LATE LOCALS

Hokitika Guardian, 5 January 1933, Page 6

LATE LOCALS

■ News was received by cablegram vat Wellington yesterday of the death in London on January 1\ of Alexander Mjeh'ie, a member of the London board of directors of ’the .Bank of New Zealand since 1907. He was a member also of the London ’ hoard of directors of the New .Zealand Shipping Company and the Union Stfiaih Ship Cmpauv. Formerly he was well known in . New Zealand banking and business, circles.

Potato crops in most parts of the Canterbury district- are reported to be doing very well. Recently,- however, crops in' some - ’ Christchurch gardens have been heavily .attacked by aphis;. There has also been a certain amount of late blight- noticeable. This,., of course, will not interfere with the yields of the early crops, which have now practically reached maturity, but it will interfere with the development of the later crops. ' The trouble, fortunately, has not been experienced out in the open fields.

When a party of men from Eltham went out pio-hanting in the counfiy 1 eyord M-angamingi the dog belonging to one of them put up a- stoat and began to fight with it. The men. thought the dog could look after itself, and did not interfere. The dog killed the stoat, hut was Badly bitten, and could hardly stand up. After a while it got up, and, .after running along the track, made off, and the hunters lost it. They searched and called, hut could not find the dog, and so they decided it was dead. Next morning, however it turned up at a house near the spot where- it had been lost-, .and, though not quite itself, was recovering.

An unusual distinction ha s fallen to th r v lot of the New Zealand Division of the. -Royal Navy over the next fortpight. From Shndoy until January l-sth Lieutenant V. F. Boyle, of HALS. .Diomede, will b e the senior lieutenant in the whole of the Royal Navy and for 15 days he will he known a s “the father of the lieutenants. Th® usual - half-yearly promotions, mad© by {he’.Admiralty, ..were niad© in London on Saturday. Hpw’-®v©r, Lieutenant Boyle’s promotion to .the rank of lieutenant-commander is not due until January 15th. ’All other lieutenants of hi© period of. seniority nvfre promoted a« . from Saturday, .leaving Lieutenant Boyle as the senior lieutenant unt-! hi 5 promdtjdn on, January isth. Natal tradition associates certain timehonoured customs wd-h the honorary rank of ‘'father o' lieutenants” aiul these were observed .on board tlw .Diomodo. lieutenant Boyle -also ha© the distinction of buying served on the New Zealand station longer than any otlie,. officer in the squadron.