NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 69, 19 September 1932, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Discoloration of Sea. , Tho peculiar colour of the sea in Hawkes Bay, stretching for a consider^ able distance between the breakwater and Cape Kidnappers, was the subject of comment on Friday (states'a Napier correspondent). The water was discoloured with long streaks of brownish red, suggesting that the sea bed was disturbed by that morning's earthquake. Glut of FiSh. -. . • ' : During the past week there has been a glut of fish on tho local market, says the "Taranaki Herald." The position; however, is not peculiar to New Plymouth, but -is stated to exist over the whole of the North Island. In various places fishermen have been unable to obtain what they have considered an adequate price and Have been forced actually to give their fish away or haye1-adopted "the;extreme 'measure of dumping their catch back into the sea. Experts find it difficult to account definitely for the presence of fish in such large numbers along the New Zealand; coast. But a suggestion has been, made that; ;the recent warm weather has tempted. the ; fish; close in shore, allowing them to be ;.easily ; caught. Mshermen 1 seem, incliriecl 'to accept the" explanar' tion.. ':■'. ....':'}}} .;v'!V.' ■ ■."':' -;' v: y. Launch's Long Cruise. : The forty-foot: yawl-rigged launch Beth sailed from Auckland on' Saturday afternoon'on ;her ;ypyage .of approximately: 4000 mileS tocher home port at Adelaide, South, Australia, via Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands and Sydney.-; She will mak e coastal calls before crossing :the TasmanSea. The Beth is ownedby^Mr.; T.H. Webb.of Adelaide, who .has >]been president of Northcote {for the; past two :years. As a crew; he.; has his two; spis' Reginald andSydney^•al^o{:MrY'1 Charles Bowman, a well-known Auckland yachtsman; and Mr.:' Basil;. pallardi/ of; Wellington, who alsp lias had; considerable yachting experience in Sort Nichpi?pn's waters. Mr. "Webb, and his two: sons • are experienced in the art of navigation, and Mr. Webb reckons "that, f rpm Wharigaroa: he will react Norfolk^li^and in threeNlays with reasonably rflnevweather. A stay will be. made.there, and.the next leg of the journey will' be to' Lord Howe: Island, which should be reached in, three days and a half. From' there a course will be'set'for.the' Australiaiiic'oast. v • A Dredging Problem. ' i The .;New Harbour ' Board^ is,,faced with three -alternatives in, togai'd '.to""its future" dredging policy. One is to ::reebmiissi6n the old Paritutu at a cost _of-from;:£Booo,.:tp £8500, tfie seepnd^s to hireth&Wanganui: dredge Elaionei "wluA; r last'suinnier involved jan expenditure^f £5200,' and Ithei'third'lis to; acquire a" new dredge. A; sub-commit-tee was -set<up at the :last: meeting of the-.Hoard to.- make inquiries regarding the Kaipne, also to report generally on; the position at the next meetings The chairman;of the-.board (Mr, C. B.'Bellringer)- stated;- according; to the "Tara--nakr'Herald;''that.-he thought-it was .essential the board should; within' the »noxt 'few years buy a' new dredge •specially constructed for the i requirementsof the port..' The new dredge ?would not do heavy work; and when the :tiine came for that, ■which he did not think t would be fpr some years yet, the "^question of a bigger dredge would have to be gone into. ' .-. ■ Egg Prices Below Bedrock. - The"' statement that egg prices had fallen below bedrock was made by a New . Plymouth poultry-keeper of long standing to a "Taranaki Herald" reporter. ■ The prices ruling to-day;, he said, were--so low -that, if they continued for any length of- time; many now struggling for a very .meagre: existence as poultry-keepers would, be forced out of' business and into the ranks; of the unemployed.' The" prices being offered for eggs! at the present time were the -lowest since the war! Costs of: production had not been sub? ,s,tantially reduced, and those who were keeping'fowls were'finding difficulty in balancing their A New Plymouth grocer-said that producers were receiving only Bd-av dozen,. ; for their eggs,.,which were being retailed at lOd. He. believed that; the lowest possible price which would'make t the keeping of fowls profitable: was Is a dozen, and then the .fowls would have,to lay regularly.^ However, Jie anticipated that the present prices would not last longhand that there would -be -an. improvement within the next week orj so. : ; Kowjng; Style. : ".' ■ The opinion, that the eight-oar race at the -Olympic Games should be contested' over a''course of at least two miles and a half instead of the present course of a mile and a quarter was expressed by Mr. H. Pearce, father of Bob Pearce, Olympic sculling champion., who is a passenger to Sydney by the Monowai, which arrived yesterday from San Francisco. "I really liked the style of the New Zealanders," said-Mr: Pearce," "but i their -combination was bad," -'. Mr. Pearce was not impressed with the style of the' Calif ornian crew, the winners. They were in wonderful condition, he saidy.full of enthusiasm, ■were young fellows,: and had the will toi win. The short course, he considered, did not show a crew's'style to the best advantage, and for that reason the course should bej,longer. "As a style of. rowing,, the New Zealand style is really good,? .he concluded. Maoris Fear Mount Egmont. No one has yet been able to explain why the Maoris apparently eschew the Stratford district as a place of residence, saysa correspondent of the "Taranaki; Herald."; Mr. W. H. Skinner jof New . Plymouth,^ who gave an address on Maori lore at Stratford last Thursday, stated that he had personally interviewed ■ the Natives on the subject, but, had never received an adequate explanation.■■• The Maoris greatly feared Mount :Bgmont, and though on occasions'- they visited ,it>. the trip was made "only after rigid religious- ceremonies, "and they, were careful.not to infringe the law of tapu. The last .occasion that he; was aware'of when Maoris were on ithe slopes', of the mountain was when the:.Waipuku block was b& ing:, surveyed. The- survey party followed the Waipuku Stream to Warwick Castle,' where- a - fearful, storm was ex-' perienced and the-men'sought shelter. The Maoris later refused to go further, saying that the fury of the gods had boon aroused, and one even threatened the 'surveyor with a tomahawk.- Only ono Maori, to the speaker's knowledge, had reached the summit of Egmont.

Trouble with Wool Cargo.. A few bales of wool which it is understood were loaded at Oamaru were found to be in a heated condition in one •of the holds of the Shaw, Savill,' and Albion steamer Tairoa when the vessel arrived early yesterday, morning from Timaru. The affected bales wore unloaded ( yesterday, as were, other bales in the same . consignment, for examination. The. Tairoa is now expected to leave Wellington on Wednesday for Southampton and London, via Capo Horn. ' . . . . Wood Taint in Butter. An experiment at present being conducted'in Taranaki may, in the future, mean, millions of pounds to the dairying industry ;in New . Zealand, saya the '' Taranaki Herald." : Complaints have been received frbin the Home markets that some of the butter .at -present being sent from the Dominion /suffers from wood taint. The trouble has been confined almost entirely to butter boxed in foreign woods; but rumour ~ has it that certain of Nevir Zealand's white pine is not above suspicion. A.preparation composed principally of a. dairying .by-product has been invented for coating; the insides! of butter boxes, which is said to preserve, the butter better and to prevent its suffering from wood taint. Stringent tests have been carried out and so far the preparation has proved eminently satisfactory. Transport of Stock and.Poultry. • Efforts are still being made by the Wellington branch of the S.P.C.A, to secure a' new stock route from Khandallah road to the abattoirs, and the matter is to- be further discussed by a deputation from the committee to the Makara County Council. It is hoped that the combined efforts of the society, the Wellington Automobile Club,--and the Master Butchers' Association .will be successful in effecting this much needed . improvement. The transport of poultry to markets was the subject of a recent conference between members of the society and the chief poultry officer of the Department of Agriculture. The committee has- been of the. opinion' for. a long time' past that there, is loom" fpr considerable improvement in the methods used by some pepple; for 'consigning birds to the market, and it is hoped that as a result, of .the co-operation of the Department and'the society more satisfactory, arrangements will be 'insisted upon. ■■' ''-." '"'.' -'■ '/;."■!■■:. ■ .;*-•' ■■' ;,