LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 16, 19 January 1924, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Fly fishing at the Tongariro River mouth, on Monday morning, Mr. Cassel secured 15 splendid specimens of salmon tvout averaging 121b. The largest weighed 2Ojlb, and two 17-pounders. Magnificent fishing is available, the recent rains having greatly benefited the sport. ■" The Government has decided to extend the guarantee of one penny per lb net return on all shipment of apples made from New Zealand during the 1924 export season, the guarantee being ,r*stricted to a- maximum of 250,000 cases," remarked the Hon. W. Nosworthy, Minister of Agriculture, in the course of his address to the nurserymen's conference at Palmerston North. Last year close on 150,000 cases of fruit were exported. Anglers have been getting splendid catches of fish at' Awahuo, near Rotorua. The best catches in one day this week were: Mr. Pakes. 75;" Messrs. I'enlington, 80; Messrs. C. Dick and W. Martin, 120. During 21 days at Awahou 612 fish were caught, the largest daily catches being 65 and 62. It is the unanimous■'' opinion of anglers that the condition of the fish is unprecedentedly good.. " During the year ended' 31st March last 66,000 plants were imported into the Dominion, consisting chiefly of ornamental and flowering shrubs, and strawberry plants. In addition to these, some 7700 fruit trees, chiefly citrus, and cherry and pear stocks, were imported." This statement was-made by the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. W. Nogworthy, in the course of an address delivered by him- to the conference o{ the New Zealand Association, of Nurserymen at Palmerston North. "There are about 1,300,000 people, in New Zealand and one Minister of Public Works and Railways, but I'll bet you there are 1,300,000 people who' think they know the Minister's job a thousand times better than he does himself." Such was the remark of the Hon. J. G. Coates to the settlers of Kerikeri Inlet during his recent tour of 800 miles in the Far North (reports the "New Zealaid Herald.") Again "at Mangakahia, Mr. Coates confessed that however difficult he found' it to please others, "the most difficult person to please is oneself. I have tried " and failed. '' A collection of twenty Taupo trout is on view in the Auokland Farmers' Freezing Company's cool store, states "The Post's" Auckland correspondent. The fish, which are intended for the Government Tourist Department's display at "the British Empire Exhibition, are all of rainbow variety, and range from about 121b to 161b in weight. At present the trout are chilled, in order that the natural colouring and characteristics may ba preserved; but for exhibition purposes each fish will be frozen into a solid block of ice. An old organ-grinder's generosity to returned soldiers who had fallen by the I wayside was mentioned at "a meeting of i the Auckland Returned Soldiers' Asso- I ciiftion on Wednesday evening, says "The Post's" correspondent. . A letter from a wandering musician was read, in which he said he had been granted free permission to play* his' organ at Epsom Show early in December, and had handed secretary of the Agricultural aiid Pastoral.Association 5s to.mark.his appreciation of the favonr granted him. The old man had asked the secretary "if the association could spare the money to hand it to the Returned Soldiers' Association," to. provide five meals for some of the needy returned soldiers, who may be hungry and destitute.. / The Question of motor-vehicle taxation was further considered at a meeting of the Main Highways Board this week, and it was decided to write the Minister of Finance requesting that, in addition to the moneys derived from tire, tax, the Main Highways Fund be credited with the whole of the revenue derived from the taxation imposed upon the importation of motor vehicles. It was urged that, as the present expenditure on main highways was being incurred in order to cope with the requirements of tlie motor vehicle, it was only reasonable that the board should derive the benefit of the whole of the revenue obtained.from that source. The board's attentipn was drawn to the difficulties experienced by local bodies Li obtaining convictions for breaches of bylaws relating to overloading and exceeding the speed limit. The Government is to be asked to strengthen and simplify the law with a view to overcoming the difficulties existing at tha present time. . ; Another prosecution under the War Pensions Act was heard in. the Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon before Mr. C. R. Orr-Walker, S.M., when Henry William Chirm was charged with presenting to an officer doing duty in relation to the War Pensions Act, 1915, a document which was* false in an important particular. It was contended by Mr. C. A. L. Treadwell,. who appeared for the defendant, that there was no evidence of intention to mislead the Department, and certain irregularities were suggested in regard to the manner in which the declaration was drawn up. The Magistrate decided to convict, the defendant, and order him to come up for sentence when called upon within three months. The declaration, he said, was not strictly correct, and the defendant said ho had been Jed into signing it; but it was the business of a person to read a document before he signed it, otherwise he must take the consequences. People who signed documents should be scrupulously careful, as, if it was found by the Court that a document was false in any important particular a very serious penalty might be suffered by the culprit. Interesting information with regard to what was described as surely some of the quaintest regulations ever framed by the New Zealand Government was vouchsafed at a meeting of the Auckland Education Board, on Wednesday by the secretary, Mr. E. C. Purdie, and Mr. H. S. W. King, when the question of subsidies on school games was under discussion. The matter arose during tho discussion of a letter from the Auckland branch of the Educational Institute, re^ questing the board to co-operate with schools in the purchase of sports matejial, by giving a £1 for £1 subsidy on all money raised for the purpose. Replying to a question, Mr. Purdie stated that tho Department would grant a subsidy for basketballs only, doubtless on the score that they were more permanent than other sports material "The Department holds some most peculiar views with regard to what it will subsidise and what it willfnot." remarked Mr. King. "For instance it will provide wickets for cricket, but not bats-or balls, nets for tennis, but not racquets. Basketballs are the only kind of ball it will subsidise. I think we should inform the institute of the attitude of the Department, and that each individual request for support of organised school games, should be judged on its merits." Mr. T. U. Wells said the teachers were doing their best to organise school games, but they could not be expected to provide the equipment. tqf£ J The chairman, Mr. E. C. Banks, stated that although the request was a deserving one, the board had no funds for the payment of subsidies (reports tho "New Zealand Herald.") The matter was referred to tho executive committee for further consideration,

The next conference of the New Zenand Association of Nurserymen will be held at Wellington. When an adjournment was aske4 in I a case at the Auckland Magistrate's Court, Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M.. inquired, "What defence can there be to a dishonoured cheque V The re|>!y by counsel was, "It was given for work done, which was not done." The adjournment was granted. "Do you mean to say that it costs you 30s a week for groceries for yourself and three others?" demanded a young lawyer of a debtor at the Christchurch Magistrate's Court on Monday. •' Have you kept house yet?" asked tha Magistrate of the lawyer. " No," was the reply. " You should try;" said the Magistrate. A white heron has been reported from Lake Ellesmere. Mr. C. W. Hervey secretary to th^_ North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, at a meeting of the society's council on Wednesday, asked the newspapers to recordLthe stranger's | arrival, in order that sportsmen at the lake should be warned against shooting it and causing as much trouble as aros« when the last white heron that visited the lake was shot. The Auckland Harbour Board's tug Te Awhina was dispatched from Auckland on Wednesday with four punts in tow, for use-in connection with the building of a new wharf at Onehunga. They consit of a transport punt, a nile-driver punt, and two ordinary punts. The dispatch of the* punts from Auckland had boen considerably delayed owing to the unsettled weather, but the conditions at the start were auspicious for the tow of 427 miles. The1 tow from Cape Maria to the Manukau Bar is" the worst part of the journey, owing to the exposed position of the coast should a .westerly blow occur (states the-"New Zealand Herald.") Should the punts arrive at the Manukau during, the weekr end a commencement will be made next week with the construction, of the wharf., Visitors to the Newtown Zoo. haye1 been numerous during the holiday season. Every summer day .hundreds'of children have gone the round of the Eights—accompanied by the harmless but necessary parent whose duty' it. is to buy peanuts for the monkeys, "read the signs on the cages, and explain »why the lion walks round and round like that. Occasionally the parent has a more difficult task and is ,set to discover some new and extraordinary bird or animal—"it had long pink legs and green feathers in the tail, arid it was' eat ing mud, daddy." The Zoo is not, how-, ever, a place for children only. Adults may be interested in the collection of animals and birds, and those who are not can take delight in the flowered borders and banks which now brighten up the spaces between the- cages. The bank by the rose garden has been most tastefully planted and when the roses were in full bloom before the gales it provided ah admirable setting! Another recent improvement has been the provision of a concrete terrace opposite the lion cages, so that hundreds of people may now watch the lions at their afternoon meal without having to scramble up a clay bank to obtain a good view. Those who went to Lake Te Anaulast week-end had a very trying experience as the result of. thunderstorms, heavy rain.s, and flooded rivers! Among them was .a-party consisting of Messrs. P. Dalrymple (Christchurch) Alex. Fraser (Waikiwi), and Colin Lindsay (Winton), whose objective was the Upakorora River, where they intended to spend a couple of days' salmon fishing. They had hardly started from Winton when the thunderstorm broke in full fury, and it is difficult to imaging a worse place than "the Wilderness" to be caught in in a motor-car in a violent storm. The display of lightning was magnificent; in the wordsv o f one of .the party, who recounted his experience to a "Southland Times", reporter, it '^beggared description," but the going was difficult, as the car was ploughing along axle deep. In due course* the expectations of the party that something would happen were fulfilled.. The car cast a wheel, and it had to be found and put on in the thick of the storm. The exceptional character of the thunderstorm will be understood when it is said that. ( the wheel was found and replaced almost-entirely by the light of vivid and t continuous lightening. The electric torches were hardly necessary, and for the greater part of the time occupied by the job their light was hardly visible in the blaze of the lightning flashes. After a trying experience Lake Te Anau was reached at 1.30 a.m. Many methods have been suggested for the raising of the huge trans-Atlantic: liner Lusitania, but in the opinion of Sir Frederick Young, the noted English salvage expert, whe reached Auckland by the Maheno on a holiday visit to New Zealand, there is hardly anything worth saving, even if it were pos-. sible to bring her to the surface (states the "New Zealand Herald"). Sir Frederick supported his view by saying that the cost of successful Ealvage operations Would be such that the attempt wouid be economically unsound, as for the sum which it would be necessary to expend a fleet of modern steamers could be acquired. Much notable salvage work has been done on ships which were known to contain large auantities of bullion, but Sir Frederick" does not think this would be sufficient inducement to make any attempt on the hull of the Lusitania, as his personal opinion is that there is no specie aboard her. ; Sir Frederick Young, ■ who is. accompanied by Lady Young, has come to New, Zealand qn a holiday visit. He has been asked to deliver a series of on ship-raising, and may find time for this in his two or three months' stay in the Dominion. During his long career as a salvage officer he has obtained much interesting information about shipwrecks and the salvage of stranded, burnt, or sunken vessels, as well as countless photographs of queer mishaps.' From this collection of negatives he had prepared' a comprehensive set of lantern slides, but had the misfortune to lose them in the fire at Fremantle on board the liner Moldavia, on which vessel he travelled from England. At the adjourned inquest into the death of Lewis Bradford Giles, engineer at the Kaiapoi Woollen Company's Badley Mills, Woolston, who was found dead at 4 a.m. last Saturday on the engineroom floor, having been summoned the previous night to attend.some defect, a verdict was returned that death was due to heart failure occasioned by an electric shock. It was revealed in evidence that the insulation of a portable lamp deceased was using was faulty, and the guard had become alive.