LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 28 April 1930, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

During the progress of the competi-' tion for the Lady Jellicoe Golf Cup at Miramar, Wellington, a ball of one of the competitors landed on the 13th green, and was promptly seized and flown off with by a large seagull, which of late has made itself the guardian of this particular green.

Modern methods of transport were exemplified on Saturday, when a New 'Plymouth hotelkeeper received a telegram from a South Island town: "Arriving by aeroplane this afternoon.” Sure enough the aviator and his passenger appeared shortly after tour o’clock, just three and a-half hours after their departure from the other island. 1

"My wife and I have been out pulling ragwort and my neighbour just across the river simply lets his ragwort grow and the seed blows on to my farm again. What am I going to do about it?” Thus complained a farmer at the meeting of the Inglewood branch of the Farmers’ Union on Saturday night. The matter was a difficult one, said Mr. Clyde, the provincial president. He hoped that something would result from a conference which was to be held soon.

A touch of humour marked a complaint that came before the Auckland Rugby League, though the situation to which it referred was not very amusing for the individual concerned. The secretary of the Ponsonby Club advised that clothing belonging to two juniors had been stolen from the dressing shed at Carlaw Park on Saturday week. One player lost a singlet, and another his trousers, "thereby being obliged to travel home by taxi-cab.” The complaint was referred to the ground committee.

Splendid entries have been received for the tug-of-war tournament to be held to-night, to-morrow night and Friday in aid of the funds of tlie Raliotu Croquet Club. A heavyweight team from Eltham will add to the interest. The lazy-stick competition has also drawn large ontri'.-i.

A record frost for this year was ex perienced in Christchurch on Wednesday morning, when 13.8 deg. was registered at the magnetic observatory. This is only .7 of a degree below the most severe frost of last year.

The regulations of the New Zealand Military forces have been amended by the revocation of a paragraph relating to what are commonly known as “crimesheets,” and the substitution of a paragraph stating that in the Territorial Force and the Cadets conduct-sheets will not be required, but that records of convictions by the civil or military powers, duly signed by a responsible civil or military authority, as the case may be, will be maintained.

What is believed to be a New Zealand altitude record for light teroplanes was established at Rongotai a few days ago by Mr. C. M. Duthie, of the Wellington Aero Chib, when he reached a height of 19,300 feet in the club’s Gypsy Moth., The achievement cannot be regarded as an official record, however, owing to the fact that the machine was not fitted with a sealed barograph. Mr. Duthie is the first member of the club to be awarded an “A” license.

“I’ve been 30 years at sea, and I have never known times to be so hard,” said a ship’s fireman in Auckland last week. He said that when a couple of men were needed “down below” in the Waiotapu early in the week there were 83 applicants, all fully qualified -and reliable, and all union members. There were over 50 applicants for three seamen's jobs on the same vessel. As an illustration of the efl’cct of converting big ships from coal to oil fuel, he mentioned that in the old days the Niagara carried 57 firemen. Nowadays the stokehold hands, exclusive of engineers, number less than a dozen.

A romance is woven round a motorcar accident in the Wanganui district. A farmer’s daughter had driven to the village on some business for her father. In dodging a dog that rushed out at the car, she swerved and struck a young man who was crossing the road at the same time and knocked him do.wn. He was severely bruised. The young woman, finding tSiat he was a farmhand out of work, took him to her home. Cupid evidently had a hand in sending that dog forth at the opportune time, for a marriage took place the other day, and the happy young man will remain permanently on the farm.

Evidence of the value of native birds is afforded by a recent occurrence on Kapiti Island, the bird sanctuary. A grove of young and flourishing bluegums on the north end of the island was severely attacked by fireblight' recently, and many of the trees were killed. It was thought that the whole grove was doomed, but fortunately the tuis and bellbirds found the blight to their liking. So far as can be seen, they have completely cleaned the trees of the pest. Many of the younger branches of the trees are dead, but new growth is strongly evident, and the trees arc now vigorous and healthy.

“Official cable just received: Butter up 10s, cheese 65.” Such was the notice, chalked in large letters, on a blackboard that confronted patrons at' the Taranaki Trotting Club’s meeting. on Saturday. It could not be missed, as it was prominently displayed on that part of the totalisator that indicates the amount invested on each horse. Perhaps it was felt that this information would cause a relaxation of the purse strings, which have been somewhat tightened lately as .the result of the decline in prices. Perhaps, however, it was. only the desire of the secretary, who is also secretary of the provincial executive of the Farmers’ Union, that the welcome intelligence should be disseminated among the farmers present as soon as possible.

The Department of Marine has jurisdiction over the Ross Sea, wherein the Byrd Expedition and whalers operated (says a bulletin issued by the New Zealand Bird Protection Sociaty.) Leave appears to have been given some of these to take penguins. Amongst those secured werb Emperor penguins. They appear to have been most unskilfully tended and fed, with the result that they died. The Emperor has only one known nesting ground in the world, and rears it£ young in the dead of winter amidst blizzards and ice. It is essential that care should be taken lest the Emperor penguin follows in the wake of the Great Auk, which- was exterminated under similar conditions in the Arctic.

• “It cost the Department nearly half a million pounds to give Christchurch an automatic telephone service,” stated Mr. T. H. Moffatt, the newly-appointed South Island business manager for the Department’s commercial branch, in an interview with a representative of the Christchurch Press. There was £240, 000 spent in interior equipment, and £250,000 for tho underground cable system, a total of £490,000. The capital expenditure in the Dominion this year will be about a million and a-quarter pounds, and it will need much revenue to make that up. Already 50 per cent of the telephones in New Zealand are -automatic.

It is likely that an expected falling off in petrol sales will seriously reduce the money available for Main Highways Board expenditure during the coming winter. A Highways Board official stated that so far there had 'been no appreciable Change in the board’s revenue from the petrol tax, 'but the tyre tax had dropped considerably, due to. better roads and the lower price of tyres. A diminution of the tax following decreased petrol sales is expected to become apparent within a fevy weeks. Motor registrations are still increasing, but at a decreasing rate. The Wellington agent of an oil company said there had been a big falling off in country sales during the past few months. It seems certain the amount of tax available for subsidies will be lower. This will necessarily mean curtailment of reading work. Between twenty and thirty pyjamaclad and nightgowned figures gave a pantomime appearance to the arrival platform of the Auckland railway station on Thursday morning (reports the Star.) The phenomenon was not, as a 'bright porter suggested the annual meeting of the Sleepwalkers’ Association, but merely the result of a decision of the Hongi Club, Auckland University College, whose members were unanimously of the opinion that night attire was the only fit attire to welcome fellow undergraduates from Southern university colleges at so early an hour for .a holiday, morning as eight o'-Jn-k.' ' ■ ■■■