NEWS NOTES

Grey River Argus, 30 March 1906, Page 1

NEWS NOTES

The sheep-killinff propensities ot the kea parrot have hitherto been chiefly confined to the country on the eastern slopes of the Southern Alps The bird now, however, appears to be turning his attention to the flocks' on the West Coast, says the Otago Daily Times. At Mahitahi, Bruce Bay, in South Westland, Mr Thomas Condon the oldest settler in that district, lost last year 150 sheep, which he believed to have been killed by keas. He had seen the birds at work on the sheep, digging away with their strong beaks in search of the kidney fat, and many sheep were found dead or dying. In one day not long ago Mr Condon shot eighteen keas. At the same time, these destructive habits do not appear to be characteristic of the whole kea race. In more northern sections of the Coast, as for instance, round the Franz Josef Glac ier, where keas are frequently seen in large numbers, there has been no complaint of them attacking the settlers' flocks."

The Registrar of Pensions at Wei lington has written to the North Canterbury Charitable Aid Board asking" it to reconsider its decision not to grant is a week to old ag~e pensioners who are inmates of its homes. At the meeting- of the Board held last week the chairman, Mr FT. Friedlander, said that according- to the strict reading- of the Act the Board had no right to take in any pensioners. In reply to Mr Wolfe, the chairman said that the pensioners sometimes stood in the way of other people who were not pensioners, but who would like to get into the homes. The secretary stated that most of the pensioners ir. the Old Men's Home could not be kept anywhere else for £i a week each. Further 'discussion, was held over till next meeting, when Mr Harper will move that all inmates of the home should be given is a week.

The question of individual desks for school children ' was raised % on March 21st at a meeting of the Otago Education Board by a request from the Alexandra School for such furniture for a room now in process oi erection. The Board declined the application in the meantime on the ground that it had not the funds at its disposal. It was agreed, however, that the Board's architect, should be instructed to report on the question generally, so that the Board might have information at its command in case of other requests from school committees. Mr Borrie mentioned that if the individual desk principle were adopted the accommodation would require to be about trebled, while Mr^ Mackenzie remarked that he thought the reform was beyond the Board's j jurisdiction, being rather one for the J Government to inaugurate on a general scale throughout the colony. i

The Collector ot Customs at Auckland has received a communication from the secretary of the Department of Navigation ,ot New South Wales containing 'a. message found in a bottle cast up'Njn the New Sou^h Wales coast recently.^ The message which was written on^a slip of paper, says : "God help us \ Saturday, January 9, '06. Ship Catihl^en. . If this' reaches "snore"" ' rf is " to " leH^n^iin^lTr' we^Tve' ' struck rock two days after leaving Auckland, New Zealand. Every appearance of all lives being lost, as there is a terrible sea running, and two of our small boats smashed. Please send word to my wife, address Mrs (the name indecipherable, but appears like Thornley), Riley street, Auckland, New Zealand." The message is evidently one of those miberable hoaxes which are occasionally perpetrated by thoughtless and foolish people. No vessel named the j Cathleen has been trading between New Zealand and Australia, or any other port, and no vessel of the name has left Auckland this year.

Hawke's Bay in common with other parts of the colony, is at present enjoying a wave of solid prosperity The season for famers all round—' especially sheep^farmes — has (says the New Zealand Times) been highly sat isfactory. Evidence of the bright con dition of things is seen in the buoyant feeling evinced throughout thr province. Settlement around Hasrings and adjoining districts is proceeding apace,, and new buldings are going up in all directions. At Napier, which had not made a forward move for some time, there exists a building "boom" on a small scale. I particularly in residential villas • and sections on the hills and elsewhere., which for years were allowed to remain unutilised, are now graced with pretty residences. Napier, hov;ever, in comparison with other parts of the colony, still suffers from a drawback which is not in keeping with the undoubted enterpibe showxi in recent times by its citizens— it rr tnains without a free public reading room. Last year Major Patterson, of the Victorian forces, wrote to South Africa, asking if the graves of soldiers were being attended to in any way. A reply has been received from the military secretary .at Capetown, stating that in 1902 Cape Colony passed an act giving it legal right to take over ground in which soldiers were buried. The colonial Government had also undertaken the care of soldiers' graves. When the ground was taken over it was fenced in, and graves were visited. These remarks apply .only to Cape Colony, but the military secretary believes that Natal, the Transvaal, and the Orange River Colony kave dealt with the subject on similar lines.