General News

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27404, 17 July 1954, Page 6

General News

“Bookmakers Still Operating” “Bookmakers are still operating, but their numbers would be reduced if there was less delay between the time when betting closes at the Totalisator Agency Board and the time the races start,” said Mr R. G. Hosking at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Racing Conference in Wellington yesterday. “I feel we have not yet reached saturation point in off-course betting,” he said. “The figures are good, but they would be better if it was possible to shorten the time it takes to get the money on the course.” —(F.0.0.R.) Crayfish Tails Worth £2500 Five tons of crayfish tails worth about £5OO a ton on the United States and Hawaiian markets were brought back to Otakou by three Otago fishing boats, the Joan Marie, Ranger, and Marion Bay, which returned this week from the West Coast Sounds. The boats spent five weeks in the sounds on their third cruise this year, and the crews reported that there seemed to be no decrease in the supply of crayfish. About 30 boats, based either at the Port of Otago or Bluff are now operating in the crayfish trade. Liner’s Name to be Retained The Shaw Savill and Albion Company yesterday issued a statement in Wellington in reply to an appeal by the Primate of New Zealand (Archbishop Owen) for the company to alter the name of its new liner Southern Cross. “Archbishop Owen made representations on June 16, and on June 28 he was advised that his representations had been very fully considered by the company’s principals in London, and that the company sincerely regretted that it was not possible to accede to his request that it should select another name for its new passenger ship,” the statement said. “It was pointed out that, during the time the Melanesian Mission ships had borne the name Southern Cross, there had been many other vessels with the same name, including one Southern Cross of 13,000 tons gross. It is the company’s sincere hope that the use of the same name, far from being a handicap to the mission’s work, will ultimately be developed into an association between the two ships beneficial to the mission.”—(P.A.) Old Pistol When, a Christchurch gunsmith was explaining to a reporter from “The Press” the history of some Germanmade rifles thought to have been used against the British in the* Boer War, they were interrupted briefly by a man who came into the shop and asked to “the spring fixed up in this.” ‘This ’ was a flintlock pistol, circa 1790—the sort, shaped rather like a small hockey stick, popular with highwaymen of the time. It was in excellent condition, and the owner explained it was two weapons in one. The butt has a beautifully worked chased inlay in silver, and at the end of the butt a grinning face, in solid silver, gave the user a ready weapon if he did not have time to put more powder and shot in the loading device. The pistol had been handed down to the Christchurch man after passing through several generations of his family. Moments later, history flicked forward again as a man entered the shop and ordered a sporting rifle, with telescopic sights and all modern devices. Government-Built Houses for Sale The State Advances Corporation will conduct a ballot next week for the sale of five houses in Harewood road, built by the Housing Division of the Ministry of Works. There have been applications from 11 prospective purchasers. The houses are priced from £3050 to £3175. Drycleaner’s Find A Napier drycleaner, going through a customer’s suit, was surprised to find 10 £5 notes in a pocket. The owner said that he had sent the suit Io the cleaners and had forgotten about the money. The same firm recently found £3OO in notes, which a woman had left

in a coat pocket. She had won the money at the races. Toll Services Interrupted Ten of the 23 Wellington-Auck-land toll circuits were out of action for two hours yesterday morning. The circuits were on the toll route through Taupo. They went out at 9 a.m. and were restored at 11.15 a.m. When restored, they had to cope with 54 calls on hand, the first of which had been lodged at 9 a.m. The cause of the break is understood to have been a line fault 50 miles from Napier. —(P.A.) Ngauruhoe Still Active Mount Ngauruhoe has been ejecting lava in the night ever since July 8, although guests at the Chateau Tongariro have only seen the glow intermittently. Mr F. E. Studt, geophysicist in charge at Rotorua, who returned to Rotorua from the chateau last evening, said that there were three separate lava tongues, one down the middle of the big June 30 flow, reaching almost to the base, the other two reaching a third of the way down on either extremity of the big flow. An unusual glow appeared constantly three-quarters of the way down the slope. This might be a fresh lava vent in the side of the crater.—(P.A.) New Zealand Bird Hall The New Zealand bird hall (to be farmed on the floored-over gallery above the present mammal room in the Canterbury Museum as part of the modernisation programme) will “aim to display the story of New Zealand birds on a scale not yet attempted in the Dominion,” the Director (Dr. Roger Duff) reported to the Museum Trust Board. Modern diorama methods of presentation would be used with par-, ticular attention to systematic arrangement of different families for the benefit of school service classes. The preparator (Mr R. J. Jacobs) was making a scale model of the proposed layout. “Elephant Man” Dies Known to thousands of children as “the elephant man,” Mr Albert George Barnett, foreman of the Auckland zoo, died suddenly recently. Mr Barnett’s special charge was Jamuna, the zoo elephant on whose back battalions of children have ridden. A humorist, Mr Barnett claimed to have been scratched and bitten more than any other man in New Zealand, but in fact, he had an unusual ability with animals. He spent 32 years on the zoo’s staff. When visiting dignitaries inspected the zoo, it was usually, Mr Barnett who put the kiwis and other rare exhibits through their paces.