LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 6, 8 January 1925, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A small hammerhead, or shovel-nosed shark was caught in the Hauraki Gijlf by one of the trawlers of iiessrs. Saiiford, Ltd., ~ during the week-end trawling operations, states the "Auckland Star." {Though measuring only sft 9in and weighing 561b,' it was aggod specimen, and measures 15in across the iipse, tlio most conspicuous and characteristic feature of this class of shark. ' Hammerhead sharks are rare in these waters, lhey are most ferocious, and grow up to 10ft or lift in length. ""

An unusually large wild pig is reported to have taken up his quarters iv the bus.h a,t Titirangi West,', near Auckland. Those who have seen him describe him as "the grandfather of pigs,'' arid someone has dubbed him "Father Christmas." .The pig has wide range of country to'"call \m_ own, and it is mostly a perfect jungle of dense' forest growth, states the "New Zealand Hera.ld." One resident expressed the opinion that it would take> an "expert pig hunter to get the animal, but ithe'tusks' sjioiild be worth the hunt. ' ""

Thousands of people from all parts of the 4ucklap4 province flocked to ths Waihi beach'for the Christinas and New Year holidays this summer, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves! .in.! the surf! A spice of.danger was . ;idded' by the, proximity of sharks, and the efforts of three or four young men to shoot them! On several days a number of large sharks were seen near a point within a few hundred yards of the b^tjiing place. (?ta{es a correspondentjv. The' men arrived, with rifles, and, considering that the danger of a ricochetting bullet hitting a swimmer was less than that threatened by the sharks, they did their best to frighten the intruders away.

The attention of a .Maori pill (Dunedin) resident was arrested a, few days ago by a, commotion.among a flock, of starlings, the number of which he estimated' at jjgO or 60J He soon saw a weasel run out from some long grass into the middle of the road. The starlings set up a vigorous and combined attack upon'the animai ; and no matter in what "direction it tried to'escape it was swooped upon by s, number of the birds (states a correspondent). After a few minutes'' fighting the attackers retired to positions on neighbouring fences and other places of vantage to view the /result of their work, an 4qn examination showed the weasel to be dead " ' " '

Recently an experiment was carried put in the nurseries of the Christchurch Botanical Gardens by the curator, Mr. James/ Young, jn order tq ascertain the effect of artificial light in addition to ordinary sunlight on seedlings,' says the "Lyttelton Times."- JEjie'ctric light Was used, and was switched' op af about 8 p.m. and switched off about 2 a.nu The results have proved quite satisfactory, the seedlings having" progressed a.t a much faster rate than those under ordinary conditions. .In order to reach a certain stage of grqwth, four weeks was required for plants under normal conditions, but those which had the! additional advantage of electric light reached the same stags of growth in „'. threa Weeks. .' ' ' ■ ■-•-•>. •

Sir. L. F. Ayson, Chief Inspector of Fisheries, went North yesterday morning after his visit to Pembroke to give directions for putting the Marine Department's salmon hatchery.- in order for next season, says "The Post's" Dunedin correspondent. Mr. Ayson also went across the Haast Pass to have a look' at the Haast Hiver. He follow, ed the course of this river ' from its head waters to the junction with the Landsboroiigh. Biyer, and authorises the statement that he found in it a splendid tideway and all the other conditions that are. desirable in a salmon stream. He is satisfied that if • the Haast can be stocked with salmon, it will be one of the rivers from whioh fish can be got for the market in due tune. At present;there are.no fish in the Haast; it has never been stocked. '

Very severe wintry conditions prevails ed at Vancouver during the stay of the Makura, winch arrived ;at Auckland on Monday. The vessel arrived at Vancouver from Auckland an. Friday, 12th December, and on that day, and the two fallowing days, rain fell most of the time. On the fourth day there was a snowfall, and that night the temperature fell to 10 degrees Fahrenheit, or 22 degrees below freezing point.. The following day. the reading was two degrees lower. So severe was the frost that the water in me hydraulic cranes froze, and fires had to be built around them to'thaw the water m. the pipes before the cranes could be used for working cargo. The salt water used for baths and stored in tanks on the Makura's boat" deck also froze, and warm water used by the stewards to clear the officers' rooms became a block of ice in the buckets after benng exposed on deck for a short period The temperature at Vancouver was stated to be lower than it had been for years (states the "New Zealand Hera- •1" A ftel" the Makura left Vancouver lor New Zealand on 17th December, she encountered southerly gales and ■rough seas for the first week out of port. Ihe warm tropical conditions which prevailed after the liner cleared Honolulu were much appreciated by the passen-' gers. and cre,w after the discomforts of the wintry conditions that they had left; beliincl. .... j •<

Judging from the gate receipts' -collected at the recent Olympic Games, heJ4 jn Paris, A¥sociatipu''fpbtbali drew the biggest crowds." In all,' 5,4915,609 francs were taken at the. gates during the Games, and to this sum Association contributed 1,799,751 "frarics. "Next" "In order of publjc favour came athletics, swimming, Rugby football, and tennis^.'

The memorial hall at Christ's Cqllege is now nearly completed. It is expe.qted that the contractors will have finished their portion of the work next weekj and that the hall will be ready for occu T pation -at the beginning of the term in February,- states the Ghristchurch "Press." The hall wi}l be. opened by the Warden of the College, Archbishop' Juliu- upon his return from the General Synod in Dunedin, which takes place in February.

A young draught-horse attached to one of Townsend and Paul's lorries took fright yesterday afternoon and boltedj while being driven along Wakefield street. The driver was thrown from his stand in front' of the vehicle, and the horse ran on into Courtenay place, swerved into Allen street, and pulled up in front of Townsend and Paul's marketß. The driver was hot injured, and, the vehicle was only slightly damaged. • .

A peculiar labour dispute occurred on he Auckland waterfront yesterday morning, when, about sixty waterside workers refused to'travel "to Chelsea'in oil launches, says a Press Association message. 'Jhe men" had been engaged to work cargo on .board the Wirigatui at Chelsea. Two launches had been engaged to carry them out, but the watersiders demanded to be taken to their work by a vessel with "steam power. The Union Company granted their request. V- y ".•'_"■ "'.!■'

A sepond-clacs passenger, Miss E. Barber, died of heart failure 'on bpard the Makura on Bpxing Day, two days after the vessel cleared. Honolulu, en route from Vancouver to Auckland. The deceased, who was 67 years of age, was suffering severely from bronchitis and asthma when she jqined the vessel at Vancouver.-(states the "I^ew Zealand Herald"). She was a through passenger to Sydney, and was proceeding to her home at Wagga '^Vagga, New 'South Wales. Hpr body. was buried at sea.

On Monday Captain F, laitt, of ' the Wigram Aerodrome, was piloting twq passengers, Messrs. J. Humphries an(i E. Mackenzie, of luvercargill, on a jpyrridg in an__aerpplane, when a petrql failure necessitated a; forced lauding, states the Christchurch -"Press." The' machine was at an altitude of about 2000 ft at the. time, and was over Bolleston avenue ou the way back to the aerodrome after fiiiT .ishing the actual flight. Immediately on realising the trouble Captain * Isitt "cut off and made'the landing in South IJagley' Park.. The trouble was quickly righted, and the machine continued the journey home. V ■

At a. meeting of the Otagp Yacht Club it was repprted that Port Chalmers Club had collected £55 towards the expense of sending a fifth njan for the crew of the lon'a. which' will represent Qta£o in the "gaijders Cup cpntest at Auckland, " telegraphy "The Posts Dunedin correspondent. The association agreed that RJ Percy should be the extra ri^an of the crew, -whic^ leave? on 26th Jaiiuary, arriving "at Aupkla.nd two days later. A letter was read from the Takapuria Boating' Club inviting the association to send'a"ohampiqn boy crew from Dunedin.to Auckland to compete: for the Cornwall Cup on 2tth January. The association cannot see its way tq send a crew' this' year, but hopes to comply with the club's request next year.'■.-'.- V- "' '.

Holiday' \tfayelhng outwards frcm Thornddh- this i: -year■■"has- been- briskj though the number;, of'passengers has not been greatly in: advance of that for the Christmas and New Year holiday period q{ twelve months ago. The facilities given for' the booking of seats, hoth cash sales and telegraphed orders, from country and South Island stations, however,:have, been much more used this year, those bookings having increased by: over ,2000.: The details for the period 17tli December-3rd January, with the figures for the 1923-24 holiday season in parentheses, are: Ordinary tiokets, 17,515 (17.730); holiday excursion tickets, 5336 (5385); day excursion tickets, 1814 (1594); totals— 1925, 24,665;, 1924, 24,609. Reserved seats (cash sales), 3254'(3208)'; telegraphed orders from country'stations, 7205 (51§0);: totals-^1925, 10,459;' 1924, 8388. Reserved seats at Central ' Booking Qffk|i; : 5647 (5596); totals—l92s, 16----10 6; 1924, 13,^84. A total number of 773 applications were made for sleeping berths, as against 521 for the: corresponding period of last year.

Auckland's maritime trade ]ast year gained'record dimensions in several vital features- Oversea and coastal shipping arrivals aggregated over 2,500,000 tons, and the cargo inward and outward, including transhipments, amounted to 1,800,0.00 tans, The. revenue of the port was a Tecord, being 'close on £400,000 fop the year. All the accounts have not yet been made up, but it is known that the total will show a very substantial increase on the amount received in 1923, states, the '".New Zealand Herald." There haß been a. steady increase in the; volunie of Auckland's maritime trade, which is now valued, at qver £'27,000,----000 a yeaiv The tradei iii imports was maintained steadily throughout last year. Complete -returns will not be available for some time, but progress reports show that the value of importations, including o record volume of machinery ■ for developmental" works throughout the province, will exceed the 1923 aggregate, which was o.ver £15----000,000. The. record year for import's to the Port of Auckland was in 1920 when the value reached the perilous •bppm-' suni of £18,732,032.'

Mr. George Selwyn Gol^sbro', the wellknown architect, a 1 member pf the firm of Goldsbro' and Carter, died at Auckland on Sunday. The late My. Goldsbrb 1 vyas the youngest son of the'late Dr. C i!. Goldsbro', who was a very weji-known medical man m Auckland's eavly \days He studied architecture at Auckland in the eighties with Mr: R, M. Fripp, and then went across to Australia to'^efc experience. He worked in Melbourne and bydiiey, and among noted firms he was with, was the Sydney one that designed the Australasian Joint Stock' Bank the JJutual Life Asspciatiqn bqildjng, and the Walker-Hospital. Mr. GoldsW returned tq Aupkjand, and iiV 1896 he joined his fprnier employer, Mr/ FriDb" as partner, and remained, with him until Mr> 1-npp went to Canada.X FQl] Q wiri s that he practised with Mr., Harry Wade and for the last two years was in partnership with Mr. Carter. Among the important buiduicfE he designed are the new St Jphn's CpJege, Orphans' Home at Papatoetoe, the City Fire. Brigade StaT'T nba'Uo 'rs at Westfield, and schools at Thames. Mr. Goldsbro^ was a keen yachtsman in his younger days, and had a large circle Q f -friends. He leaves a widow, three daughters, and/

k Hi' P-C r FI' —r> M"P -' was a Passenger by the Maori Jrom Lytteltan this morn'-