NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 214, 4 May 1932, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

Maori Curios. New Zealand curios appear to be down in price, judging by a recent .sale of articles at Messrs, Sotheby and Company's, London. The articles were part of a collection which also included trophies from Africa, America, and Oceania. A good bone mere was sold for £4; a huia feather box, which appeared to be a genuine antique, brought only £1 5s; a stone adze hound to a handle, £5 10s; a carved hani, £1 5s; an a flax mat, £1 10s. A greenstone blade, halfted on to a carved wooden handle, and a genuine antique, was sold for £10 10s. There were also two tikis. The smaller one, 4in l'ong, appeared to be^ of real Maori origin, and sold for £3. Buyers must have had some suspicion of the larger one, which was 7£in long, for it fell to the hamer at £10 10s. Water-eolour sketches of chiefs painted by J. Veitch in 1840 went for £1 to £2 2s, and a really fine oil painting of King Tawhaio, by W. g. Balcer, brought only £1. Twin Re&ervoirs for Napier. There are at present nnder construction on the Bluff Hill, Napier, twin reservoir-s of special design to guard against possible earthquakesEach will hold 650,000 gallons, "and will be fed by 12in supply pipes through which artesian water will be pumped. The internal diameter is 75ft and the walls are just over 25ft high, 9in thick at the bottom, and reinforced on a special system. The reinforcing on the floor might almost have been patterned on a spider's web, with radial and circumferential threads, except that the threads are five-eighths of an inch steel rods. Instead of the walls being sealed to the floor by an expansion joint, walls and floor are being construeted as a unit to give a greater resistance against earth movements. The front reservoir is expected to he in commission in three or four months, and the second a little later. Wanton Theft. Two deer stalkers who were oUt in the vicinity of the 17 mile peg on the Parapara Road over the week-end brought down two good specimens, says the Wanganui Chroniele. As they intended to move further on, they de,.cided to tie the beasts in the branches of a nearby tree and to return later to collect them, having an eye to a smaller butcher's bill at the end of the week. They secured the beasts by means of a new rawhide thong and balanced them on the branch About an hour and a half later they returned to collect their prizes, but found that some person had removed one of the deer, while the other lay in a pool of mud. The rawhide thong had been slashed in two, so that the hunters lost both beasts and the thong into the hargain.

Gold Mining Claims. Several further gold mining claims have- been pegged out on the beach to the east of Ashburton, where there has been some activity of late weeks, following the discovery of gold in small quantities among the sand at high-water mark (states the Guardian). Washing has been carried out with some success. Two men who have claims near the mouth of the Ashburton River, have been washing ont the sand in the past week, and for five days' work they obtained nearly one and a half ounces of gold, which can hs sold at about £5 an ounce.