LOCAL AND GENERAL

Chronicle (Levin), 10 December 1946, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

.-Sfr. — ■ — k Deacl Man on Track TAe driver of an Aucklandbound goods tt-ain discovered the dead bcdy of a man on the railway at Ranui, north' of Auckland, late on Saturday night. The man has been identilied as John Bruce McCormick, of Swanson. From the injuries to his back it appears ht was struck by a locomotive His only relatives are believed to be in Scotland. Infectious Diseases Eleven cases of infectious diseases were notified in the Welling-ton-Hawke's Bay health district last week. They included three deaths, one from diptheria, one from tuberculosis, and one from cerebro-sp'inal meningitis. The notifications were: — Scarlet fevev, 3, diptheria 2; tuberculosis, 2; and one each of- erysipelas, hydatids, cerebro-spinal meningitis, and food poisoning. Coldest on liecord Last month was the coldest November on record, stated a report. received from the Weather Offlce. Temperatures averaged as much as six degrees lower than is usual for the month. In spite of this, however, the total hours of sunshine experienced in some„parts of New Zealand were above the average. Raetihi and Pahiatua had rain every day for 32 or 33 days. Crop growth was abnormally slow throughout ihe month, but stock appeared to be thriving in spite- of the unseasonable conditions. Flsh in Thousands Visitors to Clifton, Hawke's Bay, were treated to a remarkable sight recently when a shoal of kahawai passed the Dominion close to the shore. There rhust have been thousands of the fish and their activity quickly aroused the curiosity of people on the beach. Two rowing boats inshore quickly put out to where the waters were cutup by the splashing fish, and from one the occupants attempted to stun the fish with their oars. Severai times'one of the boats was completely encircled by fish. The Reason How dinerences between the preliminary election count and the official figure can occur was shown at one of the Roskill booths. There a poll clerk added the votes for one candidate and subtracted that figure from the number of papers issued to the booth, giving the difference to his opponent. He had, however, overlooked that some of the papers had not been used, and the official check showed he had allocated the second candidate about 50 more votes than he should have. Long Air Flights The iongesr flights yet undertaken by aircraft of the Royal New Zealand' Air Force are expected to begin early liext year with a series of trips from Whenuapai to Northolt, England, and back by Dakotas of No. 41 (Transport) Sauadron. It is expected that this unit which already operates the world's longest airmail service, using the same aircraft throughout, will fall the bulk of the task of transporting to England crews who will fly the newly-purchased Mosquito warplanes back to the Dominion. Forest -Training Centre 'It is planned by tne State Forest Service to bring into full operation next. year, the Rotorua • forest training centre and forest experiment station. The scheme is > believed to be the only practicable means of achieving a high standard in both forest education and dep'artmental training for the effective prosecution of the national forestry effort.. So unique were the advantages of the scheme, it was stated, that it was anticipated with confidence that students would ultimately be attracted from other countries to study forestry • in the Dominion. Rice Still Short1 Rice, the staple food of SouthEast Asfa, will be in extremely short supply till the ehd of the year. Even the present meagre ration can only be maintained with great difflculty in spite of supplies elicited by inducements made to merchants by the Siamese Government. The Chinese Government will help by lending, to the SouthEast Asia countries, 24,000 tOns during December. These supplies, however, onlyy partly make up for the stopping of exports from Brazil. The next Burmese rice crop is expected to give an export surplus of 1,000,000 tons. In the meantime many people • in the Netherlands East Indies are actualiy starving. ti