LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 November 1926, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Those who intend to enter in the Daily News Christmas story, essay and sketching competitions are reminded that entries close to-morrow (Saturday) night. The question of providing camping sites adjacent to the beaches was left in the hands of the chairman (Mr. C*. E Bellringer, M.P.) and the resident engineer (Mr. G. W. B. I.owson) at yesterday’s meeting of the New Plymouth Harbour Board.

Fire almost completely destroyed a five-seater motor car belonging to Mr. E. Gilmour, of New Plymouth, at about 3.15 o’clock on Wednesday afternoon on the Waitara Road nejir Brixton. Apparently the machine backfired when being cranked and was soon ablaze. The ear was insured for £l5O in the Atlas Office.

A splendid oak tree about 2ft. in diameter, situated in Victory Square, Nelson, has been absolutely mined through some person having ring-barked It. This ia a deliberate act of vandalism, as nearly all the bark has been removed from the tree. Besides the loss of this fine oak, Mr. Large, the corporation’s head gardener, complains of other acts of vondalism and petty thefts from the various reseryes;. While digging a rhain in the Masonic Hall property in Foxton, says the Manawatu Herald, this week Mr. D. Knewstubs unearthed a frog in a pocket, of the earth eighteen inches below the surface. The creature was quite .lively. How it found its way so far below ground and how long it had been enclosed there are problems hard to solve.

“Possession of large tracts of valuable land does not necessarily mean that a man is wealthy in New Zealand nowadays,” remarked Hie Honour, Mr. Justice Ostler when addressing the jury in the Napier Supreme Court on Saturday. "A man may be quite wealthy on paper and yet perilously close to the bankruptcy court under our present system,” he continued, The need to inelude Paritutu or Mt. Egmont in the emblem to go on the board’s letter-heads, was emphasised by Mr. J. R. Cmickshank at yesterday’s meeting of the New Plymouth Harbour Board. A view of wharves and shipping might be seen anywhere, he said, and an endeavour should be made to include such distinctive features as Paritutu or the mountain, ae both of these were landmarks for shipping. The matter was left in the hands of Messrs. C. E. Bellringer, M.P., J. R. Cruickshank and the secretary (Mr. C. S. Renns?L During the trip from Stratford to Tahora yesterday, the party of excursionists from Stratford, who visited the Tangarakau camp at the invitation of the Public Works Department to see the progress of the construction work on the Taranaki-Main Trunk line, subscribed the sum of £5, which the chairman of the Stratford Chamber of Commerce (Mr. J. B. Richards) handed to the chairman of.,the Tangarakau School Committee to provide Christmas gifts or other form of pleasure for tne children in that isolated community.

A statement that .American cedar timber was being admitted to New Zealand which was riddled by the borer insect, and was otherwise of inferior qipility, was made by Mr. F. E. N. Gaudin, at the meeting of the Takapuna Borough Council recently! The council passed a resolution directing that a by-law should be framed prohibiting the use of cedar and Oregon pine timber in Taka puna buildings. The Canterbury Acclimatisation Society has decided to approach the Minister of Affaire asking him to take action against owners of land in unprotected districts who are not destroying deer on their properties. It is suggested that they -be prosecuted in the same way as those landowners who fail to destroy rabbits. Recently the society had 752 head culled from the herd in tiie I’akaia Gorge, and is taking action to check th© influx of deer from the Nelson district.

The LZI27, the Zeppelin which is being built at Friedrichshaven fox the Europe-South American mail and passenger service, is the biggest Zeppelin yet built, and can fly 6250 miles without a stop at a speed of 75 miles an hour. It has five 450 h.p. engines and is 780 ft. long. It is lifted by 3,000,000 cubic feet of hydrogen, and carries a 10-tcn paying load and 35 tons of new gaseous fuel, which is lighter than air. giving a third more power, it weighs (iO tons when empty.

To demonstrate their fitness foi motoring in the densest traffic, niembere of the Disabled Drivers’ Motor Club recently conveyed a party of journalists from Fleet Street to Richmond. Tho Daily News representative was driven by Bertram Austin, the clubs legless chairman, in a racing car, in which be has reached 93 miles an hour on the Brooklands track, and has won several races. In the past two years, Austin has owned and driven 15 different ears 30,000 miles without an accident.

A young Swede, named Amrid, arrived in Calcutta oq November 9 after having traversed 19,000 miles from Sweden to India on an ordinary bicycle. He was twice imprisoned during hie journey, once by the Riffs and once in Turkey. He travelled through 47 countries, including India, which he considers the most expensive he has visited. Amrid proposes to continue the journey to Burma and the _Far East, and then to cross America. The bicjiele is of Swedish make. Ths rider began the tour in April, 1925. The average distance covered was about 60 miles daily. Tho P. and 0.. liner Comorin, bound from I.ondon to Australia, has aboard 300 specimens of plants and flowers, and live minnows, sunfish, trout, perch and snails, in the custody of Mr. Clive Fairbairn, a son of the Victorian AgentGeneral, Sir George Fairbairn, who will acclimatise them near Albury. The fish will be carried in a tank whose water is aerated by a bicycle pump, and will be fed on biscuits and other food. Mr. Fairbairn has no doubt that the new migrants will thrive, since the English perch doubles its weight in Australia. He adds: “There is always the possibility of anything introduced to Australia running rampant. I had to overcome all sorts of red tape and restrictions, but there is no likelihood of a-repetition of the rabbit plague.” As the Christmas holidays are in sight the committee of the Beautifying Society desire to finish their work for the season ns soon as possible. They therefore intend continuing operations to-morrow afternoon. Something of interest to Ladies. Bealey’s, Ltd., are showing some very smartly cut Tricoline Washing Frocks, in the latest striped designs. They arc nil at one price 21/6, and are well worth inspecting.