LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 January 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Air Training. During the week-end two local aeroplanes. ZKADL (piloted by Mr J. Hamill) and ZKABE (piloted by Mi- C. Price), proceeded to Dannevirke for training purposes, returning yesterday afternoon. Swimmers in Difficulties. Four swimmers who were in difficulties when caught in a strong rip at low tide in the surf at Piha (Auckland) on Saturday were rescued by members of the Piha Surf Life-Saving Club. Three of them were brought ashore by a club member using an Australian surf ski. and two men. Mr R. Whiteman and his brother, of Onehunga, were treated in the clubhouse after the rescue. Shortage of Plasterers.

The shortage of plasterers in Hamilton has caused further delay to the work on the additions to the Hamilton Fire Brigade's premises in Anglesea Street. A large amount of the plastering has yet to be completed, and little other work can be continued till this is carried out. It-is expected that the extension will be completed early in March, though the fire engines will probably be moved into the new wing this week.

Labour Daily Paper. Within the next week or so, according to the “Standard,” the Labour movement will launch its campaign for daily newspapers. The first unit will be established in Wellington. “Narrow parochialism must not be permitted to hinder the project,” the Labour 'weekly observes, “for the decision to establish the first of the chain of dailies in Wellington is a sound one. The establishment of a newspaper in Wellington, where the nucleus of a daily newspaper unit already exists, will be a much easier proposition than an attempt to establish four daily newspaper units at the one time.” Brainy Birds.

Not being supplied with tin-openers or nut-crackers, birds have had to use their wits, and have had recourse to various substitutes for these useful implements. Vultures carry stones into the air in order to drop them on the eggs of ostriches that they might devour the contents. Sparrows steal walnuts and drop the nuts on the pavement to get at the kernel. Thrushes and other birds will drop snails on to modern concrete roads to break the shells and obtain the snails. Some birds will ram a nut into a crevice in a tree and with the tree acting as a vice will hammed the' nut with their beak until the shell breaks.

Nights Off for Doctors. After January 15, Wanganui doctors will close their surgeries on Tuesday and Thursday nights each week. This decision was reached at a meeting of the Wanganui branch of the British Medical Association recently, when a majority of members expressed their desire for the change. Night hours of surgery attendance have recently been reduced in New Plymouth. Hawera and Palmerston North doctors are considering doing likewise. In the main centres the position is different because many doctors have their surgeries away from their residences and have no night hours of attendance. Holiday Burglary.

Returning to their home in Paratai Avenue, Orakei, Auckland, at the end of last week, after a fishing holiday at Taupo, Mr and Mrs P. E. Miller found that the house had been thoroughly ransacked. Thieves had gained access by forcing a side window and had decamped with goods valued at £2OO. > The Millers, who had been away since Christmas, found that they -had lost practically the whole of their wardrobes, Mr Miller being relieved of four new suits as well as two dress suits. Other articles stolen included a chiming clock, a new all-wave radio set, and a silver tea service. Apparently the thieves used a car or truck to take away the loot. Seaside Illuminations.

In England they make the most of their seaside resorts. Mr John Robertson, of Invercargill, who has returned home after a tour abroad, said Blackpool was an eye-opener to him. He was there one weekend when excursion trains brought crowds from all parts of Scotland and England, and there was no room to move on the footpaths, so pedestrians thronged the roads. “At Blackpool £lOO,OOO has been spent on seven or eight miles of illuminations, and it is a wonderful sight,” he said. “It is amusing to see the number of eating houses in the town. There are stands every ten yards or so, where cockles, pies and other things are sold, and then there are many restaurants besides. Everybody seemed to be eating.’,’ A Free Show.

The smallest “show"—provided it is free—never fails to draw a crowd. Two sleek kingfish offered a good fifteen minutes’ entertainment for bathers at a beach near St Helier’s Bay, Auckland. The water was clear and warm, and as soon as the two big fish swam into sight in search of food a crowd quickly gathered to watch them as they twisted and turned in an investigation of scraps of rubbish floating in the sea. A baited line thrown in excitedly failed to lure or to frighten them, but when a flounder spear was aimed and hurled it came so near to a fatal mark that the “kingies” turned tail and fled. The show was over. The kingfish, incidentally, often proves he is one of the best of the marine entertainers. Sometimes, when the water is clear, one can stand on a cliff top and get a bird’seye view of his relentless swoops on frightened sprats in the shallow water near the shore.

Rare Conger Eel. An unusual catch was made by a resident of Mangonui while fishing in Doubtless Bay, Auckland. The species is 3ft 6in long and about 6in wide, with a tough skin like that of a cobra. The skin also resembles dark brown crocodile skin. The head is bulletshaped and the large mouth has two long fangs on the lower jaw. ' The catch was made on a line set for sharks, and it created great interest. Residents who fished in these parts for many years say nothing like it has been caught before. In the opinion of Mr A. W. B. Powell, an expert authority on marine life, the fish thus described is probably one’ of a very rare species of conger eel which differs widely from the ordinary eel. It has a very pronounced, snake-like pattern of dark brown and grey. It is of very striking appearance, and is more flattened along the back than the common conger eel. Of this particular species only two specimens have so far been recorded. The first was discovered near Manganui about 1922, and the other was caught off Cape Karekare. between Manganui and the Bay of Islands, two or three months ago,