Local & General

Chronicle (Levin), 4 December 1948, Page 4

Local & General

Record Price For Steer A coal-black Aberdeen Angus steer frorrr Iowa was auctioned at the International Livestock Exposition for 1075 cents. a lb. — the highest price in the exposition's history. The owners paid only 175 dollars for the animal last year and his sale realised 12,900 dollars, plus about 7100 dollars in prize money. PrOtecting The Notornis The Government intends to declare 400,000 acres of fiordland as a National Park to give protection to the notornis. The area will extend south of Milford Track to the Northern ridge of Lake Manapouri. Ifc is also believed to be considering a proposal to take a male and female notornis to the farm at Greenmeadows, in Hawke's Bay, where kiwis were hatched recently. Production Increase In 23 years New Zealand has increased her primary production by 400 per cent., and with assured supplies of fertiliser at a reasonable cost, the Dominion would double its present production in . another 30 years. In making this point when speaking at a fat lamb show at the Horotiu freezing jworks, Mr. G. A. Walsh said the Waikato used 30 per cent. of all fertilisers produced locally or imported.

Tramps For Mails Tramp steamers and tankers are being used for North American mails to and from New Zealand. Thefe are at least three weekly air mail services to the United States, but as no Matson iiners are now running, the onlymail connection with the Pacific Coast is the liner Aorangi, which makes a trip to Vancouver every eight weeks. To expedite the mail services any available cargo vessel is being used, saidh Post Office official. If sufficient cargo ships are not available the mails are sent to Panama on vessels bou'nd for the United Kingdom and transhipped at Balboa. Maritime strikes in the United States have aggravated the difficulty of getting mails to New Zealand. •^erstition Of The Sea Over the generations it has been a superstition of the sea that it. is bad luck to have a woman on board. Apparently this superstition dies hard. When the HuddartParker motor vessel Wanganella went on its sea trials this week, nearly two years after she struck Barrett's Reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, no women , were allowed on board. The representative of a weekly newspaper in Wellington, who is a woman, made strenuous efforts to be included in the official press party, but was met with polite refusals. When inquiries were made'on her behalf, the reply was:."We are sorry, but we are not taking any women." Perhaps it is argued that the Wan- 1 ganella has had enough bad luck already.