NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 138, 3 February 1932, Page 2

NEAR AND FAR

Blessing in Gold. A blessing written in gold on parchment studded with jewels and signed by the Pope was presented to Miss Nora Rix at her wedding at Gateshead in England recently to Mr. Hugh P . Donnelly, of Glasgow, a leading Roman Catholic worker. Another Fish Story. A correspondent in a recent issue of the New Zealand Fishing and Sporting Gazette tells an"*interesting story of how a roadman's cast and flies mysteriously disappeared for : a fortnight and were discovered in .the most unlikely of places. An acquaintance of his was preparing his tackle for an evening's fishing in the Buller^ His cast and flies were prepared, and, having to go indoors for more tackle, the cast was left on the ground. When he returned it was nowhere to be seen. After hunting high and low he gave it up for lost, blaming the children for taking it. A fortnight later the children were bird nesting near the house, when they found a nest, around the side of which was coiled the missing cast with the two flies still attached. The correspondent states that if his friend had had worms on the hooks he could have understood the bird taking it, but that surely this was the first case of a thrush rising with an artificial fly— even if only for decoration. Women's "Smokers." Smoking compartments for women only are being provided by the Metropolitan Railway, states a London writer. This innovation is to cater for the ever-increasing number of women smokers who travel on the main lines to Aylesbury and Uxbridge and who prefer to smoke in an atmosphere unpolluted by cigars or pipes. At present these all-women smoking compartments are restricted to certain trains, the night trains after the theatre in particular. If the experiment is successful, compartments may be reserved on other trains. Church v. Boxing. Wai' between churches and boxing promoters in the Eastem Valley of Monmouthshire has ended in victory for the former, attempts to organise contests at Blaenavon, Abersychah, Pontnewynydd, Pontypool and Pontymile having failed. So meagre was the attendance at a Pontymile hall that less than £2 was taken and the principal bout was not staged. "There are many church people interested in the sport," a leading boxing official said. "They fear, however, a boycott in their religious duties for being associated with us." Value of Railway. Waikato sheepfarmers would be greatly inconvenienced if the threat to close down the East Coast railway were carried out (says an exchange). Tens of thousands of store sheep from the Gisborne hill country are driven every summer to the railhead at Taneatua and trucked to Waikato stations to stock up the farms of those who speeialise in raising fat lambs. Taneatua takes from seven to eleven hours, which means a good saving in time, for otherwise the sheep would have to be driven all the way at a few miles a day. Sheep for Westfield. Gisborne graziers have decided to test the Westfield niarket with consignments of fat sheep. The Margaret W took 1000 when she left Gisborne last week, and arrangements have been made for loading from 800 to 900 on the Pukeko this week for the same destination. The sheep are to be unloaded at Orakei. The consignment of store sheep taken by the Awahou early last week included 300 breeding ewes for Greymouth, and

provision is being made for the dispatch of further similar lines as apportunity permits. Sidelines. Some Gisborne farmers are said to be branehing out in sidelines to supplement their scanty incomes. Many of the sheepfarmers are now running small herds of dairy cows as even with the low price of butter-fat there is more profit in that line of industry than depending almost entirely upon wool. Others again are selling the fruit from their orchards. This year no less than 3650 aeres of ryegrass have been shut up in the Gisborne district under the Department of Agri--ulture's certification scheme over five times as much as two years ago. loo Poor for War. "War!" remarked Lieut.-Com-tnander J. W. Shelton, R.N., retired, in his arrival at Wellington. "I don't Aink there will he one in Europe. Every nation in Europe except France s 'bust.' They know they could not ;ake part in a war. Of cnnvsp TiVan/io

■ has all the money and""is very rude | to us! In England nobody is buying L any foreign stuff. They are buying British. The Prince of Wales inaugurated the movement and it has been gaining momentum every day. At present, with the increased duties and the fall in sterling, English goods are practically as cheap as foreign goods." Revived in Morgue. Having fainted in the Grand Central Terminal, New York, and been pronounced dead by a doctor, Ivy Rogers, 18, of Greenwich, Conn.' was taken to a temporary morgue attached to the emergency hospital at the station. The cold air revived her and she was terrified to find herself in a place which was totally dark and without ventilation. She jumped up and ran on the door. She hammered on it and screamed. She was so overwrought when an attendant finally unloclced the door that she ran, halferazy and screaming, through the station. Kapiti Island. Recent visitors to Kapiti Island report that forestry regeneration there is making excellent progress, this having been assisted by the elimination of wild sheep and wild goats. Opossums are not doing any further harm, while bird life is distinctly on the increase. Rats, however, continue their depredations among the birds. It is hoped before long to devise some method of dealing with the rat problem on the island. Interested observers say the birds are very friendly and are not x'eadily alarmed by visitors to the island.