LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, 15 February 1927, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A grey shark, eleven feet long, was shot at Castlepoint last evening by Mr. P. Bellis. The shark was lying in three feet of water, in a pool where a party had been bathing an hour before.

The American method of storing timber in a log pond is impracticable with most New Zealand timbers, which being more dense would sink in the water. This fact, Mr. C. E. Daniell explained at yesterday’s Rotary Club meeting, has an important bearing on the methods of sawmilling in New Zealand :v : compared with those of the United States.

The Americans honour their big men, even naming the trees after them, Mr. C. E. Daniell told the Rotary Club in his address on “Timber” yesterday.

Thus, he said, “ General Sherman” is a tree with a diameter equal to half the width of Queen Street and two hundred feet higher than the Masterton Post Office flag-pole. Experts declare this tree to be 4000 years old—the oldest living thing on earth. In the Christchurch Supreme Court yesterday Robert Redpath Sandford, a carter, sued Edgar Johnston, a former employer of plaintiff, for £5OO damages for alleged slander. *lt was alleged that Johnston had made an unfounded charge of dishonesty against Sandford in .suggesting that he had stolen a sack 'of coal. The case was heard by Mr. .Justice Adams and a jury of twelve. The verdict was for the defendant, with costs. —(P.A.).

A bush fire started on Sunday afternoon on the farm of Mr. Theobald, near the Kororau Electric Power Works and yesterday afternoon was raging fiercely. It is likely to destroy a lot of valuable logs. The bush—about forty-five acres in. extent—was a reserve on the . Tupurupuru Estate, the timber was recently purchased by C. E. Daniell Ltd., who have a staff of men employed felling and removing’the logs to Masterton for milling purposes. The timber used in the erection of the bridge across the Ruamahunga River at Te Oro Ore fifty years ago and still in use, Mr. G. E. Daniell stated yesterday, was supplied by McGregor Bros. Mr. Jas. McGregor is still living. The timber was cut in a mill somewhere near the present Solway School and delivered to the bridge site at eight shillings and sixpence per hundred feet. To-day, the timber would have to be imported into the district at a cost of about sixty-five shillings a hundred feet.

At about mid-day on Saturday tho seven-year-old daughter of Mr. Albert Beetham, of Masterton, wjw struck by some branches of a falling Pinus Insignus tree at his residen.ee. The little girl was on a pony at the time, and apparently nobody knew that she war. near the tree when it was being felled. She was admitted to the Cole Street Hospital suffering from injuries to the head. It was reported last evening that she was as well as could be expected.

In the course of his address at tho Masterton Rotary Club yesterday, Mr. C. E. Daniell gave some interesting figures as to the quantity of timber in a log of a particular size. In the first place, only two-thirds of the solid content of the log is available as sawn timber, the balance being sawdust, angular pieces and waste. Of the sawn timber, eighteen to twenty per cent, is not fit for building purposes. The sapwood of rimu, known as “ordinary building," ranges from forty-five to fifty-five per cent. Of the heart wood, which may run up to from four to fifteen per cent, of the whole product, about one-third, or say four feet in one hundred, is fit for joinery work. Dissatisfaction among tho unemployed since the Hon. A. D. McLeod-.had occasion to rebuke Mr. S. H. Fournier, one of the deputation waiting on him on Friday, was brought to a head yesterday, a Press Association message from Christchurch states, when a meeting of 120 unemployed decided to expel Fournier and H. Dunkley, two selfappointed leaders with Communistic leanings, on the ground that their presence was detrimental to tho interests of those seeking work. The offer of £2OO said to have been made to DunkIcy by one A. P. McKay and announced by Dunkley at a meeting of unemployed on Saturday, turns out to have been a joke. The address the man gave was that of a vacant section.

There could be no doubt, the Prime Minister stated yesterday, that the transfer of the surplus' population of the United Kingdom to the Dominions would bo beneficial, but it was, of course, necessary to see that immigration was not allowed to outpace the country’s ability to absorb new population. “We are, of course, anxious,” Mr. Coates observed, to proceed as far as possible, but economic conditions in New Zealand at the present time have rendered necessary a reconsideration of the volume of immigration, and it has been decided that during the winter months the number of assisted - immigrants shall be reduced to a minimum. The greatest care is already taken in the selection of the migrants, and it is not proposed to relax in any way the standards that are considered necessary in the interests not only of this country but of the immigrants themselves.”

At the inquest into the death of David McGregor, who was drowned in the Aparima River, Southland, on Saturday, a verdict of accidental death was returned.—(P.A.). An inquest into the death of Phyllis Fleming who was killed on Sunday in a motor accident at Riverton, was opened in Riverton yesterday before Mr. Cruickshank S.M. After hearing medical and police evidence, the inquest was adjourned to Invercargill.— (P.A.).

The steamer Northumberland is expected to go into dock at Auckland for repairs next week. All the cargo, except that in No. 2 hold, is being discharged at the King’s Wharf and will he taken south by Union Company’s steamers. The Katoa is loading a large amount of the cargo for. Wellington. Lyttelton, and Dunedin and will sail or Wednesday evening.—(P.A.) At a meeting of the Miners’ West Coast District Council, the secretary of

the council was instructed to wire the Minister of Mines as follows:—“The West Coast miners see no reason why the unwatering of the Dobson mine should not be commenced within the next few days. We also consider that it is our duty to the widows and orphans to take the necessary action to

msure that there is no further delay n recovering the bodies of the victim* if the Dobson disaster.’’ —(P.A.).

According to a Greymouth Press Association message, the Miners’ West Coast District Council unanimously decided to endorse the action of the seamen in removing from office Messrs W. T Young, secretary, and Howell, assistant secretary, and decided that they would recognise i*o union of seamen ex'cept the old one, and further that the miners will make every effort to en sure that the new officials bo recog nised as the. Seamen’s Union represen tatives on the Board of Directors of the New Zealand “Worker" and the Alli ance of Labour.

Making some observations in Wellington yesterday on the subject of Imperial Naval Defence, the Prime Minister (Mr. Coates) said that he woultl shortly submit proposals to his colleagues and afterwards to Parliament, more particularly affecting ‘New Zea land’s contribution towards the cost of naval defence. “Until the Government has fully considered these proposals," he added, "it would not bo right for me to refer to them in detail. I shall content myself at the present moment by indicating that they will be in the direction of providing for an increased effort by the Dominion towards doing •our part in the general scheme of Empire defence, and. that the recommendations are largely the outcome of the personal conferences I was privileged to have with the First Lord of the Admiralty, the First Sea Lord, and other expert naval advisers to His Majesty's Government."

A Chinaman, Loo Kee, was charged at the Napier Magistrate's Court yesterday morning with being found in possession of opium in a form suitable for smoking. Mr. W. Rose of the Customs Department said that evidently the defendant, who was not a smoker himself, was engaged ip distributing the forbidden drug to other smokers. Defendant, it appeared, went to tho Duco Motor Sedvice office on December 17, and left a parcel to be sent to Wairoa. The police examined the parcel and found that among other things it contained a half-pound tin of opium. Defendant, when interviewed by tho police, said he received the parcel from Wellington and was despatching it on to Wairoa without knowing what was in it. However, on examination, it was found that the package was marked with a Napier Customs stamp and the opium was wrapped in a Napier newspaper. Mr. Hazlett, for tho defence, said that under the information there was no offence unless the defendant had the opium in his possession. Defendant was not found in possession of the opium. To constitute an offence, the opium must be in defendant’s possession when found. The Magistrate reserved his decision. —(P.A.).