RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 7, 3 October 1929, Page 10

RANDOM NOTES

SIDELIGHTS ON CURRENT EVENTS LOCAL AND GENERAL

(By Cosmos.)

If Kingsford Smith attempts the trans-Atlantic trip he should carry an extra parachute to throw overboard, soon after starting, attached to the stowaway.

“Mother," said a little boy wistfully as he closed his fairy tale book, with much reluctance, before going to bed, “1 suppose there aren’t such things as beautiful maidens nowadays!”

Four cows belonging to a farmer in the vicinity of Rotorua have been found gored to death by a stag. Although uncommon for stags to kill cows, it has been known for a long time that during the mating season they are subject to fits of uncontrollable temper. Stags rounded up into yards have been known frequently to kill calves and hinds at one thurst of their sharp-pointed antlets. In one Instance, at Paraparaumu, a large stag killed a hind and a calf and proceeded to challenge another stag with the dead body of the calf still entwined on its antlers. As a rule, however, a wild stag prefers to run away from human beings rather than show fight In the case of tame stags, often the reverse is the case. A tame stag by the name of “Billy” made a perfect nuisance of Itself some years ago in the Walrarapa district Brought up from birth on a bottle, It had become a great pet until at the age of three, having grown an Imposing set of antlers, it proceeded to chase everybody it came across.

Women were chased at sight and eventually a cyclist was chased up a tree. His machine was completely wrecked by the tame stag, and the time had come for something to be done. So “Billy” was sent to Tongariro National Park in the hopes that he would Join up with the local herd. Instead of doing so, he proceeded to patrol the coach road between Walouru and Tokaanu. His first little effort in his new surroundings was to chase Mr. Malcolm Ross, who was trying to photograph him. A Maori boy mounted on a horse was so startled at the sight of this stag, complete with its largo spreading antlers, he galloped to Tokaanu to report the Immediate arrival of the devil himself. After having' badly gored a Maori woman, “Billy” fell a victim to Maori “utu,” and was shot and burnt by the Maoris. His head was preserved and for some time could be seen outside a store not far from Tokaanu.

In 1918 the British Government compensated a man for injuries received by him from the deer in Bushey Park; whilst in Richmond Park a few years ago a stag most unpolltely prodded a woman in the back. She was only saved from injury by her husband’s simulation of Samson, for he held the stag by its antlers until keepers arrived. In another case a stag actually hunted a hunter. When the hunter discovered what was happening, he had very great difficulty in escaping. Eventually at a loss to know what to do, he crawled under a roadman's wheelbarrow. The stag, particularly puzzled at these tor-tolse-llke tactics, stamped on the barrow with its front feet and gave up the chase in disgust. *• - * Wellington was decided upon as the capital city of New Zealand sixty-five years ago to-day—on October 8, 1864 — following a motion passed by Parliament to remove the seat of Government from Auckland to a more central position on the shores of Cook Strait. With great heat, throughout the night of November 25,' 1863, members of the House of Representatives in New Zealand’s first Parliament building at Auckland had debated the proposal, when a Canterbury member, Mr. J. E., Fitzgerald, moved that an address be presented to the Governor, requesting him to ask the Governors of New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania each to appoint one member of a commission to determine a site. Five days previously the following motion moved by Mr. Domett had been carried on the voices: “That it has become necessary that the seat of Government should be transferred to some suitable locality in Cook Strait; that in order to promote the accomplishment of this object it isdesirable that the selection of the particular site In Cook Strait should be left to the arbitrament of an impartial tribunal.” Mr. Domett had moved a third motion: “That with this end in view a Bill should be Introduced to give effect to the above resolutions,” but this was withdrawn in favour of an address to the Governor. The real struggle in the House came when Mr. Fitzgerald moved his motion that an address be presented to the Governor requesting the appointment of a commission to determine the site.

Mr. E. W. Stafford, afterwards Sir Edward Stafford, although a Nelson member, moved the following amendment: “That in the general present critical state of the colony, with a dangerous Native insurrection raging within a few miles of the seat of Government, it is highly inexpedient to take any steps for removing the seat of Government.” This amendment made him the northern idol "of the hour. After a spirited debate, which did not conclude till 2 o’clock in the morning of November 26, 1863, the motion mov.ed by Mr. Fitzgerald was carried by 24 votes to 17. Five days later the Legislative Council decided by a majority of three to present a similar address to the Governor. The commission was duly appointed, and after visiting Wellington, Nelson, and Picton, decided in favour of Wellington. “Wellington, in Port Nicholson, is the site upon the shores of Cook Strait which presents the greatest advantages for the Government of the colony,” ran the commissioners’ report. The change took effect in February, 1865, and with it passed Auckland's twenty-five years’ reign as capital of the colony.

German and Swiss scientists have been Investigating the energy of a musician in full blast as compared to the humbler, and often less noisy, expenditure of energy on the part of the average artisan. Tailors will be interested to learn that a pianist, on the average, uses up ten times as much energy as they do. Further experiments show that a singer and a charwoman are one and the same thing when placed on an energy basis. So far these scientists have failed to obtain the energy equivalent of a German dramatic soprano as “Isolde”: nor have they been able to balance the expenditure of energy of a backyard cat calling for its mate as compared to the irate householder who throws a boot at it.