Local And General

Chronicle (Levin), 3 October 1949, Page 4

Local And General

State Forest. Some 71,000 acres were placed under reservation as State forest and 1792 acres were withdrawn from reservation during the year, says t'he annual report of the State Forest Service. The total area under reservation on March 31 was 9,355,000 acres. Plunket Effort. The annual house-to-house eollection made by the Levin branch of the Plunket Society is to take place' during the present month. There are few ealls for assistance that find a more ready response than the one made each year by the society. Its work is well known and citizens genarously support it. Stray Cats. The total number of stray cats in New Zealand now exceeds the total human population, according to an article in the August number of Forest and Bird. Cats are deliberately left by owners who are tired of them, the writer says, and are purposely left behind When people shift. They increase very rapidly and are consi'dered pests by many persons. Apprentices' Order. Conditione of apprenticeship in the bricklaying, masonry and plastering industries are set out in an order issued by the Arbitration Court. The term of apprenticeship is set at 10,000 hours, divided into 10 1000-hour periods, apart from terrazzo work where the term is 8000 hours, divided into eight 1000-hour periods. Apprentices in the first six periods are to be allowe'd a maximum of four hours a week off work to attend technical school classes. Appreciation. A correspondent, under the nom-'de-plume of "Carrier," writes:' "It is gratifying to note that further safety measures are to be provided at the Queen Street level crossing. I am quite sute that local residents and, in fact, the public generally, will greatly appreciate the untiring efforts of our Parliamentary representative, Mr. J. J. Maher, in his endeavours to bring about this very necessary precaution. I record my thanksto Mr. Maher." Polio- Safeguard? Race meetings may ha,ve helped to make Ellerslie residents comparatively immune from the 1947^ 49 polio epidemic. Observin'g that the incidence of polio was inversely related to population density, Dr. A. W. S. Thompson, Auckland's medical officer of health, points out in his report to i the Birector-General that the _unusual low incidence in this neighbourhood may>; have been related to the periodic effect of vace meetings in increasing the local density of population. Dinosaur Fossil. Scientists engaged in searching , for oil have- found part of the fossilised skeleton of a giant dino- ( saur, believed to be at least a hundred million years old, near Roma. The site is being kept ] secret temporarily while the Queensland Museum authorities decide whether it is worth while making excavations to find the remainder. Ihe part fouhd con&sts of a section of the spinal column, approximately forty feet long. This is petrified and clearly shows various sections of the vertebrae. Dominion Wheat Yield. A record yield of wheat for New Zealand is announced for the 194849 season, and for the first time in history it exceeds 40 bushels an acre. The figures are compiled from returns fiirnished for the period January to June by threshing mill and header operators, and , they place the average yield at . 40.33 bushels with a total of 114,868 acres harvested. The nearest approach to this average was • recorded nearly half. a century ( ago, an over-all yield of 38.37 bushels being harvested in 1903. ; The next highest yield was in t 1945 when the aveyage was 38,02 bushels. ,

Foster Mbthers Needed. When a three-year-old pedigree bulldog bitch belonging to Mr. J. Keen, of the Wandsworuh Kennels, Dunedin, gave birth to a pup more ' than passing interest was taken by the breeder. By daylight next day there were three more new arrivals, but as litters of seven or eight are commpn in this breed there was still no cause for concern. Late in the afternoon however, the total had increased to 11, although one of the pups die'd and another was born dead. As the family was expeeted to have yet two further additions, the breeder thought that so'me assistance in mothering would be necessary, and an urgent SOS was sent out by Station 4ZB. Replies were soon forthcoming, and two suitable bulldog bitehes from the Ravensbourne area were seleete'd. Delicate Work. A grinding machine capable of producing sections from teeth three-thousandth of an inch in thickness has recently been jn,.stalled in, the laboratory of the Otago Dental School. This machine, described as a "triumph of precision engineering," is the only one of its kind in .the Dominion. It was made by Mr. P. L. Lupp, of Dunedin, who has made a great variety of the scientific and medical apparatus in use at the University of Otago, the Medical School and Dunedin Hospital and in many .institutions throughout New ^Zealand- Such e^treme thinness fs required in qrder that the tisspe of the teeth, may be studied under the nfiscroscope— - anything under three-thousands of an inch would not allow the light to pass through. Before the machine was in use the grinding of a piece. of tooth to the required tenuity was very difficult and results were uncertain, but the machine has eiiminated all fche guess^work from afi extremely delicatei operation. f ^ %