NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4512, 2 October 1930, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

Farmers on Banks Peninsula have had oue of Hie worst winters for many years. The southerly lain and snow storms have been very hard on stock, and the spring is much later than usual. Cattle are backward in condition and there have been considerable losses of ewes and lambs during la ml ling.

An Austrian gumdigger, Spiro Tolijancich, picked up a piece of ambergris weighing 1121 b. on Saturday morning eight miles north of Bayly’s Camp, on the West Coast beach, near Dargaville. The ambergris was almost lost later in the day. The tinder placed it in dry sand and left for Bayly’s camp to procure a sack in which to carry it. On his return the piece was missing, and the Under had to swim into the second line of breakers to recover it. ' Us value is esri rated to be £80(1, or thereabouts.

An extraordinary incident occurred in an Opitiki resident’s home recently. Some articles of clothing were placed inside a window on a wide ledge to be dried in the sun. Another member of the household saw the articles arid placed them in a large silver rosebowl. Wihen one of the inmates returned to the room some time later a smell of burning was noticed, and it was found that the sun, ■striking the inside of the howl, had used the latter as a burning glass and set tire to the articles. A little while-longer and the jhous'e would have been in flames, as the curtains were brushing against the side of the bowl.

How the .Katipo, the organ of the Post and Telegraph Employees’ Association, received its name was described by Mr. \V. MeNicfcle at the annual reunion of the Auckland section of the association on Saturday evening (says the Herald). (When it was decided to establish a. journal soon after the formation of the association iu 1890, various names were suggested, but they nearly all laid a departmental lluvour, such as “Spanks” and “Mail.” "Katipo," I,lie muue of the poisonous spider, was chosen for two reasons, it was purely New Zealand, and it meant “something that would not interfere with you unless you interfered with it.”

Williiu a month, motorists will have an almost continuous journey on concrete or bitumen from Cathedral Square Lo the Ashley lliver Bridge, says the Christchurch Times. The last of the eouicreto on the stretch through Kaiapoi has been laid, and will be available for use shortly. The only breaks in the long white way will then be between i’apauui and Kor the ole train terminus, and about a mile of road from Chaney’s to the other side of the new bridge over the Wiaimutkariri River. Proposals are under way for the permanent paving of the stretch from Papanui to Northcote. A contract for the length of about a mile from Chaney’s northwards •will uoL be let until the new road leading to the bridge and the approaches have had time to consolidate. it will probably be an-■o-tlier twelve montlis before work. on this stretch is begun. While the concreting of the portion of the Main North road through Kaiapoi was under construction, motorists had to make a slight deviation round a bystreet. They will continue to do this for about another month. A greater deviation, via Ohoka, was necessary, while the Stretch from the outskirts of Kaiapoi south to the new Waimakariri Bridge was being- attended to.

It is not everyone who receives money anonymously, but such was tlu* experience of a Timaru resident recently. One day an envelope arrived by post containing a pound note, but nothing to indicate by whom the money had been sent. Tim following week another pound arrived, and the ibeneiiciary, not being able to recall anyone to whom he had loaned money, placed the matter in the hands of the police. During the next two weeks another £2 arrived, but then the supply ceased, and so far no light has been thrown on the mystery.