IN TOWN AND OUT

Southland Times, Issue 21872, 25 November 1932, Page 6

IN TOWN AND OUT

NEWS OF THE DAY. Price of Separator Butter. The price of separator butter in Invercargill has been reduced by one penny per pound. The retail price is now 9d per pound. ♦ * * * County Council Vacancy. It is understood that Mr David Dickie has agreed to accept nomination for the vacancy on the Southland County, Council. * * ». * Annuals and Bedding Plants. During the last three weeks the reserves staff of the City Council has been busily engaged in planting out annuals. In Queen’s Park 16,700 were planted, in the cemetery 2800 and in the central gardens and reserves 18,670 —a grand total of 38,170. All the plants were raised in the city nursery. * * * * Silver Beech. In reporting to the Technical College Board on behalf of the visiting committee last evening Mr W. M. C. Denham said he had been pleased to notice that in the woodwork class the timberused was Southland silver beech the qualities of which were highly praised by the teacher for all interior work. * * * * Sale of Health Stamps. “The stamp sales are doing very well,” remarked the Mayor (Mr John Miller) to a Times reporter yesterday. “The canvassers are meeting with a ready response and it is hoped that the week’s campaign will yield a return sufficient to establish a health camp in Southland. We are very hopeful,” he added. * * * * Tug for Bluff Regatta. Present indications are that the Bluff Harbour Board’s new tug Awarua will be available for passenger trips on the occasion of the annual regatta at New Year. At yesterday’s meeting of the board a request for the hire of the tug was received from the Regatta Committee, and it was agreed to grant the request, subject to certain conditions. * * * * School Vacations. The secretary of the Southland Education Board advises that the primary schools break-up on Friday, December 16, and the secondary schools on Friday, December 9. These dates are much earlier than in previous years. At a meeting of the Southland Technical College Board of Managers last evening it was decided to hold the college break-up ceremony on Thursday, December 15. ♦ * * * Test Pieces for Bands. Two of the compositions to be played by the A grade bands at the festival in Dunedin next February have now been distributed to the competitors. The quickstep is “Marathon,” by Rimmer. The other piece, one of the selections, is “A Downland Suite,” by John Ireland. It was specially written for the Crystal Palace festival held last September, and is so planned as to try out every section, from the soprano cornet to the BB bass. * * * ♦ Court of Appeal for 1933. The personnel of the Court of Appeal for the year 1933 is announced in the New Zealand Gazette. The appointments to the Court, which consists of two divisions each comprised of five Judges, were made by the Governor-General-in-Council and are as follows: First Division—The Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers), and Justices Herdman, McGregor, Blair and Kennedy. Second Division—The Chief Justice and Justices Reed, McGregor, Ostler and Smith. The first division will sit in Wellington on June 19 and the second division in Wellington on March 13 and September 18.

A Ferret’s Responsibilities. An interesting study in animal nature was recounted recently (writes our Limehills correspondent). A resident of the district owns a doe ferret which had the exceptionally large family of seventeen. Being endowed by nature with facilities to supply the wants of only eight at the one time, the mother, after feeding the first batch of eight, would place them carefully in a corner of her hutch and proceed with a further relay. However, apparently the maternal responsibilities weighed too heavily upon her or else the cannibalistic tendencies said to be inherent in this rodent asserted themselves, as now her family consists of only four. Port Said Memorial. A radio broadcasting feat was achieved with the unveiling of the Anzac Memorial at Port Said by Mr W. M. Hughes an Wednesday. The ceremony was relayed by land line from Port Said to Cairo, thence wirelessed to London, and rebroadcast from London to Sydney and Wellington whence it was relayed to all New Zealand YA stations. Reception was clearly heard in Invercargill between 10.30 p.m. and 11 p.m. The Anzac Memorial has been erected on the bank of the Suez Canal at Port Said. It is a handsome bronze group. Its completion, undertaken after the death of the designer (C. W. Gilbert), was the last work of the famous British sculptqr the late Sir Bertram Mackennal. An Immense Lettuce. From time to time there have appeared paragraphs in this column concerning Southland’s ability to produce freaks in the vegetable and flower world, but in the matter of growing record lettuce the palm must surely go to Mrs D. Foreman, of Waitoa, in the North Island. She is reported to have raised a plant which weighs 12jlb, stands 25in high and has a sound heart about 12in in diameter. Each of the outer leaves measured 18in by 14in, while the total width is 26in. The lettuce is of the Neapolitan variety, and, with the exception of a little superphosphate, has had no extra cultivation or care. In the same garden there is another plant not quite so big, but an abnormally large specimen also. * * * * Cheap Fruit. A paragraph printed in this column yesterday created a wrong impression in the minds of many readers, as the fruit retailers discovered when they were besieged with demands for cheap cherries and cheap strawberries. The paragraph reported that in the auction marts on Wednesday cherries were sold at 3d per lb and strawberries at 4d. This was quite correct, but it should have been made clear that only fruit of inferior quality could be obtained for these prices. As a matter of fact, as the account. sales show, the principal retailers' gave from 7d to 9d for strawberries, and from 6d to 9d for cherries, of good quality and condition in the marts on Wednesday, and the 3d and 4d fruit was not bought by retailers of this class as their customers would not buy it. Housewives who went looking yesterday for cherries at 3d and strawberries at 4d a lb were therefore disappointed. The fruit they required commanded more than double these prices in the marts, and this should have been made clear in our paragraph.