In the News

Southland Times, Issue 24593, 15 November 1941, Page 6

In the News

The North Sees the South Several North Island delegates to the annual conference of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand, held recently at Invercargill, had not previously seen the South Island s best scenery, said Mr W. S. Mac Gibbon at the meeting of the council of the Canterbury Chamber on Thursday evening. Those delegates had expressed opinions that made it certain they would be sincere ambassadors fox’ the attractions of the South Island in future. “Some of them said there was nothing in the Rockies or in Switzerland to compare with the route to the Eglinton Valley and the Homer tunnel,” said Mr Mac Gibbon. Preacher Digs a Hole Repairs to a church property in the Upper Waitaki district necessitated the digging of a hole fox’ a sump, and the contractor’ intimated that if a local man could be obtained to do the job as a donation, the price would be 50/cheaper. Promptly the preacher stripped off and in two hours and a-half completed the job. Fruit or Vegetable? Is a tomato fruit ox’ vegetable? This question when asked at the inquiry | into the price of vegetables in Welling- ! ton, brought the answer from a grower: “It depends whether it is eaten with I sugar and cream or with vinegar.” ! Tribute to New Zealanders I In a letter to Dr D. E. Currie, of Christchurch, the Rev. C. H. S. Runge, I a divisional chaplain with the South I African forces in the Middle East, I wrote: “Recently we have been fairly 1 close to your troops and I have met I the Bishop who is in charge of the chapi lains’ department. His chaplains have 1 been good enough to help in looking after some of our’ troops who were not provided for, and oui’ troops encamped near the New Zealand Division have fraternised eagerly with them. One of our officers said to me when, I was at that camp: ‘Wonderfully nice chaps, these New Zealanders; if _ you want anything they always contrive to help you. and nothing is ever’ too much trouble to them.’ All the various troops here get on well together, but I think there is a special affinity between South ! Africans and New Zealanders. We had i General Freyberg and one of- youri brigadiers—Hargest —at our headquar- | ters for a meal recently, and they were i interesting and most pleasant to meet, j War on Jay-walkers j Instructions have been issued by the Wellington City Council for the prose-

cution of all pedestrians who disregard the traffic regulations. This ac’ion is being taken to deal with jay-’ 1 alkers and those who show indifference to motor’ traffic when crossing the road. | Quintuplets I A Southland ewe elected to make a definite contribution to war-time pioduction and set an example to others this season by producing five lambs. She was unable to sustain the effort I by rearing all five and one was born j dead, but" the other foui’ were lusty youngsters The ewe is the property of IMr D. S. McLaren, of Eastern Bush. A i snapshot taken of the young family I shows them milling round their mother whose expression appears to be -One of mingled pride and surprise. Bull Bison at Zoo

A new arrival at the Newtown Zoo, Wellington, is a yearling American bull bison. This is" the first bison to be seen at the zoo for some years. Young Reporter Miss Vera Duthie, a youthful member of the staff of The Tuapeka Times, has earned the distinction of being the youngest and possibly the only member of the fair sex who has reported the entire proceedings of an Armed Military Forces Appeal Board in New Zealand (writes a correspondent in The Evening Star, Dunedin). Because of the unavoidable absence of the staff reporter, the young woman volunteered her services to fill the breach, and entirely unaided, completed a 20 foolscap page report of the proceedings of the board held at Lawrence on Wednesday. Ten cases were heard, and not one line of the reporter’s contribution was “blue pencilled.” This was a creditable performance for a young woman of 161. Unusual Debt Case *

A somewhat unusual position arose at the Hastings Magistrate’s Court when counsel engaged in a debt case refused to accept what was alleged to be a late payment into Court. Counsel explained that debtox- had gone into the shop to which he owed the acccunt and purchased 14/- worth of goods. He tended £1 for the purchase and told the creditor to take the remaining 6/off the outstanding account. Counsel alleged that the debtor’ then produced the receipt for £1 and stated that this was a receipt for payment of £1 off the outstanding account. Under’ the circumstances counsel refused to accept this receipt and his refusal was upheld by the Court. “Nugget” in Superphosphate

While top-dressing a paddock recently a farmer at Kauwhata (Auckland) was surprised to encounter s rough piece of heavy metal, about the size of a walnut, in the superphosphate. The superphosphate was recently received from the suppliers. The piece of metal was tested and was stated to be lead, possibly alloyed with another lighter metal. The opinion has been expressed that the “nugget” may be a legacy from the shelling of Nauru Island, from which supplies of superphosphate come, by German raiders some time ago. Fly Casting Competition A cast of 101 ft, just one foot short of the Australian unofficial record, was made at the Rotorua Rod and Gt in Club’s first casting tournament, held at the Kuirau Centennial Park. This was made by a youthful competitor, Dale Foster, in spite of the fact that he was suffering from a severe eye injury. Good performances were registered by several other competitors. Mrs K. White, the only woman entrant, took second place in the handicap event with a cast of 72ft 2in, her handicap being 25ft. Scottish Battalion

The latest innovation with the 2t».d Scottish Battalion at Forbury camp is the publication of a camp newspaper, which bears the appropriate title «,f The Haggis. Dates of publication are given as “now and again.” It is a foulsheet cyclostyled publication, and includes one or- two bright drawing.;. Camp topicalities are dealt with in tlic main, and The Haggis will undoubtedly find favour with the men of the battalion. A short history of thp Black Watch (the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment of Foot) is included in the first issue, which mentions that the New Zealand Scottish Battalion, consisting at first of one battalion and later <{f two infantry battalions, was formed fri 1938 and allied to the famous Scottis’! regiment. Strange Fish Identified

The strange fish caught at Thames on Tuesday is believed from the d«p scription given to be a basking sharif, said Mr B. Powell, of the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Earlier reporp stated that the fish was 10ft 6in lonw and weighed 4cwt with a tail, dorstfl fin and lower jaw like a shark. How--ever, it had no teeth. This apparent lac|c of teeth is one of the characteristics qj a basking shark, Mr Powell said. Therq are teeth but they are very small, making the fish harmless. Basking sharks* are rare in New Zealand waters and ar* one of the largest types of shark, growing up to 40ft.-