NEW ZEALAND NEWS

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 84, 7 February 1928, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND NEWS

NOTES FROM ALL PARTS.

WIE DOMINION DAY BY DAY,

Work among Lepers.

Who would like to work for 36 years without a holiday. - The Rev. Mother Mary Agnes, the head of the Marist sisterhood at Makogai leper station in the Pacific, has had this experience. Even when the vacation wa s urged upon the French nun she strongly protested. The Reverend Mother, accompanied by Sister Mary Celine, (who hjas spent eight years in the islands), arrived in Auckland recently by the Aorangi. It is their intention to spend several weeks at the Mater Hospiial in Auckland.

Mother Mary Agnes, commenting upon her work, said that there were now 500 leper s at Makogai, including' several from New Zealand.

* “As a matter of fact we are particularly grateful to the people of this Dominion for their interest and support,” she said. “They have been very kind to us indeed, and never forget the exiles at Makogai. I am rp'rofoundly grateful to them.” . * 5 mosquito Post. ? Although the dryness of the season has created conditions unfavourable to mosquito breeding, the pest has appeared in Auckland during the last week or two, and in some parts of the city is reported to be in strength. The usual measures are being or are to be carried out by the city authorities, states the “New Zealand Herald.” The city engineer’s department, which is responsible for one of the most prolific breeding places in dry weather—the gutter (raps of the streets—has issued instructions that a thick oil, specially obtained for the purpose, must be I,mured down each. The. sanitary department of the City Council is at present employing the research officer of the Auckland Mosquito (Control Committee ,as a special officer. His duty i s to search for breedingplaces and to give advice to y,householders as to the best means of combating the pest. Throughout the year the regular officials pay attention to rubbish accumulations which contain tins * n which water might lodge and provide a breeding-ground. On the tips tins are flattened or covered. * * Monster Thresher Shark. ’•* ‘ ■ ’ A thresher shark, which was captured by Mr T. Cross, oV'*’ Christchurch, from the launch Ruamaho, was the largest Of the species that has been taken off Mayor Island, and probably ranks as one of the largest that has been killed in New Zealand waters (states a Tauranga correspondent writing on Wednesday). After it was hooked the shark made off at great speed, and ran out about 250 yards of the line before a check was effected. The thresher did not rise, but carried on the struggle deep down in the sea. The line tightened and slackened repeatedly, but held, and after a fight lasting over three hours the monster, was brought alongside the launch, - The shark was then towed to shallow water, and it took nine men to drag it ashore. Weighing apparatus at the island was incapable of dealing with the monster, but the party estimated the weight at nearly 6001 b. ~lt was 14ft 2in long. The tail was 7ft lin in length and about 9in across. Mr A. H. Court, owner of the launch Ruamano, who has fished the whole area from Auckland to North Cape, considers that the waters off Mayor Island offer the best big game fishing of all the areas he has tested. * * New Limestone Cajves. - * . Limestone caves, containing stalagmites and stalactites, at a spot some six miles south of Waikato Heads and three miles from the sea, have long been known to the Maoris, but owing to the absence of a road they have been practically inaccessible. A road i s now being carried southward from the Heads', and as it goes within a few hundred yards of the caves, numbers of Europeans have explored them thi s summer’ (states the “New Zealand Herald”). The largest stalagmite in the Raglan group has a diameter of six feet at. the base and rises in a tapering column to the roof twenty feet high. It i s cream or yellow in colour, but ‘most of the smalt ones surrounding it arc marble white. On shelves and niches are many beautiful formations that resemble curtains and friezes. In one cave a party explored for live hours, so it is evident that some of the passages have great length. One of those penetrated by Mr E. T. Frost, of Tuakau, run s under a ridge, but others appear to have no outlet above ground, but run down by a gradual slope toward the sea. Appearances indicate that all were once the courses o£ streams that found the sea through it s bed. In at least one. of the caves I a sbmall creek now Hows and fresh water crayfish were seen in pools far beyond the faintest gleam of light. The caves are on native land that is leased. Inupediately around them a clump of has been preserved. Representations probably will be made thqt the area should be secured as a scenic reserve.