General News

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29749, 16 February 1962, Page 8

General News

Stonehenge Caretaker

Stonehenge, one of the coldest spots in Britain, wants a caretaker. For £5OO annually, a five and a halfday week and a house, the successful applicant, working shifts with three other caretakers. will guard the stones, mow the grass and sell postcards to visitors. It is hard to attract tnen to Stonehenge and the Works Ministry expects great difficulty in finding the right man.— London, Feb. 15. Museum Popular The Christmas programme offered by the planetarium at the Canterbury Museum had proved very popular, and between December 17 and January 31, 2927 persons had attended, a meeting of the museum trust board was told yesterday. The report of the director (Dr. R. S. Duff) said the chief custodian (Mr R. C. Graham) considered the attendances at the museum over the Christmas and New Year holidays the greatest in his 39 years association with the museum, the figure for January alone being 31.191. Airport Closed Two National Airways Corporation DC-3 flights from Christchurch were affected by low cloud which closed Dunedin airport to all landings until 12.17 p.m yesterday. The first aircraft, which left at 9.5 a.m., overfew Dunedin to land at Invercargill 45 minutes early. Most of the passengers aboard were bound for Invercargill. The second which left at 9.15 a.m. for Dunedin and return landed at Oamaru. The 19 passengers were taken by coach to Dunedin and 23 passengers from Dunedin for Christchurch boarded the DC-3 at Oamaru. Big Fish The heaviest striped Barlin of the season was caught off Whitianga yesterday by the Bishop of Carpentaria (the Rt. Rev. S. J. Matthews). The fish weighed 3891 b and took an hour and a half to land. —(P.A.) Fast Building An example of fast building is provided in the prestressed concrete construction of the big new dormitory block at the Holy Name Seminary, in Riccarton road. About 200 ft long and with 98 bedrooms, the building has been constructed of prestressed concrete wall panels and floor slabs. By hoisting these units into place by crane and tensioning them together by high tensile steel cables the whole concrete structure of the building was erected in the equivalent of about four days. No Propaganda The worth of an “informative pamphlet” which the Waimairi County Council is considering publishing “to inform residents of the county business” was queried by Cr. A. R. Blank at the council meeting last evening. The newspapers give fairly good coverage and good publicity of the county business, he said. He would be surprised if anyone could tell him of any benefit such a pamphlet, published at considerable expense to the ratepayers, would give to ratepayers. The chairman (Cr. J. I. Colligan) said the pamphlet would be “purely informative with no propaganda.” The council decided that the County Clerk (Mr K. Maclachlan) should prepare a ‘draft to be forwarded to all councillors to peruse” before it came up for consideration. Polly’s Witness Police in Kobe, Western Japan, were today looking for a thief who robbed an office and killed the only eyewitness—a talking parrot. Police said they suspected tiie thief was an employee of the scrap dealer’s office where the theft occurred. They said the parrot knew all the employees and could speak their names. The thief was apparently afraid the bird would give him away, so he strangled it.—Tokyo. February 14. Mount Cook Display The final stage had been reached in the preparation of the Mount Cook group of Himalayan thar at the Canterbury Museum, the museum trust board was told in a report of the director (Dr R. S. Duff) at a meeting yesterday. The modelling of the diorama background and the preparation of the specimens had been brought to an advanced stage. Only two of the systematic panel groups remained to be arranged. Cabbages Plentiful There were large quantities of cabbages available in Christchurch fruit and produce markets yesterday. They sold at 3s to 6s a sack. Oamaru carrots were also plentiful, and they brought from 14s to 18s a case. Other prices were: Cauliflowers up to £1 a case, silver beet 4s to 7s 6d a case, pumpkins, 15s to £1 a sack.