IN TOWN AND OUT

Southland Times, Issue 21092, 26 May 1930, Page 6

IN TOWN AND OUT

NEWS OF THE DAY. Conscience Money. Receipt of the following amounts forwarded by persons unknown as conscience money to the New Zealand Government is acknowledged by the secretary to the Ireas; ury in a recent issue of the Gazette: 1/and 3/- forwarded io the Customs Department, £1 15/6 and 6/6 to the Railway Department and £2 to the General Post Office. * * * *■ Fire in Kelvin Road. ,

Shortly after midnight on Saturday a sixroomed wood and iron house, situated at 200 Kelvin Road and owned and occupied by Mr Leonard Smith, of Musselburgh, Dunedin, caught fire and the brigade was summoned. Three rooms were severely damaged before the outbreak was extinguished. The .cause of the fire is unknown. „ * * * * Theft of Self-starter.

What is described as a particularly mean and aimless theft took place on a recent evening as the result of which an Invercargill lady resident was considerably inconvenienced. After leaving her car overnight in an unlocked garage on her property, she arose the following morning to find that the self-starter had been removed from the vehicle. The most unfortunate feature of the theft was that the lady that morning desired to drive friends to the railway station to catch the early express. There is also another aspect of the case which the thief apparently failed to take into consideration and that is that the selfstarter is useless detached from the original motor car. ♦ * * Novel Fire-fighting System.

Owing to the large number of false alarms received by the Cape Town Fire Brigade a system has been introduced there which might well be copied elsewhere. A number of motor cycle and large sidecars are maintained, and immediately on a call being received the combination is despatched with two men, a quantity of chemical extinguishers, a hydrant, and a length of hose. On arrival at the scene of the fire a report is telephoned back to headquarters, and the number of men required to cope with the outbreak is sent off. In a number of cases the two men on the cycle are able to cope with a small outbreak or keep it in check till -the big machine arrives with the materials they have with them. * * * * A Return Passport.

At least there exist some foreigners who do not attempt to disguise the fact that they regard the land of their adoption as ideal. A Chinese laundryman, who was an interested listener in the Police Court on Saturday when an Oriental friend of his was ordered to be deported to China on a charge of over-staying his leave, informed a reporter that he, himself, was leaving for the East to-day.' Chatting to the Celestial, the reporter gleaned the information that the laundrynian has been in this city for 25 years, the first 13 of which were devoted to market gardening and the other 12 years to writing laundry tickets and ironing collars, etc., for the citizens of Southland’s capital. Th? reporter: Are you coming back again? The Chinese (in good English and proudly); Too right. I have got a return passport. *

Large Strawberries. In view of the achievements of two Southland gardening enthusiasts, proofs of which were forwarded to the Times Office yesterday, a suggestion has been advanced that when new titles are being considered for Invercargill, that of “Strawberryville” b'e included in the list. It .could hardly be believed that at the present time of the year strawberries should be flourishing out of doors, but such is the case. Mr T. J. Kent, of Victoria street, Richmond Grove, has had them growing for some considerable time past and the total weight of the three large and well-formed specimens forwarded was lloz. The berries, however, were green, difficulty being experienced in ripening them. The other strawberries brought in, a dozen in number weighing in all 4oz, were grown by Mr Janies Popenhagen, .of Hokonui. The plants have been bearing since before Christmas and the strawberries were well coloured and shaped.

* * * * Hard Knocks of Adversity and Motors.

After a more or less lengthy period of immunity the argument between . passing motor cars and the electric light pillars on the pedestrians’ safety zone in front of the Post Office has once more been resumed. This time it was the southerly one situated on the left side of the tramlines and it came off second best in an encounter with a motor on Saturday evening some time before midnight. It appears that, the car was travelling in a northerly direction along Dee street when its course was so deflected that it struck the pillar a resounding blow, giving it a decided tilt forward and shattering the white globe at the top although the red electric lamp itself escaped damage. Realizing that discretion was the better part of valour, the motorist lost no time in making off, leaving behind as a memento of his passing broken fragments of glass on the roadway and the once erect pillar lurching drunkenly over a tub of greenery. * * * *

“Talk of ‘Cargill.’ ” Under the above heading ‘The Look-Out Man” writes as follows in the Auckland Sun: “If it is to be taken seriously, the effort now being made by Invercargill’s administrators to change the name of their recently-elevated city is a striking example of misguided local body enthusiasm. In asserting that Southlanders had. put up with the name for long enough, a city councillor, Mr H. J. Macalister (who should be Scottish, enough to know better), argued that there was a lack of euphony about the name ‘lnvercargill’ and supported a suggestion that it be changed to ‘Cargill.’ Unless some strange dialect is, spoken in the Far South this is an extraordinary misconception of euphony. ‘Cargill,’ with due respect to those so christened, is a comparatively harsh little name, improved considerably in euphony by the addition of ‘lnver.’ 1 Consider Inverary, Inveresk, and Inverlochy—each endowed with a rich euphony. As a Scottish colleague puts it, they have the tang of whisky running through them all. Invercargill is not unworthy of inclusion among the names of those more ancient towns, notwithstanding the aesthetic opinions of its promoted councillors.”

Herd Improvement in Canada. What the Canadian Government is doing to help the farming community in the matter of herd improvement was mentioned as an example to the New Zealand Government by Mr F. Mills, of Hawera, when speaking at the council meeting of the New Zealand Ayrshire Breeders’ Association . at Palmerston North. Mr Mills, who has just returned from a tour of Canada, said that last year in Quebec the Government helped farmers to purchase 1000 young bulls having good butter-fat backings. This assistance was of a most generous nature. First of all, they made a donation of one-third of the cost and lent the remainder of .the money at the absurdly low rate of interest of 2 per cent. The only stipulations were that the bulls had to be properly reared and exhibited at a show which was specially provided for them. After that the Government completed the purchase, thus making the farmer a gift of the bull. Mr A. M. Weir (Southland), who accompanied Mr Mills, and who returned to Edendale by Saturday evening’s express, *remarked that the New Zealand Government did nothing. He also mentioned that testing was carried out in Canada by the Government for a nominal fee. AU it cost the farmer was a doUar for the certificate. * ♦ * ♦ Week-end Anniversaries.

Saturday and Sunday were both rich in anniversaries. On May 24 in 1819 Queen Victoria was born, in 1841 the first meeting oi the New Zealand Legislative .Council was

held at Auckland, in 1867 the first communication through the Lyttelton tunnel was obtained, in 1876 the novelist, Henry Kingsley, died, in 1882 the first shipment of New Zealand mutton reached London, in 1900 the Transvaal was invaded, in 1904 the inaugural celebration of Empire Day took place in England and in 1916 the British Conscription Act was passed. On May 25 in 1803 Lord Lytton, novelist, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, were born, in 1833 the American expedition in the Advance and Rescue sailed in search of Sir John Franklin, in 1861 the first issue of the Christchurch Press was printed, in 1879 Te Whiti natives began ploughing up European land near New Plymouth, in 1887 the Opera Comique, Paris, was destroyed by fire and 100 lives were lost, in 1894 the Otago Central railway to Hyde was opened, in 1899 Sir James Prendergast, Chief Justice, resigned, in 1903 Max O’Rell died, in 1915 the British Coalition Ministry was formed, in 1922 the steamer W’iltshire was wrecked on the Great Barrier Island, and in 1929 the Established Church of Scotland and the United Free Church agreed to union.

The Oysterman’s Hazardous Calling. . It is probable that , a very large percentage of restaurant patrons who sit down with enjoyment to an oyster supper, have little knowledge of the conditions under which the oysters are obtained from the deep. Ever since the steam trawler took the place of the sailing cutter the market has been fully supplied practically throughout the season. Regardless of the’ weather the little trawlers sail out into the open sea even when the ferry boats running to Stewart Island cannot make the passage and large cargo steamers are obliged to shelter on their way to Bluff. On Friday three of the trawlers left for the oyster beds. With a whole gale blowing from the south-east and almost continuous rain squalls, two of the boats returned from outside the heads. The Cowan, however, commanded by Captain M. Joss, proceeded to the beds to do half a day’s dredging under conditions that one, not having had the experience, could not well understand. Steaming slowly around the boat had no chance of avoiding the waves, big and small. The staunch little ship was tossed about by them like a cork and the crew', thoroughly drenched with rain and spray, at times had to take firm hold of the rigging or other support to avoid being washed away. In between times the crew went on calmly picking out the oysters from the heap of' miscellaneous shells and foreign matter caught up by the dredges. It seems writes our Bluff correspondent, that this is the training that has made British seamen what they are. » * * ♦ Taking of Opossums. A supplementary Gazette Issued on Friday deals fully with the general regulations under Part 111 of the Animals Protection and Game Act, 1921-22 respecting opossums, treating with the interpretation of the regulations; the taking of opossums; licenses; entry on public and private land, trapper's statement and marking of skins; brokers’ licenses; duties of licensed brokers; royalties; disposal of skins; liberating opossums; offences, penalties and forfeitures; disposal of revenue. Opossums may be taken or killed within the Southland Acclimatization District described in the schedule following, except in any sanctuary other than a scenic reserve, from noon on June 2 to noon on July 17. Licenses to take or kill opossums within this district shall be issued to any person on payment of the sum of £2 10/- and authority to sign and issue such licenses has been granted to the Chief Postmaster at Invercargill, and the Postmasters at Awarua Plains, Balfour, Diptnn, Gore, Lumsden, Mataura, Nightcaps, Orawia, Otautau, Riversdale, Riverton, Wairio, Winton and Woodlands. The land described in the schedule consists of all that area in the Southland Land District bounded by a line commencing at the head.of Bligh Sound and proceeding thence along a right line, passing through Cloudy Pass and Castle Mount, to the summit of the range forming the eastern watershed of the Clinton River; thence southerly along the summit of that range to Mount Eglinton; along a right line to Round Peaks; along the summit of the western watershed of Lake Wakatipu to Jane Peak; thence along a right line to Eyre Peak; thence along a right line to the source of the Mataura River; and down the middle of the Mataura River to the sea; thence westerly and northerly generally along the sea-coast to the point of commencement; including all adjacent islands, together with Stewart Island and the islands adjacent thereto.