General News

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27642, 26 April 1955, Page 12

General News

Tuna Caught A tuna was caught off Peraki on Sunday by Mr Louis Narbey, an Akaroa fisherman. The fish, which weighed 611 b, and measured 44 inches long and 34 inches round the deepest point of its body, was caught on a set of groper hooks laid by Mr Narbey in the ordinary course of fishing. After a great struggle the fighting tuna was brought aboard Mr Narbey’s boat. It is thought to be the first time that a tuna has been caught near Akaroa on a line. The tuna, common on the coast of California, is said to be a rare visitor to southern waters. The fish has an iridescent skin with deep slate grey scales varying to a pale creamy white on its deep-set belly. Pioneer Settlers Close Store A remnant of the gold rush days, the general store at Okarito, South Westland, closed its doors for the last time last Wednesday. Okarito, little more than a ghost town today, was estimated to have had a temporary population of 10,000 during the gold boom. The store occupied wnat was once one of the 31 hotels. It is 65 years since the store was opened by Mr and Mrs James Donovan, who have now retired to live in Hokitika. Among the stock could still be found many articles of historical interest such as left and right handled axes and a type of shovel not in use today. Mr Donovan has also the distinction of having completed more than 36 years of service on the Westland County Council without ever missing an ordinary meeting- This is understood to be a New Zealand record.—(F.O.OJl.) Sunday School in a Tram

For the first time since the route was constructed to serve the Oxford timber mills, a tram recently passed over the Tram road. Bought from the Christchurch Transport Board by a member of the Horrelville Methodist Church, the two-compartment tram was transported to the church site and is now in use as a Sunday school. After minor alterations and a hose down with several hundred gallons of water from a high-powered pump, the car was made ready for classes which it will serve until a proposed new church is built. Until the trip indicators were removed it was noticed that the somewhat inappropriate “destination” of the children who played in the tram was frequently the “Races.” “Soldiers Don’t Change”

“The soldier doesn’t change much,” Brigadier J. T. Burrows, a former commander of K Force, told the annual reunion of the 20th Battalion and Armoured Regiment, of which he was also a corhmanding officer, last evening. "They were much the same as you were in Korea—tough and bad, but on the whole not too bad,” he said.

Invercargill Airport Extension Twenty-five-seater Douglas aircraft will be operating from the Invercargill airport by Christmas. They will replace the slow five-seater Dominies as soon as the extension and sealing of the runway have been completed. Work on this will start this week. At present four daily Dominie services between Invercargill and Taieri cater for 20 passengers. The DC-3's will be able to carry from Invercargill 50 passengers each day. The contract price for the extension and sealing is £103.000. Three local bodies have agreed to share half the cost; and the Government will pay the other half. —(P.A.), Printed in Australia

Birmingham Juvenile Court Magistrates reported that most of the horror comics they had studied were printed in Australia. They were crude and repulsive and could only be read with much patience, they said in their annual report. They believed that any shock sustained through reading them would be of the "delayed action type.” But the Magistrates admitted that there was some difficulty in deciding what actually constituted a horror comic and this would appear to be a real obstacle for those engaged in drafting any change in the present laws to forbid their circulation.— Birmingham, April 23. Auckland Cancer Campaign

A super-voltage therapy plant, which gives an improved rate of cure for many types of cancer, is to be bought by the Auckland division of the Cancer Campaign Society for installation at the Auckland Public Hospital. To raise money for the plant, the society intends soon to launch an appeal for £50,000 throughout the Auckland Province. The plant will be the first of its kind in New Zealand. It will have to be housed in a specially-constructed building.—(P.A.) Parasite*to Control Forest Insect

The Forestry Research Institute at Whakarewarewa, Rotorua, has recently released a new parasite in nearby State forests to control a minute insect which had caused serious losses to Douglas fir seedlings. The parasite, which was flown out to the institute from Scotland, has successfully controlled the pest in the United States and Great Britain. Nearly 1800 of the Amblymerus apicahs, to give the parasite its correct title, were set free in the forests. The Douglas fir now ranks as New Zealand’s second exotic timber, and good stocks of fertile seed are necessary for new plantations and regeneration. According to Mr C. B. Rawlings, forest pathologist, Whakarewarewa, the cost importing a controlling parasite is negligible compared with the damage done by the insect which destroys the fir seedlings.

Parking Area for 100 Cars A parking area for at least 100 cars in the middle of Wellington will be provided by next March. Made attractive with flower beds and surrounds, it will occupy the space about the Town Hall where the City Engineer’s building, the traffic department, and the adjoining building housing the Mayor’s Metropolitan Relief Fund now stand. Demolition of these buildings will begin as soon as their staffs can be transferred into the new municipal block. Seals from San Diego

Three Californian seals, tired of being cooped away in small crates on the deck of the freighter Waitomo for nearly a month, plunged happily into their new home at the Auckland Zoo last week. The brown furry seals —one male and two females—arrived from the San Diego Zoo in remarkably good condition, in spite of their trip through the tropics. The man responsible for the seals on the long voyage from North America was the ship’s carpenter, Mr I. Hancock. He soon became attached to the animals and named them Oscar, Matilda and Henrietta. Three pounds of North American mackerel were fed to the seals each day on the voyage. As a farewell gesture, Mr Hancock gave his charges an extra meal, which might be why they scorned New Zealand herring when fed at midday at the zoo.

Permission for Shotgun Killing Mr J. Mcßean, of Johnsonville, has been given permission by the Wellington City Council to use a shotgun to kill two magpies. The Mayor (Mr R. L. Macalister) told councillors that written permission was necessary under the by-lays. The police had no objection.