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Evening Star, Issue 21711, 4 May 1934, Page 8

Poultry Notes and Kennel Notes appear on page 2 of this issue, and in future will be a regular Friday feature. The poultry section is being enlarged to include fancy varieties. The various committees connected with the St. Kilda queen carnival, which is being held for the purpose of raising funds to improve tho attractions at the St. Kilda Beach, are actively engaged in organising and carrying out functions with a view to furthering the interests of their respective queens. The card evening held by the executive of the tramways queen was a distinct success, and tho enthusiasm displayed augurs well for the prospects of that queen. The winners of the competitions were: Ladies—Mrs Hacket 1, Mr Robertson 2, Mrs Nisbet 3; men—Mr C. Agnew 1, Mr C. Allen 2, Mr M‘Farlane 3. Mr A. M. Webster, who is acting as hon. secretary and treasurer of the Queen Committee, addressed the gathering in regard to the carnival, and stated that the Tramways Queen Committee would hold a smoke concert in the near future. Reports from Dunedin sportsmen who went to the country for the opening of tho shooting season are not in exulting terms. The experiences in the low country have so far been disappointing. Only small bags were secured from the usually satisfactory region round about tho back of Lake Waihola and towards Berwick, and in other places within easy reach of Dunedin the luck was no better. Everybody seems agreed that birds are plentiful in most districts, but just now are keeping to the high fastnesses. With a change of weather to conditions more favourable for shooting the whole prospect is likely to improve. The Alexandra paper has it that the calm and mild weather there tended to make the ducks cautious and disinclined to come in. Local sportsmen report, however, that game was plentiful and fair bags were secured. Many individual parties report having secured the limit.

Ample supplies of all seasonable fruits are still available in the Dunedin market, particularly choice ripe Niue and Samoan bananas, which are retailed at low prices. Rarotongan oranges, American lemons, and grapefruit, pumpkins, and pie melons are coming south in sufficient quantities. In all lines to-day prices are entirely in favour of buyers, with the possible exception of grapes. Some really choice Gros Colmars have realised up to 2s Id per lb, and others up to Is lOd, and there is every indication of high prices being maintained for the grapes now available.

Mr J. W. Hooney, of Roxburgh, a member of the Otago Art Society whose paintings of New Zealand scenery for the 1925-26 Exhibition were freely commended, has produced an example of his best work in a picture now on view in Smith and Smith’s window. It is a studv in oils of a short stretch of the Arthur River, where it flows through a mountain gorge adjacent to the Milford track. The artist has chosen a subject that demands and has received breadth of treatment, the suggestion of heights and great dimensions generally being effectively conveyed. The lighting is also very skilful, and the_ detail of vegetation is truly characteristic, the small work so well done as to exclude the finickiness that sometimes in such pictures abounds to a fault. Official advice was received at Wellington yesterday that the tenders for the” proposed Government Life Insurance building were considered to be too high. After the tenders had closed they were placed before Cabinet, and it was decided that the matter should be reconsidered. It is understood that the tenders were several thousands of pounds above the architect’s estimate. The first election of the newly constituted Lake Wakatipu Power Board takes place on October 31. An Order in Council fixes the representation of the constituent district as under: Lake County, three representatives; Queenstown Borough, three; Arrowtown Borough, one.—Wellington correspondent. An increase in revenue of £176 (equal to per cent.) from April Ito April ‘>B as compared with the corresponding period of last year, is reported in the traffic returns submitted by the tramw»v manager to the Tramways Committee. For the past fortnightly period the return indicates an increase m revenue of £l2 as compared with the corresponding period of last year.

Application to the local Government Loans Board for sanction of the raising of loans totalling £264,000 for the purpose of repaying the under-mentioned loans amounting to £330,000, which mature on September 1. next, will be recommended by tho Finance Committee at the City Council’s meeting on Wednesday next:—Antecedent liability loan, £BO,OOO at 6 per cent, and £50,000 at 5f per cent, (sinking fund at September 1, 1934, £19,800); Waipori Falls loan, 1922, £122,800 at 6 per cent, and £77,200 at 5J per cent, (sinking fund at September 1, 1934, £45,800); total, £330,000 (£65,600). The tender of Mr E. Davis (£26) for the purchase for removal of the old dwelling formerly occupied by the sexton of the Anglican portion of the Southern Cemetery has been accepted by tho Finance Committee of the City Council. The Finance Committee of the City Council reports the sale of three allotments in the Maine Township at upset prices as follow:—£22o, £l9O, and £75 respectively. Permission for the holding of students’ capping procession on May .16 has been granted by tho General Committee of the City Council, and also for the sale of University capping books in the streets. Permission has been granted by the Reserves Committee of tho City Council for Derry’s Military Band, Christchurch, to play in tho rotunda at the Botanic Gardens on the afternoon of Sunday, October 21 next, and to take up a collection. One application for a license for an “ offensive trade ” to be carried on in Devon street, which has been approved by the medical officer of health," has been granted by the General Committee of the City Council on condition that the permit holds good for six months only and will be subject to review at the end of that period. The Central Fire Brigade was summoned to a chimney fire in George street at 8.45 p.m. yesterday. No damage was done. Wide interest is being manifested in the Empire art loan collection exhibition in the Pioneers’ Hall. The many notable works on view possess a quality and diversity that give the exhibition a singular attraction, and there is every indication that it is to be eminently successful. Yesterday some 250 people visited the hall and were obviously delighted with the worth and range of the pictures. The residents of a small village not far from To Awamutu built a social and dance hall from the proceeds of euchre tournaments and socials. The question then arose as to the disposal of the old hall, and it was decided to raffle it and to use the proceeds to defray the expenses of the new building. Residents of the district rushed the sale of the tickets, which were of a nominal value. One family decided not to participate in the competition, as they had not had any luck in winning anything in the large number of raffles in which they had participated. But the youngest boy of the family, a lad of nine years, thought that he would like to have a ticket, although his father described it as a waste of money. Tho boy kept worrying his father to buy him a ticket, and at last won out. At the drawing of the lottery the boy’s name was announced as the owner of the hall, which is an old wooden one worth about £SO or £6O. The_ boy’s father, who was on a business visit to Christchurch, received a telegram from the excited lad as follows:—“ Won that hall: what shall Ido with it?” As the building has to be sold for removal, the lad is in a quandary. However, he is now the richer by a good sum of money with which to start a banking account. A prominent Blenheim inventor is busily engaged just now in perfecting what he has named the “ Rover Radio ” (states the Marlborough Express ’). It consists of the ordinary type of transmitting instrument, to which is attached a bed phone to be be affixed to dog owners’ beds, so that when the dogs (to which the other end of the apparatus will be attached) bark in the night they will wake their masters’ households and nobody else. If the machine fails to accomplish its purpose within, say, fifteen seconds a lethal gas will be released and the dog will die. There will, it is expected, bo a very large demand for the specia de luxe model of the instrument, which makes a splendid gift, and many dogowners will no doubt receive “ Rovers ” from exasperated neighbours. There were 431 registered dogs in the borough as at March 31, but this, the inventor claims, must be only a small percentage of the total canine population, because a mere 431 could not create half the noise that sometimes makes night hideous.

The winning ticket in the “ Lucky Cat ” Art Union, which was drawn on Tuesday, was held by a syndicate of three employees of the Fanners’ Trading Company Ltd.—Messrs F. L. Moylan, P. M'Douald, and R. MTlwraith. All three, although elated by their success, were very reticent, and attempted to keep the fact secret, but the news soon leaked out among their friends and fellow-employees. The ticket was bought from a street seller during a tea hour stroll one Friday evening. It was taken under the nom-de-plume of “ Three M’s,” the initial letter of each of their names. _ By a strange coincidence another ticket with the same nom-de-plume was bought from the same vendor, and as it was held in the country an Aucklander and his wife considered that it might possibly be the one in which they had a share. Their hopes were dashed, however, by the receipt of a telegram from the holder of the ticket. In order to demonstrate modern dairying conditions a dinner was served in a cowshed following the official opening of the newly-metalled South HeadMairetahi road, near Helensville, last Saturday afternoon. The novel meal was served on the property of Mr A. G. Lowe, at South Head, Mr Lowe remarking that if the , building was good enough for milking 'hows it was good enough to eat in it. A dinner in such a clean and up-to-date shed showed fanners under what hygienic conditions butter-fat could be produced. Before the dinner the forty guests inspected other parts of the farm, the model piggeries in particular being the subject of very favourable comment. The list of anniversaries published in last night’s ‘ Star ’ included the proclamation whereby New was declared independent of New South Wales. The outline facts run thus: In June of 1839 Captain Hobson was made Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand. He sailed from England m H. Druid, arriving at Port Jackson (Sydney) in December. He there received from the Governor _ of New South Wales the commission issued by the Queen. He left Sydney on January 19 1840, in H.M.S. Herald (Captain Nias), arrived at the Bay of Islands on the 29th of the same month, and thereupon exercised his rights on behalf of the British Government, the relationship between England and New Zealand being thus made direct. In five and a-half years from now New Zealand will be preparing to celebrate the centenary of its birth as a selfcontained unit of the Empire,

An offer from Mr A. Douglas, of Beaumont, to accept the sum of £2O for the purchase by the council of his sections at Waipori township has been accepted by the E.P. and L. Committee of the City Council. These sections have been entirely submerged by the waters of Lake Mahinerangi, and are likely to remain so. The purchase of two new motor cars to replace other vehicles which have now reached the end of their economic life is recommended by the Electric Power and Lighting Committee of the _ City Council. It is proposed that one of the old vehicles be sold and the other retained as a spare. If the recommenda. tion be approved tenders 'will be called for the new vehicles. Arrangements have been made by the Water Committee of the City Council for the sale of approximately two acres of pinus muricata in the Leith Valley plantations at 5s per hundred feet, log measurement. The trees are to be felled by the council and trimmed, and the logs delivered at a loading bank alongside the plantation at this price. The branches and trimmings will be the property of the council. This plantation is just over twenty-five years of age, and. though not fully mature, the sale at the price stated is a very satisfactory one. Training for the use of leisure has been much discussed lately. Therefore interest attaches to a novel development in a local school. The Technical College managers recognise that the ordinary work-a-day subjects instruction do not provide all the training desirable. Accordingly a “free hour for hobby classes is provided on Wednesday afternoons, when students may practice string games, wireless, draughts, music, photography, and other pastimes. These are not only cultural hours, but a happy bond between teacher and pupils, who are led into a new world.

The General Committee of the City Council recommends that authority be granted to proceed with the work of constructing a manhole and chute, laying rails, shifting valve, altering corner of office, and supplying a 6cwt trucK for the purpose of making provision for the taking of coal into the tepid baths building from the Moray place frontage. The total estimated cost of the work, including the construction of a crossing over channel, is £57. This arrangement will obviate the use of the right-of-way on the north side of the building, the privilege of using which has been costing the council a sum of £lO per annum. Owing to the tempting offers for lupin seed, which is worth about 5s a bushel, several South Canterbury farmers have grown and threshed lupin crops this year with satisfactory results (states the ‘ Timaru Herald ’). Even headmasters sometimes make mistakes. At a New Plymouth annual meeting of householders, said one:— “ It will not be necessary _ for me to dwell on the scholastic side pat any length, those of you who are interested see the annual reports in the paper every month.” He then went on with an excellent address on other matters, quite oblivious to the fact that he had made a delightful “bull.” Judging from the faces of his audience lully M per cent, of those present were equally oblivious of the mistake.

In the early days of trotting in Dunedin—the days when James Allan, Jack Poole, Mat M'Laren, the Crossaus and Jack Taggart were amongst the prominent riders—queer tricks to secure an advantage without running much risk were as common as they aie to-day. One little artifice was the subject of a tale that perhaps is still remembered. Sam had a mare that was proved to be fast, but unreliable because any strange sound in a race caused her to break. The mare passed into Tom’s hands, and Sam, who felt aggrieved at losing her, cultivated a resonant tongue-click, vowing to use it on the mare if opportunity arose. His chance came. She led his mount into the straight; he spurted and clicked, and she stopped to listen. Tom discovered the trick, and, saying nothing, he bided his time, and it came soon at the Forbury. The same two trotters met again, and once more drew clear for a finish. Sam winked at Ins mate inside the rails signalling him to watch the clicking take effect. What the mate saw was not what he expected. The mare went on unconcernedly and won. Sam was a bit wiser when five minutes later Tom drew from the mare’s ears plugs made from a copy of the Evening Star,’ and explained that as it w -.s' a windy day he thought it as_ well to prevent the mare from catching cold in her ears! Save your eyes. Be wise and consult W. V. Sturmer (optician, , 2 Octagon), thus conserving good vision for old age.—[Advt. J