NEWS OF THE DAY

Taranaki Daily News, 27 March 1934, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Arrested at Bell Block yesterday by Constable Mills, a young man will appear at the New Plymouth Police Court this morning on a charge of theft. N. Boswell, a Warea youth, who received a fractured leg as a result of a fall in a creek bed near his home on Saturday, is in the New Plymouth hospital and is reported to be progressing satisfactorily.

“My champagne is in the upper strata of the ether, and it is very exhilarating,” said Sir Charles Kingsford Smith at the New Plymouth Rotary Club luncheon yesterday, prefacing his talk to members after listening to Mr. R. E. Fisher’s talk on “champagne.” “Shorts” will be permitted on the courts of play during the badminton season, it was decided at the first meeting of the New Plymouth Badminton Club last evening. Mr. A. Scott introduced the question, the chairman Mr. St. Leger Reeves, saying that there would be no restriction. «

Charged with having uttered a valueless cheque at Hawera, a middle-aged man was arrested at Patea early yesterday afternoon less than an hour after he had left a Hawera firm. It is understood further charges are pending and that the man will be taken to New Plymouth to-day. The condition of Mr. C. Cheffing, who was admitted to the New Plymouth hospital on Sunday afternoon with an arm severely injured, was last night reported to be satisfactory. Mr. Cheffing, an Opunake resident, was using an explosive near the mouth of the Te Nawa river when a part of the plug of gelignite exploded in his hand. It is feared that he will lose the use of the arm. A well known New Plymouth resident, Mr. W. G. Emeny, was injured at his residence in Young Street on Saturday afternoon. It is believed that Mr. Emeny suffered from an attack of heart trouble. He fell heavily and received a deep cut in the scalp which required the insertion of three stitches.

Congratulations to J. Fairbrother, a form VI. pupil at the New Plymouth Boys’ High School in 1933, on gaining the architectural bursary valued at £5O, plus fees, and tenable at Auckland University College for three years were .extended by the High Schools Board at its meeting last night, the headmaster (Mr. W. H. Moyes) having mentioned the success in his report. The suggestion that with the convenient train connections existing between Auckland and Taranaki it might be possible to arrange a mid-week Rugby fixture between Auckland and Taranaki during Stratford winter show week was made at the Taranaki Rugby Upion management committee meeting at Stratford last night by Mr. E. H. Young (Stratford). Players could leave Auckland on Tuesday night, play at Stratford on the Wednesday and be in Auckland again on Thursday morning. Mr. McLeod said the suggestion was one to be kept in view. A family of two dogs and three small pups is mystifying visitors to the Dawson Falls house. The dogs are evidently ownerless and have taken up housekeeping in the thick bush near the hostel, disturbing residents with their barking. When Mr. J. P. Murphy discovered them on Saturday morning they immediately made off into the thick bush at a great pace and would not submit to any later approach. As the region is not abundant in a type of game which the dogs could easily catch, on what they exist, and how they first came to be on the reserve are complete mysteries. There are 130,800 plants in the Wanganui city nursery, and placing on each a modest value of Is 6d, the total asset amounts to something approaching £lO,000, says the Chronicle. Recently members of the city council paid a visit of inspection to the nursery and made themselves fully acquainted with the work that is being carried on there. Mr. J. D. Crowley, chairman of the works committee, outlined the history of the nursery reserve, and in doing so paid tribute to those who had been responsible for its establishment. Included in the young plants now being cared for are 45,000 pines for the Wanganui and District Development League, which are being raised for the youths’ afforestation camp at Kaitoke, for planting on sand-dune country along the coast.

A big attraction at the Waitoitoi beach races on Saturday will be the grand tug-of-war. Teams will be of five men with a maximum weight of 60 stone. Entries will be taken on the ground, the fee being 5s per team. This event is already causing much interest and some great contests are confidently expected, ; ■

Within the past three weeks three haystacks in the Kohi district (Waverley) have been destroyed by fire. An old resident of the locality states that this is the first occasion there has been such loss during the past 25 years, at least so far as that district is concerned. Mr. Tom Magan lost one stack and Mr. Ernest Gulliver two.

The walniS harvest at Akaroa has now begun and the sound of the threshing of the trees can be heard in all parts of the district. The crop this year is good, with clean nuts and only a small percentage of bad ones. The disease prevalent some years ago has almost disappeared. It is estimated that the yield will equal those of former years, when upwards of 1000 sacks were snipped away.

An Okoia farmer recently discovered a small flock of strange pigeons in a patch of bush on his property. The birds are evidently ordinary house pigeons which have flown far afield, and have apparently taken up their abode in the bush. It is possible, says the Chronicle, that they may be English wood pigeons, but it is understood that importation of that species to this country was forbidden on account of action by various acclimatisation societies.

“It pays to grow a patch of cabbages every year as protection agamst the ravages of the white butterfly,” stated a Wanganui resident who is keen on gardening. He says that so long as the cabbages last the pest will not take to anything else to any great extent. The loss on the cabbages is therefore fully made up in the protection secured for various other vegetables, which provide fodder for the butterfly when there is no other choice.

“I have found human nature a surprising thing,” said an Auckland solicitor, when discussing the aspects of the mortgage market. “There are few mortgagors who have declined to accept the reduction of 20 per cent, in interest rates under the National Expenditure Adjustment Act. They object to the principle of the measure and believe that while they are able to pay the full amount they should do so. Others claim the fullest protection of the law, and openly boast that nobody pays interest these days.”

The final returns show that the response to the annual street appeal of the Plunket Society in Auckland on Friday resulted in a total of £435 being collected. This amount represents an increase of about £5 on the figures available on Friday night, when the final returns from Takapuna and Devonport had yet to be made. Last year £366 was contributed on the day, and later donations brought the total up to just over £4OO.

Bell birds are multiplying fast in the various bush regions round Wanganui. In the three valleys in the Okoia district they are very plentiful and have become almost as daring as the sparrow in their visitations to cultivated areas round homesteads. In one case the flowers of the plant commonly known as the “red hot poker” attracted these birds in large numbers to a farm-house garden. In their search for honey the bell birds practically stripped the flowers in a couple of days. Karamu berries in the same garden also proved to be -an attraction.

A fence contractor stated at Wanganui this week that the quality of fencing staples sold in New Zealand had deteriorated in recent years, probably on account of the fact that softer woods were being used, particularly for battens. He had split a rimu tree recently and had been unable to purchase staples that could be driven into the battens. White pine battens and poplar were greatly used he pointed out, and as these woods were much softer the poorer quality staple material was probably not a great hardship, except perhaps in the very back country.

“Although sparrows seem to. attack the white butterfly in no verymarked manner, they relish the caterpillar of this pest in a high degree,” writes Captain E. V. Sanderson, president of the Native Bird Protection Society, to a Wellington paper. “The'.trouble is, however-, that the caterpillar does not appear to be getting attacked until it has done drastic harm to the cabbages and other vegetables. This is no doubt owing to there not being enough birds, to go round, insects increase with prodigious rapidity in comparison with the comparatively slow rate that birds increase. The remedy is to carry a lot of birds through the winter, by feeding them, in order that we may have a good capital stock to multiply in the spring.” Dr. and Mrs. N. Burnet Gadsby, of Aberdeen, Scotland, are due to arrive at Wellington by the Akaroa at. the end of the month on a brief visit of a month’s duration. Dr. Gadsby, who is the senior partner in a partnership of three medical men which has probably the largest obstetrical practice in the north of Scotland, is a New Zealanuer, bom at Whenuakura, near Patea. He attended the Patea public school, for a year or two he was at a secondary school at Hawera, and later went to Wellington College. He then went Home to the Aberdeen University, and after qualifying for his degree he gained considerable experience in some of the Scottist hospitals. In 1926 he married a daughter of Dr. Stills, of Aberdeen, and returned to New Zealand to see his parents, who have resided at Te Kuiti for nearly 25 years. He stayed for two months, when he returned to Aberdeen as the junior partner of the combination of doctors of which now he is the head. That a market for New Zealand beech timber is assured in England would appear to be indicated in a letter received by a South Island resident to the effect that the first bulk shipment of beech from the Dominion arrived in London some weeks ago in satisfactory condition. . As this shipment was looked on more or less.in the nature of an experiment, the news that the timber has. found favour with the English buyers is distinctly encouraging, and should assist materially in stimulating the timber trade, especially in the southern districts where the beech grows so. well. The letter concludes: “Go on cutting.” Under the heading “The Atheism of New Zealand” the cutrent issue of the New Zealand Baptist criticises the omission from the Dominion coinage of the letters indicating that King George is King “by the grace of God.” After explaining that no perturbation is felt regarding the dropping of the letters “F.1.D.” (Defender of the Faith), the article proceeds: “Why omit D.G.? The letters are surely a reminder of two things. The first, that the King has a King other than the people, an Eternal Lord to Whose sceptre he bows. The second, that all the pageant of State and all the intricacy of trade must at last be tested by the external laws of righteousness. We think we are entitled to know who is responsible among our politicians and their advisers for this lapse into nominal atheism. To Australians and the British George is King D.G., but not to officialdom in New Zealand.”

A very special line of ladies’ ready-to-wear felt hats is being featured at Scanlan’s Melbourne Comer. These comprise all the very latest shapes and shades and are remarkable value. Other seasonable new goods now showing are winter coats, evening frocks and afternoon frocks.*

A general practice for all New Plymouth members of the Taranaki cricket representative team has been arranged (on special practice wickets at Pukekura Park) this afternoon at 4.30 o’clock. New Plymouth senior bowlers are invited to attend.