Large Eel Captured.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 November 1935, Page 4

Large Eel Captured.

When eeling in the Wangaqui River 011 Monday evening Mr. J. Williams, Taumarunui, was startled when he saw a monster eel swimming towards him, writes the Taumarunui correspondent of the Auckland Star. Mr. Williams, although surprised at the length of the fish, lost no time in gaffing it near the tail, but he had considerable difficulty in landing the fish, which weighed 261 b, and was five feet long. The eel had no food in its stomach. It was the largest taken from the Wanganui River for years.

Future of the Colonies. That it was impossible to imagine Australia and New Zealand continuing indefinitely to be British possessions was an opinion expressed in a lecture by Air-Marshal Sir Robert Clark-Hall at Christchurch. Since we could not Populate these countries, he said, we would eventually have to make room for those who could. Details of how. we might leave with decency and in order could be safely left to our descendants. If in the meantime we were unable or, unwilling to make it “not worth it” for any possible enemy we should be ignominiously ousted from the lands in a welter of blood and misery. Progress of Radio.

During the past six months there has been a remarkable increase in the number of radio listeners’ licenses, the total reached on September 30 being 175,290, which is in excess of the total at March 31 by 22,801, representing an increase of nearly 15 per cent. Including dealers’ and 367 free acenses, the grand total now stands at 177,683. Every part of the Dominion contributes to this, progress, listeners’ licenses being distributed as follow: Auckland, 54,040 (increase in six months 7402); Canterbury, 31,867 (4075); Otago, 24,342 (3378); and Wellington 65,041 (7946). Distant Shopping Centre.

Most stories about the Englishman s ignorance of New Zealand date back a number of years, before there was any thought of tourist publicity, and when communication was less frequent. Gue was told, however, by the Rev. H. S. Leach, in an interview on his return to Christchurch after an absence of six years. An English girl, he said, had remarked to him recently when the conversation had turned to New Zealand, . I suppose you have to go over to Australia to do your shopping.’

Lorry Driver’s Escape. The driver of a light lorry owned by the Wallace Milking Company, Stratford, had a narrow escape yesterday morning when his vehicle overturned at the intersection of Devon Street and Calvert Road. He endeavoured a pass a van driven by Mr. C. Woodhead, Moturoa, lost control and ended in a ditch on the right-hand side of the road after having rolled over twice. He was jammed in the cabin by the steering gear and was unable to release himself until the lorry was lifted and the door opened by Mr. Woodhead and a passer-by. Beyond shock the Stratford man suffered no injury. The lorry was badly damaged, the body being crushed down against the chassis and the windscreen shattered.

The Right to Die. Two members of the audience, one who heckled the speaker persistently and the other with a lengthy list of minor questions that he asked in an indistinct voice, provided diversion at the Hon. S. G. Smith’s opening election meeting at Waitara last night. “Is Mr. Smith in favour of giving people the right to die?” finally asked the persistent one, apropos of a recent Press cable from England concerning the euthanasia movement. “Yes,” quickly replied Mr. Smith. “I would give two members of this audience the right to die—politically.”

No Longer “Pig Island.” “New Zealand will be the apex of both the Imperial Airways and PanAmerican Airways when the services are in operation,” said the Minister of Transport, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, at Riverhead. “New Zealand will then cease, to be the farthest-flung post of Empire. It will not be the isolated ‘pig island’ that it has been. We will be within a few days of London and within 35 to 38 flying hours of the United States. This will bring about an entirely different conception of the Empire and the world to what we have had. When our early settlers came to New Zealand the voyage occupied from three to six months. Now it takes five or six weeks by direct vessels, but in a few years people will be landing in New Zealand in five days after starting from England.”