NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3916, 9 March 1929, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES.

The annual meeting of the council of the New Zealand Rugby Union will be held on Thursday, May 2. One of the sights of Pukekohe is a stack of bags of onions from the Pukekohe Hill growers. There were roughly 900 bags in the stack, all of which are to be exported to Honolulu. A high percentage of the earpings of New (Zealanders is invested in life insurance. This is shown by the fact than in 1927 the sum of (•3,209,220 was paid to the eleven life assurance companies, operating within New Zealand. Of that amount, only £635,950 was in respect of “industrial” insurance, which is a form of insurance consisting for the .most part of small •policies. In some cases considerable damage has been done to .standing crops in the Nelson district by that unique native bird, the pukeko. The “Nelson Mail's” ( Waimea correspondent saw a five-acre field of wheat in which great destruction had been wrought. Wlhen living in their native haunt these birds form lookout stations by bending over the tops of the rarapo or rushes and weaving them into a platform where one bird will remain on watch for hours at a time. In this wheat paddock the same thing had been done and hundreds of these platforms had been constructed, with results that can.be well imagined, though the amount of grain actually eaten did not appear to be very great. It is understood that the coming shooting season will be an open one for pukeko, and farmers affected hope that their numbers will be considerably lessened. The lack of interest shown so far in the Hamilton Borough Council elections has led to a suggestion that the number of the Council should lie reduced from 12 members to nine. The matter was mentioned again at last week’s meeting of the Council, wjien a motion ito defer action was canned by five votes to four. The Waihi Borough Council •at: a special meeting last week decided by seven votes to one that the number of councillors should be reduced from ten to six, exclusive of .the Mayor. The change will take effect as from the ‘biennial election in Aprjl.