NEWS OF THE DAY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22729, 30 August 1948, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Injury to Hand. / An Ormond resident, Mr. Herewhina Ngaronga, injured his hand while pushing a tractor on Saturday and was later admitted to the Cook Hospital. He spent a good night and his condition today was reported to be comfortable. Competitions Dancing During her comments on the fancy dancing section at the Gisborne Competitions on Friday evening, when dealwith the tap dance competitors, 12 to 16, Miss Lorraine Major, Hamilton, drew attention to the fact that when Miss Colleen Hills, the section winner, corrected her deportment she would be a most promising performer and surely in the professional class.

New Rail Wagons The importation of new La wagons has enabled the Railways Department to alleviate to some extent the shortage of rolling stock for freight traffic. Of 3000 wagons ordered from Great Britain, 2976 have been shipped, and of these more than 2280 have already been assembled and placed in traffic. Railway workshops have assembled the wagons at an excellent average rate of 50 a week, the largest number turned out by any one workshop in a single week being 75.

Question of Recipes “I received three recipes from the defendant,” said the plaintiff in a case heard in the Supreme Court in Christchurch in which misrepresentation in the sale of a small goods business was alleged. “And did you follow the recipes?” asked the defendant’s counsel. “I only deviated from his recipe for ham and chicken because it was the same as his recipe for Belgian sausage. I had more demand for that than for any other small goods.” was the reply. “Why did you not build up that part of the business? Chickens were available, weren’t they?” was the next question. “Yes. But I’ve yet to see a ham and chicken roll that had anything to do with chicken,” was the reply.

Counting Wheat Grains A machine for counting grains of wheat has been developed by the Defence Development Section of the Department of Scientific and Industrie! Research, Christchurch, at the request of the Wheat Research Institute. The grains are counted to ensure the standardisation of trial plantings and the gauging of a new wheat variety’s performance compared with that of other strains. The wheat is poured into a tube, where it is separated into grains, which then pass under a photoelectric cell. The interruption of the light beam caused when the grains pass under the cell is recorded in the mechanical counter, which has ah error of .2 per cent.

Dehydration of Potatoes The possibility of the dehydration of potatoes to cope with present surpluses was discounted by Mr. T. L. Hayman. chairman of the potato committee of Federated Farmers, at a meeting of the South Canterbury provincial executive of Federated Farmers. The cost of dehydration of a ton of potatoes was £3O and nine tons were needed to produce a ton of dehydrated potatoes, which then had a value of about £3OO, he said. There were now 80 tons of dehydrated potatoes at Burnham. "Growers can be reasonably certain that the Government will stand behind them in taking over potatoes still on their hands at the end of the season,” he added. Kauri Gum Crisis Failure to keep up the quality of kauri gum chips had brought about a severe crisis in the industry, stated the annual report on the industry, tabled in the House of Representatives. Sales of chips were not being effected now unless a 75 to 80 per cent gum content was guaranteed, with the result that large quantities of gum estimated at 1000 tons and ox an approximate value of £50.000 were lying on northern gumfields. The future extension of the industry would depend on ability to produce a solvent refined gum at a figure which would enable it to compete with substitute gums and synthetics. During the year 1156 tons of gum, valued at £115,486. was exported.