GENERAL NEWS

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 4 June 1923, Page 9

GENERAL NEWS

The Fire Brigade received a call about 2.Ill) o'clock yesterday aileruoon to the Empire llot ol. where a chimney was found to he afire. Ihe outbreak was quickly extinguished.

“Wo don’t, admit that, there is any good reason whv wages should he leduced.” —Mr T. nioodworth at a sitting of the Conciliation Council m .Wellington.

A deputation of North Canterbury potato growers will wait upon the 1 muo Minister on Tuesday morning to protest against the importation into New Zealand of potatoes from Australia and America.

“I am afraid tliat the luna is extinct. We have heard that it lias been seen in certain places, but time is the likelihood of a crow being mistaken ioi ;+ » ivfr J C. Andersen m the course of an address at the Wellington Y.M.C.A.

As an indication of dissatisfaction with tiie services of its fire brigade, the Eketahuna Borough Council has reduced the. brigade’s grant by Co. It was stated that the brigade novel practised, and was not giving value for the borough's money.

The following are the vital statistics for the Timaru district for the month of May, the figures in parentheses being for the corresponding month of iJL-.: Births: Males 22 (19); females 2o (2o . Deaths: Males 6 (7); iemales t (14). Marriages 10 (11).

•V suggestion was thrown out by a member* at tlio annual meeting of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society recently that an effort should he made to have the protection of magpies removed. It was stated that magpies were a great menace to native birds.

“From now on postal employees are not exempt from drill,” said SergeantMajor Rowe at the Eltlmin Magistrate’s Court, explaining that m m last two months, regulations had bee altered so that postal employees now would have to perform military service along with other trainees.

Questions which’ the judge thought were of a legal nature and which a layman would not be expected to answer, were put to a witness m tht course of examination in a Supieme Court case at New Plymouth (states the “Taranaki Herald”). T , ln , P ing the moral Mr Justice Keed sa U “Whv if the witness could tell me the real position, I would get up from the bench and say that s the end of the case.'’

An interesting point was revealed by Mr L. F. de Berry, at a meeting or the combined school committees at the Central School, Palmerston North, when he stated that parents have the alienable right of placing their children at whatever school they wish (irrespective of school boundaries) and the headmaster cannot refuse admission provided he can accommodate a further pupil.

A correspondent has written to “The Evening Post,” asking if a 50th Reinforcement entered camp during the late war. On inquiry being made at Defence Headquarters, it was ascertained that the last draft mobilised was the 48th Reinforcements. The 49th, and 50th Reinforcements were formed out of sm-plns men in camp due to accumulations from June, 191 S, on account of the shortage of shipping, _ but of the .surplus men in camp the 51st, 52nd, 53rd, and 54th n.c.o. classes were also formed.

A remarkable though unremarked feature of the past season’s growth is the entire absence of .the mushroom, states the “Manawatu Times.” .So far as is known, not a single specimen has been seen in the Manawatu. The cause is unknown, and it is possibly the only season for fifty years that they have not been plentiful. Last year one farmer said that those giown around his homestead paddock of ten acres would easily fill a 600-gallon tank in a single night.

Splendid sport is being obtained at Tokaanu, where the trout arc plentiful and in excellent condition. Mr J. M'Culloch, of Whakatanc, during a week’s fishing at Tokaanu, caught 62 trout, all on the fly, the average weight being Sib 9oz. The largest fish was lorllb aucl the smallest 51b. An idea as to liow plentiful the trout are at Tokaanu can be gleaned from the fact that Mr J. S W. Neilson, of East who has just completed a month/s visit to Tokaanu, averaged ten fish a day on the fly.

With tire telegraph and telephone wire used even in a little place like New Zealand iso an ingenious individual with a taste 101* figures has found out) one could make a Kaffir bracelet for the world that would go nine times round the Equator, and to make it go ten times one would only need to borrow a bit about 300 miles long. On the same method of calculation New Zealand is a bit weak in roads, as she has only enough of the metalled kind to go once round the world and about 700 miles further, while her unmetalled ; roads would only reach from about Auckland to Petrograd.

A curious story was told by Bishop Gilbert White in the course of an address at the Church of England Missionary Exhibition in Wellington. In giving an account of the pearl fishers of Torres Strait, he mentioned that one native diver, who had been under the water for the usual two and a half minutes, came to the surface with the marks of a shark’s teeth on his neck. He was taken to hospital, where lie' received medical attention. Bishop White askecl the man what bad happened, and he replied that ho bad been' attacked bv a large shark, which seized his head. The injured man added that when he found his head in the shark’s mouth he punched the brute in the throat, which caused thei fish to couch and release his head. The natives say that if the shark is struck m the throat it must open its mouth to cough.

The Chinese Soccer team tour still remains rather a Chinese puzzle to the N.Z.F.A. (savs the Wellington Evening Post”), for no direct communication has been received by the association as to the proposals or intention or the promoters, nor does the association know whether the members of the Chinese team will be coming out as professionals or as amateurs. Officially, then, the New' Zealand Council knpws nothing of the team, unofficially it lias a general knowledge that it will be coming. A letter from Mr A. Menzies, now in Auckland, to Mr B. L. Salmon threw some light on the tour —unofficially only'. The intention of the promoters of the tour is that the team, which will be composed of students from Chinese Universities, will play in Australia first, and that six matches may *ba played later in New Zealand, the grounds to be found and the gates run by the New Zealand Council, which, however, would not bo called on to accept any responsibility as to travelling, etc., for members of the visiting team, while the proposition as to finance was that the New Zealand Council should take 40 per cent, of net gate receipts—i.e., alter deducting all ground fees, advertising, etc. However, something definite may be learned shortly for the association has requested its secretary, Mr Salmon, to meet one of the promoters, resident in And;land, and discuss the tour with him.