NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 125, 19 January 1932, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

Amateur Prospectors % Prospecting pans are again being displayed in shop windows, says t.he Dunedin ■ Star. Amateur prospectors have been trying their luck during the holidays, but there is nothing to justify hopes of a gold rush. In Selwyn's Steps. "G.B.W.," who recently -scontributed to The Evening Post an article on cross-Tararua track extension via The Cone, writes of a crossing of the same main divide at its northern end, from Pakihiroa (East Goast) to Te Kaha,~ Bay of Plenty. This Rauhumara see-^ tion of the North Island's backbone is always interesting, but added interest is found in the fact .that the trampers sought to follow in the fcotsteps of Bishop Selwyn in 1842. It is almost forgotten (and should not he) that at this early date( two or three years after Mr. Bidwill's ascent of Ngauruhoe) the Bishop traversed the North Island's eastern wing; he confirmed Captain Cook's comparison of bellbirds' song to silver bells, their concert "beginning an hour before the sun ri'ses and ceasing as soon as it appears." "G.B.W.'s" article has an avian as well as a tramping interest. Besides fhe less rare native birds, the party saw blue-wattled crow, robin, and saddlehacy. The highest Raukumara peak (Hikurangi), 5606 feet, or over 500 feet ahove Hector) was climbed "Wear Te Fish Out." A moving picture of Maoris netting fish on the Ninety-Mile Beach was taken by a photograhper who is making a pictorial record of the speed trials. The Maoris use a net 50 to 70 yards long, and work in the breakers. One, 'with the net over his shoulder, wades out until the breakers almost sweep him off his feet, and his mate works along the beach paying out the net. It is heavy work. Not only haVe they the weight of the net and the fish, but they have to be careful the rollers do not knock them off their feet. They wait ' for a particularly large wave and then run, dragging the net with them up the beach. The photographer was anxious to give a good impression, and had the Maoris continually filling their bag and emptying it again to get the best effect. After a time they became tired of it, and one said:- By korry, if you don't burry up we wear te fish out putting them in and out of te bag."

Captured the Stag. While spending the holidays at Tennyson Inlet, Mr. D. J. Hogg, of Blenheim, Iiad the experience of pursuing a swimming stag in a dighy and effecting a capture. Mr. Hogg was on the beach a few days ago when his dogs discovered the stag on the hillside, and drove it to the beach, where it took to the water, with the dogs in pursuit. The ariimal struck out strongly, with the ohject of crossing the bay, but Mr. Hogg and a companion lauched a dinghy, and after a strenuous pull, headed it off. Finally they seized it by the antlers, which were in the "velvet" stage," and dispatched it, though several times their boat was almost overturned by the stag, which .exhibited remarkable powers in the water. The anirnal turned the seale at 3001b.

Unsound Proposition . " A sprat. to catch a mackerel!" is considered a good proposition economically, but a mackerel to catch a sprat (or even lesser fish) is not so sound. A striking example of the unsound proposition is provided in connection with the tsfnemployment emergency tax. A Christchurch resident discovered that he was liable for ld in respect of income other than wages or salary, and duly forwarded Ithe amount, postage being 2d. ,In due course the Income Tax Department acknowledging receipt, in volving another 2d in postage. i £500 Gift for Handshake. j A woman's handshake which was a I help in time of trouble and a mysj terious wrongdoing are mentioned in I the will of a music critic who has left £500 and a houseful of property to a young wOman employee of the B.B.C. The will is that of Mr. Abraham John Sheldon, of Hagley Road, Edghaston, Birmingham, and the woman is Miss Rhoda Maud Cawley, of Portsdown Road, Maida Vale, W. Mr. Sheldon's estate has been valued at £2746. In making the bequest he says of Miss Cawley: — "Her handshake in a time of terrible need was a succour, and she, with myself, was a victim of the same wrongdoing." . . "Swat That Fly." A correspondent writes. — "The house fly is very much in evidence at present, and despite the hordes that swarm into dwellings and business places, there does not appear to be any unemployed in tlieir ranks — at least, that is the opinion of bald-headed citizens, whose attentions are divided between reading their daily paper and shooing off the attackers. Fascist Italy has taken up arms against the house fly. Mussolini's Government orders a strict enforcement next season of the campaign of extermination along the lines outlined by Professor Antonio Berlete, of Florence. The Berlete method provides for the spraying of all f efuse with a mixture of molasses, arsenic, and water. If kept up during the summer this method will completely rid as community of flies. On the garbage tins placed on the footpaths for the rubbish collectors, hordes of flies eongregate thicker than the troubles of Mr. Forbes, and something should be done to eombat the nuisance." Cunning Pocket "Pistol." A more or less cunning device for the transport of alsoholic liquor- from the United States, and also within the United States, has heen revealed to a Christchurch resident. It is in the form of a cigar, but is in reality a glass tube was broken in transit — not had been filled with liquor, but the glas stube was broken in transit — not a great loss to the Christchurch resident, who is a strict teetotaller. Enelosed was a Christmas greeting card.