Members of the society have been patiently waiting for a rise in the stream for some days, and when the fresh came down on Saturday it was with such suddenness and with such an accumulation of debris that difficulty was experienced in preventing the trap from being damaged.
However, safety was assured, and yesterday the fish were running unusually well, a great number becoming victims of the obstacle.
Many were of large size, and the desperate attempts made by these to clear the second barrier attracted a large crowd of people, at times numbering several hundreds, who watched with the greatest interest the efforts of the fish to continue upstream.
Very few succeeded in accomplishing the leap, and today the inhabitants of the pool should be very many. Stripping operations will be commenced this morning under the supervision of Mr Deans (the manager).
• The standard of journalism in New Zealand and Australia (says our Auckland correspondent) was the subject of very favourable comment by Dr E. E. Slosson, professor of journalism at Columbia University and editor of the New York Independent, who passed through Auckland on Saturday by the Zealandia, en route for Vancouver. Dr Slosson told a New Zealand Herald representative that he was much impressed with the standard of the Australasian daily papers, which he considered was very high.
He was particularly struck with the fact that the reporting of public events and general news, both in this Dominion and in the Commonwealth, is so much more careful and accurate than is the case with the majority of the American papers.
The illustrations in the weekly journals of New Zealand appealed to the professor as much, he said, as any that had ever come under his notice in similar publications.
• "I am anxious to let people who cannot afford to instal telephones in their own homes have full opportunity of using them," said the Postmaster-general (the Hon. H. G. Eell) to a Post reporter last week, "and with this object inquiries are being made in the Wellington district and elsewhere as to suitable places for the installation of 2d in the slot machines.
"These have not been tried up to the present in the suburban districts except at Auckland, and from inquiries I made while there I found that the two machines are very much appreciated, although the public does not yet fully realise the fact that they are available.
"If the public will help the department to protect the machines from damage we hope to put them in such a position that they will be available every day of the week, including Sunday and up to a reasonable hour in the evening. I am certain they will be found to fill a long-felt want."
• London: The final round of the Amateur Golf Championship resulted in John Ball beating Abe Mitchell on the 38th hole. Amongst the crowd who witnessed the final were many artisans, who cheered Mitchell, who is a chauffeur. The newspapers comment adversely on the introduction of a partisan element.
The Times says that the crowd was venomous and unsportsmanlike.
The Daily News says that the aristocratic spectators did not conceal their resentment at the fact that workmen were playing in the final, though the contestants were most sportsmanlike and played on friendly terms.
- ODT, 10.6.1912.
