NEWS AND NOTES

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3869, 10 November 1928, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES

A consignment of 193 Apgora and Chincilla rabbits arrived from England by the Aorangi at Auckland on Sunday evening. Two hundred were despatched, but seven died on the voyage. This is the fourth shipment to New Zealand, and was to the order of Mr. A. G. Sainsbury, of Auckland. Christopher Blenkhorn, aged 33, single, was drowned while bathing at Takapuna on Tuesday. He dived into comparatively shallow water and failed to re-appear. People on the beach, becoming alarmed at his long submersion, waded in and brought him ashore but efforts at resuscitation failed. Fifty years’ continuous service as Sunday School teacher and Superintendent is the proud record of Mr. T. R. Hodder, a much respected Palmerston North citizen. At the service at the Cuba Street Methodist Church recently the Diploma of Honour of the National Sunday School Union was presented to the veteran, whose record of public service in many directions was eulogised by Mr. A. H. Fisher. In accepting the Diploma, Mr. Hodder said he could conceive no greater task than holding up before the children Jesus Christ as the supreme example of perfect manhood and their Saviour and friend. He appealed to all parents present to assist in the great ideal both in their own homes and in helping the Sunday Schools. “A whitebait in the hand is worth two in the water” is a new variation of an old quotation, judging by the experience of a local resident who recently tried his hand at whitebait fishing. His efforts on this occasion met with success, a fair quantity of the small fish being netted. The amateur fisherman, quite pleased with his catch, placed the whitebait in the bottom of the net, knotted it and placed it in the river to ensure the fish keeping fresh and clean. During his preparations for a simple meal in the open his spirits grew higher until they were dashed suddenly to the ground when he returned .to find that in his absence an elusive eel had eaten the whitebait, as well as a portion of the net.