NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2792, 2 October 1924, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

A plover, one of the most diflieull birds to bring- down by a gun. lias bei ii bit and killed by a golf ball on tin- Faunal links, by :i liradl'ord g-ol for.

'l’llo following: nceonnl was made 'cut I»y a Maori way baek of Taupo iiinl sent to liis employer, >:iys :m exchange: “] starl on Monday, ,liaie —0i1 1 » dig-post nil liny ; Tuesday, 21st : Some time nil day; Wednesday, 22nd she min smne dny; Tlmrsdny, 23rd. dig post full time: Friday, 2-lth. same time Cull day] Saturday, 2fit li plant post full day; Sunday. 2(!tli, see waliine all day; .Monday, 27th, plant post full day; Tuesday, 28tli, dig more holes; Wednesday. 2f)th. just the same full day; Thursday, 30th, fix wire up all day; nine days work at 17/-, 1 owe you 3 -, I ask you Cor to go football. f>/-. You send me happy day X .13/-. Come hack to me six pounds twelve bob." X refers to bottle of whisky. Whereas there are hundreds of acres of uncultivated land in the Dominion it is interesting- to compare conditions here with those in China,, where in most parts; the land has been split up into plots of about two and. a-half or three acres, stated Mr J. Falls, who has returned t to New Zealand for a holiday after

28 years in the East. These plots were intensely cultivated, and the land was so crowded that the farms could he seen right up the hill-side where an opportunity afforded the levelling and irrigation of « small patch. Not a scrap of land was wasted except, in the cemeteries, which are calculated to cover oneseventh of the area of the country.

“Not worth tuppence,” was the opinion of Mr F. T. Burt, on the bird poisoning recently carried out by ihe Whakatane Countv Council. “My fowls cat it,” he added. Mr W. H. Addison said that mu* settler told him: “It was lovely. Birds were toppling over in all directions. I gave some grain to the fowls and they became drunk.” Other councillors said that the birds became cunning, and refuse to eat the grain. General hilarity was caused at a later stage when a letter was read from the Otakiri Farmers’ Union. This stated that the poisoned grain was used for small birds without any ill-effects, the birds coming back and asking for more. Cr. Colebrook recommended dial crushed oats'or crushed maize was a better medium for poisoning. The living of kites in die vicinity of electrical transmission lines has been causing considerable trouble and expense jo ihe. electrical branch of die Public Works Department during the past few weeks, says the Lyttelton Times, and as there is a great deal of danger to children whose kites become entangled in live wires, the Department bad found it necessary to issue a warning lo parents and guardians with the object of cheeking 1 the practice. When children get a kite caught in die wires there is a tendency to puli the string attached to it in the hope of pulling it free. In doing Ibis they swing the wires together, with the result that they would instantly fuse and break, the ends falling to the ground, to the danger of the children and others. During wet weather children tugging at a string attached to a kite caught on live wires arc liable to get a severe electric shock. Another very dangerous practice is for schoolboys lo kick footballs under electric wires. A football may swing the wires tngeiher and cause a fuse, thus bringing’ the wires down. This actually happened once at TTeatheote, and resulted in a great deal of inconvenience to consumers in the district and expense to the Department.