General News

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 15 April 1944, Page 4

General News

Lincoln College Enrolments The difficult position confronting the Board of Governors of Canterbury Agricultural College in the lack of accommodation for the increasing numbers of students at Lincoln was discussed by the board at its meeting. In his monthly report, the director (Professor E. R. Hudson) stated that Army hutments had been erected for the accommodation of 20 additional students and to provide four lecture rooms. In spite of this, there was considerable over-crowding. Unless additional accommodation could be provided before next year it appeared that it would be necessary to restrict enrolments. The position could not be met by installing more small hutments, a s kitchen and dining-room accommodation, as well as bathing and sanitary facilities, were all over-taxed. At present more than 100 students were in residence.

Mineralogy as a Hobby As well as playing with more orthodox toys some boys at Cobb River amuse themselves with the outcrops of minerals, which are fairly common in that locality. Soapstone (talc), which works easily, is a favourite. It is not difficult to realise that it forms the base for face powders as, when cut or filed, the chalk-like substance is quite greasy. Boys raised in such an environment and amusing themselves with these hobbies may come to learn what present-day New Zealand is not very conscious about: that raw materials like that plus electricity (which is soon to come from the Cobb) are two essentials for what could become valuable industries. That is already recognised in the electricity-asbestos combination now being worked in the Cobb Valley. Dairying in Wairarapa. Prospects for the dairy industry in the Wairarapa are much this autumn than last year, when a severe drought was experienced (reports “The Dominion.” Dairy stock are in a very much better condition for winter, and the effect of the extended wet weather this autumn is to lengthen the dairying seasan. Because of the unfavourable conditions earlier last year, the output of butterfat this season has been well below the average, though the longer season is enabling a little of the leeway to be made good. The improved condition of dairy stock this autumn has given much brighter prospects to farmers, whose difficulties this winter will be vastly less than in the winter of 1943.

Waimca County Rate Collection The Waimca County Clerk, Mr C. Cannington. reported to the council yesterday afternoon that up to the lost day for the collection of rates before the imposition of a penalty 92.8 per cent, of the rates had been received, j The year, which commenced with a j credit of £5566, ended with a credit of £4643. \ X on-Parochial Army After experience of two wars, he fully approved the present arrangement whereby no units bearing the names of provinces existed in the Expeditionary Force, said Lieutenant-Colonel F. Waite. D. 5.0., National Patriotic Fund commissioner in the Middle East, in an address Ht Auckland. No one was heard boasting that he belonged to Auckland, Canterbury or any other district, ay in file last war. All soldiers were on the same footing as New Zealanders, and this was a good thing, as it encouraged the development of a national spirit. R.S.A. Conference Owing to the railway travel restrictions it is probable that the Dominion conference of the New Zealand Returned Services Association, which would in the ordinary course of events be held in May. will be postponed. The Auckland executive decided to urge that it be held, if possible, in June, when the demand for accommodation on trains may be reduced. It was pointed out that only about 70 or 80 delegates would need to use the railways and, as they would come from many parts of the Dominion, the effect on railway passenger accommodation would not be great. Pronunciation of Compost Whether the word compost should be pronounced with the second o long or short was a point raised by Mr Steffano Webb at a meeting of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Humic Compost Club, when he asked the president (Mr M. E. Lyons) to tell members the correct pronunciation of the word. “I think Mr Webb is mistaking me for Professor Arnold Wall,” Mr Lyons replied, “but I think the difference between the two forms of pronunciation amounts to the difference between tweedledum and twcedledee.” Miss M. Jennings said the word should be pronounced with a short o. River Flood Danger The need for some organisation during flood periods to ensure that the services of a sufficient number of men were available if required was emphasised in the report of the engineer of the Waimakariri River Trust (Mr H. W. Harris) presented to the trust at a meeting. Mr Harris said the matter had been causing him some concern. as the trust’s staff would be quite inadequate should high floods occur. A number of farmers had been approached and were willing to help. Adjacent local bodies were also prepared to assist with men and trucks. This would ease the position considerably. as those concerned were quickly available. The report was adopted and the engineer was instructed to report further at the next meeting. Ancestry of a New Word Penicillin, the name for the new wonder drug, comes from the same Latin root as pencil, so named from its resemblance in shape to the “penicillum”, the Latin word for a painter’s brush or pencil. The mould from which penicillin is derived, a mould that appears on bread or cheese, is rod-shaped or pencil-shaped. For this reason the mould was named penicillium long before it was found to be the source of the wonder drug. The pronunciation of this new arrival has not been standardised, New Zealand usage favouring the accent on the “-cill.” Wild Pig Diet. The war on Nissan Island where New Zealanders are serving on the Pacific battlofront has taken a new turn. The official campaign ended some time ago, but the peace of the tropical bush is now broken with the sound of shots fired with a different purpose—the troops have decided to vary their diet with excellent wild pork which is to be had for the taking. “When we arrived here a war was on, so the pig population was spared a fearful slaughter by the hundreds of armed men who with itchy fingers searched the bush, for a different quarry,” writes a soldier to a relative in Taranaki. “Then it would have been decidedly tact’s, to say the least, to fire shots at stray wild pigs. An unidentified report from the discharge of a firearm was rightly the object of considerable suspicion and called for caution on the part of the troops in the area. Now that the official war is over we can really start shooting if we want to at game that does not h've the nasty habit of shooting back,” he adds. “The pigs are dying now and fresh pork is appearing occasionally on the menu after the successful efforts of soldier hunters. It was very amusing during the campaign to observe the expression of frustration on the face of a soldier armed to the teeth when a magnificent piece of fresh pork walked calmly past.”