Renovations herald historic papers

Mars will be the lonely planet low in the west when the sky is dark and will set before 10.30pm on March 1, an hour earlier by the end of the month (the sky will also be dark earlier).

Mercury is setting in the west two hours before Mars and much too close to the Sun to be seen.

In the early morning sky Jupiter will be first up, by 12.50am, followed in two hours by Saturn. At 3.40am Venus will rise and follow the other two moving higher in the east. The sky will begin to grow light around 5.30am. Saturn, the dimmest of the three, will disappear first.

Venus and Jupiter will last much longer. Venus is much brighter than Jupiter but also will be three hours closer to the Sun.

At the end of the month the Sun will rise almost half an hour later and Mercury may be readily visible in the east after 6am for a couple of days. Venus will appear a little closer to the Sun each day, as seen from Earth, rising at 4.45am.

Jupiter and Saturn will continue to distance themselves from the Sun, each rising about two hours earlier than at the beginning of the month, Saturn at 12.55am and Jupiter becoming a late evening object in the east rising at 10.55pm.

The Moon will be new on the 7th. The original lunar Maori calendars reflected that the new month began at sunset the day after new Moon. In the calendars’ modern adaptation, Maori names for the lunar months have been applied to the standard New Zealand solar calendar months and no longer follow the 29-and-a-halfday-lunar cycle.

Full Moon and the Autumnal Equinox will occur on the 21st. Note that there is no connection between the two events other than the coincidence of timing. An Equinox is when the Sun crosses The upgrade of an old Geraldine landmark has taken its renovators on a journey back in time with newspapers dating back to 1900 found in its walls.

Michael Barker said the vintage copies of The Timaru Herald found in the walls of the town’s former St Mary’s Church vicarage ‘‘reveal a very different world to the one we have today’’.

‘‘As we have removed the lathe and plaster walls and the ceilings we have found many Timaru Herald papers dated 1899 and 1900.’’

Barker said he was fascinated by how much things had changed from the early 20th century to now.

"The papers themselves tell a story of Timaru, New Zealand and the world before the first world war. The huge change in the language, in the style of the advertisements and the stories about world affairs,’’ he said.

‘‘Ballantynes and several other businesses were already trading in 1900 enabling a then and now comparison!’’

Barker said he was also surprised by the materials used and how they were used in the construction process during that period.

‘‘We have been fascinated to find mid-floors filled with sawdust to provide thermal and acoustic insulation, and the sawdust is laid on newspapers of the day to stop dust falling through the ceiling planks,’’ he said.

‘‘No wonder the old wooden houses used to burn down so fast!’’