Local & General

Chronicle (Levin), 13 August 1948, Page 4

Local & General

Marx in Brailie "Sir Arthur Pearson sent me from England whatever Brailie bcoks I' wanted,"' said Miss Helen Keller, noted blind and deaf American author, at a meeting at Auckland University College last night, when describing her early studies. "Before then I had fel't I was on a, desert island." Amidst laughter she added, "The first books were Karl Marx." Influenza Deaths Auckland's outbreak of influenzaz has been responsible for six deaths since the first case was repqrte4 six weeks ago. Eighty patients have been treated in th,e Auckland Hosp'ital. Cases at present in hospital- total 26. Broiichial trouble has been added to the normal influenza symptoms in a number of cases. ' "The occurrence of these cases is regarded as unusual," said Dr. L. S. Davies, Medical Officer of Health, Auckland. Rare Whale A whale wqshed up at Island Bay recently and later towed out to sea was identihed as a sei whale, a rarely-reported species. No skeletons . of this spepies exist in any New Zealand museum. The sei whale is the rarest of the rorquals, but common in japanese waters where it feeds on sardines. The specimen washgcl up near Wellington was 46 feet in length and was a young mature female. The maximum recorded size of. this type of whale is 60 feet. y/y - ■■'Y'-

Clean Shearing New Zealand sheep farmers are to be asked to clean up their sheep before placing them on the shearing board, according to advice ieceived • from Federated Farmers IManawatu). A circular from the head office of the federation said that the committee of negotiations of the Sheepfarmers' Federation met the represehtatives of the Workers' Union to discuss the shearing award. The workers asked that the cleaning of daggy sheep be made a clause in the award but the farmers undertook' to look into the matter. : Ketch Reaches Suva The 41 ft. ketch Mandalay, whic'h left Auckland on July 29 for the Solomon Islands, arrived at Suva on Tuesday afternoon. The yacht has been purchased by the Methodist MissiOn fbr work in the South Sea Islands, and is being delivered by a crew of .five yoijng New Zealanders • in charge of Mr. Terry Hammond, of Auckland. A message receiyed yesterday said that all on board were well and that the vessel would set out on the secpnd stage of her j.ourney as soon as supplies had been replenished. Earthquake Damage on Farms 'The desirabilty of obtainipg compensation for earthquake damage to reservoirs, sheep dips and similar farm installations was urged by Mr. L. R. Macfarlane', on bebalf of the Amuri branch, at this week's meeting of the North Canterbury executive of Federated Farmers. At present, he said, such assets werp not covered by insurance at all. The secretaty (Mr. A. E. Lyttle) .said he thought it was unlikely that enough people would take part in such a schepie to make it an attractive proposition for insurance coiflpanies. It was decided to refer the matter to the pominion headquarters of Federated Farmers.