NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 41, 18 February 1941, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Victory Baths. A suggestion that an excellent victory memorial for Wellington would be a tepid bath was made by Mr, E. A. Woodfield at last night's meeting of. the Wellington Centre of the Swimming Association. A really useful war memorial, was a thing which few people seemed to consider, he said, but once the public became aware of the need for tepid baths in Wellington he felt sure that adequate support would be given. Money in Mushrooms. A seasonal occupation in the Rangitikei is picking mushrooms for the Auckland market, writes "The Post's" representative. It is estimated that up to £3000 is thus earned during the season. At 27s 6d a benzine tin.full, two Marton students managed to pay their University fees with the proceeds oij mushroom-gathering. New Swedish Passports. The Consul for Sweden at Wellington Mr. J. T. Martin, has received advice from the Consul-General for Sweden at Sydney, that instructions have been issued by the Foreign Office in Stockholm, Sweden, that all Swedisn passports now in use are to be replaced. New passports will be issued on application to the Consulate at Wellington, or the vice-consulates at Auckand, Christchurch, and Dunedin. An Unexpected Message. An unexpected, anonymous message of good will from Birmingham to New Zealand was discovered when the last of a roll of sheet copper was taken from its wooden core by a Christchurch firm. Written in pencil along the core, a piece of wood, about 16 inches long, were the words, "Good old Anzacs" in block capitals, and below in handwriting, "All the best from Birmingham." The roll of copper was delivered in Christchurch in December. Praise for Waiouru Camp. "I am sure Waiouru Camp is going to be a great asset to New Zealand not only during the war but possibly after, because the place is so healthy," said the Hon. Vincent Ward, M.L.C., secretary of the Wellington Provincial Patriotic Council, who has returned from a visit to Army and Air Force training establishments in the Central Military District "From my personal 'observation and inquiry the men already there are both happy and fit," he said. "With such a climate and bracing atmosphere I don't see how it could be otherwise.' Godwit Season Ended. No big bags of godwits have been reported for the shooting season, which ended on Friday, although the birds were considered more numerous than last year. During the season of 14 days there were few shooters, and no high tides occurred, the poor results being attributed to the calm weather and low tides making it difficult to get near the birds. Reports from Ninety Mile Beach and Parengarenga indicate that better results have been obtained there than in the Kaipara Harbour areas, but no limit bags have been reported. "Grey Nurse" Landed. A grey nurse shark weighing 2301b and 9ft 6in in length was caught off Limestone Island in Whangarei Harbour, early on Friday morning, states the "Auckland Star." Fishing from Mr. S. Lovatt's launch, Mr. H. Cunis hooked the shark at midnight. After half an hour's struggle he handed the line to Mr. Bruce Lovatt, who continued to play the fish for another hour and a half. When finally brought alongside, it was completely exhausted. Grey nurse sharks are vicious fish, and some years ago a shark of this variety snapped a man's hand off. at Mangapai. Experiments in Black-outs. Though preliminary plans are being made and there have been some experiments, no general application is to be given the black-out or partial black-out plans recently announced until the detailed requirements of the Government are made known, said Mr. Cable, General Manager of the Electricity Department, today. These details were expected within a few days, and*until then the department's officers would continue experiments as to the most effective means of blacking out city lights from the sea and from above, while retaining sufficient ground illumination. Obviously it was wiser to wait foT the issue of regulations and requirements before applying the results of the experiments so far carried out. America's Defence Programme. "Our defence programme seems to be gaining impetus, and the money being poured into it is already being felt, in retail circles particularly," writes an American business man to a friend in Wellington in a letter just received. "Naturally we are all distressed a bit that it takes so long to get under way with the ambitious programme, but "it should not be too long before we have things pretty well organised. If the worst ever actually comes, we have some factories capable of turning out up to 1000 standardised planes a day. Of course, this will not come. about until our army aviation experts forget about perfection in each plane and constant improvement. They will have to select some good all-round plane and go in for mass production." Old Ship Runs Again. Cargo offering between Blenheim and Wellington in recent weeks has increased considerably, and for the first time in many years there are two coastal vessels engaged in this service at the same time, the regular scow Echo and the steamer Wairau, which as the schooner Ronga, was the fastest coaster in New Zealand waters m the early 1900's. In September, 1900, the year of her launch, she made a record passage between Wellington and Lyttelton of 18 hours, very fast time for a sailing vessel, but in April, 1906, she capsized in a gale near Kaikoura, the master and crew of seven losing their lives. The Wairau was found noatin;? bottom up and towed to Wellington, where William Cable and Company installed the engines that still propel her across Cook Strait. Spread of Opossums. Damage done to crops and maize and fruit in the Uawa County and adjacent portions of Cook County by the fast increasing opossum population has led to drastic action by the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr. Parry), who has notified the Uawa County Council that open areas are to be declared in which the taking or killing of opossum? by settlers will be permitted all the year round, states a Gisborne correspondent. During recent years settlers in the infested localities have lost interest in their orchards, which have been raided constantly by opossums and rendered practically valueless. Maize crops have been damaged to an extent that discouraged many farmers and other crop losses of substantial nature have been attributed to opposums. Poor markets for the skins of opossums in recent seasons have caused a fallingoff in the number of trappers working the district during the restricted period during which trapping may be practised under licence, and this is one of I the causes of the rapid increase in j opossum colonies.