News in Brief

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 364, 4 March 1932, Page 5

News in Brief

Arrival of Indians. Twenty-one Indians arrived at Auckland from Sydney by the Ulimaroa this week. They comprised 19 men, one married woman and one child. Paid Rates Twice. “ I see that three gentlemen in an excess of enthusiasm have paid their rates twice,” said the Mayor of Mount Albert, Mr W. F. Stilfc'ell, at a meeting of the council. “ The action is commendable, but I am afraid that we shall have to refund the money now that they are asking for it back.” Authority was given for the refund of the amounts. A Guinea a Bushel. “ Who can pay a guinea a bushel and still sow his land?” said Mr W. J. Livingstone, at a meeting of the Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Union, when the price of Hawke’s Bay ryegrass was under discussion (the “Tribune” reports). Mr Livingstone said the exporters of the seed had made the price so high that farmers could not afford to buy ryegrass seed for the purpose of sowing their own land.. As a consequence, many large areas in this district were going back. Painstaking Postal Officers. The painstaking efforts of the New Zealand Post Office have been demonstrated to a Dannevirke resident who has had delivered a letter from England with the vague address, “ Trafalgar Street, New Zealand.” The omission of the name of the town on the envelope set various postmen at work in Trafalgar Streets in different towns in New Zealand. When the letter arrived where it was intended it was studded with postmarks. It was marked “ not known" in Auckland, Dunedin, Christchurch and Nelson. “Try Dannevirke” was the last instruction, which proved successful. Atlantic Salmon. A party of anglers, comprising Messrs J. W. Smith and C. Pro van (Invercargill) and Colonel J. Murphy and Mr D. Manson (Christchurch), who returned to Invercargill this week after a few days spent at Wanaka, found that the famous Atlantic salmon were well established in the upper reaches of the lake. “We are certain the fish are the salmon,” Mr Smith declared to a reporter, “ though they are called ‘ landlocked quinnat ’ up there. We are going to have our bag X-rayed and thoroughly examined and we hoped to prove that the salmon, in spite of the opinion to the contrary held by many, have become acclimatised in that lake as well as in Te Anau.” Napier Harbour Changes. The bed of the inner harbour at Napier, changed and raised by the earthquake, has undergone still another change (says the “Telegraph”). During the recent wet spell the waters of the Tutaekuri River have scoured out such a large channel that the water of the river is now coming down under the Westshore embankment bridge, instead of spreading itself out on the mud flats towards Parke Island. The effect of this scouring has been to leave a large deposit of silt on the upper half of the harbour. Even more serious has been the effect of this silting on the harbour basin below the old Westshore bridge. Silting has taken place at the patent slip at Westshore to such a degree as to offer a problem for the slip owner in keeping sufficient depth of water to use the slip-way, while, on a number of occasions during the wet weather, the Westshore ferry had to suspend its timetable for a period about low water through being unable to get alongside the landing stage.