HERE AND THERE IN NEW ZEALAND

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 313, 19 December 1936, Page 3

HERE AND THERE IN NEW ZEALAND

Against Sunday Bowls. A proposal to introduce Sunday play was rejected by 29 votes to 22 by one of Dunedin’s leading bowling clubs, says a Press Association message. Hospital Boards’ Conference. The 1937 conference of the Hospital Boards’ Association of New Zealand will be held in Timaru on March 2,3, and 4. Arrangements for the conference will be carried out by the secretary of the South Canterbury Hospital Board, Mi’ H. G. Naylor. The chairman, Mr E. Macdonald, will be the board’s official representative.

I Diamond-back Moth. Farmers will welcome the efforts that are being made to combat that dire enemy of the turnip crop—the diamond-back moth. Not only has an additional breeding station for rear‘ing the parasites been set up in Hawkes Bay, but Lincoln Agricultural College is moving in the matter with a view to breeding 'the parasites. The centre of operations will be at Irwell, where a glasshouse, containing cabbages infested with the diamond-backmoth, has been erected. The parasites will commence their work this week.

A Giant Eel. Evidence of the depredations of eels in the Hutt River was furnished last Saturday, when a party of three people caught an eel weighing 17lb under the Moonshine Bridge. Inside the eel was a trout measuring 12 inches in length. The Acclimatisation Society’ is concerned about the damage that is being done to trout in the Hutt River by eels. The trout ‘are decreasing in numbers, and little can be done to remedy the ! matter. White Heron’s Disappearance The reason for the disappearance, some six weeks ago of the white heron, which was one of the outstanding attractions at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens for several months, and which has since returned to its old haunts in the bog garden, has just come to light, states the “Star-Sun.” It appears that ~on the day of the heron’s dis- ; appearance, it was engaged in an I aerial combat over the bog garden with a seagull. For about 10 minutes the two birds wheeled around, with the gull darting and swooping in a persistent attack. In the end, the gull was seen to fly away, seemingly thd victor,, and later on the heron ; departed.

GLEANINGS OF DOMINION NEWS.

< Dearer Meals. Following a move some months ago to raise the price of restaurant meals in Wellington from 1/3 to 1/6, competition at lower prices caused the majority of restauranteurs to return to the 1/3 charge. One large city restaurant has now decided to advance its price by’ one penny, and it is said to be likely that others will follow suit.

Four Ex-Pupils in R.A.F. Speaking at the prize-giving at Croydon School, the headmaster, Mr C. H. T. Skelley, remarked that four former pupils of the school had accepted commissions in the Royal Air Force. He added that each had been different in character.

Dominion Art Exhibition. An exhibition of works of art from the Dominions will be held in London during the coronation period, and New Zealand will be represented by about 80 paintings. Arrangements for collecting and forwarding paintings are now in hand by the Association of New Zealand Art Societies, and the Canterbury Society of Arts has set up a committee of artist mejmbers to deal with works submitted locally'. An effort is being made to secure examples of Maori art from the Maori Arts and Crafts School at Rotorua. The exhibition is being arranged by the Royal British Colonial Society of Artists.

Another Chinese Puzzle . When the head of the house drew a hearty sigh of relief as he or she completed the filling in of the last censu’s it was with the. fervent wish that it would be another ten years before any such insruinent of torture) was again thrust upon the long-suffering public (says the Auckland “Star.”) Such a thought was under-rating the powers of ingenuity possessed by officialdom, for the return that will shortly be ro quired under the housing survey required under the housing survey 1 regulations will cause any census paper ever printed, to hide its head in shame on the score of simplicity. According to a communi cation received by the Otahuhu' Borough Council and discussed at its last, meeting, there will be many a brainstorm before the returns are collected by that most appropriate day, the first of April. Householders will be lequired to furnish not only the number of occupants in each house, but also much other information, such as the size of every room, the degree of ventilation of every room, material construction of, size of back yard, front yard, garden, etc,, and many other things too numerous to mention. Realising the difficulty that many people will have in filling in this form, the person responsible has endeavoured to make the task easier by using easily understood terms, so we find our back yard designated by' the title of “area in goal.” Of course, the idea may be to turn our thoughts to the happier times ahead of April 1, when a more momentous, question than that of housing reform will be decided that of our superiority over the Springboks. Realising the work that the delivery and collection of these returns will entail, one Otahuhu civic father inquired what would be j the result if any local body failed ; to make a return. His enthusiasm for staging a rebellion received a severe setback on learning that the penalty for failure to make a return "was £lOO, while the householder is also liable to a penalty for failing to do his part.