BREEDING TIGONS IN NEW ZEALAND

Northern Advocate, 27 March 1937, Page 8

BREEDING TIGONS IN NEW ZEALAND

The Inside Story

authorities of the Auckland Zoological<#park are at present endeavouring to create a new animal. New Zealand has so few indigenous mammals—the Maori rat and the Maori dog being the only representatives. No self-respecting heraldic artist could possibly include such beasts in a coat of arms. Not even a member of a ping-pong club would be brave enough to saunter down the street in a blazer bearing such a device. It looks as though the Auckland zoo people are out to- Overcome this difficulty in fostering the production of a tigon. • • • <■ inpHE London branch of the Zoological Plunket Society succeeded in rearing a tigon to maturity, and, as we are always stated to be more English than the English themselves, it is only natural that we should follow suit. A

By the Private D.

tigon, by the way, is something like a Jersey cross resulting from the alliance of a King of the Beasts, with the larger edition of the domestic cat, known in boy’s adventure tales, as the tiger. Although there is a prejudice against mixed marriages, the pair the Auckland Zoo are stated, to be settling down quite happily. 9 « • » from zoological inquisitiveness, there appears to be little point in the experiment, except that the Heralds College of Arms no doubt will be pleased, and that our All Blacks of the future, in combat with Springboks and Kangaroos, will canter out on the field,, led by a tigon as mascot. Of course the wolf and the sheep have already been crossed, and we have as the outcome, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. * * • * COME sage from the parsley bushes once said of a compatriot that he would never die for the want of an excuse to keep on living. The Private D envies the man who has successfully mastered the knack of turning out excused by mass production. It is really more of an art than of a knack and must be inborn to be of real value to satisfy those who institute unpleasant inquiries as to why this wasn’t done and that was. This hot weather, with the Easter holidays ahead, makes me wish that I could think of some plausible story to bring about the abandonment of my column for the week. » • * * THIRST I conferred at length with the office boy, who is a past master in explaining away misdemeanours and omissions in a highly convincing manner. His ailing bicycle frequently triumphs over the clock in starting his seven-hour day, but I do not use my iron steed, which,, although still possessing plenty of horse power, has an insufficiency of candle power. Next he suggested a bad headache and an oncoming cold, a malady which time and time again has saved Mm from a little additional work. Here again I could not qualify, not even being able to raise a sniffle. Although I have four daughters nursing I must confess

I have never enjoyed a day in bed in my life. * * * * i'J'HE most annoying aspect of excuse making usually is that the reasons given are too common. It i: always something to do with a bicycle, or a faulty clock, or a sick cow, or a trifling indisposition, or a late night. In these advanced times, let us get away from the musty trammels of such convenience. An unorthocfc-x approach to the subject is what is demanded if the lie is to succeed. For instance, why not plead distnction from a flight of Pan-Paciflc air Iners, which passed over my study, somersaulting my flights of imagination. Or again I could plead psychic interference in my hours of labour. I could even claim exemption on religbus grounds, for according to Scripture, the laughter of fools is like the crackling of thorns under a pot. Strenghened by an armoury of such excuses, I approached the Editor, but he merely replied, without looking up, “that h? wanted my column by Tuesday, as the. scissors were out of order, and the j paste pot was dry.

rpHE atmosphere in Whangarei at the moment, is charged with electricity—some say over-charged. Even the chamber of commerce is thinking of becoming a power authority, and generated a few sparks the Other night. The borough council, which has been hiding under a cloud, burst forth with lightning and much thunder on Monday evening, the rumblings of the counter-attack shocking the firmament and suffusing the whole subject in a pale blue light, closely resmbling the pallor of Whangarei’s street illumination. In the meantime Dargaville •is sparking well, and unless Whangarei wakes up with a shock, will become. Northland’s city- of light. * * • • pERHAPS tfre cancellation of the Australian f squadron’s visit to Whangarei is a blessing in disguise. The chamber of commerce says that the North is not oversupplied with water, even at flood times, being at cross purposes, in this instance, the harbour board which says that Whangarei is in deep water. From a publicity point of view it would have made very poor reading td see something like the following, in the London “Times.” \ • « • * ,5 ‘ rpHE First Lord of the Admiralty is instituting an inquiry mto the stranding of the H.M.A.S.’ Canberra, Australia and Sydney, at s place known at Whangarei, situated in the South Island, 'about three hundred miles from Melbourne. In a statement issued from Whitehall last evenhg the First Lord said that he failed to understand why, at a time when the country was being bled white for rearmanents, ships of the Australian Fleet slould be sent on exploration expeditiors to unknown parts of the South Seas, which were really under the Japarese sphere of influence. The only explination which the First Lord could furnish for the inclusion of Whangarei in the itinerary was that the ships hcd been sent on a rest cruise, and th£t all the personnel had been resting tot literally. )