LOCAL AND GENERAL

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 22660, 13 July 1945, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Illness of Mr R. Coulter, M.P.

During the illness of Mr R. Coult- 1 er, M.P., who is in hospital in Wellington, Mr James Thorn, member for Thames, is attending to the affairs of the Raglan electorate. It may be two or three months before Mr Coulter . can resume his duties. Ribands For Merchant Navy The Minister of Marine, Mr ' O’Brien, announced last night that it is now possible for his department to make an issue of ribands for the 1939-45 star to members of the mercantile marine qualified to receive it. This riband will be issued to seamen of British nationality domiciled in New Zealand who can prove not less than six months’ sea service between September 3, 1939, and May 8, 1945, provided that service included at least one voyage beyond New Zealand coastal waters. Forms of application are available at the four main ports. Sawdust and Sodium for Ragwort An experiment in ragwort eradication and control was described at a meeting of the Matamata County Council yesterday. Instead of the usual sodium and lime mixture, 51b of sodium chlorate was mixed with a sack full of rimu sawdust, and it was claimed that very satisfactory results were obtained. However, the mixture was referred to the Wallaceville laboratory for an opinion on its merits, and a reply was received that the mixture was regarded as “too highly explosive” for use by other than experts, and therefore could not be recommended. It was suggested at the meeting yesterday that at Wallaceville the sawdust was not from rimu timber, but more probably from pinus insignis or white pine, which contains too great an amount of turpentine. Avian Murder A minor commotion near a compost heap attracted the attention of a member of the outdoor staff of St. Peter’s School, Cambridge, on a recent morning. Some vegetable and garden “throw-outs” had been deposited on the heap, and curiously enough, a large, soft marrow proved to be an attraction to blackbirds and thrushes. A kingfisher had evidently attempted to join in the feasting throng, only to be mobbed and pecked to death. Wounds on the head and a break in Kotare’s skull were evidence of the ferocity of the attackers, j The solidity of a fully grown black- | ; bird’s body and also the speed of its I flight were demonstrated in the j greenhouse at St. Peter’s one day last j summer, when one of the birds, dis- ! turbed inside the building, flew clean I through the glass “wall.” The blackbird was killed.