NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3674, 4 August 1927, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

Something like 3,500,000 human beings arc on the world’s seas at one time. Whitebait have made their appearance in some of the Otaki and district streams (says the Mail). The Wkiirarapa Rugby 'Union paid £59 in amusement tax on the gate takings at the Ranfurly Shield match. Possum hunters at Waikaremoana are reported to be doing fairly well, and several have already reached the 100 mark. Last week the Christchurch City Council had 56G men, including permanent workers, engaged on all works. That was a record. Within the past four years the proceeds from the sale of goods made at the Auckland Blind Institute has increased from £2400 to £6OOO. Tests of the smokeless fuel manufactured at Sockburn have been made in the locomotive in the Lyttelton tunnel (says the Christchurch Press) and have given satisfaction. During the heavy storm at Waiuku a thunderbolt, fell (states the Whangarei Advocate). The concussion shattered most of the windows in a nearby house. Ng, person was injured and live stock escaped. The Wanganui Herald’s Auckland correspondent intimates that it is reported from Mercer that there have been live lambs at dl birth and all are thriving, the achievement of a Lincoln-Romney ewe owned by Mr. George Gregory of the town. A Dunedin storekeeper, while counting his day’s takings last week came across a silvered penny among the silver. The fact that the register showed a shortage of 1/6 in cash indicated that whoever passed the coin had successfully ten-

dered it for a 2/- piece, and that he had gone to some trouble in preparing his potty fraud was shown by the edge of the penny, which had been milled carefully, apparently with a file. The greatest limestone cave in the world is the Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky. In it there are 223 known avenues, of an everage width and height of seven yards, and a total length of 150 miles, representing a total erosion of 12,000,000 cubic yards of limestone. A French traveller, touring the world, has decided that no spectacle, not even the Niagara Falls, impressed him so much as this cave, In a cave of this size there are, naturally, a large number of chambers, of which about 57 have each been given a distinctive name. The largest chamber, known as the Chief City, is 450 feet long and 130 feet wide. Under an anonymous signature a payment for quite a considerable sum was received by the Hawke’s Bay Hospital Board: last week under unusual conditions. The sum enclosed was £35, and under the signature of “Ex. patient,” a covering letter was brief and very much to the point. The letter stated that £35 was the balance due to the Board for treatment received in the hospital some years ago. Being now in a position to meet his obligations, it gave him great satisfaction to do so. The familiar phrase “to the bitter end” was not originally connected with bitterness or sorrow. It is a sea term, and can only be used correctly in connection with ropes or cables, since a “bitt” is a piece of timber, used as a substitute-for a windlass, around which a cable is wound, and the bitter end is that paid of the cable which is wound around'the “bitt.” “To sweep the , decks” sounds like a sea term, and most people associate it with the expression to “clear the decks for action.” It is a gambler’s term, however, meaning to take all the stakes, and arises from the fact that a pack of cards piled in order is known as “the deck.” An unfortunate accident happened the other- evening to a young couple who went house-hunting (states the Nelson “Mail”). They were inspecting a “desirable modern residence” —that was the agent’s description of it—when the husband leaned against the sitting-room wall and fell through into the kitchen, where he was discovered by his wife as she fell through' between the floor-boards of one of the bedrooms. The accident to the husband, shows the incredible folly of house agents in allowing new houses to be inspected before the walls have been papered. A novel and happy incident occurred at the end of the Association football match between Canada and Auckland at Blandford Park on Saturday afternoon. Instead of leaving the field as soon as the game had concluded, the players of both teams linked hands, and forming a circle, sang “Auld Lang Syne.” The accompaniment was played by the Port Auckland Band, and the large crowd joined in the singing. It was the final match of the New Zealand tour of the Canadians. Large quantities of potatoes maybe cured at once by putting them into a basket and dipping them for just a minute (two at the most) in a vessel of boiling water .The germ, which is so near to the skin, is thus killed without injury to the potato. In this way several hundredweights may be cured in a short time. The potatoes should then 'be dried in a warm oven andi laid in sacks in a dry place.