Bitten by Centipede.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1938, Page 6

Bitten by Centipede.

To be bitten between the fingers by a centipede was the experience of a Waiheke Island resident. The man was hauling manuka firewood when the centipede twisted around his finger. He had difficulty in removing it, being bitten on his other hand in doing so, his hand and arm immediately becoming numb. No ill-effects were experienced, probably due to the fact that Ixremoved the poison from the wound and bathed his hand in sea-water soon after it was bitten. Coronation Robes.

No charge is being made to view the Coronation Robes now on exhibition in Wellington. The Central School will be unable to send a party to Wellington to see the Coronation robes as an inspector from the Education Department is to visit the school on the day, of the excursion. “Sometimes, too,” the headmaster of the Central School (Mr E. G. Coddington) observed yesterday, “the fact is lost sight of that the poorer children cannot afford to go and, poor little beggars, have to stay at school and envy those who can.”

Building Society. The monthly meeting of the Workmen’s Friend No. 2 Building Society was held last night, Mr W. Kemp (vicechairman) presiding in the absence of the chairman, Mr F. J. Hunn. Others present were Messrs T. B. Braggins, A. V. Dixon, C. W. Walker, E. H. Morton, E. J. Brown and A. E. Hubbard. Applications for advances of two appropriations were received and considered. One was accepted, and, in the case cf the other, the secretary was instructed to reply suggesting that an amended application be submitted for further consideration. Opossum Poaching.

“There is no doubt that a tremendous number’ of poached opossum skins go out of New Zealand unstamped and with no royalty paid,” said Mr C. A. Wilson at the annual meeting of the Otago Acclimatisation Society. "Tney must be packed in bales of wool, or hidden in some way like that, but we cannot get a permit to inspect the bales before shipment.” Mr Wilson referred to the fact that the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon W. E. Parry, had granted at least one closed season for opossums. It was considered, however, that there should be at least three closed seasons. Car and Window Smashers.

At the Wellington S.M. Court yesterday, James Joseph Furlong (22), storeman, and Lyall Reginald Thornton (21), driver, were charged with wilfully damaging five motor cars to a total extent of £67, with wilfully damaging a fence to the extent of £7, and with wilfully breaking nine panes of glass in the windows of the Dominion Museum. In addition, Furlong was charged with wilfully breaking a pane of glass in a notice board, the property of the Wellington Harbour Board, and Thornton with wilfully damaging two tiles, also the property of the Harbour Board. The Magistrate sentenced each of them to four months’ imprisonment with hard labour on one charge of wilfully damaging a motor vehicle. Furlong was admitted to probation for a period of two years on one of the other charges. On the remaining charges the accused were convicted and discharged. Counsel for accused said that on May 27. Thornton was admitted to three years’ probation on a charge of breaking and entering a golf pavilion, the only other offence with which he had ever been charged, and which was also caused by a drinking bout. Native Birds.

“Our native birds, in spite of the steady cutting of our native trees, are still numerous and find considerable sustenance in the honey, berries, and leaves of imported trees and shrubs,” says the annual report of the Southland Acclimatisation Society. “No doubt assisted by the wonderful weather during the last year, tuis, bellbirds, and waxeyes in particular appeared in larger numbers in the environs of Invercargill and many of the country towns, especially in the hard winter months, when food was scarce, and it is pleasant to note the increasing love of our native birds by the many residents who regularly attract them to their homes by daily feeding them with honey, treacle, apples, and other artificial foods. An Invercargill resident reported that when he was cutting his hawthorn hedge late in the spring he discovered a bellbird’s nest with three young one? which in due course reached maturity and have remained all the summer in and around ihs garden.”