LAND AND WATER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2603, 3 February 1904, Page 55

LAND AND WATER.

According to the latest number o£ the English Yachtsman, Mr L. E. C. Beebe, naval architect, of London, has sold the large schooner Privateer to a gentleman in New Zealand. The Privateer is now being fitted out for the long voyage out to the colony. The schooner will sail via Capetown to Melbourne, end thence direct to New Zealand. The name of the purchaser and port of destination are not disclosed. The Private-or is a composite schooner of 108 tons net, 105 ft long, and 22ft beam. The vessel was originally named the Olga.

Visitors to Taieri Mouth report the presence of a number of sharks in the river, and bathers should take warning. One, measuring Bft 6in in^ length and 3ft 6in in girth, was caught on Saturday after a let of manoeuvring with lines and hooks, a good distance up the river. Other sharks were noticed close in shore. This fact should be widely known, as the captured shark was disporting himself where bathsr3 are accustomed to congregate.

Mr G. Laurenson, M.H.R., has received word from the Colonial Secretary that the Bum of £200 voted by Parliament for the encouragement of swimming will be divided between the two Now Zealand Swimming Associations, which have their headquarter.? at Christchurch and Auckland respectively. Tho associations will ba asked to distribute the money among their clubs m proportions based on membership.

The Government has bsen advised^ that the fish ova which it ordered from America left San Francisco by the steamer Sonoma on Thursday. The shipment consists of 1,000,000 whitefish ova and 300,000 salmon ova.

Thre-e fishing bfeats are in. full operation at Colac Bay. Fish ate reported to be plentiful, principally blue cod, and recent catches numbered from scwt to 6cwt a day each boat. The fish are =ent to the Bluff, ■where they are frozen, and thence forwarded to Australia. The secretary of the Rotorua Rod and Gun Club has received a cable from Mr George Cbirnside, of Werribee Park, Victoria, 0 stating that he has 11 red de-er ready £ov shipment, and aoking him to make the necessary arrangements for receiving them on their arrival at Auckland. During his stay in Rotorua Mr Chirnside was an enthusiastic angler ; the shipment of these deer ia in accordance with a promise made to several members of the club. Mr C. Hertslet, superintendent of the Doubtless Bay cable station, h&3 tamed some hundreds of seagulls, so that they come to him when he whistles from the verandah of his residence. Whilst the Ngapuhi excursionists were at Doubtless Bay, Mr Hertslet called the gulls, which flew up from even distant parts of the bay, and gathered on the path in front of the house, where- they were fed with crumbs of cake. The gulls showed not the slightest fear, although the •excurwonists stood close by. Mr Hertslet says he has had as many as 600 gulls around "the house at fcodmg--tinie. Judging from the appearance of the swamps there is likely to be a good time in store for shootists next season (says the Mataura Ensign). The happy huntinggrounds of district sportsmen abound in game, swamp hens in particular being conspicuous. Afr Deans, of the Acclimatisation Society, on Wednesday liberated some 26 lapwings on the Oianomomo Swamp

4. sand-yacht which has been running on the beach 'at New B-w-w £-> *-* >~~

or three days established something of a record on Thursday. With three men aboard it accomplished the journey from the pier to the wreck and back in half an hour. As the distance is about 15 miles, the average speed was close on a mile in two minutes.