NEW ZEALAND NEWS ITEMS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 144, 21 June 1939, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND NEWS ITEMS

Co>t of Harbour Works. i In a report to the Napier Harbour' Board the secretary. Mr. V. E. San-1 ders, stated that to date £417,330 hadj been expended on new harbour works! at the breakwater. This amount in-1 eluded £167,689 for dredging. £141.052* for No. 3 wharf and £65.971 for the | breakwater extension. Early Blackbirds. In spite of the earliness of the* season, with cold temperatures and! stormy weather, blackbirds may con-' stantly be heard singing in the Wai-! takere ranges at present, states the! New Zealand Herald. The birds norm- J ally resume singing not earlier than the end of July and more often in August. The tui’s song also has been I heard regularly throughout the year.) No (.old Kry. “I am sorry that we have no gold j key to give to the Mayor. Mr. H. D. | Caro.” said Mr. T. Parker, chairman of the Hamilton branch of the St.. John Ambulance Association, at the, opening of the new station in Hamil-I ton on Sunday. Mr. Parker explained [ that the architect had forgotten about ; the key. but had decided instead to' contribute £25 toward the building fund. Seal in Napier Harbour. On Sunday afternoon considerable interest was aroused in Napier by the presence of a seal gambolling about in ’ the sea at the northern end of! Marine Parade. It paddled close inshore near the beach opposite Bluffi Hill at one stage, apparently contem- t plating landing, nut the large crowd | of children and adults which gathered ■ sent it scurrying seaward. Early Days of Bluff. “It will perhaps interest you to j know that in the early days of Bluff j it was necessary to go to Ruapuke I

Island, where the Rev. Mr. Wohlers! lived, if one wished to get married.” ■ remarked Mr. W. A. Ott. addressing' lhe delegates to the Girls' Education i Week at Bluff on the history of the ' port. “Fortunately conditions are different to-day.'' Mr. Ott added that, he was recently speaking to a man who said he had to sail for Ruapuke to be i married. On one occasion, year- ago. , a bridal party had all been drowned! while travelling tn Ruapuke in a whale boat Hardship on Wises. In a of the burden which the j social so. uri'.y charge places on separated wives, social workers in Auckland suggest that, Lie Social Security Act should be amended to exempt from the tr.x al! women v. ho are supported b} lhe’.r husbands under separation agreements g.- Court orders. For many women lhe payment I of the charge of Is in the £ on money . received in this way from their hus- ; bands la>t yea. has involved consider-i able hardship, and as the amount was | sueject to tax before being received; by their husbands, either as salary or w ages, the collection of a further sum ‘ is regarded as unjustifiable. In some 1 instances women on maintenance have been recently called upon to pay £2 or more into the social security funds. Thermal Activity. Players on lhe Arikikapakapa (Rotorua) links one day last week were surprised to hear a loud roar behind the trees lining the 18th fairway and acting as the boundary between the links and the Arikikapakapa Domain Reserve. Upon investigation it was found that a mudhole in the reserve which blows upon rare occasions, perhaps twice a year, had again erupted. The mudhole was spurting to a height of 40ft. or 50ft.. and gave a fine display for two or three hours, leaving a hole approximately 20ft. square. Another recent appearance on the links was that of a steam vent in the practice ground just off the 18th fairway. The vent is not a very large one. but is easily visible.

Concrete Power Poles. Made in Palmerston North, the first consignment of ornamental concrete electric-light poles ordered by the Hawke's Bay Electric Power Board has now arrived for installation in the Government housing section in Marewa. It is hoped that the standards will be erected very shortly. The new poles are the first batch of an order required to complete the street lighting of the Government housing New Zealand Goes American. Returning to the Dominion after an absence of one or two years, an Auckland clergyman expressed the opinion that there was a distinct trend in New Zealand to copying the American. “Almost everywhere,” he said, “you notice a nasal twang creeping into the speech.” This is not sur-i prising when it. is considered how often the average New Zealander hears zXmerican voices in films, radio broadcasts and gramophone records, to mention nothing of the number of visitors who come to the Dominion from the United States. Then. too. New Zealand being a young country with no very fixed customs or style iof speech, is susceptible to American j influence. The question is how far w ill Milk Kept for Se\rn Years. I “Milk which has been drawn aseptically with every precaution taken 1 against contamination and kept in i sterile vessels and sealed has been reI corded at least twice to have kept for ! periods of five and seven years,” said i Mr. L. W. Ruddle in an address to the i Canterbury branch of the New ZeaI land Institute of Chemistry. “When ■ it was opened it proceeded to sour as ' if it was that day’s milk." Mr. Ruddle | added that milk as drawn, provided i the first milkings were discarded to i avoid micro-organisms, was sterile, i unless the cow was not sound. Raw ' milk held at 10 degrees centigrade 1 and collected in the usual manner was 1 good for up to 48 hours, and sealed ; pasteurised milk was supposed to re- ' main good for up to 96 hours. \ cntnloquhni. ; It happened at the Otahuhu railway workshops. A locomotive had just Home to a ponderous stop, and the workmen standing alongside prepared (•> begin their work. Suddenly, , through the hissing of escaping steam, i they were horrified to hear from un--1 derneath the eigine the sound of a dog yelping in agony, states the Auckland Star. They had not seen an animal about when the locomotive was approaching, but the sound was not to be mistaken. Two of the men seemed I literally to hurl themselves on their I stomachs alongside the engine, and. thrusting their heads and shoulders j underneath, tried to locate the dis- | tressed animal. They could see nothi ing, but the piteous crying continued. |lt seemed to shift as they, still nn i their stomachs, wormed about from ' end to end of the locomotive, making ’ muffled sounds of appropriate sympathy. After three minutes of this, they heard a sound that definitely was not a dog yelping. It was that I of a man doubled up and almost helpless wih laughter. They have an accomplished ventriloquist at t.he shops.