NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3751, 7 February 1928, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES.

It is announced that Sir Charles Wakefield is giving a gold trophy value 1000 guineas to whoever beats' the motor-car speed record of 203 miles per hour at present held by the British motorist, Major Seagrave. He Avill also award an income of £looo' a year to the successful competitor so . long as it is undertaken up to the end of the year 1930. The prizes are open to drivers of all nations. The vogue of the straw liat seems a thing of the past in Greyniouth (remarks the Argus). In such weather as that lately prevailing, vendors of straw “boaters” and “Panamas” would have reaped a rare harvest in days gone by, whereas nowadays only a couple of straw hats have been seen on male heads, one of them that of an ancient midget from the Flowery Land, and about six sizes too large at that, so that it must be a relic of .the past. “As I have always understood it, the bankruptcy law was intended primarily for the protection of unfortunate lenders and secondly for the protection of the commercial community. The penal clauses are to prevent persons misrepresenting their positions to traders,” commented Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., in sentencing Samuel Malle#, a confectioner, at Taumarunui, at the Hamilton S.M. Court yesterday, to a month’s imprisonment on each of three breaches of the Bankruptcy Act, the sentences to be concurrent. The charges were of failing to keep propen books and contracting debts at a time when he had no reasonable prospect of paying them.

One of the most romantic examples of the growth of New Zealand is that furnished by the fruit industry, which in seven years has increased its exports by 2200 per cent, (remarks the Auckland Star). In 1920, when the Dominion fruitgrowers set out to recapture the fruit trade which had been lost to them during the war, they sent 300 cases of apples out of the country. Last year the exports amouin ted to 600,000 eases, and this year it is expected that they will reach the tremendous total of 900,000 cases.

Very few people would care to see their car disappear over the edge of a cliff, but that is what very nearly happened to an Invercargill motorist. He left his car parked on a slight slope at the Rocks, at Riverton, and took the precaution to leave it in gear and with the brake hard on. Later, one of his family, eagerly questing for cigarette cards, knocked the car out of gear, pulled off the brake, and returned to his parents. Within a very few minutes the, car started to run backwards down the slope towards a cliff, brushing aside in its descent a post which, however, slackened the pace slightly. An onlooker stopped the car only a few feet from the edge of the cliff. It-is difficult to understand the psychology of a young man who, just after the New Zealand flyers were reported lost, put up at Petty’s Hotel, one of the most fashionable in Sidney, and, posing as Captain Hood’s brother,, left a few days later without paying his bill, says a Sydney correspondent. He repeated if' at another hotel, where suspicions were aroused, and he left hurriedly. This young man, who was on Tuesday sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, is said to be

a well-known New Zealand criminal. A number of whirlwinds were seen in the Springlands district, Auckland, lqst week. One traveller saw 27 in three-quarters of au hour, both on the road and in the fields. One in a dusty paddock reached spectacular proportions and had a base as wide as a large ■house. It tapqred to a perfect cone at the top. It lasted for nearly a minute before breaking up into a dust, cloud. A display of feminine limbs advertising a motion picture on a Devonport hoarding recently incensed a resident of the suburb (says the New Zealand Herald). In a letter received by the Devonport Boiough Council at its last meeting he denounced it as immoral, and, suggested that the Council should have it removed. The Mayor (Mr. E. Aldridge) : “I saw the poster, and to me it did not seem indecent. I saw the picture, and it was very amusing.” A Councillor: “I stood in front of it for five minutes, your Worship.” The Mayor: “Were you looking at it?” The Councillor: “Most certainly. I was admiring it.” “We live in a seaside resort, said the Mayor, after further discussion, “and we should be the last to complain about a picture.of a young lady in a bathing suit. We have the living thing on our beaches, and perhaps no worse than that displayed on .the poster. At any rate, the film .’has finished its season now.”

An obelisk in front of Westminster Abbey, damaged by a motorcar collision, is believed to date hack to the time of Edward the Confessor.

An eel weighing 22J lbs. was caught in the river at Hamua the other day. It was 44 inches long and 10J inches round the body, says the Pahiatua Herald. After years of abuse and contempt the humble rabbit is coming into bis own (says the Auckland Star). The Angora breed of rabbit is suddenly discovered to be a producer of a wool fleece more valuable than that of a sheep, less expensive to market, more desirable as a fabric for intimate feminine underwear and masculine hats, more eagerly in demand, more cheaply produced, and an 'easy, 1 pleasant, hobby-like industry eminently suited for women and young people. All Angora rabbits of the improved strain will yield from 8 to to 16 oz of wool per annum, and the wholesale price paid by British spinners is to-day 36/- per lb. They want additional supplies from New Zealand up to £1,000,000 a year. There are titled ladies in Great Britain maintaining flocks of 1000 wool rabbits —in confined spaces, of course. New Zealand possesses Angora rabbits too —sorry specimens, but capable of improvement from stud importations. The trouble is that every New Zealander is afraid of a rabbit. The importation of rabbits is illegal, and a careful watch is kept by Government inspectors at all ports to prevent any small additions to the rabbit population by arrivals from overseas.