Waitangi Falls, Bay of Islands, North Auckland. Otago
Witness, 1.1.1913.
Tuesday night ''saw the skirts of the departing year''
flit irrevocably away into that region of oblivion which is the
burial-ground of so many centuries, and it also witnessed the
baptismal rites of the year 1913.
By the majority of people the dying moments of the old year
were not made the occasion of any very tender regrets, but
the brightly-lighted streets of the city were rendered very
much alive by a close-packed throng and it would seem as
though the time-honoured custom of ''seeing the old year
out'' was still observed with as much gusto and joviality as
ever. Youthful high spirits were everywhere in evidence, and
for the few hours proceeding midnight the town took on
something of the nature of a miniature inferno. The ears were
continuously assailed by a wide variety of noises, weird and
unmelodious for the most part, but all loud and blatant,
while at intervals the general uproar was outdone by the
resounding detonation of a well-filled Russian bomb.
At 12 o'clock there was a temporary augmentation of the din
by the ringing of the firebell and a number of other bells,
and by the blowing of a host of steam whistles and sirens.
The night was also illuminated by a display of fireworks,
rockets despatched from the hills surrounding the city and
from the vessels in the harbour casting abroad their showers
of multi-coloured light with an effect beautiful in the
extreme. Returning to affairs of a more mundane nature, the
police report that the crowds as a whole were very orderly
and that there was a pleasing absence of excessive
drunkenness, though cases were not wanting of individuals who
had indulged ''not wisely, but too well''.
There were very few accidents of a serious nature.
• Apiarists as well as the consumers of honey may find
the following information of interest: Recently the Orchards
and Gardens and Apiary Division of the Department of
Agriculture received for examination two samples of honey.
No. 1, procured from a shop in Dunedin by the Government
apiary instructor, was marked ''Pure Extracted Clover
Honey''. No. 2 was received from a private gentleman, who
obtained it from another shop in Dunedin. It was marked
''Best Clarified Honey''.
These samples were submitted to the dominion analyst, who
reports as follows: ''No. 1 contains approximately 37 per
cent of cane sugar. No. 2 contains added invert sugar.
Neither of these samples is wholly genuine honey.''
• The Southland News states that the ferocity of an
eel was demonstrated on Friday evening, when Mr W. R. Ronald,
Taramoa, who was angling for trout in the New River, hooked a
5lb trout. He had got his fish into shallow water, and was
about to use the gaff, when he observed a large eel, about
4ft in length, making for the hooked fish. Mr Ronald struck
the intruder a heavy blow with the back of the hook of the
gaff, which caused it to plunge and rearing its head out of
the water, the ferocious creature emitted a noise which, in
some respects, resembled a growl of a dog. After the fish was
landed the eel continued to swim round about in the water
where the trout was taken from. - ODT, 2.1.1913.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER
STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
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