DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 January 1927, Page 4

DOMINION ITEMS.

[l*y TEURonAPU - r::n prims association ] Till RLUEBEH KT • PALM EKSTON NORTH. Jan. 18. in connection with the telegram, from Christchurch that the first blueberries grown in Canterbury were picked Inst Eriday, the trees ha\ ing origrnaily been brought from America by Dr Tillyard and distributed ill Belfast, Lower Hutt, Invercargill and Palmerston Ninth. iii<|uiries made elicited the information that tlie local tree has not been doing well, owing to tlie unfavourable soil. P. Black, curator of the. municipal reserve, in whose garden tlie tree is planted, says blueberry favours sandy and peaty soil, needs plenty of water and also most lie planted adjacent to one ol its hind. The blueberry needs a cold winter and lie thought it would do well if grown in the national park : otherwise the tree will not bear prnlilicnlly. If grown by itself it will produce about half a dozen of the fruit.

A MOT DAY. DUNEDIN, IS. To-day was one of the hottest experienced in Dunedin this summer, the theromonieter registering 81 decrees in til simile. A BEOOIH) MAKO. Arc ELAND. Jim. 18. A telegram was received in Anri* and this afternoon stating that, Mr 11. Ellis, of Hamilton, while fishing oil' Wiftngaroa caught a Make shark of the record weight of •’)•'>o lbs. The heaviest, make captured from a rod last season was also taken off Wlinngarou. the weight being 434 lbs. ('Alt OYKHITHNS. M A I {TON . dan. IS. A ear driven by Mr Stanley Btekt»rd, chemist, of Wellington, containing his wife and two brothers, also Mrs Sutherland (sister-in-law 1 and a little girl, skidded and overturned near Bulls this morning. The party was returning from a tour of the North I.slnnd. .Mrs Biekard was seriously Injured, and has been admitted to the Wanganui Hospital. The others escaped with slight injuries. MOA SKELETON. THAAI.ES. danuary Is. Almost the complete skeleton of a moa was found at Ala in mat a. HarnIccke, on the Kast Const of Coromandel Peninsula, shortly after a south-west gale which moved sand duties ; .-dsn fragments of eggs. The skeleton has been offered to the Auckland .Museum.

MOTOR CAP STOLEN'. BLENHEIM, January 18. The joy rider lias appeared in Blenheim, a motor-ear being stolen from a parking place and recovered two days’ later on a country road about three miles from Blenheim, with indications that it had travelled a considerable distance.

BARLEY STACKS BURNT. \ BLENHEIM, January 18. Children playing with matches set fire to two large stacks of barley Wdnod at C2OO. the property of Stan Jellyman at Rapoura. and they were totally destroyed. The owner was uninsured. A BURGLARY. BLENHEIM. January 18. The premises of Clifford and Rothwell in Maxwell Road were burgled and Cl 7 removed from a till. Entry was obtained by breaking a pane of glass in a window at the rear of the shop. Tt is believed to he the work ol boys. EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT. NEW PLYMOUTH. January 18. An extraordinary experience betel Mi- |. Bungay, a butter maker, at an Inglewood butter factory to-day. He stopped a large churn, put his head inside and was struck by a huge lump of butter. Dazed lie fell forward into the churn, and at the same time he nunwittingly set the machine in motion. Revolving inside the machine, he was bruised and was in danger of suffocation by the mass of butter, when an assistant .saw Ids legs protruding and ijnicUy reversed the churn and finally i->:t Heated Mr Bungay and medical aid v.a-. immediately forthcoming and -Mr Bungav was found to be dazed and suffering from bruises. GUTTED BY EIRE. AUCKLAND. January IN. Tlie main building of the Salvation Army Industrial Home at One Tree Hill providing accommodation for forty men. was gutted by fire this afternoon. The* fire, broke out in a lean-to kitchen at i tie back of the i,remises, soon alter thi- chimneys had been swept. T he building, which is an. old wooden one of two storeys, with ten rooms, including a dormitory with seventeen licds. burned fiercely. The hydrants in the district are not of the standard size, ami this limited the number of leads of hose available. The interior was gutted, but the walls remained standing. All the furniture and bedding was lost. The building was insured.

PRICES EOB SPPEBI’TI (AS PI TATES. AI'CKI.ANI). danuarv 18. Substantial reductions in the prices of certain lines of fertilisers are announced by merchants and manufacturers of superphosphates’. Ihe new rate will lake effect to-morrow. The. prices per ton in each ease, less os for cash, ate as follows:- U. It! per cent super, Co 2s (id; basic super, T 4 los; Nauru phosphate. Co. The prices arc f.o.i. Westfield or Te Paptt. and os additional is charged for f.o.h. Auckland or Ouehunga. AECKI.AND. damnify 18. Alter an absence of several months in England. Mr A. E. Ellis, the Now Zealand ronresentative on the British Phosphate Commission, has returned by the .Mamma. While in. England, he met the English and Australian Commissioners, Alessrs A. B. Dickinson and P. Deane, in conference. Afattcrs in connection with the Dominion requirements had hern fully discussed, and ho considered the arrangements made for the marketing of phosphates should prove very satisfactory. flood work had been done at Nauru and Ocean Islands during the last half year, and record quantities had been shipped, about 280.000 tons in all.