HERE AND THERE IN NEW ZEALAND

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 329, 9 January 1937, Page 3

HERE AND THERE IN NEW ZEALAND

GLEANINGS OF DOMINION . NEWS

Gannet Sanctuary. Visitors to the Gannet Sanctuary at Cape Kidnappers have found added interest from the return of the terns to the rocks at Black Reef. About four or five years ago the terns were in considerable numlber in that locality, but were disturbed by ;; people breaking the eggs and generally frightening the birds, particularly the fledglings, and consequently they migrated elsewhere. It is. believed that they were to be found on certain parts of the Tukituki River last year, but apparently they were disturbed by sportsmen, and this season they have returned to their nesting-place..

Naval Organiser.

Now in Auckland as the guest of his son, Lieutenant Commander R. Nisbet, R.N.R., D.S.C., is Paymaster Commander Percy Nisbet, late R.N.V.R., V.D., who recently arrived from England. Paymaster Commander Nisbet, who is aged 82, has had a remarkable career, and was prominently associated in the organisation of the naval volunteer movement. He has also taken a prominent part in various yachting organisations in England, and he was founder and commodore of the British Canoe Association. That at 63 he was awarded a certificate from the Royal Humane Society for jumping into th© Thames fully clothed and rescuing a petty officer from drowning, and that at 71 years he joined the Surrey Special Constabulary, serving as commander of the Weybridge section until a year ago, sufficiently emphasise Paymaster Commander Nisbet’s virility and gifts.

“Got the Pip.”

(How a misfortune in a raffle for a small car led to the winning of £750 in an Australian consultation was told to the Christchurch “Star-Sun” yesterday. After holding a ticket in the competition that was run early lasit year by the Health Stamp Campaign Committee- for a prize of a car, he tore the ticket up by mistake and later pieced it together again when he heard that the correct number had not been found, to discover that his ticket bore th© winning number with the exception of a small part of the last figure. This piece he was unable to find, but he submitted the ticket to the authorities and had had the car delivered to his care wlhen it was suddenly decided that the ticket was not eligible for the prize. Almost immediately after he invested in a ticket in the sweepstake, signed himself “Got the Pip” and was ultimately notified th alt he had won a £750 prize. , Philosopher For N.Z.

In one appointment to the staff the Canterbury College University Council, states the Christchurch StarSun, has taken a bold step. Dr Karl Popper, of Vienna, who has been chosen to fill the lectureship in the Department of Education and Philosophy, is described as a pure philosopher. He occupies such a place in Europe that it is likely New Zealanders will benefit much from his residence among them. Whether a man of such high qualifications will find too many restrictions upon research work in Naw Zealand is a question that may occur, but Dr Popper is a Jew, and the fact that he is debarred from holding many academic positions in Europe may make it easier for him to settle down to the conditions in New Zealand. He has lectured in England, and many distinguished persons have spoken in the- highest terms of his ability and his lucidity in expressing himself in English. In fact, the advisory board in England placed him equal first for the professorship of philosophy.

Rooks In Crops. Rooks are playing havoc among some of the Hawkes Bay oat crops that have, recently been cut, and on one property at Crownthorpe, 20 miles from Hastings, a beautiful crop of 10 acres, which was standing stooked, was visited frequently by a. flock of about 3000 rooks. Spectators considered the amount of grain an ordinary fowl can consume at a meal and tried to calculate the ravages of the rooks. When a shotgun was fired the birds rose in one sweep and resembled a tremendous black cloud of smoke. Steamer Traffic. Passenger traffic by the steamer expresses between Wellington and Lyttelton is exceedingly heavy at present. On Monday night the W«ihine left Lyttelton for Wellington with 950 passengers, and the Rangatira arrived at Lyttelton yesterday morning from Wellington with approximately 1000 passengers. The Rangatira from Lyttelton last night, and the Wahine, from Wellington, were also heavily booked.

Brighter Telephones. New Zealand telephone subscribers with an eye for decorative effects may now bring eyen the handy telephone within the scope of their artistic ideas. Instead of the invariable black it is now possible to obtain a hand-set telephone -of the highest efficiency in a bakelite case with a choice of six colours. The sets are of English manufacture and were designed in conjunction with the British Post Office which provides them in Chinese red, jade green and ivory. The New Zealand Depart-

ment, in addition to importing telephones in these colours, has procured them in old gold, oxidised silver'and walnut.

Beach Novelty. A novel craft at a beach in Auckland created much interest among spectators. It was a single-seater canoe about 12 feet long, designed and built by its owner, an Auckland resident. It was driven by a propeller, the shaft of which is geared by means of an old. lathe wheel, which, in turn, is driven byi a chain from an ordinary bicycle sprocket wheel. Th© “motor” is nothing 'but an old bicycle frame, stripped of everything except its sprocket wheel and pedals, and fixed in the bottom of the canoe in an inverted position. The occuipant reclined at his ease and pedalled l the canoe, then travelling at surprising speed, both ahead and astern, without any undue effort on the part of the driver.

Duck’s Excursion. A wild duck held up traffic at the Birdwood Road, Fendalton, yesterday, by choosing a puddle in the middle of the road as a lounge for its afternoon siesta. Fluttering its wings in- the big pool of rain water, the bird was obviously enjoying itself. Cars had to swerve to avoid it and neither the scream of motor horns nor the swishing of wheels a few inches away seemed to alarm the duck at all. It deigned to move | only after repeated clanging of the gong from a tram in whose path the bird was sitting. Disturbed from its resting place, the duck set off at a smart waddle along Garden Road. On arrival at the bridge over the Wairarapa. it fluttered down to the stream. Its afternoon excursion was over. Electrical Storm. A heavy electrical storm struck Kowhai Bush, in the foothills at the back of Sheffield, about four o’clock on Saturday afternoon and, when, at the end of an hour the rain slackened off, about three inches had fallen. ! One result was a slip on the West i Coast railway line, one mile west of | Kowhai, and an excursion train was delayed some time. Some minor slips are also reported on country roads. Breaking over the Manawatu area at 4 p.m. on New Year’s Day, a severe electrical storm resulted In

considerable minor damage to power ( lilies in the rural districts, many [ transformer fuses being blown, i Lightning struck the electric lines in several places, dislocating the services, the most serious being a direct hit on the 10,000 volt line feeding Ashurst and Pohangina. Travelling to Bunnythorpe sub-station, it sur- ! rounded the operator with blue i flashes, but the safety devices | cleared the trouble in a few seconds. ; A terrifying fireball, estimated to be ! two feet in diameter, passed close to I a house near Ashurst, disappearing i with a hissing sound round the j i corner, and exploding, the concussion i shaking the building like an earth- I ! quake. Though an alarming exporiI ence for the occupants, who witi nessed the spectacle through a win- ' dow, no damage was done other i than line breakages, but a tank of Z water turned black. Two windows .! were broken in another house a ; quarter of a mile away, where lighti nirig also severed the lines.