NEWS AND NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 October 1929, Page 8

NEWS AND NOTES.

BRITISH PIANOS. “ At one time people thought there was nothing so good as a German piano, especially before the war, but the British makers conducted a thorough campaign, and showed .what the British piano really was like, and today people are realising that the British piano is a very fine product indeed,” said the new British Trade Commissioner, when addressing the Wellington Advertising Club. ,AN EXCUSABLE MISTAKE. A striking tribute was paid to an animal imitator at a social evening at Grey Lynn on Saturday evening by a petted white “pom.” The performer amused his audience by producing weird noises reminiscent of the fampyard, while Trix pricked up her ears and looked intelligent while nestling comfortably on a feminine lap. But she was incapable of being held when he switched on to a very realistic imitation of a cats’ party on a moonlight light. The “pom” barked her disapproval, and raced around in really agitated fashion looking /for the feline intruders. Her mistake was quite excusable.

ONE IN ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND “ Last year 270,000,000 postal packets were delivered. The Department investigates every case in which a postal packet is reported missing. In only 2518 cases was. it impossible to ascertain how the packets were disposed of. This represents a loss of roughly one in'TOO,ooo.”—The Hon. J. B. Donald, Postmaster-General, speaking at the annual reunion of the Auckland Postmen’s ' Welfare Club on Saturday evening. The total number of letteis delivered -‘- during' the year was 151,922,174, postcards 5,402,400, books, etc., 78;744,974, newspapers 27,631,081, and parcels 3,631,800.

NEW ZEALAND TIMBER •PREFERRED. It is not necessary to be expert to see that many of the imported so-call-ed hardwood telegraph poles are mere punk -wood (remarks the Rotorua “Chronicle”). They are costly, and the money expended .on them is sent out of the country. Recently a great oeal of replacement work has been done, and poles that, if ironbark lived up to its reputation, should last 25 years, have been scrapped alfter seven years’ service. If an imported pole has a life of only’ ten'‘years, it would be far more economical to use larch with a totara base. Such’ poles were erected seventeen years ago in this district by private persons, and stand absolutely sound to-day. Larch rails harden and toughen with the years—rails from the Government plantation, taken out when thinning was done twelve years ago, are quite sound.

LEGENDS OF THE TURTLE. ’To the Samoans every living thing in the sea is a fish, states a writer in the “New Zealand Samoa? Guardian,” and the natives are not much concerned whether it has warm or cold blood, but they certainly know good fish from bad. The turtle is- greatly esteemed as an article of food, despite the fact that there is a legend that “Le laumei” originally came from the pig /family, an alternative version being that the jig g i w out of a turtle which forgot to leturn to the sea after laying its eggs. Le laumei is a chief’s fish, and commoners only get what the chiefs leave. In certain instances the turtle represents those who have found a watery gtr.ve, but the porpoise is the reimnrnatmr of all who have died at ‘•ea. The porpoise'is the one exception'to the rule that every living thing in the sea is a fish. It is not a fish, but a human being ; that is why it whines after being caught. It is pleading for mercy. *