GENERAL NEWS ITEMS

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3927, 6 April 1929, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS

IT,here was a small sweepstake at the Tanherenikau races on the nndber of red ispots on the Hon. T. M. WiHord’s colours. The correct nulber is 75, which includes 20 on the cap. —Exchange. A new attempt is being made by an Italian icomlpany to salve £l,000,000 'Worth of bullion sunk off Brest in the Pandos and Egypt during war time. The salvers are using’the latest diving apparatus enabling divers to work for several hours at a depth of 200 fathoms. An opossum hunt took place about 8.20 o’clock on Sunday night at the' .Courtenay Place, Wellington, tram stop. A full grown and lively opossum appeared on the roadway and (Was pursued by a small Pomeranian dog.. The intruder frojm the wilds immediately ran up a verandah 'post, but after scampering ,up .and down the verandah roof, suddenly slipped down a post and darted, in and out among the crowd of spectators, I with 'the harking dog close on its heels. After a good run the opossum dashed into the reserve at the back of the waiting shed and disappeared up 'a. tree. The argument centred suddenly and hotly upon what was the best sport, and the partisans of cricket, football, horse racing, sailing and tennis all put in their to be scoffed at by all the others. Mien the jolly .man declared that there was nothing to beat fishing there 'was a unanimous chorus of derision. “You want something to put every muscle of your body into action and keep you in good condition,” said the tennis player. “Something to train your eye, patience and skill,” was the cricketer’s verdict. “Fishing,” snorted the footballer, “why a man can get full of beer and still go on .fishing.” The fisherman stayed the storm. “Well, ain’t I saying it’s the best sport?” he said.

There was a roar of laughter at Gore the other niglit when Sir Joseph Ward, castigating ;the pessimists, said: “Their .blurry eyes—” He got no further. When the laughter subsided he again started. “Their blurry eyes,” but it was no use. Another storm of laughter greeted him: “Excuse me,” said Sir Joseph, “but I am not swearing. I mean the eyes that are blurred. Their blurry eyes gaze through the mists of their own creation, and they can’t see anything good.” • A Wellington motor body builder who recently visited Australia, said he was impressed by the large amount of Southland beech used by Australian motor body builders. They liked it on account of its lightness and toughness, and because they had no timber of their own to approach it for such work. In New Zealand, Southland beech and kauri were largely used by the industry, his own firm using thousands of feet in the course of the year. While his firm could not complain about the ajinount of work they did, the industry all round was not thriving, and would not thrive until the duty on imported bodies was increased to 25 or 30 per cent. Insects are often the cause of unwatched beacon lights on the New Zealand coast becoming out of order. When Canoe Rock light, in the Hauraki Gulf, was extinguished recently it was discovered that a mason bee had entered the lantern, built a home there and I’aised a large family. The light is automatic. It is out during the day, but is lighted in the evening by a small pilot light. One of the young insects had crawled over the pilot light and extinguished it. The light on the Sandspit beacon, at Ponui Island, was once extinguished by a Swarm of flies which found their way into the lantern. The light on Maro Tin (Hen and Chickens) Islands Was on one occasion visited by a very small insect which crawled into the feed pipe for the light and caused carbonisation, with the result that the light failed. The lights on the beacons have to have ventilation, but every opening 1 is covered with very fine gauze. In spite of the precautions taken some of the insects, which swarm round ;the lights at night, find a way of getting inside the lantern or in the mechanism of the beacon.