NEWS OF THE DAY

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 23, 19 August 1932, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

White Island Acjive White Island was very active rtur. ing the week-end. A huge colunm cl steam rose to a great height from the island on Saturday afternoon, and there was again considerable activity vn Sunday. A New Record A fish new to Otago was caught recently by Messrs. Bailie and Gibb, of Port Chalmers, and sent to Mr. David H. Graham, who has identified it was Seriolella porosa, a close relation of the warehou, states the Otago Daily Times. The fish was caught in 250 fathoms at the North Reef, measured "2C> inches in length, and weighed J2lb. Above the snout and about the head was to be seen a porous skin, hence its specific name. This is the first of its kind recorded in Otago ami a plaster cast has been made at the museum, where the fish has been preserved. Another specimen was caught the week previously, but unfortunately was sent on to the market and sold.

Railway Coal Stocka It is understood that railway orders lev coal have been reduced by ap. proximately balf,. fur the present, reports the Greymouth Star. It is as. sumed that the railway reserve stocks have now reached their full capacity, and the outlook is not promising for miners getting in full shifts' during the next week or two. The larger mines, it is stated, have accumulated f.lack to such an e-.ient as to stop production. It is further stated that a number of the cooperative mines are having even greater difficulty with their slack, and in many cases have had to resort to dumping to enable them to continue operations tu meet orders for screened coal.

A Fascinating Voice In a letter to a Wanganui friend | a New Zealand woman whji is at' present touring' /the United States, \ gives some amusing sidelights on hei I experiences (states tli«■ Flerakli ; "The other night ! weni 10 :i party, and whenever i spoke, oVeryune stop.; ped talking. I found out later that it; was niy voice. Everyone said how; ecft it was. it was most embarrass- j jug at first, being such a centre of' atractjon. lady—mind you- -said j she had never heard such a faseinat j ing voice. It was English, yet it was | without an English accent. One of the! men complimented me on my ability ■ to speak English, and was very sur. ! prised when I told him I couldn't • cpeak Maori, which he thought was j my native language." ;

God's Own Counlry An explanation of the derivation of; the term, "God's Own Country," wasj sought recently by Dr. G. H. Schole-j field, Parliamentary Librarian. Well-1 jngton, when ho wrote to> John o' 1 London's Weekly asking if any of the| readers of that paper could indicate! the earliest use of the expression, as j applied to the United States. "It 16 commonly appropriated by New Zea. j landers for New Zealand, cr was for' some years," wrote Dr. Scholefield, I "but 1 understand that it was first j adopted in America." The editor of; the paper has the following footnote:! "God's Own Country" [$ usually taken! t-c< refer to the United States, but j with what authority and at what date ■ we do no know. :

Auckland Railway Station "The new Auckland railway station, the much-needed and most important l of Auckland's modern improvements, compares in modernity, comfort and convenience, not only favourably with railway centres in far larger cities, but it eclipses many of them," states Miss V. A. Roche, secretary of the Australian National Travel Association. "The appointments are excellent, and so is the service, traffic and personnel. I have no patience with the 'little Aucklander,' and I am ashamed to say there are quite a number of them who wail about the station being inconveniently situated, and 'ahead of it s time.' Sydney's railway station is a mile cr thereabouts from; the heart of the city, but you never j hear any comment about it. It takes j longer to get from the Spencer Street j railway station to the heart of Mel.j bourne than it does from Auckland I irtaticn to the city, and the same ap-1 plies to the new railway station at; Brisbane."

Flock House Lad's Success A convincing teiUmu ny to the value j ol the tuition recjivud by the lads atj Flock House is affo/ded by the success at a ploughing match in Hawke's Bay last week of a young man, W'il-' liam Lorraine Setters, who was train-1 ed at that institution. Employed by j Mr. T. Power, ot' Takapau, Setters i was awarded first prize tor best; double-l'urrow ploughing in class if; j •first prize for best ploughing, under j 20 years; first prize for best fairing in class B; iirst prize for straightesi j ploughing in class B, and the goic!' medal, 'the judge (Mr. Gilbert McKay, of Hastings) said that Setters!

was a credit to Fiock House, his employer and himself. His work was j outstanding, and showed sympathy \ and confidence between man and j horses, without which such work was j impossible. Setters would br a cham-i

pion ploughman, and thai spelled sue. j J cess in New Zeals* :'i am] '•■■ any part! of the world, lie was born in Grimsby j less than IS years ago, and came to New Zealand in 1929. His father! was a petty officer in the Royal Navy j and wag killed in action with tne! Hood Battalion at Gallipoli. | i Tagged Fish In September of last year the Re. i j search Committee of the Southland' Acclimatisation Society tagged a num.! her of trout in n hole about half a! (mile above the Thornbury bridge. On! Sunday last a party was out tagging j at the same spot, and in the course! of handling some 400 fish they came across three trout which had been tugged there 11 months earlier. It is rather remarkable isavs the South, land Times) that the fish remained in

the same' spot lor so long a period. The tag nunii)n»'s on the trout were 801, 882 and 898. One fish grew 21 j inches and put on f'oz siueo last Sep-] tember, one jrrow I.J inches and puti on 53 ounces, aul the third grew two I inches and put on 1A ounces, this-' small increase in vjight being due! to the fact that the fish was a female! which had deposited its eggs. The! tagging party also nicked up another! tag, but not 0 n a S's'i, for it was lying j on the rivcrbauk. Presumably an angle r had caught the m lit to, which it was attached, but was too lackadaisical to forward the tag and particulars of the capture to the society.