NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27390, 16 May 1950, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

New Rabbit District Notice is given in the latest Gazette that a new rabbit district, to be known as the Blackstone rabbit district has been constituted. The boundaries include all that area in the Otago Land district containing 105,600 acres, being parts of the Blackstone, Lauder, Idaburn, St. Bathans, Tiger Hill arid Turnagain districts. Use Of Electricity During the week ended at midnight on Sunday, the quota of electricity for the Dunedin supply area was exceeded by 7.7 per cent. For the same period the level of Lake Mahinerangi fell by Ift 4in, the height yesterday morning being 82ft sin Airways Time Table Airways services were changed to the winter time table yesterday to permit flights to be completed in the daytime, except for those trunk services which include night landings in the north. The full time table, which is now being operated, is published in its usual position on the front page of the Daily Times. Home-grown Product! Listeners to the overseas service of Radio Australia may have found some cause to doubt the title chosen for a group of recordings broadcast yesterday morning. Announced as “ from our Australian record album,” the first recording was an English composition based on an Italian theme, played by an American orchestra with an expatriate German conductor! Bricklaying Record Keen interest has been taken in Hokitika in the recent report of a Balkan bricklayer who laid 8000 bricks a day. A Hokitika bricklayer claims to have laid 1680 bricks in an ordinary working day, and this appears to be more than an average feat in the trade today. Hokitika tradesmen maintain that the finished work of the Balkan bricklayer must have been “ pretty rough.” Extra Service Sought Advice that he would consult with the Minister of Railways concerning the request for an additional train each night from Dunedin, was received from Mr T. L. Hayman, M.P., at the meeting of the Port Chalmers Borough Council last night. “ I doubt verymuch in the present state of the rail finances whether the Minister will agree to an extra service,” Mr Hayman stated in a letter “ unless it can be shown that more passengers will be carried. However, I have asked him to examine the position, and if possible give you the extra train.” Naval Prize Money About £620,000 in naval prize money is still unclaimed, according to an Admiralty estimate received by the office of the British High Commissioner at Wellington. Those eligible for the prize money are former members of the Royal Marines Royal Navy, the Maritime Regiment (Royal Artillery), other former members of' the crews of ships engaged in the war and next of kin of persons killed in action who qualified by 180 days’ service at sea in the Second World War. The number of payments is about 520,000, and these account for nearly £3,000,000. About 30,000 claims are being dealt with. Rain-making Research The production of rain by treating clouds with chemicals would require from two to three years of fundamental research, said the assistant secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Mr C. N. Wat-son-Munro, on his return from Sydney on Sunday. “The home of rain-mak-ing is, of course, in New York,” said Mr Watson-Munro. “ Just recently they had a severe drought there and conducted these experiments, but the clouds probably would have produced rain in any case.” Asked if New Zealand was a likely place for such experiments, Mr Watson-Munro said that they were too expensive. He agreed, however, that artificial rain could prove a boon to a country. “ Especially round Lake Taupo,” he added with a smile.