Local and General

Chronicle (Levin), 9 March 1949, Page 4

Local and General

Muttonbirds Again Soon Muttonbirds will again be on the menu next month. Forty permits have been issued to cover catching operations on 13 islands. In several cases the permits cbver a family. Catching begins On Apfil 1, and ends on May 31. The birdcatchers plan to leave Bluff on March 15 for the Islands to .prepare for the expedition. Record Crops At Fairlie ; Considered by farmers of many years' residence in the district to be one of the best they have ever had, the present season has produced some phenomenal wheat yieids in the Fairlie district. Many farmers have had yieids of nearly 70 bushels to the acre, and even on jpoor lands the crops have been' exceptional. Lambs are also • in excellent condition and are considered the best for more than 10 years. Facsimile In Brass | A Christchurch shopkeeper came across a strange coin at the end of a day's business recently and submitted it to the honorary curator of coins and medals at Canterbury Museum. He found it was almost a perfect facsimile in brass of a George III sovereign. Many of these facsimiles were made in England in the 1840's and were sold by street pedlars for a few pence a dozen to be used as tokens or counters in card games. I ; Lignite Supplies t Millions of tons of lignite prob- ' ably lie under the surface waiting to be developed in the Mataura Valley, according to a preliminary survey made by the New Zealand Geological Survey of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research under the supervision of Mr. R. W. Willett, and reported by Mr. Willett in a recent issue of the !New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology. A summary of the total reserves in the area from Gore to the coast gives the following figures: Probably recoverable, 25,760,000 tons; inferred reserves, 152,730,000 tons. Street Collection The possibility of street collections in Christchurch being replaced eventually 'by a form of "community chest" was discussed by the council of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. The president, Mr. Angus .Henderson, explained that it was proposed to.. have a collection over a short period over the whole of Christchurch and to divide the_ proceeds among the organisations "that held street appeals, on a pro rata basis. The matter had been discussed with the town clerk and the organisations benefiting from the appeals. After much discussion he had felt that the matter should be left in the hands of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, which was pr'epared to investigate such a 'system and to try to put it into operation. Phar Lap's Death •A definite statement that there was nothing deliberate about the death of the famous New Zealandbred racehorse Phar Lap in Arnerica nearly 20 years ago, was made by Dr. K. F. Meyer, the U.S. doctor who conducted the autopsy on the champion,- in an interview in Christchurch. "I found that the stomach had been ruptured," Dr. Meyer said, "and Phar Lap died as a .result of rupture of the stomach." That had probably been caused by hfs eating large quantities of green food arid not being able to vomit when the gases formed. Horses arid other animals cotfld not Vomit because the stomach did riot rest against the abdominal wall. The gases, having no other way of escaping had burst the stbmach. The horse's .veterinarian had probably disappeared also because he had made a mistake in feeding tne !horse on too much green grass.