ITEMS OF INTEREST

Northern Advocate, 16 June 1930, Page 2

ITEMS OF INTEREST

A case of five generations occupy-1 ing the same farm is perhaps unique ; in the Dominion (says the Christ- j church “Times”). Such, however, j has happened on Banks Peninsula. In 1840 the late Mr. Donald McKinnon came from Australia with his wife and family and settled at Island Bay, Wainui, where he engaged in whaling and farming. A daughter married the late Mr. Archibald McPhail and succeeded to the farm, which in turn was taken up by her son, Mr. Donald McPhail, and later on by the latter’s son, Mr. Kenneth McPhail, who has a young family and. thus completes the five generations. “The Auckland Islands are, I understand, leased as grazing land for a trifling sura per year,” said Dr. C. Coleridge Farr at Christchurch recently, “but they are not really suitable for that purpose. They are {mostly covered, with thick bush, and ! I know of a ease where thousands of J sheep that were sept there could not be found after a few years. The best thing to do with these islands is obviously to make them a bird sanctuary. The wealth of bird life to be found there would be hard to equal, and the gain from taking this step would far outweigh the pal,try sum—l thipk it is £l4 per year—that the Government at present obtains by leasing the island. The case is quite different with the Camp- ' bell Islands, for these are covered with tussock, and are naturally good grazing land.” > He whose home has been attacked. , and reduced in value by that übiripit- , pus creature, the borer, may glean a certain amount of comfort from the i { fact that the Auckland oyster is a ; fellow victim, This season’s oysters ; are threatened by borer, millions of | ■which have been destroyed by them, | .working on the beds. One is l,eft in ' idpubt as to whether, the oyster borer j ' and the wood, borer are members of ; I the same family. If so, it is a poor j lookout for householders. An insect | ’ that can penetrate the shell of an | ' is, capable of almost anything. I Perhaps, during the off-season, the experts at present exterminating the pest at the various oyster beds cOpld ! s be persuaded to. go into business on , shore. Amatepr efforts with kero- ( sene and paint are so seldom successful.