Local And General

Chronicle (Levin), 1 November 1949, Page 4

Local And General

Strange Fish. A species of angler fish- new to New Zealand has been found near Flat Rock, off Kawau Island. arcording to * Mr. A. W. B. Powell assistant-director of the Auckland Museum. The fish, .which takes its name frnrn a spine on it? upper lip that looks like a fishing rod, lives on the sea bot'bom. The sea bed and marine life in the Hauraki Gulf are being jpvestisrated by Mr. Powell, workirig from the Marino Department research trawler -Ika tere. Mr. Powell hopes to obtain informatioji which will be helpful in commerciai fishing. Spelling Bee Contest. ' The spelling bees that leading American newspapers conduct emong , schoolchil'dren of the United States attract tremendou? interest year after year. It is not to be wondered at in view of some of the difficult words the under lf spellers. face. Three of the stiffest examples in' a recent contest wero Acanthopierygtiah , caelsalpiniace - ous and taeniafuge. The national champion speller deserves his ov her 500-dollar prize. Children arn selected in the various districL by contests conducted by newspapers, and the 49 finalists go tr Washington. About 5,0.00,000 chil'd> ren take part in the original contests, which start in class rooms and are followed by inter-schoo' and inter-city championships.

jCJnusual Sequences. There were two very unusual sequences in numbers seen in the placings in two of the events at the Rangitikei Racing Club's meeting on Saturday. In the first iivision of the Trial Stakes, the first four horses were Reflect, Sa'd Sack, Spillway ' and Red Flight Their numbers were 21, 22, 23 qnd 24. In the final race the piqcings were Marloch, Recess, Offen^ der and Airwyn. They carried the saddlecloths of 1, 2, 3 and 4. Jnusual Shipment. Ah unusual shipment of pebbles and stones- from Antwerp were included in the cargo which the Norweigian freighter Tulane unioaded at Dunedin. According to he ship's manifest, there were 20 tons of selected sea-washed grinding pebbles and 10 tons of "best silex oylin'der lining blocks." To mosb" people the shipment wouldr have represented "just stones," but the consignee said that the cargo 'was used for grinding material in the manufacturing of pottery. *A Dunedin manufaclurmg concern ' had imported the 'pebbles and silex blocks" for use in its Ball Mill, where pottery is mad.e. There the materiqi is used for grinding clay and other ingredients.