LOCAL AND GENERAL

Chronicle (Levin), 7 January 1948, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Mushrooms On West Coast The recent rain on the West Coast of the South Island, in addi-" tion to benefiting dried-up pastures, has helped to bring forth an unusually early crop of mushrooms. Many pickers enjoyed their first mushrooms of the season. ___ Sovereign Found On Beach I A irian walking along a beach j near Charleston ' (Buller County , ; West Coast), recently. picked up an ! object consisting Of metal, rock, I and timber, in which a very old sovi ereign and severah nails were em- ! bedded. The idat&'&nd facings on, | the reverse si'de' of the coin were j clearly discernible in the wood. ! Used Tennis Balls I * More than • 360 tfennis balis were ! used in championship matches dur- ! ing the Wanganui Lawn Tennis AsI sociation's New Year tournament. j After the balls had- been used for I championship games they were I available for the bandicap events, | the surplus being offered to com- : petitors at just under half their reI tail price. j Auckland's Population ' Auckland's population is rapidiy | reaching the 300,000 mark. The latj est official figure is 281,900 . as at ; April 1, which " compares witn ! 274,000 last year and 263,400 at the, I 1945 census. Wellington, 183, 1U0, I Christchurch 159,400, and Dunedin ; 87,700, follow in that order. Hamil- ! ton's population has been expanding at the rate of 1000 a year and . in April stood at 28,400. Green Turtle Caught An 801b. green marine turtle, one of.a species common in warmer waters, but rarely seen in New Zealand, was caught on a set line at Whangaparaoa recently. Two fish-. errnen, who were inspecting the line, attempted to'lasso the turtle, .but it escaped and headed for deep water. The men followed it and managd to tie a line round its right front' flipper. When the turtle6 was brought ashore it was- kept in a dinghy of water for a few hours. It i was later liberated and swam away j strongly. Green turtles are a type I used for making turtle soup. j Youth and Man Drowned j A youth and a man were drowned ! at the mouth of the New River estuary at about 8.30 o'clock on Monday night. They were Mr. William N. Hill, aged 42, married, a machinist of Miller Street, and Colin Fraser, aged 15i, of Morton Street. Fraser and Mr. Hill were members of a floundering party operating j with a net at the mouth of the | estuary along the Oreti Beach. They ! were apparently caught in the tide | as it was coming in, and a swell [ made any attempt at rescue diffi- [ cult. A Cruel Hoax On Tuesday -last an advertisement appeared in 'the Christchurch j Press offering a five-roomed house [ to let, and the address given was a Christchurch hotel. The name of the advertiser was given as required according to the office routlne. Tne name corresponded with that of a j lodger in the hotel. There was in fact no house to let, and no one ! at the hotel authorised the adver- | tisement. Many home seekers telej phoned or called at the hotel, some of them very early. Most of tbemI were fit an'd liealthy persons, but j others were old aird infirm. One was j an' invalid who ought not to have L ieft his bed to go on this very [ urgent quest. The police have been i ; asked to jnvestigate, but . such N offences are often difflcult to trace.