NEWS OF THE DAY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20106, 28 November 1939, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Six More Clippers Six more Boeing Clippers have been ordered by Pan American Airways and are expected to be delivered in the coming year. The company already has six of the machines in service, four on the Atlantic division and two on the Pacific, but more are required for the rapidlyexpanding services. The new Clippers, to be built by the Boeing Corporation. will bo almost identical with the licet already in use. Costs of Fencing “One of the main essentials for efficient farming in' all its stages is su'bdivisional fencing, and all costs in respect of this item show a substantial increase,” said Mr. J. Graham in addressing the Assessment Court in Palmerston North. “The cost of wire has risen by approximately 50 per cent in the last four years. English wire selling at £lB a ton in 1936 was sold in March, 1939, at £27; Australian wire rose from £44 to £2O a ton: and posts listed at £44 per 100 in 1936 were quoted last March at £l7 55.” Giant Snail Found Slugs are common enough at St; Clair, Dunedin, but it is not often anything larger is found. A resident in the suburb, however, discovered a species of giant snail the other day, which looks capable of doing plenty of damage to young plants. About 3in. long, the snail has no shell but is thought to be of a variety which grows a shell later on. It is common in the North Island and is not unknown further south, numbers having been found in the hill suburbs of Dunedin and on the Otago Peninsula.

It.A.F. Funeral in Wales The funeral of Pilot-Olficer K. P. Hamilton, who was killed in an aircraft accident on November 24, was to have taken place to-day at Pwllheli, North Wales, according to a message received to-day from the Air Ministry by the parents of the Gisborne pilot, Mr. and Mrs. PI. P. Hamilton, Stout street. At the time of his death Pilot-Officer Hamilton was stationed in Wales. The cable message also stated that the funeral would be carried out with full military honours.

Consternation in Camp In a military camp in New Zealand last week consternation was caused by one of the sentries discharging his rifle in the early hours of the morning, turning out the entire guard at the gallop, most of the officers and half of the men. At an inquiry next day it was learned that the sentry was pacing out 'his 'beat regularly and correctly, but that a rabbit was sitting on a mound a short distance away enjoying the spectacle. The rabbit stayed there so long that it eventually got on the nerves of the sentry—a keen rabbit shooter in civilian life—and after about an hour he raised his rifle and shot the ra'bbit through the head. It is stated the officers thoroughly appreciated the- situation, and the sentry was fined the cost pf f the bullet, 6d. Better Than the Fiords The opinion that the wooded West Coast Sounds of New Zealand were more beautiful than the fiords of Norway, although the latter penetrated further into the land, was expressed by Mr. W. H. Price when speaking of his recent trip abroad at the Wellington Travel Club. Mr. Price warmly praised the cleanliness and beauty of Norwegian cities and towns, and spoke of tiie interest aroused by the sight of Nansen’s ship, the Fram, and some of Amundsen’s Polar equipment, the famous Tivoli Gardens at Copenhagen, which are visited by about two million people every season, arid ” -/the remarkably weil-preserved ' Viking •ships which were unearthed from about 1870 onwards. He commented also on the absence of drunkenness in Norway, and said that, lie had not seen one instance during his visit there.