General News

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25178, 8 May 1947, Page 6

General News

—-• A Vahtoble Vun Sold for 35s in a Christchurch-auc-tion room yesterday, a vase was worth £5l 12s 3d to, its owner. She received that amount after the auctioneer had deducted his normal commission of Is 0d in the £, on a sale at 355.- The sum of £5O was a windfall for her. i The vase, blue in colour and narrow ; at the neck, was unpacked from a case with other oddments by one of the auction room staff on Monday and was tagged. The vase was handled with all care due to chihaware, and the employee handled it again when he decided to shift it and other- articles fo another table more under the eyes of the staff. A woman handled the vase in a careful inspection, and left instructions for a bid to be put in on her behalf.up.to 30s. In the next hour dther eallers handled the vase. Then a dealer ran his expert hands over the? piece of china. Turning the vase up-, side down, he remarked: “It’s not dften you find these in old vases.” Out of the neck came a bundle of five £lO notes. The mystery is, who placed the bank notes in the vasC? Trams oat of Control Out of control because sulphur on the tramlines made the wheels lose their grip, two trams telescoped into a third at Parnell yesterday morning, the middle tram being extensively damaged. There were only a few passengers and nobody was ihjured. except one motorman who suffered mfhor cuts. Such accidents had been foreseen by transport officials who recently instructed carriers bringing sulphur from the wharves to the phosphate works at Otahuhu to use tarpaulins to prevent the sulphur from falling on to tram tracks. A resident opposite the scene of the accident collected a hundredweight of sulphur from the roadway.—(P.A.) Temporary SpCed Limits Authority for the imposition, of temporary speed limits on lengths of road under construction or repair will be sought by Ward 11 counties. At a meeting yesterday it was stated that this provision had apparently been dropped in ah overhaul of regulations. No progress could be made with consolidation work if vehicles travelled at speed over plastic surfaces. Cargo at Lyttelton Cargo statistics for the port of Lyttelton in April, which were presented by the secretary (Mr A. L. Burk) at the Lyttelton Harbour Board’s meeting yesterday, showed that imports increased to 44,051 tons, compared with imports of 35,848 tons in. April 1940. Exports were 23,249 tons compared with 28,210 tons for the same month last year. The report by the harbourmaster (Captain Af E. Chrisp) showed that during the month 08 trading vessels representing a . het register tonnage of 172,511 entered the po£t. Fifteen of these were overseas vessels, 49 coastal, and four intercolonial. In April last year 62 vessels of a net register tonnage of 134,156 entered the port, 12 being overseas ships, 49 coastal, and one intercolonial. Motorists’ Hand Signals Adverse comment on the “lackadaisical and slipshod” way in which motorists gave signals for changes of direction or stopping was made by the chairman (Mr E. F. Evans) at a meet-? ing of No. 14 Main Highways District Council last evening, He said he did not know if motorists in Canterbury were, any worse than they were in other parts of the country, or If the traffic inspectors were not keeping a cldse enough check, *He said he had noticed this fAult particularly when he was driving in Canterbury—in some cases he had not been able to discover if the motorist was flicking ash from a cigarette or signalling a turn, “If drivers could follow the methods of giving clear signs like the traffic inspectors on point duty do, the roads would be much safer,” he said. Mr F. W. Freeman said that while many motorists were at fault in this matter, many cyclists were equally to blame. ' Viking Flies to Nelson Because .of bad weather over the Southern Alps the Vickers Viking aifcraft was unable to fly direct from Christchurch yesterday on the last Stage of its South Island tour. It left Harewood at 9.17 a.m. and flew to Nelson, where short demonstration flights were made. Later the Viking flew to Woodbourne, near Blenheim, and then went on to Ohakea by way of ParaparaumU.

Tram Terminus “Bottleneck** The Fendalton tram terminus was one of the worst “bottlenecks” in Christchurch, said Mr W. W. Laing at a meeting of the No. 14 District’ Highways Council last evening; He said Waimairi County Council wbuid like to do something about it. Mr H. S. Southern pointed out that the Mam Highways Bbdrd would bnly subsidise roads up td 24 feet Wide. It would be a “pretty poor show” if the board would not cover it; but the ca® e . would have to be considered by uie board and the principle approved first; then a subsidy could be applied fof, said the chairman (Mr E. F. EVans). The sum of £lOO on account was placed on the estimates for investigations. * Master Gate For VVhatvCs installation of a inaSter gate at the entrance to. the steamer express Wharf, which would be the only wharf gate at Lyttelton remaining open at the Week-end, was suggested by the Union Steam Ship Company, Ltd., in a lettet received by the Lyttelton Harbour Board at its meeting yesterday. The Company said that thb fact that all persons gaining access to the wharves would have to pass through a master gate under the watch of a patrolling constable wotild go a long way to eliminate pillaging on the WAtftfront at the week-end. The installation of the master gate Was sug? gested to overcome the difficulty of Opening wharf gates for fishermen the week-end and ships’ officers returning to their ships. A proposal to install wharf gates as a means to eliminate pillaging was made at the board’s last ineetirtg.

Breach of Contract When a*thki company accepted a call fot a taxi by telephone—in the . present instance for the caller to catch a train —and the taxi failed to arrive at a given Address, the company was guilty of a preach of contract, said MT A. A. McLachlan, S.M., in a case in Wellington in which damages were glaimed from Grey Cabs, Ltd., for a reach of contract. The plaintiff in the case had missed the Napier express, but had obtained seats for his party Sa service car later in the day. The agistrate said that as long as taxis possessed a semi-monopoly privilege, every effort should be made to rectify a brteach Of contract. That a driver had taken another fare by a genuine mistake did not alter the fact that there had been a breach of contract. He aUowed danjages for losses incurred by the plaintiff through missing the train and having to buy ser-vice-car tickets. The plaintiff was also awarded costs.—(P.A.) New Zealand Maps Detailed district maps to a scale of onO inch to the mile are being supplied to post-primary schools whose areas have been surveyed. In arranging for the maps to be tnadfe available, the Education Department has suggested that they be used by junior forms ih their special studies of their district and also in map reading and interpretation. The maps were prepared in war time, and show local features in good detail.

Stolen Tyres Located Six of the 11 tyres- which were found to be missing after Auckland cargo on the Kaimanawa had been delivered at Lyttelton in February, have been recovered by the poliefe and handed to the consignees. This information Was given to the Lyttelton Harbour Board at meeting yesterday by Mt P. L. Hodge, Christchurch manager of the Union Steam Ship Company, Ltd. In his letter He said that the ponce located the tyrSs at Lyttelton last month, and were Satisfied mat. they were part erf. the Kaimanawa’s cargo,. A Lyttelton, fesideat had noticed a new .tyre in some long gras*, near a. path and bad notified the police. Mr Hodge, added that it would appear that Stricter. supervision was necessary on the whafves Mt Lyttelton. ' . Health inspection Charges Amendments to the system of assessing charges for health inspections by the Health Department were urged by Ward 11 of the New Zealand Counties’ Association in Christchurch yesterday. Members agreed unanimously that charges, should be made on a population basis.