IN TOWN AND OUT

Southland Times, Issue 21561, 26 November 1931, Page 6

IN TOWN AND OUT

NEWS OF THE DAY. St. John’s School. At a meeting of the Board of Governors of the St. John’s School last evening, it was decided that the school should be kept open, the closing of the school having been mooted recently. The Rev. J. A. Lush will take charge of the school from the beginning of the year. ■» * * * Protection of Seals. The protection which has been in force regarding the seals which visit the New Zealand coast and which abound on the islands to the south expired during the present month. Advice was received last evening that the protection had been extended for another three years and will remain in force until November, 1934. * * * * Waikawa-Curio Bay Road. The proposed road between Waikawa and Curio Bay, which is being eagerly awaited by the settlers of the district and by motorists all over Southland, will probably become an established fact in the near future. The commencement of the construction work on the road has met with a slight delay through an error in one of the agreements made in connection with the road, and as a result the plans have had to be returned to Wellington. The road will pass through Mr R. Hamilton’s property for over 50 chains, and the posts for the fencing of this portion of the road are already on the ground. The road will be a continuation of a branch road which runs from the main road to Waikawa, branching off in the Waikawa township. The first portion of the new road will cross a gully and the saddle of a low hill, and will then continue over level country behind the Waikawa beach to Curio Bay. Nimrods Hoaxed. Sportsmen always like to have good sport when they go looking for it and, judging by the experience of several Southland sportsmen on a recent afternoon, there are other people who will go to considerable trouble to provide sport of a kind not always relished. A party left Invercargill about four days ago and journeyed into the hinterland of the province where deer abound and secured a head or two. While they were discussing the chase, or cleaning their rifles, or having a smoke, or whatever it is they do after the day’s hunt, a local resident told a tale of a fine deer which frequented the fringes of the forest nearby. The hunters were immediately reimbued with enthusiasm, and seizing their rifles set out to investigate. A few minutes later the silence of the backblocks was shattered by the crackle of rifle fire —the hunters had espied a fine head amongst the trees. The “stag” crashed to the earth, but the hunters did not have to investigate very closely to discover that they had been “sold.” Their quarry was a head, in an advanced stage of decay, which had been set up in readiness by the local resident.