NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 80, 1 October 1938, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

German Harvest Thanksgiving. Tomorrow, being the first Sunday after Michaelmas, official harvest thanksgiving day celebrations will take place throughout Germany, and the German national flag will be flown on the German Consulate-General in Wellington. Fruit Prices. Tauranga citrus fruit growers are at present receiving very low prices for lemons in Wellington owing to the overloading of the market at a time when there is no great demand for the fruit. Best cured lemons were seUing this week at the city markets at 4s a case, a price which is far from payable to the growers. Apple prices during the week ranged from 2s to 10s a case over the five grades. Growers are guaranteed 5s 2d a case for most grades under the Government's fruit guarantee scheme. Queensland pineapples in good order were being sold yesterday at 15s and 16s a case. Gisborne Sheep. There is still no demand in Poverty Bay for breeding ewes on forward delivery to the Waikato and indications continue to point to the assumption that practically all mobs going north early in the coming year will be on consignment, states a Gisborne correspondent. Waikato farmers appear content to wait.until they can ascer-" tain whether conditions point to a further outbreak of facial eczema . in the autumn. If such conditions rule Gisborne farmers may find difficulty in securing markets in the Auckland Province. In the meantime large numbers of cattle continue to travel between Gisborne and the Waikato and on Tuesday approximately .1200 were counted on the road between Motu and Te Karaka. It has been suggested that the Wajjcato farmers may turn their attention to fattening cattle until February, when a decision can be reached as to whether it Avill be more profitable to continue with cattle .or revert to sheep.

Whalebone Mere.Found.

A splendid example of a Maori whalebone mere was found recently by Mr. R. Hoffman, of Invercargill, at Mararoa, near Lake Te Anau. The mere, which is 18 inches long and five inches across at the widest part of the blade, weighs three pounds, and is I absolutely without a flaw. The handle has been drilled to carry a thong and is carved to a peculiar design, suggestive of two human faces. The edge is sharp and unchipped. Mr. Hoffman discovered the mere among several Maori ovens and other signs of Maori life. The School Motto. "Many schools have a motto in Latin; at least, it is supposed to be Latin," said Mr. Julius Hogben in an address to members of the Auckland Creditmen's Club on the subject of "This Old School Tie Business," reports the "New Zealand Herald." "If you ask a boy what the motto of his school means in English, he will probably teU you he does not take Latin," added Mr. Hogben. "One school has the motto 'per angusta ad augusta,' which I have been told means through the depression and onward and upward." Training Snipers. An excellent response has already been made to the suggestion by the Defence Department that the National Rifle Association should co-operate with it in forming twelve sniper platoons—one for each infantry regiment Each platoon is to contain 20 marksmen whose training wiU be carried out by a rifle club. Eighteen clubs have already indicated their fuU approval of the scheme and it is expected that very many more than the number of men required will be available. Inquiries made today indicated that the Wellington branch of the N.R.A. is keenly interested in the scheme and although it has not yet been possible to canvass all its members, no difficulty is anticipated in finding its full quota. Among the many letters received by the defence authorities in connection with the scheme, the consensus of Opinion is that the scheme will not only produce first-class snipers but will further stimulate interest in the territorial movement. The conditions governing the scheme were published in "The Post" this week. "These Will Be No War." "There will be no war between the nations of Europe," said an eighty-year-old Maori chief at Waitotara on Wednesday night at a time when the latest dispatches from London indicated the blackest of outlooks, says the "Taranaki Daily News." How the old chief formed his prediction is an intriguing story of Maori lore. At the end of July, 1914, the planet Venus was in proximity to a crescent moon. As the nights passed the two came together, until Venus appeared to move within an arc of the crescent. Almost immediately there followed a war that in- | volved the world. For some nights this week the chief watched Venus and the crescent moon slowly coming together. Wednesday, he was aware, :was the day on which the fate of the world would be decided. If Venus descended into the arc of the crescent, as in 1914, war between the nations was inevitable. Venus sank in the heavens —but the brightness of the planet shone from behind the shoulder of the moon. - ___________