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Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1933, Page 6

A gathering on Friday night marked the 21st anniversary of Bandmaster Stein’s appointment to the Gisborne Salvation Army Band, and in that time he has attended approximately 10,000 parades. Captain Dick, paying a tribute to the bandmaster, said that in his 21 years with the band he had averaged five open-air services a week, equalling 5436 outdoor engagements, and four indoor services a week, making 4360 indoor engagements, a very creditable performance. Adjutant Goffin, of Napier, said that since coming to New Zealand Mr. Stein had trained 120 boys who were now in Gisborne and other New Zealand bands.

An instance of the great strain which the strike of Napier relief workers has placed upon the resources of the Social Service Committee (and, incidentally, the public of Napier) is given by the deputy-mayor, Mr. A. E. Bedford. On Thursday morning 16 carcases of mutton were delivered to the depot. By nightfall not a shred remained. The previous day 780 loaves were in the bins ready to meet the demands of those who would apply for them. At five o’clock that night the last loaf had long since passed into the hands o'f a relief worker. Mr. Bedford said it probably cost Napier about £lOOO a week to feed the unemployed and their dependents while the men were on strike.

At a meeting of the South Canterbury Beekeepers’ Association, which was held this week, an address was given by a Timaru business man on the manufacture of ice cream, in which honey was used in place of sugar for sweetening and flavouring (says the Timaru Herald). Members visited the factory and saw experiments carried out, and they were greatly impressed with the results. This was the first known occasion on which honey (in this instance white clover honey) has. been used in ice cream, and it is considered that the new method would prove popular on account of the food value of honey.

There is on view at the office of the Conservator of Fish and Game (Mr. A. Kean) at Rotorua a specimen of the New Zealand mudfish, which is said to be very rare. The peculiarity of this fish is that it can, and does, exist away from water. The specimen held by Mr. Kean is alive, and in its movements is something like an eel, but has a different head. The fish, which is about 6in. long, was taken in a dry drain at Morrinsville, and was sent to Mr. Kean for identification. There are few instances of this fish being caught in New Zealand, but they are known to have been found at Otakeho (Taranaki), near Masterton, and on the West Coast of the South Island.

Some unusual forms of assistance have been offered to the Christchurch Metropolitan Relief Association, but one which came before a meeting of the'executive created consternation as well as amusement (says the Press). A farmer offered the milking services of four cows which had just calved, provided they were pastured and milked, not necessarily by the members of the committee personally, but through some arrangement to be made by them. “What about securing the calves, too?” asked a member, who received the reply that pasturage would be the difficulty. The meeting decided to thank the farmer for his offer and to see if the cows could be found convenient grazing. An extremely diminutive man boarded a tram in the vicinity of Newmarket, Auckland, recently and settled himself comfortably into a seat. After a few minutes, apparently not finding that particular seat to his liking, he moved to another and settled himself, with a sigh of contentment, into the new and seemingly vastly superior seat. At this stage the conductor arrived. “Fare, please.” The little man pointed out that he had just changed his seat. As this fact was indisputable, everybody having seen him move, the conductor passed on to the next and more honest passenger. After enjoying several sections of tram ride at the expense of the Auckland Tramway Board, the small man left the tram with an air of “something accomplished, soipething done.”

Now the terrors which came in the wake of the earthquake are gradually falling farther away a number of humorous incidents are finding their way to everyday conversation (says the Hawke’s Bay Herald)'. During the past fortnight or so there seems to have been a revival—either deliberate or accidental — of these stories, and several times in the past week there have been examples of this urge to extract a little humour from otherwise grim experiences. As the Great War had its funny twists, so in a number of instances the ’quake had its lighter moments. A Napier hostess has met with so many of these lately that she has decided to ’keep a scrapbook of those she hears.

Recent appearances of the white heron, an individual here or an individual there, give interest to “Tohunga’s” notes in the New Zealand Railways Magazine on the heron’s place in Maori poetic phrase. “Te kotuku rerenga tahi,” the white heron that flies singly, is a classic Maori description of the habit of this beautiful rare bird of the swamps and the lagoons. “Invariably only one is seen; it is the solitary bird of the wastes. A lovely spirit-like bird, it still lingers in the land from which the ancient peace of the wilds has departed. One of our South Island lakes has a name which preserves a memory of the time when the white heron was numerous on its shores. This is Lake Brunner, on the West Coast railway line. Its Maori name, as the old people of Arahura village once told me, is Kotuku-whakaoka, which means the heron which darts its sharp bill to stab its prey, otherwise spear-darting heron. This expression exactly describes the ways of the white wading bird.”