NOTES AND MEMORANDA

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15873, 12 April 1917, Page 8

NOTES AND MEMORANDA

The 'Sydenham FootbaJl Club's Qudiilit v . A&serably "will open ita on waning, a.t the club's hall. Mottibewhip ti»' t ke-ts will be issued ou application lo thrown*.;.. •miWee at tbo ball. • ■ i •-1'

The important work of letting, the. • Tarawora river out to the sea by>» ' more direct route, which is part of the. scheme for the drainage of the large , swamp area at'the back of Whakatane,.' is now nearly completed (states the, .Auckland "Star"). The cut is nearMatata, and it is expected the river - will be'm'ifcs nerw course nexfe week. '-'A' ponioon bridge is now almost finished, for the purpose of the ferry. It is Mvpected that «his cut at the Matata end \ -of the Rangitaiki swamp will havo the effort of effectively draining the. large area between Te Toko and "Whakatane. These swamp lands,, where drained, have proved of <great value for agricultural: purposes, and as there arc - some eighty thousand acres altogether, this work is one of the greatest importance to the district. Many curious finds are made by Cap- ■ tain Bollons, of the Government steamer Hinemoa, during the out-oii-the-way cruises of" that vessel on the ooast of New . Zealand (says the "Evening l'ost"). On a rccent trip m tho vicinity of North Cape, a very old brass,, plate was found on the fcancl dunes; at the site of a Maori settlement which ' was abandoned some seventy or eighty years ago. Tho plate measures about seven inches by live inches, and is slightly rounded, as though it had. beon attached to a spar or something similar. On the centre are the letters "G.tt., surrounded by a band with the motto, "Honi soi qui mal y pensc." There i» also a lion in a natural standing attitude, with a crown on its head una* the badge, and over it. is a large crowlfc . On each side are several flogs, and att-l olil flint-lock musket and lance. Some time ago he found at. the same place an English penny, dated 1797, also a Portuguese coin, dated 1799. These relics must have been gathered by tho Maoris And kept as curios