NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 36, 11 August 1927, Page 10

NEWS OF THE DAY

Bad Luck,

A Government official who was recently journeying through "Wanganui's hinterland had the misfortune to lose a bag containing over £150 in notes. He was crossing a stream in a "chair"—one of those, conveyances which hang in mid-air from a wire cable and which settlers in the back country use for transporting goods across unbridged streams—when the bag slipped from his back and fell into the stream below. Every effort was made to recover the valuable charge, but the river was in flood, and attempts proved futile. Valuable Tiki. A "Wanganui Herald" representative was recently shown a tiki which was brought down from a river settlement by a M,aori, who found it while rooting out a stump for firewood. Adjacent to it were some pieces of whalebone, which indicated, by their crumpling condition, that they had been deposited there a great many years ago. The Tiki, from its size and appearance, is considered by the finder and, other Maoris to be one of the finest ever discovered in New Zealand. It had evidently been placed there long ago for safety. The origin will now be very difficult to trace, owing to old Maoris having passed away. The finder stated that he intended to place tho tiki in a local strongroom for safe keeping. The Shag- Again. A correspondent writing to the Wellington Acclimatisation Society last night stated that an honorary ranger who had shot eight shags in the Whakatiki recently found in the stomach of one of them 200 trout eggs. The writer suggested serious war on the shags, especially at spawning time. The secretary of the society (Mr. C. I, Dasent) remarked that this appeared to be a now departure in the viciousness of the shag, which was not generally accused of eating the eggs, but the fish themselves. In reality the presence of the eggs denoted no such thing. This shag had eaten the fish and the eggs being insido, had not yet been digested when the shag was opened. A member: "I think this should be mentioned to Mr. Edgar Stead." (Laughter.) Bible In Schools. A further.,protest against the Eeligious Exercises in Schools Bill ia embodied in a petition from residents of Petone and Lower Hutt which was presented in the House of Representatives yesterday by Mr. T. W. Wilford- The petition describes the Bill as a plain violation of the secularly of the State school system, and states that the limitations imposed upon the teaching would make it of no real service to the cause of true religion. To pass the Bill would bo to abandon the attitude of neutrality which the State has hitherto adopted in religions issues; to expose the teachers to serious risks; and to inflict a grave injustice upon denominations and individuals unable to share in the exercises. Furthermore, it would destroy the Nelson system, under whicfi thousands of children are now receiving a gonuincly religious instruction from, competent religious teachers without pressure or responsibility of any kind on the part of the State, and instead of removing these facilities it should be the aim of the legislature to'give the widest possible extension. Pitcairn Island Stamps. Tho paragraph published in "The Post" with reference to postal facilities for the Pitcairn Islanders has resujted in several inquiries being made as to what stamps will be used on correspondence from the island. For tho present tho 1 postmaster has been supplied with the ordinary New Zealand postage stamps. It may be that in time these will be overprinted "Pitcairn Island," but. such is not the intention yet. Possibly, if the amount of correspondence warrants it, the island may at some time in the future have a special issue of their own. The New Zealand stamps supplied Jnciude all v&lnes up to one shilling.