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Shannon News, 1 February 1929, Page 2

The Agricultural Department has granted permission to the Wellington Education to hold a health camp at the Wfcraroa Central Dovelopmen! Farm for three weeks.

The banana palms in the Christchurch winter garden are nourishing under conditions in which they live, but their fruit this year, a cluster of young bananas, looks pinched and undergrown. It does not seem as if it will reach maturity.

Last week’s Gazette announces an open season in the Wellington Acclimatisation District for the taking and killing of, red deer, stags and hinds, and Sambur deer, stags and hinds, from March 28 to May 31, subject to certain, conditions. There is a limit of three stags of not less than 10 points each, but the number of hinds is unlimited.

The children were asked to bring to a grammar class a short original composition about some article they saw in daily use, and this is what one little boy wrote: —‘‘The needle is a sewing tool. It is composed of two parts—the point and the eye. The eye is made of air, and is what you stick the thread through. The point is made of steel, and is what you stick through the cloth,”

A‘painful mishap befel Mr Norman Vickers, son of Mr Vickers, of Levin, at the iShow yesterday, in the steer-riding contest, which was otherwise carried out without accident. Like many other competitors, Norman was unseated, and it was in recovering his feet that he met with the injury. The bullock, which had 'been dehorned in common with the rest of the 24 animals provided for the competition, lifted its head up suddenly, and the stump of one horn caught the erstwhile rider on the side of the face, breaking the chjeek-bone. First aid was rendered on the ground by Dr. Thompson, and the sufferer was hurried to the Levin Private Hospital, where an operation was performed. The result was quite satisfactory, and the many friends of - the family will be relieved to learn that the patient is making good progress.

“Look at those branches floating there,’’, said the wife of a Ponsonby resident who was having a dip the other morning off Wilson’s skids, between (St. Mary’s Beach and Shelly Beach, says an Auckland paper. He looked, and saw two dark objects sticking up out of the ivater, nine inches or a foot. “That’s not a branch; that’s sharks,” was his unexpected answer, and his better half naturally made a rapid; retreat to the shore. Judging from'the size of their fins the sharks must have been a good size. The surprising thing was that they should .venture so close inshore —they were not more ‘ than 20 or 30 feet off the beach—and it must be remembered that part of the harbour is now inside the long stone wall whieh forms the breakwater of the boat harbour. That morning the tide was - exceptionally high, and that probably accounts for the presence of these unwelcome visitors.

A cable to the Sydney Sun recently made reference to perturbation among the Smithfield authorities over the almost world-wide progress of a disease in sheep, on account of which great quantities of Australian and South American mutton imported to Britain have been c'ondcmn/ed. • The disease occurs, in the lymphatic glands, and is deep-seated in the shoulders. In an interview by the Sydney paper, Mr J. B. Clramsie, chairman of the Metropolitan Meat Industry Board, stated that some time ago it was possible for (caseous lymphadenitis) to be sent forcarcases affected with the trouble ,ward from Australia after the glands had been removed. More recently it was decided that these glands should be opened up carefully and a thorough inspection made. This is being done at present. Mr Cramsie added that the disease is not communicable to humans. A fat stock buyers at,Elemington stated that in Patagonia alone tlie percentage of sheep with gland trouble is about 80 or 90 —in Australia it is only 20 per cent. At Smithfield every carcase of mutton and lamb from Australia and South America is being inspected for the disease. New Zealand meat is exempted from the special examinations.

The Wellington Chamber of Commerce and Wellington Manufacturers’ Association in .conjunction, with the Railway Department are arranging for a Commercial Train to make a tour of the Wellington Province, on similar lines to a tour recently carried out from Auckland. The idea is to give representative business men an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the resources of the Province. Departmental officers will travel with the party to lecture and give information regarding the country passed through. When in Wellington last week, Mr A. W. Hutchings, the Levin Chamber’s representative to the Dominion Chambers’ Conference, discussed with Mill. S. Fairchild, secretary of the Wellington Chamber, the possibility of including Levin in the itinerary of the train, this not being originally contemplate .1. As a result of Mr Hutchings’ 'presentations Levin will be the first stopping place of the Commercial Train. The party will arrive at midnight on Friday, April 12th, and will be shown something of the district and motored to Foxton next morning to rejoin the train there at 10 a.m. Thereafter the party will visit Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Raetihi and Taihape, Napier, Masterton and back to Wellington on Sunday, April 21st. It is expected that about 60 Wellington businessmen will make the trip.