LOCAL & GENERAL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 110, 22 April 1936, Page 6

LOCAL & GENERAL

Anzac Day. '‘The Tribune” will NOT be published on Saturday next, Anzac Day. Sprout, From Brussels. At a recent wedding in Hastings the best man was reading the messages of congratulation, among which was a cable signed with the name of Sprott. The best man read the name as Sprout, and the officiating clergyman wittily called out: “Is it from Brussels ” Consistent Generosity. Something of a record in consistent generosity and thoughtfulness had been established by Airs. Taylor, of Longlands, who for a number of years, and in all seasons, has supplied the Hastings Women’s Rest with free gifts ol flowers, The council’s appreciation ot those gifts is expressed in the annual report on the Rest. Revenue From Dogs.

The sale of dog collars provides no inconsiderable part of the Hastings Borough Council’s revenue, and the annual report of the borough ranger, Air. J. Hall, shows that in the year up io the end of March 604 collars were sold, bringing in £233 12/- in fees. In spite of this generous return from the community of dogs, 53 of their number were destroyed during the year. A Good Pen’orth. A man who sought to obtain a stamp from one of the machines in the Hastings Post Office vestibule shortly after nine o’clock last evening was given a surprise. Ou inserting the penny, ths mechanism collapsed and h e was presented with a roll of about £2 worth of stamps to say nothing of a fine heap of coppers. He reported the matter to an official, who immediately removed the stamps and the coins. About 4 a.m. a police constable on his morning round found the machine broken and reported the matter, thinking that some miscreant had been at work. An Unusual Rainbow. A beautiful and unusual eight was seen in the western sky soon after seven o’clock this morning in Hastings when a vivid rainbow, making a complete arc, was set against an almost black sky. The sunshine from the eastern sky shone on the blackness of the rainclouds behind the rainbow, and the resulting effect of intense illumination reflected from the darkness was almost eerie. The effect lasted for some minutes before it gave place to a heavy storm of rain and wind, which, however, soon passed to give way to bright sunshine. The Turban. The Rev. Gunu Sekera, who is on a visit to the Dominion, in an address at Hamilton, referred to the turban which ho wore while speaking. He explained that it was worn in his own land as a safeguard against sunstroke. It is composed of several yards of cloth, and it is so fixed that the folds are placed on that portion of the head affected by tho sun. In India it would be regarded as a serious breach of etiquette to remove the head covering either in house or temple; the correct thing was to remove the shoes. There was, he said, ample Biblical warrant for this practice, which was universal in Eastern countries.

Hastings Flowers. Quite the most successful exhibitor at the Auckland Horticultural Society s annual chrysanthemum show last week was the Hastings grower, Air. B. S. Felling, who was justly rewarded lor his enterprise by securing two cups, a certificate of merit, a silver medal, two bronze medals and a cash prize. Air. Felling’s success qyas due to tho outstanding texture of the blooms, and though an amateur his feat was the subject of considerable comment. Indeed, such was the excellence of bis display that he was approached by the society with the idea of sending over six blooms to Tasmania, but owing to the blocks of ice being two small for packing the blooms, tho society was unable to carry out its plans.

Sketches By Samuel Butler. Two original water colour sketches which are claimed to have, been tho work of Samuel Butler, the author of “Erewhon,” and which were taken from the walls of his old hut ou tho Mesopotamia Station, Canterbury, are to be seen at the exhibition of New Zealand books, literature, and curios which is being held by the Christchurch Authors Week Committee. The sketches were brought to the exhibition by a Mr. I’awson while members of the committee were making final arrangements lox the opening. One is a sketch of a red brick house with gabled windows, and set in sylvan surroundings. A photograph in an English weekly has disclosed that the house was Butler's English home. Tis the sketches were framed in England it is thought that Butler brought them to New Zealand with him.

Distance and Speed on Sea. All miles referred to on board ship are nautical miles, as distinct from laud miles. A statute or land mile is a purely arbitrary measure, and was defined as 5280 feet by an Act of Parliament passed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It bears no relation to any scale in Nature The nautical mile .is 6080 feet and is arrived at by an exact division of the meridianal circumference of the earth. Owing to the globe being bulged and flattened, the nautical mile varies slightly in length, being 60-16 feet at the Equator and 6108 feet at the Poles, so a mean of 6080 feet is adopted, and this is correct in latitudes 48 degrees north or south- The nautical mile, a unit of length, must not be confounded with the knot, a unit of speed. To say that a ship is doing 30 knots means that she is covering 30 knots means that she is covering 30 nautical miles an hour. The expression “knots an hour ’ is incorrect.