NEW ZEALAND NEWS ITEMS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 43, 21 February 1939, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND NEWS ITEMS

Frost in Waikato. The maximum temperature in Hamilton on Thursday was only 67 degrees and the minimum 51 degrees. Tw6 degrees of frost were recorded at the Ruakura Farm of Instruction on Friday morning. Loss of £5O Note. To lose a £5O note on Queen’s wharf, Auckland, where his ship was berthed, was the misfortune on Tuesday of Captain A. H. Davey, master of the Union Company’s trans-Tas-man liner Awatea. Captain Davey found that the note was missing after entering his motor-car on the wharf, and although a search was made no trace had been found when the Awatea sailed in the afternoon for Sydney. Large Eel Caught. Five feet in length and weighing 2316.. a long-finned eel caught by three schoolboys in the Maukau Stream, near Pukekohe. has been forwarded to the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Although it is the largest ever received at the museum, it does not oempare with one officially noted that was caught in the Wanganui River and which weighed 421 b. New Zealand has the distinction of providing the largest fresh water eels of any part of the world. North Head Artillery. The boom of the 6in. guns on North Head was heard for the second day in succession on Friday when live shell practice was again conducted by the 13th Heavy Battery, which is holding its annual camp at Devonport. The work took the form of a counterbomoardment series, the target representing a hostile vessel presumed to be shelling the city from a position same 8000 or 9000 yards out to sea. Full charges were used in the heavy guns operated bv the battery. Naming of Jockey Club. Rivalry between the districts of Devonport and Takapuna apparently existed as long ago as 1881. according to the minutes of the first meeting of the Takapuna Jockey Club, extracts from which were read by the secretary. Mr. R. A. Spinley. at a gathering In Devonport on Friday night when the club’s property was vested in the council. The minutes showed that a member had moved that the club should assume the name Takapuna, but the motion was immediately followed by an amendment proposing Devonport as the name. Voting was even, and the title Takapuna was only adopted on the casting vote of the chairman. A Leisurely Divorce. This is an unusually leisurely divorce," remarked Mr. Justice Callan in the Supreme Court at Auckland after perusmg the documents concerning a petitioner who had begun proceedings 10 years ago. His Honour said he hoped counsel would prove, as part of his case, that respondent was still alive. He would not like to issue a decree nisi in a case in which once of the parties was dead. Counsel smilingly assured His Honour that the necessary proof would be forthcoming.

Lx*gal Definition of “Entree.” Is an “entree” a small modicum of ■fish or can a steak and kidney pie be described as an entree? The Court was called on to define “entree” when a labour case involving the Tearoom and Restaurant Workers’ award came before Mr. F. F. Reid, S.M., at Christchurch, on Friday. “What is the difference.” asked the magistrate, “between a spoonful of stew with a piece of pastry put on top and some steak end kidney entirely surrounded by pastry?” Mr. R. A. Young suggested that an entree was a small modicum of fish. Another suggestion that the Oxford English Dictionary be called in to arbitrate was not pressed further.

An Agile Cat. Members of the Covent Garden Russian Ballet did not have it all to themselves at the Grand Opera House, Wellington, on Saturday night. Though they are very clever and agile on their feet, the theatre cat gave an exhibition which captured the applause of the house. During an interval this quiet grey animal strolled nonchantly along the balustrade of one of the boxes till it reached one end. Then it could be seen measuring the distance to the ; balustrade of the dress circle, some five feet away, and the great audi- i ence watched intently. After one false start, the cat jumped the gap with the greatest of ease, and was rewarded with a round of applause. Blown Seven Miles. An empty sheep waggon made the trip of seven miles from Kapuka to Titiroa on its own account late one night last week, says a Southland exchange. The fierce gale caught the rear of the waggon while it stood at the siding at Kapuka. and kept up the pressure t I the truck had raced over the seven miles and been brought to a standstill by a rising grade at Titiroa. Behind it came a surfaceman on a jigger, on which he had started in pursuit of the runaway truck. The waggon was later put in at the Titiroa siding. The gale brought down a large tree across the line between Otautau and Waikouro, and a goods train from Wairio crashed into it. There was no damage other than the breaking of the glass in the engine cab. Oysters by Air. Air transport was used on Thursday for the conveyance of 300 dozen oysters from Invercargill to Auckland, the journey occupying seven and a half hours. At 7 o’clock in the morning an aeroplane piloted by Mr. A. J. ' Bradshaw left Invercargill with the oysters safely stowed. It connected with the Union Airways liner at Taieri airport at 8.30 a.m. The oysters were transferred to the liner and arrived in Auckland in first-class condition at 2.30 p.m. in plenty of time for Aucklanders to enjoy the first catch of the season at their evening meal. This consignment of oysters by air was undertfs’i as an experiment, and if it proved entirely successful it is more than probable that a quantity of oysters will be sent to Auckland by air during the remainder of the season. Clever Camouflage. Giving the land an appearance of intense fortifications, “pill boxes” and ! gun turrets could be seen scattered all over the country from the harbour at Singapore a year or two ago, but now no sign of any iorfification at all could be seen, said an officer of the Shell Company oil tanker Tornus on arrival at New Plymouth. Black and green paint had worked wonders of camouflage, he added, and bushes had been allowed to grow freely around the fortifications. Although Australia and New Zealand were well away from the chief part of the Empire, they were well protected by the base at Singapore, the officer believed. Any ships on the offensive must necessarily be a long way from their home shores, and it would be almost impossible for ships to slip past the base without giving away some hint of their presence.