Local And General

Chronicle (Levin), 2 November 1949, Page 4

Local And General

Cow's 150ft. Fall. A motorist travelling through the Manawa, tu Gorge at approximatevy 6 p.m. on October 25 came across a cow which had apparemly fallen on to the roiad from a ridge above. The beast which, it Is estimated, had fallen some 150. feet, was still alive and had to be. destroyed. The happening occurred ahout half way through the Gorge and was the sixth of its kind since 1941. Number 13 Wom 1 A £1 note was picked up by a visitor from Westport to the Greymouth Tr-ctting Club's spring meeting, The man put the £1, 10s each way, on number 13 m I the next- race. The horse, Scotland's Pride, won and returned nearly £25 for the investment.Scotland's Pride was the thirieenth favourite on the win machine. ., Macris' Landing 600 Years Ago. Celebrations to mark the 600th anniversary of the coming of the Maoris to New Zealand are being i pianned at Ngaruawahia for December of next year. The proposaf j to observe the occasion was dis- ' cussed by elders of the tribes ciaim- ! ing descent from the occupants of j the canoes, which arrived about ; 1350, at Turangawaewae Pa re- ! cently. ; Vital Statistics. j As eompare'd with the corres- | ponding period last year, the vital Kt.al.ist.ies reeistered in Levin for

S October, 1949, show a slight de- | crease in the number of deaths j and marriages, but with no ! change in the number of births. I The following are the statistics j with those for October, 1948, in » parentheses : — Births: 21 (21) ; deaths: 5 (6); marriages: 5 (6).

Oils From Fine Stiimps. Resin, turpentine and pine oil are being extracted from pine • stumps and failen pine tops in the j United States as the result of recent processes which make_ it more ; practical to extract the oils from stumps than from living trees. Removal of the stumps has resulted in the reclamation for pastures and crops of thousands of acres . of waste land. j Lightning Strikes Grubber. [ A resident of Prestwick Street, Maori Hiil, was handUng a gorse ' grubber in his back yard when it I was struck by lightning during an | electrical storm on Sunday after- ! noon. The grubber was spun out f of his hand and thrown about j two yards, and there was a lou'd j explosion wnich he described as ! "equivalent to an 8001b bomb exI ploding." The man saw a fiash 1 of ligntning beside him "just like \ a match striking" and sparks flew I up his arm. His wife, who was j also in the garden, and several ! neighbours who heard the ex- ! plosion were alarmed by what the | man called "as frightening an ex- | perience as I want to haye. ' The f only physical eft'ect it had was I that the m^n's hngers tingled. ! Theft Of Orchids Worth £5000. I About 500 orchid bulbs, and 1-750 I seedlings worth at least £5000 were I . stolen recen'fcly from the nursery ( of Mr. S. A. Shead, in Earlwood, I Sydney. Mr. Shead has the larg- \ est collection of orchids in AusJ tralia. When he entered the nur- | sery at the back of his home, Mr. \ shead found that seedlings re- ! centl^ impoxted by him from Egi land and bulbs worth from £10 to i £600 each had been pulled from I pots and boxes. "Apparently the I thieves went through the collecj tion of plants' and ripped orchid | bulbs from pots and boxes irreI spective of their value," Mr. Shead I said. "From one large pot they took a Girrahween Enid bulb which I would not have sold for £600. With its sepals and petals it had won four grand champion prizes and gold medals."