LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 5 February 1932, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Among the fishermen who have been (successful at the deep-sea , fishing grounds at Russell in landing big, fighting fish during the past week is Mr. V. S. Pruden, New Plymouth. Mr. 'Pruden brought in a 2121 b inako. 'lhe fish put up a good fight which lasted for about an hour, but it appeared only once above the water.

Taranaki bowlers who visited Urenui yesterday had a pei'fect’setting for their game. The weather was ideal and the greeu in splendid order. The ground, is very picturesquely situated, overlooking the North Taranaki Bight ana surrounded by trees both native and exotic. From a nearby tree the liquid notes of a tui provided music throughout the afternoon, whilst from the far distance could be heard answering notes like an echo.

Comparative figures giving the amounts spent by the various automobile associations in the North Island since 1926 show that in sign-posting the South Taranaki Association, is third on the list with an expenditure of £1215 and that the Taranaki Association has spent £66'9. In expenditure on motor camps since 1926 the Taranaki Association comes second on the list of towns in the North Island with an expenditure of £212. The fact that Powderham Street from the Currie Street intersection to the Liardet Street intersection is one of the most dangerous streets for traffic in New Plymouth was shown again yesterday afternoon. A High School girl riding her bicycle home from school was struck by a car going u p Powderham Street and turning into Carrington Road. The cai- stopped immediately after the collision and the girl suffered only from shock. After she had rested for" a while the motorist drove her home.

There is such a small demand for beef cattle in Hawke’s Bay at present that indifference was displayed by buyers at the Stortford Lodge ’sale last week. Those present required a lot of tempting to make any offers at all. “What are you feeding your customers on?’ asked an exasperated auctioneer, perspiring freely in his futile efforts to attract° bids. One of the butchers,, mopping his damp forehead and licking his dry lips, promptly replied: “Ice-cream. 1 ’

The West Coast (NJ.) Athletic Centre championships will probably be held at Hawera instead of at Wanganui, it is understood. The date mentioned as likely for the fixture is February 20.

Blenheim is making an attempt upon the world’s sunflower record, says the Express. At the rear of Mr. F. H. Southgate’s .premises in High Street there is at present growing a sunflower which is lift Sin in height, with a stem of 2J inches in diameter. The largest flower is 15in across. Probably'' most people do not bother to measure their sunflowers, but the specimen under review is so large as to challenge attention.

“The cook is, in fact, as important as any man in the crew of the mill,” declared Mr. C. Baldwin during the hearing of the threshing mills dispute in the Arbitration Court at Christchurch on Tuesday. “He is like the man in charge of the engine. He has to keep . the human boiler filled, and with the right stuff, too.” Laughter greeted Mr. Justice Frazer’s remark that “they put water into .boilers, you know, Mr. Baldwin.”

Though many men are seeking employment as harvesters this season, they are finding it hard to secure works, says the Christchurch Times. The labour exchanges in the city have big lists of men who desire this class of work, and in other years, under similar conditions it was a simple matter to place them. But farmers are not applying for men thia year. This may be taken as a sign of the times. Farmers are working together more than formerly, and the introduction of the header harvester is cutting out a good deal of manual labour.

“If the post office has framed some new regulations about the readdressing of mail, I wish that it would give more publicity to the fact,” said a Christchurch resident to a Sun reporter this week. “Before we closed up our town house and went down to the beach for the holidays the head of the family filled in a form authorising our mail to be redirected to the beach. We discovered, upon our return to town, that only father’s mail had been sent on, and that because each member of the family had not filled in a form that the rest of the mail had simply been dumped in the letter box,”

Miss Lilian Familton, of Oamaru, accompanied by the well-known Franz Josef chief guide, Peter Graham, and Tom Sheran, recently made the successful ascent of Mount Sefton, 10,350 ft, from a high bivouac on the western side in the Copeland Valley. The party, after being detained by bad weather for several days, reached th® summit on January 31. Magnificent views were obtained, Mount Aspiring being clearly visible to the south. An icy wind was experienced on the final part of the climb, so only a brief stay was made on the summit.

One of the first matters the revived Westport Chamber of Commerce , will have to tackle will be the state of the harbour, which, through financial starvation is becoming in a somewhat chaotic state, says the News. There are two bars and recently there was only 12ft 91 n showing at low water. The Rata was detained in the roadstead for three hours waiting for sufficient water to enable her to make the port. This state of affairs is evidently due to lack of dredging and probably is an outcome of the decision to try and run the port without a harbour engineer. The business community must get busy or the port will be 'back to where it was <£o years ago. The mythical “goose that laid the golden eggs” is recalled by a real-life story which comes from Runanga, states the Greymouth Star. A resident of that township had a number of ducks, and killed one. While cleaning it, he was greatly surprised to find, in the gizzard, a nugget of gold, about the size of a pea. When the execution djiy for the next duck arrived, he remembered the occurence, and made a careful examination, with the result that a smaller nugget was found. This led to the immediate killing of a third duok —and the discovery of another nugget. The Star informant vouched for the truth of the storv. The ducks were hatched, on the premises, and have never been out of the run. A little gold-prospecting would appear to be a good move.

For the ordinary person correspondence with the King can hardly be considered & matter of hearty cordiality, says the Christchurch Times. In fact, it is very impersonal indeed, accoiding to a letter received in Christchurch last week. The envelope at first glance might have been a trade circular until closer inspection showed it to be most distinctive. Made of the best cartridge paper, it had a -meat, red crowd embossed on the flap, and on the fiont there was the mark of an oval -rubber stamp: “The Privy-Purse—Buckingham Palace.” Inside,' the single sheet of paper was embossed with the crown and “Buckingham Palace,” and there followed less than half a dozen lines of typewriting: “The Private Sectetaiy acknowledges . . . The Private Secretary is desired to convey an expression of his Majesty’s thanks for . • « That was all.

“I never saw so much depression and hopelessness in all my life as I saw in America. The pepple there were envious of England, believing that she had turned the corner. The municipal authorities were in despair as to how to deal with the unemployment problem. On the other hand in England I saw little of the gloom and pessimism we read about in the cabled news,” said Mr. J. W. Mawson, Director of Town Planning, referring to hie recent tour overseas, in an address in Christchurch. “There was no sign of poverty and distress in England,” he said, “and when I left, after the elections, everyone was cheerful and optimistic to & degree. It is a curious thing tnat British Columbia has not felt the worldwide depression to anything like the extent that we have felt it in New Zealand, and this is because of the wealth of her natural resources.” With the amount of trouble that has emanated from the activities of the cabbage butterfly in our midst in the past few months, Hawke’s Bay farmers are naturally keenly interested in any steps which are being taken for the eradication of this pest, states the Napier Telegraph. From a Napier resident, Mr. A. W. D. Stuart, comes the news of a certain rare species of creeping plant, the flowers of which attract the butterfly and at the same time spell death to the pests. The botanical name of this creeper, which is a perennial, is Ajar Maidenii, and it is extremely rare in New Zealand, Mr. Stuart having brought the seed back from Egypt, where Ihe was stationed during the war years. The creeper bears a white flower, the heart of which is filled with honey. This attracts the butterfly, which goes to get the honey, but as soon as its feelers penetrate the honey chamber, this closes up and the butterfly is held fast. Thousands of buterflies are perpetually hovering over the spot where the creeper is growing, the flowers being very numerous. On a recent morning, Mr. Stuart’s son collected 200 in. the space of a few. minutes.

Among the present visitors at the Canterbury Automobile Association’s camp for motorists at the Addington show ground, is a tourist who is seeing New Zealand in a six-wheeled truck. The vehicle is geared so that it can travel at as low a speed as three miles per hour and can thus traverse swampy or even sandy country. The driver sleeps inside the van, which contains his stretcher, wardrobe, cooking utensils, and other possessions likely to be of use on the trip. For very rough country the vehicle can be transformed into a tractor.

(When only three men answered an advertisement asking for volunteers to cultivate vegetable plots, the members of the executive set up by the unemployed of Blenheim to organise gardening schemes threatened to resign their positions. It was remarked that the men seemed to regard the matter as a joke. Mr. J. Stevenson, secretary, declared that his time was too valuable to waste if no results were forthcoming. Other members expressed similar sentiments, and said they would not carry on unless the men as a body showed more appreciation of the chances offered them.

“This raises the question whether a headmaster has the right to place his staff where individually it can do the best work,” remarked Dr. J. W. McIlwraith, senior inspector of primary schools in Auckland, at Wednesday’s meeting of '■ the Auckland Education Board, in reference to a request by the headmaster of the Northcote Junior High School for permission for one of his staff to be transferred from the primary department to the secondary department. The matter was referred to Dr. McIlwraith for a report.

• A sample of a new blue gladiolus developed from cross-fertilisation by Mf. C. 'Rides, of New Brighton, has been on view in Christchurch. The striking feature of the gladiolus, which is termed “blue-lavender,” is, says the Sun, its strength and vigour. It was grown from a first year corm no bigger than a sixpenny piece. Authorities regard the variety as at least among the best produced in New Zealand, if not in the world. The attention of American enthusiasts is being drawn to the flower, which, if sold, is expected to fetch a .big price overseas. The annual Sunday school picnic of the Fi'tzroy Methodist Sunday school is to be held to-morrow (Saturday) at McKee’s farm, Lepperton Junction. A special train leaves Fitzroy at 8.50 a.m., returning about 6.30, the special return fares being 3d for children, young people 9d and adults Is. Hot water and milk will be provided for all and meals for the Sunday school children.

Preparations are in train at the Melbourne Ltd. for the firm’s great Summer Sale, which is scheduled to commence early next week. Stock is now being taken and marked down for what will prove to be the most colossal bargain event of the season. With hardening prices imminent on all imported goods this sale, will prove a veritable boon to all in a position to lay out some cash.*