NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 150, 18 February 1932, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

Anglei-s' Rights. Without delvirig into legal teehnicalities, the average angler has for long assumed that he is entitled to fish along the banks of streams , immune, from interference for impiiiging On property rights. It has happened that an owner wh^ has claimed the right to fish his own. water, or is posseSsed of the riparian rights, has turiied away the placid angler, and so the acceptpd rights of a fishei;man appear to conflict with those ofthe iandowner. H'aving in mind such circumstanees, the Stratford AcclitT inatisaatiori Society has taken steps to ascertain the rights of license-hold-ers by obtaining a ruling from the controlling "department. The position will be definitely determined shortiy when the advice comes to hand, and the ruling should prove of interest to all fishing devotees. Essential Item. "I would almost go so far as to say that tomatoes are an essential item of diet, having regard to the fact that those of whose wants and needs I am speakirig are people who cannot afford to purchase the alternative forms of vegetahle diet -vhicn are necessary in order to keep them i;i adequate health," said Dr. Solter, M.P., speaking the House of Commoris. "The cheap tomato is the particular vegetahle which supplies the whole of the vitamin content which from otber sources has to he obtained from a whole series of different vegetables, and the improved health of the densely populated working people in the central nreas of London and other hig towns in recent years is largely, if not wholly, due to more varied and better dietary.

An Eel Fight An unusual sight was v/itnessed in the Kahouri Stream recently hy three Stratford residents. A commotion was noticed in the water, and the observers were surprised to see a fight between five eels for a trout whicb was held captive by one of the eels. The trout was about one pound in weight, and ahout three inches of its length was protruding from the eel's mouth. In reporting the incident to the Stratford Evening Post, one witness said that they gaffed three of the eels, but two of them, including the one holding the trout, got free again.

Self-Help on Farms. A common practice, on farms in the district, in fact, all over the country, is for farmers to help each other "in the busy periods. The extent to which j this form of self-help is practised in , these days of depression was exempi'- j fied on a farm not many miles from : Stratford town the other day. Hay- j making was in progress. One man | was huilding the stack, and his wife | was driving the horse and rake. An- ; other woman, wife of a neighhouring ; farmer, was working the rope and j sitting on the load on its way to the ; stack, while her husband was forking ! in the field. Nearby the toddler-mem-bers of the two families romped among the hay. It was a pretty scene and one that had its compensations for the participants. Ancient Use of Fire. The Pekin man, who Iived at least 1,000,000 years ago, knew how to make fire, and used stone implements. These diseoveries have just been reported to the Chinese Geological Socity after a four years' search. Professor G. Elliott Smith, the British anthropologist, who went to China to report on the Pekin skull, has received full reports of these new finds. "The careful work of Mr. W. C. Pei,. the Chinese geologist, has led to the discovery of a large selection of stone iinplements, which have heen chipped with great skill,",he explained. "What is pei'haps even more interesting js the discovery hy Mr. Pei of the evidence that these very ancient and primitive people had used fire. This puts back the history of fire-making to a period more thalx twice as remote as that which hitherto had been assumed."

Synthetic Fowl. Millions of pounds a year, it is anticipated, will be saved to poultry farmers by the discovery of the "synthetic fowl" by Professor R. C. Punfiett, president of the Royal Society, in the course of his experiments at Cambridge (England). "By crossing certain strains of poultry I have now evolvefi a hreed iri which you can tell in the colour of the down to which sex the chicks belong as soon as they are.hatched," Professor Punnett said. "It will be thus possible for poultry farmers to get rid of the majority of the cockerels immediately they are hatched and devote all their ground, plant and appliances to pullets. This means an increase in production of pullets, and therefore of egg production. Has to do "Something." , An interesting comment on the condition of New Zealand was made by Sir Mark Sheldon on his return to Sydney last week. Sir Mark, who recently niade a comprehensive tour of the Dominion, is a leading- Australian business man, and was ehairman of directors of the Australian Bank of Commerce before its amalgamation with the Bank of New South Wales. "New Zealand is just beginning to realise that it has to do "something," he said, in an interview. "They had a bit of a shock over there when they found that they Were unable to borrow money in London. They may find that they are going to have a very tight time, hut they are not going to get as low as Austraha did, and they are facing their difficulties in the right way. The trouble is largely one of high values placed on land," added Sir Mark, "aiid these will have to "be adjusted."