General News

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23414, 22 August 1941, Page 6

General News

Hunting Wild Pigs

Whether the shooting of wild pigs with bows and arrows constitutes cruelty is being considered by the Society for the-. Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This question by the Canterbury committee, addressed to the Otago committee, has been referred to officers of the society at Oamaru. It has been alleged that hunting wild pigs with bows and arrows has taken place, in North Otago.

Tax Exemption For Farmers

Farm tractors and trailers owned by a farmer, and used for the carriage of lime and other fertilisers for his own farm, and not travelling more than 12 miles of public road in a complete journey may, in future, be equipped with E plates, which carry with them exemption from taxation on the vehicle. This is provided for by a transport legislation suspension order gazetted last night. The concession has been introduced by the Government to further the national effort for increased production.—P.A.

River Erosion at Hanmer Springs

The Automobile Association, Canterbury, will contribute £3O toward the cost of constructing groynes in the Chatterton stream to protect the camping ground at Hanmer Springs against river erosion. At the meeting of the council of the association last evening, Mr G. S. Morris said that gofse, broom, and brambles in the riverbed seemed to be the cause of some of the trouble, and the association’s adviser insisted on their removal as a condition of the association’s contribution to the Amuri County Council for the work. It was stated at the meeting that the association had made a profit of £ 129 2s 4d, after considerable capital expenditure, including the painting of all the huts.

Lake Ellesmere Fishermen

“Under the present regulations it is impossible for fishermen to make a reasonable livelihood,” said Mr H. S. S. Kyle (Opposition, Riccarton) in the House yesterday, when giving notice to ask the Minister for Marine (the Hon. R. Semple) whether he would consider the withdrawal of a regulation gazetted on April 3 last by the Marine Department, whereby it was illegal to leave nets in Lake, Ellesmere for more than, two hours without over-running them'.— Parliamentary Reporter. Little River Road Still Closed

The road to Little River is not yet open. The work of moving the slip, three miles this side of Little River, was not finshed yesterday as was anticipated, according to Mr L. D. Pickles, patrol officer to the Automobile Association, and he could not give any definite idea as to when it would be finished. Further obstruction has been caused by water from Lake Ellesmere, which is backing up. At Tai Tapu, Motukarara, Kaituna and Birdling’s Flat there is water six inches to nine inches deep, Mr Pickles said, and as the rise in the lake is not tidal, the water may stay there for a while. It was reported by the Railway District Traffic Office yesterday that the north line between Parnassus and Hundalee was still blocked by slips and a subsidence, but the line was expected to be open by to-morrow. A Mower for Schools

"That this branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute urges the Canterbury Education Board to procure a Jractor, a set of gang mowers and the services of a capable man to maintain the large playing areas of all schools in the Christchurch and suburban area” is a resolution that has been sent to school committees and sports bodies by the North Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute. The following six comments are at-' tached to the resolution: (1) School playing areas carry a greater playing population for a greater time than most parks and , reserves. Therefore the Education Board should have some claim to the support of local bodies. (2) Present efforts to keep areas in order take up too much time on the part of the children. (3) Saving in expense of machines—many motor mowers would be released for sale. (4) Economy in petrol and repairs, (5) Schools would get more efficient work. (6) Schoolg next to parks at present have an advantage in playing areas maintained by local bodies. By-laws for Museum

The suggestion that manuscripts of some of the early by-laws of the borough of Westport should be given to an early settlers’ museum was made by Cr, M. B. Scully when the Westport Borough Council appointed a committee to revise the by-laws. He said that there was one by-law empowering the conductor of a borough stagecoach .to stop people smoking in the coach. Another by-law forbade the burying of a horse withih the borough boundary, and ’ another stated that a goat, sold for trespass, and found wandering in any street 24' hours afterwards, could be destroyed. Soldiers’ Pensions A request that steps should be taken to have the pensions of soldiers and their dependants placed on a permanent basis, so that they would not be at the mercy of any hostile government in the future, was made by Mr J. O’Brien (Government, Westland) in notice of a question in the House yesterday to the Minister for War Pensions (the Hon. F. Jones). Mr O’Brien said that a few years ago soldiers’ pensions were cut by from 22 per cent, to 30 per cent., and this caused widespread hardship among returned men and their dependants.—P.R. Sugar Beet

Trials already conducted showed that the establishment of the sugar beet industry in New Zealand would be worthwhile, said Mr E. L, Cullen .(Government, Hawke’s Bay), speaking in the second reading debate on the National Development Loans Bill in the House yesterday. In 1935, he said, the Government arranged, through the Department of Agriculture, for certain farmers to carry out trials in Hawke’s Bay, Wairoa, and Mid-Canterbury. In 1936 and 1937 the yield was encouragingly high In Hawke’s Bay one acre produced 44 tons of bulb, with a sugar content of 19 per cent., or 8.4 tons of sugar. In another test one acre produced 43 tons of bulb, with a sugar content of 20 per cent., or 8.7 tons of sugar. In Britain, where the industry was established, one test showed that one acre produced 19 tons of bulb, with a sugar content of 18,6 per cent., or 3.5 tons of sugar. Sugar beet crops, Mr Cullen said, could withstand a certain amount of flooding and frost.—P.R. Reading Matter For Armed Forces. Since the start of the war in 1939, to the end of July this year, libraries in the various centres have supplied for members of the armed forces 119,255 books and 125,261 periodicals, according to Government figures issued this week. July figures of material supplied to the various camps are:—Auckland library 1252 books, 1067 magazines; Canterbury 676 books, 1451 magazines: Dunedin 400 books, 430 magazines; Palmerston North 180 books, 447 magazines; and Wanganui 1325 books, 1187 magazines. The Wellington Country Library Service (supplying both camps and transports) supplied 4500 books and 4900 magazines in July. Feeding Art Union Frizes Who should feed unclaimed art union prizes? The point has arisen in Auckland, where four horses offered as prizes in an art union conducted for the Fighters’ Mother Appeal have not been claimed and the donors are now faced with the problem of feeding their charges, which no longer belong to them. As the law states that prizes must be kept for three months before being disposed of, the matter of feeding the horses—a polo pony, a child’s pony, a trotter, and a racehorse —is likely to be expensive. Doctors’ Qualifications

“I can assure the honourable gentleman that the Government is well aware of the difference between English and New Zealand legislation on this point, and that the matter is receiving immediate and careful attention,” said the Minister for Health (the Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer) in the House yesterday, in reply to an urgent question byw J. O’Brien (Government, Westland), whether tfie Minister, considering the impossibility of procuring' doctors for certain districts in New Zealand, would bring down legislatipn this.session to allow medical men who were at present entitled to practise in Great Britain to practise in the Dominion. In a note to his . question, Mf Q’Brien said there were many Continental doctors of the highest qualifications at present practising in Britain, who would not at present be allowed to practise in the Dominion, and he understood there were several doctors in New Zealand who were not allowed to-practise; but who could do so. were they in England.—PJL