NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 135, 5 December 1944, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

WEATHER FORECAST

Situation report: A depression is moving away to the south-east, and an anii-cyclone is advancing on to the western Tasman. Forecast to 5 p.m. Wednesday: Moderate southerly winds, turning northerly tomorrow; still a risk of a brief shower or two, but weather fair to fine tomorrow. Temperatures rather cool. Further outlook: Fair to line. Temperature at 9 a.m., 53 degrees. New moon, December 16. High Water.—Today, 9.33 p.m.; tomorrow, 9.48 a.m., 10.21 p.m. Sun sets today 7.41 p.m.; rises tomorrow, 4.41 a.m., sets 7.42 p.m. Old Ships' End. Two old ships, the Glenelg, of 160 tons, formerly a unit of the Northern Steamship Company's fleet, and the Hikurangi, which was engaged in the Portland cement trade, were towed from Auckland to Whangaparoa yesterday by units of the Auckland Launch and Towboat Company. They will be beached to form a breakwater for a launch harbour. The Glenelg was built in 1878 and the Hikurangi in 1889. Their last resting place will be near the Kakapo and Wainui, which were also beached there. Mount Egmont Roads. The Egmont National Park Board has accepted the Government's offer to take over the roads in the mountain reserve and abolish the existing tolls and park fees, states a Press Association telegram. The Government will subsidise donations made by all local bodies in the Taranaki Province to the park board on a pound-for-pound basis, on the understanding that local bodies will make donations, equivalent to a rate of l-100d in the pound on the rateable capital value of the property in their respective areas. A subsidy on va pound-for-pound basis will also be payable on donations from the three power boards in the Taranaki Province, even though these power boards do not have any rating powers. Should the subsidy on this basis exceed £1250 per annum, then the rate of subsidy will be reviewed so as to limit the annual grant to £1250. , Sea Excursions by Deer. Occasionally deer, especially stags, feel an urge to stray from one locality to another. Such cases occur in Stewart Island where deer, which have an unlimited supply of food, swim off to islets in Patterson Inlet. Some of the deer will swim as far as three miles. Rangers of the Department of Internal Affairs are on the lookout for the intruders (states the Minister, the Hon. W. E. Parry), but as the deer do not stay long on the islets it is not easy to waylay them. They get into thick bush, where it is difficult to shoot them. Moreover, the rangers must time their visits to coincide with those of the deer. Recently one shooter trailed a deer twice round a small islet and was half-way through the third lap before he found that the animal had taken to the sea. It could be seen in the dim distance swimming strongly for the mainland. j Loan for Hospital Laundry. Except, for a question from Councillor J. D. Sievwright whether the matter would go before the ratepayers, the City Council yesterday afternoon had no objection to a proposal from the Wellington Hospital Board to raise a loan of £25,000 for extension of the laundry facilities at the main hospital. The city engineer (Mr. K. E. Luke) presented a brief report to the effect that better facilities were cer- [ tainly required, but in his opinion the . only satisfactory solution would be a new laundry; he questioned the necessity of fluorescent lighting. Councillor W. J. Gaudin, who is a member of the Hospital Board, said that the work had increased so greatly that extensions in the laundry were essential. He agreed that a new laundry would be desirable, but said that this was not a time to go in for extensive rebuilding, if it could be avoided. The proposed extensions would suffice for some years. Better Bathing' Facilities. ' There remains in the Thorndon re-; clamation compensation fund about1 £800, and the City Council • decided j yesterday afternoo: to make application for £520 of this amount towards the erection of a bathing shed at Prin-' cess Bay, the full estimated cost of which is £1170, and for the expenditure of the .balance of the compensation meneys uron improvements and renovations' at the Thorndon baths, the latter matter being brought to the council's notice by Councillor M. F. Luckie. Replying to a question from Councillor M. Fraser about the likelihood of the unattended dressing shed at Princess hay becoming damaged • and unsightly, Councillor R. L. Macalister, chairman of the reserves committee, said that the building j would be of concrete, would not have i windows, and generally would be designed to retain its good appearance. Councillor M. S. Galloway said thaj; he was not very happy about Princess Bay, which he regarded as a dangerous beach. Goats Due to Mutton Birds. Maori taste- for mutton birds has brought goats to islets owned by natives close to the coast of Stewart Island, states the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr. Parry). The animals are used to check lush growth of vegetation which hinders the excavation of nesting burrows by mutton birds and other petrels. The chief cause of trouble is the punui (stilbocarpa), a plant which looks like rhubarb and is sometimes grown in gardens because of its ornamental dark-green Ueaves and large loose clusters of small pink flowers. Its rank growth will reach up to four feet. In its original home, the sub-Antarctic islands, the broad glossy leaves of the punui, suggestive of tropical swamps, seem out of place in the wind-swept tree-daisy scrub. It is thought by some observers to be a survivor from long-gone ages when these islands: had a warmer climate. No doubt, the goats, following the destructive habits of their kind in other scenic localities, will not be content with a perpetual diet of punui. It is feared that they will make their presence as regrettable as that of the goats which strayed from blackberry browsing into the forest mantle of Egmont. There the animals have become a serious problem. No New Broadcasting- Stations. An indication that because technical equipment was required for war purposes no new broadcasting stations could be established in New Zealand till after the war was given by the Director of Broadcasting, Professor James Shelley, at the opening in Wanganw of the annual art exhibition, states the "Wanganui Chronicle" Ihe chairman of the City Council's Sar?n a£ r£ a.ller y Committee, Councillor I. N. Dickson, said they hoped that the next occasion on which Professor Shelley spoke there would be at the opening of Wanganui's new broadcasting station. Professor Shelley said that the National Broadcasting Corporation had funds available, but since the start of the war manufacturers of radio equipment had been devoting then- attention almost exclusively to producing transmitters for the Navy Army, and Air Force. At one stage radio equipment was so much in demand that aircraft built in factories in the United States of America could not be placed in service because transmitters and other radio parts were not available. Due to war requirements orders placed by New Zealand for certain important materials had not yet been filled "I can assure you that after the war Wanganui's claims for a broadcasting station will be given due and careful consideration," Professor Shelley added.