SHOAL OF SEA SERPENTS.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2428, 6 April 1915, Page 4

SHOAL OF SEA SERPENTS.

hjsmakkable story from kawhia;

The latest 6ea serpent story conies from Jvawhia, and is related by the Kawhia "Settler" as follows;—

' A-shoal of eea serpents appeared off the Jiiritehere Beach on Tuesday, February 23, at 7.30 p.m. Kiritehere is a, small river running to the sea 20 miles south of Kawhia. Mr. J. Wouides, a settler, has. a farm in the Kiritehere Valley, the house being on a ri6e about a miie from the sea. On the date in question, after tea, he and other members of the family were having a chat, and as the sea was very calm tney talked of going down to the beach and having a little Ashing, when his sou Tom exclaimed: 'Look at that great shark!' On looking they saw an enornioli's tish, probably 300 ft. long, shaped' like a huge eel or serpent, being thickest in the middle and gradually tapering towards the head and tail. It was dark in colour, and when located was about three-quarters of a mile from the coast, going north at' about ten miles an hour. A second lish, following the first at about 100 yards distance, was about loUft. long. Close behind this was a third, of abnormal size, probably from 600 to 700 ft. long, with ail enormous body, about as thick ns a small vessel. These were, followed by a shoal of others equally as large as the first ones! The shoal reached as far as tho eye could see. They came from the south-west, and seemed to strike the coast a little above 'Pirua Point.

"Mr. Wouides and his family watched the procession for fully, twenty minutes, when darkness se£ in. They had'field glasses, and could distinctly see the water parting from the noses of the serpents. At this time the fish were about two miles away, and as they moved through the water they appeared to bo about half submerged. Mr; Wouides vouches for the absolute truth of the foregoing, which was witnessed by about seven people."

At the annual meeting of the Tukapa Football Club (New Plymouth), the chairman remarked that it- was worth noting that in the fighting line the bfcsb represented game in the British Empire was Rugby football. The proportion in England was enormous, very often—as in tho case of Oxford University—reach, ing 100 per cent. In New Zealand, too, the response had been fine indeed, and - to those members of tho Tukapa Club who had volunteered he extended, congratulations and a sincc-re wish, for their safe return. Fining a Dillingham outfitter £10 for disobeying the lighting order, ' tho Chatham Magistrate said that people ' who kicked against- little inconveniences now ought to be sent into the trenches. While two barges, named Teuton and Austrian, with Government stores, were berthed at the Royal Arsenal Jetty at Woolwich, a third, named Hun, was discharging near by.