General News

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27739, 17 August 1955, Page 10

General News

Advance Information The 300 Auckland foothall supporters who are coining to Christcnurch on a special excursion for the first Ranfurly Shield match of the season, Auckland v. Canterbury, on August 27, will have advance knowledge of Christchurch’s amenities. The City Council’s public relations officer (Mr M. B. Hayes) is sending to Auckland sufficient copies of a sheet giving in-, formation about the city, particularly where meals can be obtained, for one to be distributed to every traveller when he leaves Auckland- Similar informative sheets were issued last year to visitors. Crocodiles and Crabs

Four baby crocodiles and an alligator (these did not survive the New Zealand winter), 51,974 tropical fish, two bears, 16 monkeys, 248 toads, eight white mice, six tortoises, apd a consignment of live crabs were among incoming animals, birds, and fish to New Zealand last year, says the annual report of the Department of Agriculture- Exports included a kiwi and an Auckland Island brown duck. An attempt to smuggle a parrot was detected and the offender was fined £4O. Parrots and turtles have also been found on persons arriving in New Zealand and have been confiscated and destroyed. In spite of publicity arranged in countries from- which immigrants enter New Zealand, numerous illicit parcels of meat, dried birds, and so on continue to arrive and are reported by the Customs Department, Such potentially infective material is confiscated and burnt, Tasman Flight Delayed

Mechanical trouble caused the cancellation of yesterday’s Sydney-Auckr land flight by a Tasman Empire Air? ways plane. The aircraft will arrive in Auckland at 1.15 p.m. today. Among the passengers will be Dr. Luther Evans, Dircctor*General of UNESCO. A reception which was to have been given to him last evening by the Minister of Education (Mr R. M. Algie) at the Auckland Museum, was cancelled. (P.A.)

Water Heater Control Saves £35,000 Control over water heating services by the Auckland Electric Power Board reduced the charges fm» bulk power by about £35,000 in the first four months of the year. 44 Our relays have saved the position,” said the chairman (Mr J. A- Steele) at a meeting of the board’ this week. Mr Steele said that by now the board had about 30,000 water heater relays in service, enabling a saving in peak demand of about 12,500 kilowatts. But for this peak control the board would have a deficit for the quarter of about £31,000. Beer and Cleaning Fluid A Napier resident who felt thirsty during the night poured himself a glass of beer. To this he added a dasn of what he thought was lemonade. The “lemonade’’ was carbon-tetra-chloride, a dry-cleaning fluid. Within minutes the man was admitted to the Napier Public Hospital. His condition is reported to be serious. Defective Cheeses Badly shattered and slitty texture continues to be a serious defect in New Zealand cheese, and reports from the trade indicate that the fault is becoming more general, says the annual report of the Department of Agriculture. It has been suggested that hydromatic presses, now in more general use, may be inflicting too severe initial pressures and distorting the curd particles structurally. Fractures and fissures frequently follow acute convex curves from the rim end.' The dairy division of the department is making a detailed investigation with the object of correcting the fault. Tasman Medal Suggested The proposal ,to issue a medal to commemorate Abel Tasman was revived at the annual meeting of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand, and was referred to the incoming council. Also referred to the council wa£ a proposal to print selected papers delivered in the first 15 years of the society’s existence with preference for Polynesian and New Zealand subjects.

Pedestrian Crossings A -motorist who passed behind a pedestrian on a pedestrian crossing, even though the pedestrian might be still on the left-hand side of the road, could be said to have yielded right of way, said Mr L. N. Ritchie, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. However, the Magistrate imposed a £2 fine on a motorist who had forced a pedestrian to jump ahead to avoid being hit by his car.' “In this particular case I will convict, as it was a close shave, and the pedestrian had to jump out of the way; but you might find it difficult, to make a successful prosecution if a car goes at the back of a man, because it could be alleged that he had yielded right of way, said the Magistrate to the prosecutor (Traffic Officer L. R. Stringer, of the Transport Department), Decimal Coinage A petition asking the Government to investigate decimal coinage for New Zealand was signed at the annual meeting of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand. The proposal for the introduction of decimal coinage in New Zealand has been the subject in recent years of a private bill in Parliament sponsored by Mr H. G. R. Mason (Opposition, Waitakere), who was Attorney-General in the Labour Government. Butcher’s Record Broken The unofficial record of 16 minutes 30 seconds for butchering a forequarter of beef, established last week by Mr Jack Ritchie, of Oamaru, was halved yesterday morning by another Oamaru butcher, Mr William MacLennan Barrie. Mr Barrie reduced a 1801 b forequarter to clean bones, rolled beef, blade steak, gravy beef and meat for the mincer in 8 minutes 8 seconds. Mr Barrie is 44 years of age and has been in the butchery trade since he left school, apart from a term in the Army. He said that for several years, he was engaged in contract boning of export beef in Canada, and it was in this trade that he became so proficient m cutting out a forequarter.—(P.A.) Invercargill Art Exhibition The works of two Christchurch artists were bought at a recent exhibition in Invercargill. They were “Wool Scouring Works,” a gouache by A. M, Forrester, which was selected by a committee for the Anderson Park Art Gallery; and “Diesel,” also a gouaehe, by Ivy G. Fife, which was bought for the Southland Technical College.