LOCAL AND GENERAL

Chronicle (Levin), 31 January 1947, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Termites in Wood A further shipment of termiteini'ested hardwood arrived in Auckland this month in the ship , Ambassador and some of it is stated ' to have gone to other districts without treatment being given. Although many protests have been made by the City Council during the last two years, the Ambassador's cargo was the ninth consignment of infested timbnr to reach Auckland in the last 11 months. Theft on Train The folly of leaving suitcases on the seats in railway carriages was seen on the Christchurch to Dunedin express train states the Dunedin • Star. A passenger lef t the train at Ashburton for refreshments, placing her handbag on the seat, and on her return she was shocked to flnd that the bag was missing. The matter was reported to the police, but when the train was nearing Oamaru, another passenger discovered the missing handbag in the ladies' toilet of another carriage. The bag was handed over to the guard, and an inspection showed that several pound notes were missing, as well as a fountain pen. The thief. however, had kindly left a 2s piece and the passenger's train tickets in the bag. School Printing Problem ' "There never appears to be" any trouble or delay in the printing of race cards," said Mr. M. C. Cudex, in the course of a discussion at the English teachers' refresher course at Feilding yesterday on printing difficulties faced last year by educational bodi-es. He referred to the trouble -schools experienced in having prospectuses and magazines printed owing partly to the shortage of paper, while Mr. F., R. G. Aitken, of the Post-Primary Inspectorate, said it was even difficult to have extra examination papers printed so that teachers might later have copies. He*mentioned that in 1946 the School Journal was hawked round the private printers in Wellington as the Government Printer could not cope with the mass of departmental and election printing. Mr. F. J. Gair, headmaster of the Avondale Immediate School, as evidence of one of primary school and teachers' difficulties last year, had earlier mentioned that the School Journal had arrived at l schools, three months late. A Thousand Rats Shot Ted Latham, a worker at the Wellington Zoo, has shot 1000 rats, with ammunition — .22 long — supplied by the zoo authorities. Rats swimming in the artificial lake, rats m the monkeys' cagfes, rats in the parrots' cage, rats here, there, and everywhere, even in the tiger's den, have fallen-to his trusty gun. He rarely misses. A rat's life. at the zoo is hardly worth living, when Latham stalks about with a pocket-# ful of cartridges and a rifle at the" ready. But the sport is' not what it was, he declares. - He still keeps his rifle handy, but whereas he could once get 12 or 15 rats in a day, he got only one on Wednesday — in the parrots' cage. One reason for this • is that the zoo authorities are now able to obtain a poison, unobtainable .during the war, which can be used against rats, without endangering the caged birds- or animals. Another is that cyanide-gas warfare in the rats' hide-outs has been resumed, as well as trapping. It is a fugitive rat that is seen at the zoo these days, and gunning tends to ^ belong to the brave days of old.