General News

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23317, 1 May 1941, Page 6

General News

• Top-dressing the Peninsula “You cannot expect that wonderful country to keep as it Is without top-dressing,” said Mr r. McGillivray,'formerly Fields Superintendent of the Department of Agriculture, referring to Banks Penihsula at a meeting of the North Canterbury district executive of the Farmers Union yesterday. His remarks' were in reply to tributes paid him on his retirement. The Mount Herbert, Wairewa, and Akaroa counties’had the highest carrying- capacity in the South Islano, but they would have to be top-dressed. ‘My own view is that it will be done from tpeair, but perhaps that is looking too far ahead, he said. “But you cannot keep taking it out of that country for all time.” i. Arrivals by Hospital Ship Fifty-six sick and Injured New Zealand soldiers, of the 215 who arrived at Wellington by the hospital ship Somersetshire on Tuesday, arrived at Lyttelton by the steamer express Wahine yesterday. They comprise the Canterbury, Otago, and West Coast men. Efficient arrangements were made for their reception and entraining at Lyttelton. Practically all were walking cases, and they travelled south in two special railway carriages. An ambulance railway carriage, fitted with 20 cots,, was provided for those not able to make the 4 tnp south in the ordinary carriages, and a few of -the men travelled in it. Two Crops of Wheat in One Year The ordinary farmer harvests one crop of wheat a year, but, the Wheat Research Insti* tute, at its new plant breeding station at Lincoln College, harvests two. This Is achieved by means of a large greenhouse, where small lines of the wheat crosses with which the institute is experimenting, are grown in the winter. Visitors who Inspected the station yesterday were shown wheat, sown on March 24, which will be harvested in July or August, so that it will be possible to sow the .resultant seed in the open for next season. In this way two years’ plant-breeding work is achieved in t»ne. Because wheat requires light for proper growth, artificial light is used to'lengthen the short winter daylight, and artificial heating is also available. The “speeding up” process is used only in the first stages of wheat breeding, which is continued over a long period of years, but it is expected to reduce the time required from 10 years to eight. Souvenirs from Greece Some of the first souvenirs to be taken out pf Greece by the troops now fighting there were shown to a reporter from “The Press" yesterday by Gunner C. S. Riley, one of the party of men from the Middle East who arrived in the hospital ship Somersetshire on Tuesday, Among the mementoes were some packets of matches and Macedonian cigarettes of the type regularly issued to Italian, troops serving m Albania. These articles had been obtained during the fighting there, Gunner Riley explained, but he could not give any details as he believed that men were still in action in the same locality. He also exhibited a clip of rifle ammunition, captured during an attack on an Italian fort at Siwa during the campaign in Egypt, and added that the Italians had started using machine-guns with .55 calibre ammunition. 4 The Nassella Tussock The North Canterbury district executive of the Farmers’' Union decided yesterday to write to all South Island branches of the union requesting them to secure reports from their members on the Nassella tussock. It was agreed that farmers in areas remote from the infested areas in North Canterbury might not readily recognise the tussock or realise the danger from it. North Canterbury members brought to .the meeting specimens of the tussock and showed how it could be recognised by the rasplike resistance to fingers' drawn along the leaves from base to tip. A N.Z. Food Corps For England That New Zealand might send a special food corps to England, just as it had sent forestry and railway units overseas, was suggested by Mr J. K. Moloney, independent candidate for the Christchurch mayoralty, m an address last evening.' Mr Mploney considered that New Zealand might, send to England a special unit comprised of men trained in the use of farm tractors, who could speedily make possible a largo production of Toot crops, mainly potatoes. There wag plenty of rough- pasturage which could be put into production in this way. It might thus be possible to meet the position created by the shipping shortage, with England growing its ropt crops and New Zealand and Australia sending milk and meat concentrates, ( Game Law Breaches Illegal shooting of game before the official opening of the season was complained of in tfie report of The rangers’ committee of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, presented to the council of the society last* evening. “The rangers are now engaged in dealing with a class of offence which is difficult to suppress,” said the report. "In the prosecutions now pending, it is recommended that substantial penalties be asked for, and the Court requested to indicate its intention to regard future breaches of the game laws with more Seriousness than hitherto.” Air Force Helps Shooters Shooters at • Lake Ellesmere will not •be troubled by machines of the Royal New Zealand Air Force on bombing and air firing practice over the Jake, at least for the first two week-ends of the shooting season, which begins on May 3. The council of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society received last evening a letter from Group Captain G. S. Hodson, commanding the Air Eow Station at Wigram, in reply to a request for co-operation as in past seasons. Group Captain Hodson said jt would be possible to arrange bombing and air firing to enable sportsmen to shoot from 6 p.m. on Friday, May 2, to 7 a.m. on Monday, May 5, and between similar times at the following week-end. Though he could not say whether the bombing range would be required at the third week-end, he suggested that the society communicate with Wlgram some days in advance. Derailment at Springfield The derailment of two waggons during shunting operations a* Springfield delayed 'the rail-car travelling from Christchurch to the West Coast for about two hours early yesterday morning.' The rail-car continued the journey after the lines had been cleared, and, to avoid delays for passengers, the steam service was substituted in the rail-car schedule from Greymouth to Hokitika. Newspapers carried by the rail-car were taken over by motor-buses at Greymouth. No damage to waggons or the track at Springfield was reported. Future of a Hoard A remit to the provincial fruitgrowers conference that the Fruit Export Control Board should be disbanded, and the moneys held refunded to the exporters, was put forward at the annual meeting of the Canterbury Fruitgrowers’ Association last night. Sponsored by Mr F, W, Sisson, the remit was generally supported by members, who said that there was no work for the board to do now, as everything was handled by the Marketing Department. It was said that if the funds in hand were paid out they would amount to a penny a case exported in the last three years- The money belonged to the exporters, not the hoard. Experiences of Veteran Soldier

♦'l was able to recompense myself for some of the bullet wounds I received in Spain,” said Gunner C. S, Riley, one of the party of New Zealand troops who returned from ‘the Middle East this week, while relating-some ef his experiences tQ a report® l, from ”The press” yesterday. 'Gunner HUey, who also served in the last war, was Injured i?y flymg fragments and was the only survivor when a motor-truck was blown up during his last campaign. He served lor seven months in Libya with the 34th Anti-Tank Battery and took part- in border fighting'in which small units were constantly engaging patrols and transports, along routes that were for the most part uncharted. Until he was wounded he had been fighting since August in 1930, when he joined the Spanish Republican Army and became a lieutenant in charge of anti-aviation and anti-tank combat groups.. He was mentioned in dispatches and was wounded on the Ebro front in 1038. Gunner Riley added that he had written a book describing his experiences in the Spanish campaign and ho: ed to have it published soon.