Monster trout on display

Anglers have heard a good deal about the 20-pound trout that are caught in the New Zealand lakes, but it is sometimes difficult to imagine what these monsters are like.

Those who are interested in the matter now have an opportunity of seeing for themselves what the waters of the dominion can yield, for during the past week a consignment of about a score of frozen trout, each weighing 19lb or 20lb, has arrived from New Zealand, and these have been displayed on ice in the refrigerated cabinet allotted to the fish exhibit in the New Zealand pavillion. They are a consistently formidable lot, and they will certainly allay any suspicions that New Zealanders are prone to tell "fish stories".

— by ODT London correspondent

Columnist to try Opoho tram

There is another thing over and done with — namely, the grievances of the steepy and salubrious suburb of Opoho. (I once got into trouble with a resident of Opoho for asking where the place was. Things will be dangerous if the printer renders "steepy" into "sleepy.") To be frank, I did not go to Opoho even on Saturday, the great day of consummation. But I am off to make acquaintance with Opoho to-morrow or next day, or, Friday or Friday-week at latest; and, gently gliding upwards (bang goes a penny, or is it twopence ?).

— by ‘Wayfarer’

City pool lifts water skills

Since the Municipal Baths have been reopened for the summer season the public school swimming classes have been resumed, and the pupils are entering into their new school duty, if duty it can be called, with a good display of eagerness and zest. There are about 15 classes during the week, and the attendance at each averages about 30, only 1 percent of the total number being able to swim. A visit to the baths during the class hours yesterday convinced a reporter that the pupils had mastered the one great deterrent to the enjoyment of swimming — fear. This possibly is attributable to the fact that the water is perfectly clear, enabling the children to see the bottom. The custodian (Mr E.H. Olds) instructs the children, who are first taught the rudiments of four strokes — the crawl, sculling, the breast and back strokes. One stroke helps the other, and it gives the pupil an opportunity of developing the one to which he is best suited. It is gratifying to know that although the baths are not a paying proposition from a financial point of view, they certainly achieve the object for which they were built — perfect development of the body and a complete mastery of swimming.

Radiotherapy not yet proven

The report of the Department of Public Health states that cancer still claims a high death rate of 8.75 to 10,000 persons living, in comparison with 8.52 for the year before. The department was fully alive to the seriousness of the matter, and was keeping in close touch with the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Committee in London. The use of radium was still in the experimental stage, and just yet did not justify any definite statement as to its curative value.

Thrown from a horse

Ivan Rask, a single man, aged 21 years, who resides at Wingatui, and whose occupation is given as a jockey, was admitted to the Hospital about noon yesterday, suffering from injuries to his back, caused by being thrown from a horse while jumping a hurdle at Wingatui racecourse.

— ODT, 10.9.1924  (Compiled by Peter Dowden)