NEWS IN BRIEF

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24227, 20 February 1940, Page 16

NEWS IN BRIEF

A fallen kauri containing more tha* 90,000 superficial feet of timber has been taken from the edge of the Oma* hutu State forest under the Forestry Department’s plan of selected logging of kauri. The log is valued at £250.

Some members of the public have not yet become aware of the new issue of bank notes, which were put in circulation recently. When one Auckland bank official handed a new note over the counter in payment for some tobacco the tobacconist refused to take the note. The official had to obtain change elsewhere. Call at our New Showrooms, at 204 Crawford street (Oval end), and see our selection of kitchen bins, canister sets, copper coal scuttles, etc. —Dickinson, Mytton, Ltd. (late Dickinsons, Ltd.)...

Giving evidence in the Auckland Supreme Ccurt a witness said that when he, complained of being robbed of his money one of the three others present at the time became angry arid struck him. He had not, however, actually said that one of the three h?d committed the theft. Mr Justice Callan remarked that most people would feel annoyed if accused of being -a thief, and asked the witness’if- he would not be like that. “Lam a much better runner than a fighter,” replied the witness, and his Honor let it go at that.

Two young Napier men who jumped to conclusions last Monday are said to be wishing that they had “locked before they leapt”. .They.,had heard the radio announcement to the effect that a very Important statement would be made that evening by the Acting Prime Minister, and, concluding that this referred to the introduction of conscription, they hurried to the Defence Office and enlisted. Their reaction to the “ important announcement” is not. recorded. . ’

Miss Marie Berlei. of Berlei Corset fame, is visiting Jas. Gray and Sons, Milton, during February 19 to 21. inclusive. As the time is short, ladies interested are asked to make an appointment. All fittings free... 'r ! Constructed out of a' stout tea-tree stick, one of the paddles used in the smaller Ngapuhi canoe at Waitangi, is to be offered by Mr Lou Davis, of Whakapara, for inclusion in the Maori collection at the Whangarei Munlci- : pal Museum. Nearly five feet in length, the paddle will be a memorial of a great effort by a section of the Ngapuhi people, under Renata Kauere. Half the canoe apd its embellishments are to be deposited in the National Museum, Wellington, while Sir Apirana, Ngata is seeking permission to have the remaining half erected next to the Massey Memorial at Point Halswell as a monument to Mr Tau Henare, The East Coast champion sculler, WV' McLeod, aged 30, married, received a deep wound in the thigh in a rowing accident when two racing craft collided on the Taruheru River. McLeod was struck by the prow of the other boat. He was taken to a private hospital, and several stitches were necessary to close the wound. No bones were broken. Just before the accident McLeod was putting in a finishing sprint after having been over the course, and the Gisborne Club’s senior crew had pulled out from the club staging. The Gisborne crew took its boat off to the racing start, and after about 12 strokes there was a crash,;• and the two shells came to a complete stop. ' .

Buy npw New. Year Goods, -just; opened up; many cannot be replaced. Shop early while the selection,is good.; Gifts for all at- Mosgiel’s Drapers.—A.; F. Cheyne and C 0... “ I am not surprised at a report iromAuckland about large numbers of native birds resting in trees and thickets in the suburbs,” says Captain Sanderson, president of the Forest and Bird Protection Society. “ Reports received by the society from many parts of the Dominion show that the planting of suitable trees and shrubs, which yield nectar or sweet berries; -is certainly winning the melodious gratitude of tuis and bellbirds. Those plantations are also offering suitable conditions for fantails and grey Warblers. It cannot be said too offen that the people of New Zealand have it within their own power to attract delightful native birds to their towns or villages.”

“ They’re starving for houses.” declared Cr W. G. Shannon at the last meeting of the Kairanga County Council when that body was discussing the nrovisions and probable effect of the Rural Housing Act, 1939. Recently a house, at Newbury, six miles from Palmerston North, was advertised to let and there were 87 applicants for the residence; said Cr Shannon. He himself had recentlv had a house empty, and there was a steady stream of people trying to get into it. Tha council agreed that the Act should, do much, if well supported, to ease tha rural housing shortage.

Sgid McNab -to McTavish: Weel, mon, a visit tae the Waterloo Hotel is part of a mon’s da’ly 1if.... Bringing with him a silver and gold cup and a gold medal for competition among launchmen and fishermen- at the Bay of Islands. Mr E, P. Andreas, .Sydney a frequent. visitor to New Zealand for fishing, has arrived at-Auck-land. Mr Andreas said that when he wag at Russell last year he promised to donate a cun for the launchman at the Bay of Islands who had the greatest tally of swordfish during the Centennial season. The gold medal would be presented to the member of the Bay of Islands Sword Fishing Club who brought, into Russell the heaviest swordfish of the season. V The menace to electric‘.power lines from, falling trees and flying branches has been re-emphasised in the Manawatu district during the gales of the naif fortnight. At a meeting of the Manawatu-Oroua Electric Power Board recently, the engineer, Mr W. A. Waters, reported that all the trouble caused by the recent gales, with one exception, occurred on consumers’ service lines. In the majority of cases the trouble was caused by consumers’ own tree growing through the lines or by wires being damaged ■ by falling branches. . To conserve petrol and avoid further risk to the board’s transformers, said Mr Waters, it had been decided that, where trees were a menace to service lines, the lines would be disconnected till the owners had the trees cut down. ;.' : ;

Grandisra (4056): AH the Cards on the Table. The Grand Hotel 19.40 Price List. No other hotel in N.Z. publishes all its prices... Information received by the Forest and Bird Protection Society indicates that extensive damage is being done to native forests by careless fernburning on the woodland frontages. In many cases the fire is not checked until it has imposed sentence of death on the scorched outer rank of trees. When these have perished the fern re-establishes .itself and prepares a deeper strip for the next burn. A letter received from Oropi, in the Tauranga district, tells a sad story of the trail of desolation left by fern-burns. “The blackened roadsides attract no tourists,” the writer states. “In this district once alive with tourists the timber lorry or firewood truck are almost the only kind of vehicles that bump over our tracks. The burnt roadsides are good nurseries for ragwort and other noxious weeds.”

Mr John Farrell, as the representative of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., has been listening to other persons’'songs all his life without knowing that he had a talent for song-writing himself. It took a bad cold, a couple of synovitic knees, time on his hands, and an unused typewriter to lead him selfdiscovery. An hour’s strumming on the machine and Mr Farrell had produced the lively words of a war song, founded on the author’s footballing days. Entitled “ The All Blacks’ Marching Song,” the words have been set to music by Mr Howard Moody, the pianist in the company’s latest New Zealand production, “ Switzerland,” and it has now been published.

Have you tried Hitchon’s pork sausages. oork saveloys or Oxford sausage (cooked)? If your grocer can’t supply, ring our Dunedin branch (12-344). Milton (22). , ,