In the Dominion

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 260, 1 November 1929, Page 8

In the Dominion

Early Maori Habitation, Some interesting traces of early Maori habitation have been found in a garden on the northern bank of the River Avon, near Bassett’s Corner, Linwood, Christchurch, by Miss Mavis Andrew. A portion of a Maori adze, a collection of shells and stones broken by fire, and two Maori ovens, comprise the finds already made. Mr E. F. Thompson, assistant curator of the Christchurch Museum, who visited the garden, said that the shells were of th c mud snail, the’ cockle, and the mud pipi, which is found in the Estuary — not the New Brighton sea pipi. These were found in heaps near mounds of earth, which showed evidence of having been affected by fire. The land in the district is comparatively high, and appears to have been a camping place for the natives on their journeys between Kaiapoi and Banks Peninsula. An Error of Gardeners.

A common mistake made by amateur gardeners, at a time when it is also a costly one for water authorities, is to assume that the only way in which the effects of a dry spell can be minimised is by deluging the garden with water by means of an almost continuously running hose. One hill suburb of Dunedin at least numbers among its residents many subscribers to this fallacy, and it is not likely that the misapprehension is confined to that one locality. A Daily Times reporter making his hasty way to the tram on a recent evening, and not looking very carefully where he was going, rushed through five showers of water in two short streets —showers which were caused by garden hoses, two of which were conveniently set in the grip of a spade handle, the other three being in the hands of feminine enthusiasts. The pressure in this particular area is exceptionally good, so that many gallons of water were being wasted in the belief that a liberal use of the hose was the only way to save the gardens from ruination. The real gardener labours under no such illusion. He knows that it is not the amount of water he spreads that makes his garden, but rather the extent to which he uses his scuffle hoe to break up the surface of his beds and aerate the soil. A study of the methods in use at the Botanic Gardens should be sufficient to demonstrate that continual hosing is neither necessary nor advisable. Constant and proper cultivation accomplishes more than many people expect the hose to achieve.

Finger-Print Evidence. Senior-Sergeant Dinnie, who is in charge of the Criminal Registration Department, Wellington, is the acknowledged finger-print expert of the Dominion. He has given important evidence at several “causes celebres,” notably the Gunn murder trial. The Senior-Sergeant is at present in Palmerston North in connection with a Supreme Court case involving fingerprint proof, and in the course of his evidence, gave some interesting figures as to the infallibility of the system as a method of criminal identification. He stated that during 26 years' experience in finger-print work, he had never heard or read of any two persons with similar impressions, nor did he consider that there were two persons in the world with this resemblance. In a case where 15 points of resemblance had been traced betwen two prints, the chance of error had been mathematically calculated at 30,000,000,000 to 1. For ordinary purposes of identification, six resemblance points were considered sufficient, although no cases had yet been brought in New Zealand with fewer than nine. The Rubbish Bin.

“The way rubbish bins are used in New Zealand is a disgrace to the country,” said Dr. Hansen, principal of the Christchurch Technical College, when speaking last week at the conclusion of an address on the menace of the fly pest by the Rev. A. M. Niblock. “If we were to do elsewhere what we do here we would find ourselves in the Police Court,” he assorted. “We have in this school, boys suffering from one or other of the diseases mentioned by Mr Niblock and atributable to the flies. The time has come, I think, to make the country flyless, and we should all take a hand in it. It is a matter too often left to the woman folk in the house, but the men should remember that it is their duty to look after the grounds on their properties and see that there are no breeding-place s left.”

Kiwis Exported. The rather pathetically humorous paragraph that appeared in the London Daily Mirror on March 13 in which the writer said he had been told that the farming of the kiwi, a New Zealand flightless bird, for the table was under consideration, has reminded a New Plymouth resident that a shipment of kiwig was actually taken to England on one occasion. In the year 1905 Mr Henry C. Wilkie, at that time Government veterinary surgeop at Dunedin, was responsible for exporting a dozen live kiwis to England. Special precautions were taken to ensure their safe passage. Several dray loads of New Zealand swamp soil were taken on board the steamer and grubs and earthworms were buried in it. The kiwis lived on this food until they were “acclimatised’' to eating small stripes of meat. Only one bird died en route, and the remainder lived for varying periods. One of them remained alive in London for 15 years. Writing to his friend (now of New Plymouth) after the death of the last kiwi, Mr Wilkie said that during the whole of the 15 years only one egg was laid by the birds. Remark Draws Fire.

A statement that the Reform Party had failed to restore the “cuts” in the salaries of Post and Telegraph employees, that the United Party was following in Reform’s footsteps and that if the Labour Party came into power it also might do nothing, was made by the Mayor of Newmarket, Mr S. Donaldson, at the postal employees’ reunion in Auckland on Saturday evening. This remark drew the fire of both the Minister of Health and the Leader of the Labour Party, who later scored at Mr Donaldson’s expense. “We have been told that one party failed, that another party seems to have failed and that the third party might fail,” said the Hon. A. J. Stallworthy. “If this happens the only thing we can do is to refer the matter to the Newmarket Borough Council.’' “We can understand the gentleman who occupies the position of Mayor of the great and progressive borough of Newmarket having contempt for lower institutions such as Parliament,” declared Mr H. E. Holland.