LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 November 1938, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Old Maori Pa Discovered. Workmen clearing the banks of the' Waikato River at Karapiro in preparation for a new hydro-electric scheme have discovered the remains of an.extensive Maori settlement near a pa on top of a hill at a sharp bend in 'he stream. The pa fortifications, consisting of a trench and an earth embankment, are in a good state of preservation. Partial Eclipse of Sun. A partial eclipse of the sun occurred yesterday, the time, according to the official estimate, being 11.52 a.m. New Zealand summer time. The eclipse could not have been observed in Mastetion, even if the sky had not seen overcast at that hour, as it was visiole only in the northern part of the Pacific Three-quarters of the sun's -diameter was obscured by the moon.

Angler Bitten by Trout. While fishing in the Opihi Stream, near Timaru, recently, Mr W. Searle, a local angler, hooked a large trout. While freeing the fish from the hook it bit his thumb, but, thinking no more of the matter, he went home with h,s evening’s catch. Complications set in, however, and Mr Searle sought medical advice, as blood poisoning threatened. After treatment it was found necessary to send him to the Timaru Hospital.

Honey Control Board. One nomination for election to. the New Zealand Honey Control Board, that of Mr L. F. Robins, of Temuka, South Canterbury, retiring producers' representative, was received and he was declared re-elected yesterday, a Wellington message states. There are two producers’ representatives on the board who retire in alternate years. Mr Robins will hold office for two years as from January 1. Test for Railcar.

Running over almost continual gradients and negotiating some of the tightest curves in the North Island, Aotea, the 52-passenger railcar for the coming Wellington-New Plymouth service, travelled from Wanganui to New Plymouth in three hours’ running time last night-.' The General Manager of Railways, ’Mr Mackley, said its performance on the gradients, though much better than that of a locomotive, was by no means as satisfactory as it would be when the car was regeared for the normal service. Samoan Clipper Memorial.

A design for the memorial trophy to Captain Edwin Musick and his six companions in the Samoan Clipper who perished in the Pacific in January was approved at a special meeting of the award committee in Auckland. The cost of the trophy will be £205. There will also be provided a replica which will be retained by the winner. The trophy will be awarded in January each year for the most valuable contribution toward the safety of life in the air and the most efficient working of aircraft, with special regard to transoceanic flying. Territorial Recruiting.

Enlistments in the Territorial Force for October were announced by the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, in an interview yesterday. He said the Dominion total of recruits for the month was 575. Discharges numbered 219, so that the strength of the force was increased during. October by 356. The increase last month, said Mr Jones, was by far the largest increase for any month so far this year. It could be directly attributed to the publicity efforts of the Defence Department and. the enthusiasm of the units concerned. With the new recruits who had enlist: ed during October the Territorial Force had a total strength of a little over 8000 at the end of that month. This was within approximately 1000 of establishment.

Archbishop Julius Memorial Fund. The Archbishop Julius Memorial Fund, with which extensions will be made to Christchurch Cathedral, has now reached £3789, It is planried to extend the appeal to centres outside Canterbury. Not only are there many Canterbury people now in other parts of New Zealand but the archbishop, as Primate of New Zealand, was known and honoured through the Dominion. The Prime Minister, Mr Savage, has written to the mayor of Christchurch, Mr R. M. Macfarlane, paying tribute to the mbmory of the archbishop and giving his support to the memorial appeal, commending it to the people of the Dominion. The Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr Sullivan, in a letter to the Rev. W. E. D. Davies, organiser of the appeal, has also commended the memorial project to the people. Moriori Exhibits. In keeping with the general plan of sorting the displays and leaving only the significant exhibits, arranged as artistically as possible in the existing cases, the Moriori collection at the Canterbury Museum has just been reorganised by Mr R. S. Duff, the Museum's ethnologist. Unfortunately, only two cases are available in the Maori house for displaying this collection, which is considered to be the finest in New Zealand. The exhibits are so laid out that the unmistakable similarity between the articles of Maori and Morion material culture is clearly shown. This is notably the case when the curved whale-ivory cloak-pins are compared, and also the grooved stone sinkers, the one-piece whalebone fish-hooks, the bird spearheads of barbed bone, and bone flutes carved with an identical criss-cross decoration, one of which was found in the Chatham Islands and the other at Charteris Bay. The two native races that have peopled New Zealand aro very similar in other respects; alone in the Pacific they share the use of the short stone club. The only major respect in which they differ is that the art of wood carving never developed in the Chatham Islands to the extent that it did on the mainland.