South West land last week they found that keas had attacked the tent flys. Many of the birds were about the camp, worrying any gct.r they could find, and it was decided to shoot snme. as it has been found that after some have been shut the rest usually leave. Mr Young brought down, three of tlum vjth his .303 rifle, and the birds were left to hang for two days, afterwards being cooked in a stew which the members of the party found very appetising.

Centenary of National I'lag The centenary of the first unfurling of New Zealand's national flag fell this week. The event look place at Kororareka. Bay of Islands. Mr James Busby was British Resident at the time, and he felt that one way of thwarting French attempts to colonise would bo to encourage the Maoris to form an independent nation. He accordingly wrote to Sir It. Bourke. the Governor of New South Wali s. who approved the idea, and forwarded three patterns for a national (lag. A council of 30 chiefs was called to decide a pattern, the most favoured flag being described as "white, with a St. George's cross: and in the upper corner of the left hand a blue field with a red cross, and four white stars." The chosen flag received 12 votes, another 1(J, and a third six. chiefs did not vole, fearing that there was some hidden danger in the adoption of a flag. This flag was unfurled on March 20. 1834. and saluted with 21 guns bv H.M.S. Alligator.

Housewives note—lf you arc shifting ' your household furniture or goods of j any sort, engage the Gold Band Taxis vans as they arc the best and cheapest, , so why pay n#c? And the same ap- ' plie: to Taxis-—lowest fare Is. —3j