General News

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27912, 8 March 1956, Page 12

General News

Champion Golfer’s Plans R. J. Charles, of Masterton, who won the New Zealand open golf championship in 1954 and who was runner-up in the amateur championship of the same year, will move to Christchurch shortly. His father, a scholteacher, has accepted a position in the city, and Charles, the only child, has secured a transfer through his bank. Charles will probably seek to join the Christchurch Golf Club at Shirley. He is 20 years old. 1000-Year-Old Tree - A large matai tree near the main road near Lake lanthe. South Westland, considered by the Conservator of Forests to be probably 1000 years old, is to have a board placed on it for the interest of tourists. The Automobile Association (Canterbury), which is arranging for the notice to be erected. has already erected a sign near the path leading to the tree The bole of the tree is 17ft round, and its height. 66ft. It is estimated that the tree would yield 5200 ft of timber if it was milled. Capping Revue Approved Rehearsals began this week for the Canterbury University College students’ revue for capping week. Last week the authors went to work on rewriting the script after it had been rejected by the Rector (Dr. F. J. Lewellyn). The script was substantially amended to meet with the Rector’s approval. New Lyttelton Dredge The Lyttelton Harbour Board wishes to b-y a new and powerful vessel for dredging work about the port. A special meeting of th.- board would be held on March 26 to discuss proposals for a bill’empowering the board to buy the dredge, the secretary-manager, Mr A. L. Burk, told members yesterday. The dredge is expected to cost about £600,000. A Zoologist’s Work “It is usual for the chairman to choose as his topic the work he is doing,” said Dr. R. R. Forster, president of the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand, in his presidential address last evening. “My work is usuall devoted to making sure that there are five and not six teeth on the fourth leg of a snider, which in itself may be hardly larger than a pin’s head.” Dr. Forster, who is a zoologist at the Canterbury Museum, then spoke on the influence of forests on the evolution of animals. New Zealand Antarctic Appeal A grant of £259 will be made by the Lyttelton Harbour Board to the New Zea’and expedition to the Antarctic. “We have been taking a big rakeoff from the amount of water these ships have been taking,” said the chairman (Mr W. I*. Glue), when he moved that the board support the expedition’s appeal yesterday. The Committee Provides Some idea of the many accessories to teaching which must be supplied by school committees, with the aid of subsidy, is given by the lift for which the Heaton Intermediate School is seeking to raise £lOOO at a fair on Saturday. “The Government has provided us with a handsome building, but there are many things necessary in a modern school which are still required,” said a spokesman yesterday. The school wants: a film projector, a film strip projector, a library of film strips, thiee pianos, a gramophone pick-up with equipment to relay music through the school. 700 books for the library, a tape recorder (not subsidised), sports gear, and extra furnishings and equipment for the assembly hall. Opo and Pelorus Jack

The famous Pelorus Jack and Opo. the Opononi dolphin, will be seen in a six-minute item in the National Film Unit’s Pictorial Parade, due for release about the end of the month. The shot of Pelorus. Jack was taken by Mr C. Barton, who is still with the unit, and shows Pelorus Jack leading a ship into Pelorus Sound. “We are very lucky to have found the film in our archives —it gives the new film a historical* introduction which will be of particular interest to everyone,” said the manager of the Film Unit (Mr G. Scott). The film shot at Opononi by D. Oakley had already been printed at the unit, and was now being edited. It showed Opo in some of his most playful moments, demonstrating all his favourite tricks. Mixture of Elements Christchurch residents complaining of chilly weather yesterday would have received no sympathy from the Royal Australian Air Force’s senior air staff officer. Air Commodore G. C. Hartnell, who arrived from Richmond. New South Wales, yesterday. Commodore Hartnell said that the intense steamy heat of Sydney had been getting him down, and that the cool atmosphere suited him fine—as a change. When he left Richmond on a six-hour flight to New Zealand floodwaters from the overflowing Hawkesbury river had isolated the nearby town of Windsor and were within three feet of the airstrip. Commodore Hartnell’s arrival in the Dominion was his third attempt. During the war he twice tried to fly to New Zealand—once from the United States and once from Australia—but each time bad weather forced him to finish up at Nandi, Fiji. Exchange of Scientists Proposed

A scheme for the exchange of New Zealand and Australian scientists and engineers may be a result of the visit to Australia of the Prime Minister (Mr Holland). On his return yesterday, Mr Holland said he had discussed such a scheme with the commissioner of the Snowy Mountains hydro and water conservation project (Sir William Hudson), who is a New Zealander. “I intend discussing with the Minister of Works (Mr W. S. Goosman) the question of arranging an exchange of engineers and scientists between our two countries, and will then take the matter up with the Australian Government.” said the Prime Minister. “I am sure an exchange of technical personnel would be of great advantage to both countries.”—(P.A.)