General News

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22136, 5 July 1937, Page 8

General News

The Autograph-hunter Again

The small boys who keep a hero-worshipping vigil at the players' gate on the Lancaster Park oval on Saturday afternoons are indefatigable autograph collectors, and on Saturday not even the solemnity of a very solemn occasion indeed deterred one youngster from adding a new name to his collection. Two men of opposing teams in the main match were ordered off the field bv the referee; but the tense silence in which they marched off the ground was broken by a ripple of amusement when it was seen that one of the men had been stopped at the gate bv a small boy with an autograph album. The nlavers, and the spectators, too, were probably glad of a little comic relief to this serious business, and no one regretted that the enterprising youngster got his autograph.

Instruction About Hydatids

That instruction in hydatid disease and its prevention should be made part of the curriculum of primary schools was the opinion expressed by Mr W. Buchan, president of the South Canterbury provincial executive of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, when commenting on an address on hydatids given by Dr. A. S Mclnnes to the Temuka branch last Friday evening Mr Buchan said that instruction should be given to all training college students so that they could impart the information to the children of the primary schools.

Church and Centennial

A pageant of church history, with particular attention to the history of the church in New Zealand, is planned as part of the Centennial celebrations in 1940. The "Church News" reports that the New Zealand Church Union is making plans for observance of the Centennial by means of a pageant in both Auckland and Christchurch, and the proposals will be placed before the Christchurch Clerical Society for the support of the clergy.

Walking on Railway Lines

"People have been walking on the line for the last 12 years," said one of the witnesses at the inquest in "Wellington into the death of a man who was struck by an engine on a line near Wellington. The witness said that iron spikes had been driven between the rails to prevent people walking there, and frequent notices about trespassing were posted; but the persistency of persons who wished to walk on the line had been such that even the fences had been broken.

Art Union Funds for City

Charitable and philanthropic work in Christchurch, Lyttelton, and New Brighton will benefit by £9OO out of a distribution of £BBSO to be made by the Government of surplus alluvial gold art union funds, which form the residue of profit, after the £SOOO has been devoted to the mayoral relief funds, from each of the art unions held during the year. Grants to various organisations are as follows:—Society for the Protection of Women and Children, Christchurch, £150: Red Cross Society, Christchurch, £150: Christchurch Unemployed Women's and Girls' Committee, £SO; Lyttelton Waterside Workers' Hospital Comforts Fund, £SO. In addition Christchurch (including New Brighton) will receive £SOO for special relief not otherwise provided for. Greymouth and Westport will receive £SO and £75 respectively.

Historic Relics

The title "Old New Zealand" has been given by the Turnbull Library, Wellington, to its current exhibition of original manuscripts and pictures, dealing with phases of New Zealand life from the time of Tasman to the days of the Maori wars. In this exhibition are logs of the early voyages, careful daily journals of time-pressed but conscientious missionaries, portraits of Maori and pakeha who have made history, and vivid original sketches and paintings of early days. Very strange to modern eyes is the map of New Zealand made by Abel Janzoon Tasman in 1642, in which the North Island and the South Island form part of one long continuous coastline of a rather curious shape, and small anchors are set to mark the places visited by him. Other exhibits include the log of the Endeavour on her first voyage to New Zealand under Captain Cook, the Rev. Samuel Marsden's diary, early portraits and letters and other old manuscripts.

White Butterfly Parasite

"The parasite has unquestionably played a big part in the control of the white butterfly. Its monetary value cannot be estimated, but I am inclined to think that without it cruciferous crops, such as turnips and rape, of which there are 600.000 acres in New Zealand, could not be grown now at all were it not for the work of the parasite," said Mr J. W. Muggeridge, Government entomologist attached to the Plant Research Bureau at Palmerston North, when he reviewed the results of the introduction and propagation practically right throughout New Zealand of the pteromalus puparum, an insect native to England and the Continent, as a means of combating the white butterfly, which some years ago wrought devastation among some farm crops.

Novel Use for Milk-cans

Manufacturers of milk-cans take it for granted • that the vessels made by them willeventually hold milk or cream. Such cans, however, are put to a very different use in the zoology department of Auckland University College. Several of them now in one of the storerooms contains dozens of dead Australian and Papuan snakes, immersed in methylated spirit. On his collecting tours overseas the head of the department, Mr W. R. McGregor, found that milk-cans were ideal containers for the many different kinds of snakes he was able to obtain. The specimens were brought back to New Zealand in them, and so remain until they can be placed in glass jars or otherwise displayed to students and visitors.

Breeding Pheasants

An argument that the society was wasting its time breeding pheasants, and that it would be very well advised to abandon the work it was doing at present, was advanced by Mr G. E. Turner at a meeting of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society. The opinion of most of the members was that the society should continue breeding pheasants for another year at least, and after a vigorous discussion a motion by Mr Turner, that it should be stopped, was defeated^

The Rarawa's 801 l

New Plymouth is lo have a permanent mcmerfto of the association of the old passenger steamer Rarawa with the port. The ship's bell is to be given to the town by the Northern Steamship Company, and will probably be placed in the Taranaki Museum. For many years the Rarawa was on service between Onehunga and New Plymouth until the opening of the Main Trunk railway, id then the main north highway gradually attracted travellers who formerly used the sea-route. The Mayoi of New Plymouth (Mr E. R. C. Gilmour) has been informed that the Northern Steamship Company would present the ship's bell to the town in response to his request.

Sustenance for Women

A resolution recommending to the Minister for Employment, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, that in view of the increased cost of living, especially the rise in room rents, sustenance payments to women should be increased, has been adopted by the Auckland Women's Employment Committee. In April last year the Government increased sustenance payments to eligible unemployed women and girls from 7s 6d to 10s a week, and gave girls living away from home an additional 4s a week.

Express Whistle Jams

Many persons in Auckland and nearer suburbs were startled by the shriek of a siren which lasted for fully four minutes shortly after 7 o'clock one evening last week. The noise was caused by the whistle on the Limi-ed express for Wellington jamming just as the train was pulling out of the station. The express had proceeded only a few yards when the whistle jammed, and it was four minutes before the worried engine crew, working feverishly amidst dense clouds of steam, were able to remedy the defect. With a brief blast of the whistle, the express finally drew out from the station six minutes late.