LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 March 1939, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

State Forest Reservation. An area of 79,000 acres of Crown land in the Wellington district (Taupo County) has been set aside, by Gazette notice published this week, as a permanent Stale forest. Window Competition. In the list of business houses taking par! in the Ideal Homes campaign and the windows of which are the basis of a competition published on Thursday last, the Wairarapa Electric Power Board was inadvertently omitted. The Masterton showroom is taking part in the campaign, and its windows will be in all competitions. New Motor Plates. The new number plates for motor vehicles for the forthcoming licensing year have already arrived at the Masterton Post Office. These will not however, 'be on issue before May 1, as the plates are not required to be in use before June 1. The new plates are orange with black numbers. Bright and Clean. The Masterton Post Office now presents a clean and bright appearance, following on the recent renovation work, carried out on the exterior brickwork and woodwork. This task is almost completed but later in the yeai some interior renovations are to be pu in hand. State Housing. Sites for the construction in Johnsonville of a further 58 houses under the Siate housing scheme are to be acquired by the Crown. The Minister of Housing, Mr Armstrong, said last evening that in addition to these sites areas were also to be purchased in Auckland and Christchurch for 81 additional houses. Of this number, the Auckland purchases would provide sections for 79 units. Civil Reserve Applicants. Advice received yesterday by the Wairarapa and Ruahine Aero Club from the Air Secretary amends the previous arrangements made to interview Civil Reserve applicants. Wairarapa applicants will now be interviewed at the Hood Aerodrome at 3 p.m. on April 1. It is also intended to interview candidates for the Royal Air Force at 2.30 p.m. on the same day. Remittances Abroad. It was explained by the Minister of Finance (Mr Nash), in Wellington yesterday, that the reduction from £lO to £5 of the amount which may be sent abroad by money-order from New Zealand had been made because of the possibility of persons desiring to remit funds overseas using the facTiies of the Post Office instead of the trading banks. The remittance of £5 a week should be more than sufficient to cover requirements outside ordinary commercial transactions. Shop Day. The shop day which will be held by the St John Ambulance on March 24 at the Occidental Auction Mart is well worthy of support; as the training received by the St John Ambulance cadets enables them to be of assistance to their fellows in case of accident or emergency. For this purpose certain equipment is necessary, and the help of the public is asked towards proziding it. Contributions may be left it the mart, or will be called for upon receipt of advice by ringing telephone 1866.

Mystery of a Skull.

The police have a tantalising subject for speculation in the dome of a numan skull found recently on the oeach at Goose Bay, some miles north of Claverly. It may be a clue to the fate of Mrs Harriet Jane Patience, aged 30, who disappeared on October 4 from the Public Works camp in Claverly, where her husband, Arthur John Patience, was employed. In the fragment of skull the police cannot at the moment see anything that will carry them much nearer a solution of the mystery. An examination . showed, however, by the amount of animal matter present in the bone, that it was of comparatively recent origin, and it nas been submitted to the pathologist at the Christchurch Hospital, Dr A. B. Pearson, for expert examination.

Almost Civilised! New Zealanders have become accustomed to hearing the Dominion described by people in distant lands as a small island off the coast of Australia, or even as a tropical home of cannibals. An American visitor who once had ideas something like these nas told, in an article published in an Illinois newspaper, how his views -iave been revolutionised after seeing New Zealand for himself. The writer, Mr Charles Vance, says that at one time, if anyone had sought to tap his limited knowledge of this part of the world, he would undoubtedly have assumed a studied air of contemplation, and, in a vague and ambitious narration, launched into a discourse on jungle life, including head hunters, oush whackers, the legendary Maori u’ibes, unique geysers and volcanic formations, pernaps a few cannibals, and the comparatively small number of white, overseers and traders. He adds, however: “Nothing could be more diametrically opposed to tne actual facts about this pleasant country and its charming inhabitants.” i\ew Zealand, he says, is just as modern and progressive as any nation in the world. Diet of German Owls. Results which indicate that the German or Little Owl preys on other birds .o a limited extent only have been obtained by Professor B. J. Marples, Processor of Zoology at the University of Otago, from investigations of the diet of these owls which he has now been carrying cut for some time. In all, Professor Marples has now examined the stomach contents of no fewer than .43 owls, and the evidence he has collected suggests that' a very large part of the diet of the birds consists of oeetles and caterpillars. Professor Marples said that most of the German owls that were sent to him came from Southland or the Catlins district, dome came from Canterbury, but it was doubtful whether they were in .he North Island at all. Of the four birds found inside the stomachs of the owls, Professor Marples said one looked like a lark, while another bird had been shot while it was eating a blackbird. It had been found in England .hat the German owl fed very largely on ground birds, and the evidence he nad gathered so far seemed to indicate that a somewhat similar position existed in New Zealand. The prejudice against the owl which existed in some quarters was not general, as it was protected by law in Switzerland and Hungary and in various other European countries it was regarded as being beneficial.