General News

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27213, 3 December 1953, Page 10

General News

Safety in Smells Mr Barnett Janner (Labour) asked in the House of Commons today whether the- Fuel Minister could make a statement on a pit trial which took place recently with stench agents as a warning of fire in British mines. The Minister, Mr Geoffrey Lloyd, replied: “Yes, the idea appears essentially sound, but the method proposed is distinctly novel. The idea is that the overheating of machinery would melt a small capsule and warn miners of danger. Scientists have already devised two exceedingly foul-smelling chemicals. One smells overwhelmingly of garlic and the other of skunk as well. They have both been successfully smelt by experimenters one mile away. We hope to have a detailed report shortly.”—London, December 2.

Watersider Suspended from Crane One of the luckiest men on the Lyttelton waterfront is Mr A. Curtis, of Christchurch. A few days ago he was employed on the wharf side in a railway truck emptying slings of cargo being discharged from the coastal vessel Gale. After he had emptied one sling, the wire snotter caught between his legs, and the wharf crane, which is designed to *ift objects several times heavier than Mr Curtis, jerked him into the air. He was suspended about 30ft above the wharf for a few seconds before the crane began its swing inboard. It was not until then that the crane driver’s attention was drawn to his catch by yells from below and aboard the ship. Mr Curtis was quickly and gently lowered back into his truck. He disentangled himself from the snotter, slightly shaken, but unhurt.

£4 4s for Lunch ‘ Members of the Canterbury Chamber . of Commerce who attend the luncheon ( in honour of the Duke of Edinburgh on January 20 will have to pay £4 4s j for their tickets. The latest news- ; letter issued by the Chamber of Commerce says that seating will be limited ( to about 450. and if more applications . are received than there are seats available it will be necessarv to conduct a . ballot. Seating arrangements will be . very strictly controlled, and a specific seat will be allotted to each member [ who is successful in the ballot. The ; location of the seat will also be de- ' termined by ballot. On the day of the luncheon ' the approaches to the restaurant will be barred to traffic from noon, when a police cordon will close off Colombo and Cashel streets. Raspberry Prices Increased Raspberries will cost more in Christchurch this season than they cost last year. The Christchurch Raspberry Marketing Committee has increased the minimum retail price from 20s a dozen pounds to 245. The minimum whole- ' sal? price has been increased from 18s • to 21s. ; Mrs Macfarlane’s Husband As a member of the Christchurch Technical College Board, Mrs R. M. Macfarlane was one of the chief guests on the platform last evening ior the prize-giving ceremony of students in the evening classes. The chairman (Mr M. E. Lyons) said the college was [ pleased to. welcome “Mrs Macfarlane’s • husband,” who was the Mayor of . Christchurch, and would give prece--1 dence only to Queen Elizabeth in the ' city next January. Mr Maciarlane complimented the college on the ser- » vice evening-class students were giv-

ing to the city and the Dominion. Weka Pass Property Sale A grazing pr9perty of 838 acres in the Weka Pass. Waikari, was sold at auction in Christchurch yesterday

lor £l2 5s an acre. The property, which is known as “Seal Rock,” has a carrying capacity o. r 800 to 900 sheep, according to the advertisement of the sale, but there is no house or outbuildings. Bidding at the sale opened at £8 an acre, and rose in bids of £1 to £ll an acre, followed by two bids of 10s, and the final bid of ss. The buyer was Mr A. E. Herbert, of Waipara. Garden Party Problems The increase in the number of guests from 3000 to 4000 for the civic garden party in the Botanic Gardens on the a ternoon of Wednesday, January 20. will present problems to the caterers. The problems are not of providing food, but of serving it. They were discussed by representatives of the firm and members of the garden party committee yesterday. The Queen will attend the garden party after holding an investiture in the Civic Theatre. The same caterers are also to provide all meals at the Royal trotting meeting at Addington on Thursday, January 21.

Repair of Scott Statue An offer to repair, without cnarge to tne city, the alpenstock on the Scott statue, has been made to the City Council by the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Institute of Welders. The ring of tne alpenstock was removed about two months ago. The branch wrote to the council, which has gratefully accepted the offer, that it would replace the ring before the Queen’s visit, the work to be carried out by competent tradesmen

Fruit Cargo Arrives Island fruit will be in plentiful supply in city shops in coming weeks. Yesterday the Matua arrived at Lyttelton with 22,000 cases of ’bananas, 1700 cases of pineapples, and 50 cases of pawpaws—all for South Island distribution. The Waimea discharged 11,000 cases of Australian oranges at Lyttelton last week, but because of a shortage in the Wellington market, 7000 cases of these are being sent north. A Christchurch market official said yesterday that supplies of oranges should last until the next shipment, due on December 21 in the Waitaki. arrived. If the Waitaki were delayed from Melbourne, he said, there might be a slight shortage over Christmas. Rain Damages Decorations Some of the Royal visit decorations erected in Auckland’s main streets last week-end were damaged by heavy ram on Tuesday. Festoons of artificial holly in Queen street suffered most. Many festoons, damaged beyond repair, lay in kerbside channels in the evening. Elsewhere bunting was slightly torn and bedraggled.

Sale of Crown Pieces Crown pieces, which have been struck to mark the Coronation and the Royal visit to New Zealand, were placed on sale in Christchurch on Tuesday. Although the demand was not as heavy as expected, 3858 were sold at the Chief Post Office and suburban post offices. Post office figures for yesterday were not available last evening, but it was reported that the demand had been steady. Some banks have not disclosed their sales, but one reported having sold two-thirds of its supply on the first day. Warning of Waves The possibility of setting up a system by which warnings could be given of destructive sea waves caused by earthquakes, was discussed at a meeting of the New Zealand Oceanographic -Research Committee held in Wellington recently. A sub-committee was set up to investigate the feasability of such a system. One of these waves, called tsunamis, reached New Zealand in November, 1952, from an earthquake in Kamchatka, in the North Pacific. A local tsunami caused several deaths in the recent Fiji earthquake. A report from the committee says that any system set up would be an extension of the United States coast and geodetic survey warnings broadcast for the North Pacific. Waggon Derailed One of the waggons in the middle of the Auckland express goods train left the rails two miles south of Shannon at 2.40 p.m. yesterday and • was dragged by the train the rest of i the distance into the town. The express was the 11.53 a.m. from Welling- ! ton. Damage to the track caused both . the New Plymouth rail-car and the 3 p.m. Auckland express to be delayed. The rail-car lost 25 minutes and the Auckland express was held at . Levin for 60 minutes and arrived at Palmerston North 25 minutes late. Work was begun almost im- [ mediately on the damaged line, and it was estimated that it would be repaired by 10.30 p.m.-—(P.A.)