GENERAL NEWS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 16 December 1925, Page 8

GENERAL NEWS.

Red cod have been catching freelv lately from the beach near the mouth of the Opihi river.

Yesterday was the 62nd anniversary of the. death of Izaak Walton.

Thomas Lawson, boatswain on the steamer Maiiaua, was sentenced to fourteen days’ gaol at Dunedin, for assaulting the second officer.

At the Timaru Police Court yesterday morning, before' Mr H. W. Bullock, J.P., a first offender for drunkenness >vas convicted dud discharged. ■■ ■

By parties trolling in Lake Alexaiidrina some exoe.lenb - trout have been caught lately. The takes were numerically strong, and fish up' to night and nine pounds bach have been secured.

A resident of .Timam who went to the railway station yesterday' for the purpose' of bdbkiiig ■ a seat to travel to Duiiikiiri by thfi fifst express on December 23, found that every seat had been already booked on the tiain referred to.

A Wanganui suburban resident mentioned an interesting tact in connection with the earthquake shock felt early on Thursday morning. He said that iia.lt an hour before tlio shock came pheasants started to crow, and a bit later fowls began to g.ve an indication u.uit sonic thing unusual was brewing.

To most settlors gorse is looked upon aji more or less oi a- ciii’se; but accordmg to an application lhade by a ratepayer to the Waiiiiea County Council for peniiission to plant the noxious weed on certa.ii third-cliiSs land (states the Nelson ‘‘Mail”), three sheep to the acre Caii be grown off" this class of feed.

To meet, the demands Of the growing congregation of the Church of the Sacred Heart in.Timaru, the authorities of tho Catholic Church have just purchased a block of land in the north end of thd borough, at tho junction of White and Selwyn Streets, on which they intend next year to build a church and schoolroom.

A Wanganui dairyman states that, with the present spell of dry weather, the cows have gone off considerably in their milk production, and he has very little margin of milk over what is required for his customers. Pasture on tlie lighter land is beginning to .wear a brown appearance. Reports indicate that the hay crops will als9 not be very heavy this year.

The following are the. dates for the 1926 quarterly sessions of tire Supreme Court, to be held at Timaru, at 10.30 a lti.—February 2, May 4, August 3, and November 2. Fol; the meetings of tlie Licensing Committee at limarn the following dates have been arranged March 4, June 10, September 9, and December 9.

Tlie majority of Wanganui ' people were in bed when the earthquake occurred early yesterday morning, but there were two men in the otv wb;» experienced the trelnor in a novel, if not rather terrifying manner. Ao Urn time of the shako, they were perched on top of two elective light poles on the river bunk making certain adjustments. The nature of their alarm can only be imagined when tlie poles commenced to sway like a ship on a storm-tossed ocean. Their voices attracted tho attention of a near-by resident, who relates tljo incident.

“There is no doubt there is a wide difference between p.ntis radiata and pinus insignia,” said Mr T. Aden, of Milford, to an Auckland reporter, and to prove bis contention lie had with him a branch from a splendid radiata that had ju.st been felled. In the insignia, he explained, the cones grew singly, while in the radio to. t*'°y ,r rew ih a sort of Catherinwhcel shape round n branch. Mr Al.cn - -■ the <■ .s no doubt which is the better tree. Radiata is in every wav superior to t.nc common insignis, having a closer grain, being much freer from knots, and a better timber tree in every way. There was a very large attendance! at St. John’s schoolroom last evening, jicil pupils from tno Graigltead Girls' Scnool presented a very cnjoyablo cantata entitled “Little Snow White. The cantata, which was in two acts, provided ample scope for a delightful presentation, and this was taken full advantage of by the performers, who played their parts in a very capable manner. The scenes and costuming were of a very high order, and uitlii tlie accompaniment of a well-balanced chorus, a very fine entertainment was piovidcd. Forty-five applicants for the position of ranger and dog tax collector foil the whole of the \\ annate County were interviewed by Councillors at yesteiday’s meeting of the County Council. 4he advertisement calling for applications appeared in tho “Herald,” and was responded to from practically all parts of Canterbury, while North Otago was also represented among the applicants. After careful consideration the Council appointed Mr A. A. McKenzie (Onmnru) to the position.

At their last meeting the Council of the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society were advised, oy lector from Ashburton, that there was a big shag rookery on the Timaru side oi the Rangitata river near Mount .reef; and it was suggested to them, 'That it should be destroyed. The Council accordingly arranged a shooting party for this purpose, the members of whicii have since visited the locality named, but they failed to find any. sign of a rookery there, and returned home without having fired a shot at a shag. Seen yesterday in regard to the position by which B class students m South Canterbury are to be deoarreil from entering the Christchurch Training College next year, Mr T. Hughes (ciiairman of the Canterbury Education Board) said he could not say anything, off-hand, on the subject, but lie promised to get a statement from Mr Purchase (principal of the College) and to make the purport of it known as soon as hei received it. The sagacity often displayed by birds in decoying their enemies away from their young was instanced at'the North End Park the other morning. Members of the North End Association who were preparing the grounds for the sports gathering had their attention drawn to a very prettily marked bird, which on closer inspection proved to?, bean English plover, a species rather uncommon in this district. The action of the bird, which ran ahead of the party, conveyed the impression that it was disabled. This impression,, however, was quickly removed when, after enticing them for some distance, the bird flew away at ease. Its actions were explained when, on retracing their steps, the pursuers discovered a young plover near the spot Wljfere the mother bird was first seen. NeedleSs to state, the sagac***' shown, although in this instanco unsuccessful, had its reward.

Mr W. J. Poison, New Zealand president of the Farmers’ Union, writing from Calgary, Canada, refers in terms oi high praise to what he has seen of Canadian scenery. Referring to the. ’Rocky Ranges, which divide the' east from the west, he saysj “Imagine fifty iSwitzerlands rolled into one and you begin to appreciate the extent ,of this amazing array of granite mountains. Strictly speaking the railway crosses i number of ranges, beginning with the Cascade range and ending with the Rockies, before it emerges in these western prairies. If you can think of the Manawatu Gorge enormously exaggerated and diversified by canyons, passes, spiral tunnels, snow sheds, bridges, and numerous stations oh the Swiss chalet plan and imagine yourse ves' steaming-. through it for seven hundred miles, you have some idea of the extent of the amazing railway undertaking which these jiibiieers of the C.P.R. carried Through forty years ago, and which lias created a traffic running into many trains-a day, and responsible for Vancouver and the smaller, cities of the west. But no clumsy words, of mine can describe tlie grandeur of scenery; the great mountain sides topped with snow alid clothed in scarlet, maple, or yellow delicate alpine larch and-poplar, interspersed amongst the ranks of pine and cedar, spruce and fir. It is as if every afitumn some titanic artist takes lus brush and paints these ' eternal peaks in the. nrimarv co 1 ours of nature, and. then stands'hack a space bftfore he ohliterates it all under a- mantle of winter, show.”

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