NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 156, 30 December 1938, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Greetings to Golfers.

Cabled1 greetings from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews have been received by Mr. G. O. Sutton, secretary of the New Zealand Golf Association, as follows: "Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews sends to your association its cordial greetings, and to the golfers of your country best wishes for 1939—Sutherland, captain." A Long Shower. One of the officers of the Meteorological Department was travelling back to Wellington from down south yesterday. His train stopped at a wayside station and he got out to stretch his legs. Finding that it was raining he inquired of the stationmaster when the rain began, more with the idea of making conversation than' of collecting meteorological information. "About six weeks ago," came the laconic reply, and this is very indicative of the so-called summer weather that has so far been experienced in the South Island as well as in other parts of the Dominion. Monarch Butterflies Appeal. The beautiful monarch butterflies are now making their appearance in the Auckland Province, states the "New Zealand Herald." A fine specimen was observed over the scrub lands near Blockhouse Bay. It alighted on the roadway, where it remained for a time, opening and closing its wings as though to emphasise the beauty of its colouring and markings. Pine Trees Dying. Pine trees in South Canterbury, are being affected with a blight which, in the Mackenzie County especially, is gradually killing off whole plantations twelve years old and more. The infection, states the "Timaru Herald," has been investigated by officers of the; Forestry Department, and because the top shoot is the first affected, has been called "terminal hypertrophy," and is said to follow frost or other climatic j damage. The leading shoot dies and the disease slowly spreads through the whole tree. There are- many hun- j dreds of acres of pinus insignis trees ] in South Canterbury, and if the disease spreads it would be difficult to ] estimate the total loss. The Mackenzie County Council has large areas planted in pinus insignis, and' the blight has made an appearance in the plantation at Burkes Pass. The Doctor. Perhaps to a greater extent than • anyone else, the sailor on an ocean-going ' steamer is subjected to the extremes of climate. One day he might be shivering in a raw winter that "smells of J snow/ and yet only a week or two later be sweltering under a tropic sun. An Aucklander, writing home from his ship as it nears Holland in freezing! weather, tells how he has just left Kingston, Jamaica, where "it's so hot you can't get very sunburned, because the perspiration keeps you soaking wet." No white, he says, could live j in the West Indies if it were not for one redeeming feature of the climate. This! is a breeze that comes in from the sea every day about 11 a.m. and lasts until four in the afternoon. They call it. fittingly, "The Doctor." Cherries and Strawberries. With wet weather affecting the quality of cherries, and high freight charges increasing the price of strawberries, . the sale of these luxuries in Wellington over the holidays noticeably decreased. High prices were the main contributing factor in the decreased sale of strawberries, most of which for the Wellington market come from Auckland. One fruiterer, who said the wet weather had given cherries a bitter taste, experienced his worst period for cherries and strawberries in ten years. Apples have also been expensive. The supply of last season's apples from cool store is very low, and just before Christmas an extra fancy grade of apples went up to 18s 6d at auction.