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Otago Witness, Issue 3828, 26 July 1927, Page 48

To prevent the disappearance of whitebait as a table delicacy, steps are being taken by the Marine Department to learn the. reason for the decrease in supplies in New Zealand rivers. Letters were received in connection with the matter at lhe meeting of the council of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society on Wednseday night. “One difficulty that confronts the department in framing regulations is that the big runs of whitebait occur at different times in the same river, hence a regulation that would apply to one place would be unsuitable for another,” wrote the Marine Department. “The fact is recognised that before the question can be fully considered th e department must have all the information it" can obtain regarding the conditions which exist in any district that will be affected by proposed regulations. It is considered that the acclimatisation societies are in a position to give the desired information, therefore it has been decided to ask each society to supply the information.” Correspondence was also received in connection With the matter from the Westland Acclimatisation Society. ‘‘At this week’s meeting of the society a letter was received and considered from the whitebait fishers of the locality,” the society wrote, “asking if the council intended to distribute a large quantity of trout fry this year, it being alleged that the trout wer© responsible for the decrease in the whitebait catch, which is of considerable commercial value to the district apart from supplying a much-appreciated source of food.” Both letters were referred to a special committee.

‘‘l claim to know something about betting,” said the Rev. Lionel B. Fletcher at a meeting in Auckland on Tuesday night. “I have taken part in some of the biggest gambling schools in Australia. I have been a sailor and I understand racecourses pretty thoroughly. The new Gaming Bill is being brought forward in order that the rich racing clibs may make more money. Hundreds of thousands of pounds,” he said, “were sunk in such courses as Avondale, where there was only about four days’ racing a year. He contended that the racing clubs had a pull over the Government because of their contributions to revenue. The only way to abolish the bookmaker was to enforce the legislation now on the statutes. “The police know the bookmakers of Auckland as well as they know you or me.—(Laughter.) Anyone can see bets being made on the wharves any day. Why don’t the police sec it? We could kill the bookmaker now if the legislative machinery were enforced.” Setting up an easel and a blackboard, Mr Fletcher then demonstrated the operation of the double totalisator. “I have taken the Melbourne and Caulfield Cups, because being an Australian, the names of those races came most readily to my mind,” ho said. He explained that this system was gambling in its extreme form. Risk and excitement were intensified. The largest double totalisator dividend ever paid in New Zealand was one of “something over £2000,” whereas the return from the investment on the winning horse in each race would have been only about £77. “There is not one good point in this Bill,” Mr Fletcher concluded. “Not one thing in it which will check gambling or confine it to the racecourse.” The Hawke’s Bay Education Board on Friday morning decided to support the suggestion that the Council of Education should be done away with. Mr F. Waite (member for Clutha) on Friday presented a petition in the House of Representatives from Hannah Wilson and 21 others, who ask that the Kaitangata Explosion Fund of 1879 be made available to the petitioners. About £4OOO collected for the widows and orphans is now in the hands of the Public Trustee. Eleven whales were captured in Cook Strait on Thursday by the Perano parties, breaking all previous records. Tho total for the season up to the present stands at 45. At the conference of delegates from the county councils in Otago, held in Dunedin on Friday, the representatives of the Lake County Council stated that £B6 had been spent by that council on the destruction of keas during the last year, and that the cost of the campaign against these birds during the past 10 years had been £6OO. The amount paid out was 2s per beak. “The type of unemployed men working for us this winter is an unusually good one,"' says Mr D. Tannock, superintendent of re-serves for the city. In discussing the value of the services given by those whe are being assisted by work in the reserves he informed our representative that the majority were good men and steadyworkers, eager to do their best and justify the interest taken in them and the help given to them. “They arc, on the whole, a much more efficient band than in past years,” added Mr Tannock. “We arc quite pleased with the work they have been doing.”

The Financial Statement will be presented to the House of Representatives this week. Mr J. A. Nash (Palmerston North) gave notice in the House of Representatives on Friday latt to ask the Minister of Aguculture whether he will endeavour to have the Dairy Control Board merged into the Meat Board. Mr Nash points out that, in view of the fact that the Dairy Control Board has dropped compulsion, the saving by merging would be a great benefit to the dairy farmers. Mr J. E. F. Perry, curator of Newtown Museum, has notified the chief librarian, Mr Baillie, of the receipt of a collection of New Zealand and foreign sea shells, collected by the father and grandfather of the late Mr W. G. Mantell. The colleeotion (says the Dominion) has been presented to Newtown Museum by Mrs W. G. Mantell, and is to be kept separately apd to . be known as the Mantell collection. The New Zealand shells are contained in a large cabinet and are all classified, and the foreign shells are set out in a glass case.

Successful hybridisation of rainbow and brown trout, an achievement believed never to have been accomplished before in any part of the world, was reported at tho meeting- of the council of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society on Wednesday night by the society’s curator, Mr D. Hope. “I think we should be very proud of what our curator has done,” said Mr R. Ashworth. “It is the first time this has been done in the world. Wc do not do much out hero, but this is one of the things we have done. Mr Hope is to I>e congratulated.” A congratulatory motion was passed to Mr Hope, and it was decided to send copies of his report to other societies.

“Recognising the imperative need for reducing ‘costs of production’ and the close relation the present protective Customs taxation has to such costs, this body urgently calls upon the Government to give relief, by immediately commencing a gradual reduction of the protective Customs taxation now levied upon British goods.” This resolution, tho unanimous finding of a combined economic conference held in Hamilton on June 29, was contained in a circular letter from the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, and received by the committee of the Mauawatu and West Coast A. and P. Association on Tuesday. The circular stated that the economic pressure felt by farmers generally of recent years had become an urgent and serious problem. The Auckland branch of the unidit felt that little relief could be expected until more unanimity of opinion and action were obtained amongst farmers and other interested persons. Th© association was therefore urged to support the resolution by recommendations to the Government and local members of Parliament before the report of the Tariff Commission, which was due in midAugust. The matter was discussed briefly by the committee, which decided to lend its support to the resolution passed by the economic conference.

“Does life exist on Mars?” This question, which has exercised a strong fascination over students of astronomy for so many years, was interestingly discussed a few 1 night ago by Mr E. G. Jones, in a lecture before the Auckland Astronomical Society. Mr Jones said that the two heavenly bodies on which signs of life were most frequently sought were the moon and Mars. The canals which could be seen on Mars by the agency of powerful telescopes were believed by some authorities to be evidences of life. These canals were perfectly straight, and one was thrc 6 thousand miles in length. Conditions on Mars were more favourable for life than on any other planet, and Professor Percival Lowell, a foremost authority on astronomical subjects, did not hesitate to say that it was inhabited. Other authorities, however, disagreed with this view. The existence of life on the planets" Mercury and Venus did not appear probable owing to tho extremes of heat and cold, and little was known about th e conditions of Jupiter and Saturn. “I have been very much concerned at the amount of operating, particularly in country hospitals,” said Dr T. H. A. Valintine, Director-general of Health, at a meeting of the Wanganui Hospital Board (says the correspondent of the Lyttelton Timos). He added: “Much too great attention has been paid to surgery in this country, and there has been a neglect of medical treatment throughout the length and breadth of the Dominion. “The work of tho physician has been grossly neglected, and except in the four centres this has been done by house surgeons. It is a great blot on hospital work generally that medical treatment has been so neglected. The people of New Zealand are fortunate in the men who are able to give their services in hospitals in an honorary capacity.” Dr Valintine went on to say that he did not altogether favour honorary staffs on hospitals, but until times were better he would be reluctant to advocate the appointment of stipendiary staffs. The work of top-dressing all ground occupied by buildings Nos. 4,5, and 6, and tho Motor Pavilion on Logan Park, has now been completed. The work included levelling, draining, digging up roads, and removing a large quantity of rough material which had been put in to support the floor of the Motor Pavilion, and will provide space for two hockey grounds, one Association football ground, and two Rugby grounds. At the request of the Otago University Council, authority has been granted by the Reserves Committee of the City Council for the department to undertake the work of preparing the portion of the University area 'at Logan Park. The cost, which is estimated at £1526, will be borne by the University Council. A commencement has already been made on this work, and by the time it is finished the site of No. 1 building will probably be available. Supplies of soil are being got down now so as to be ready for top-dressing and sowing down the grounds as soon as the weather conditions ar© favourable.