General News

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28181, 21 January 1957, Page 8

General News

Raii-car Delayed Mechanical trouble stopped the West. Coast-Christchurch rail-car at Rotomanu for three hours and a half last evening. The passengers stayed in the rail-car. which was not expected to arrive until 2.30 a.m. Automatic Housewife

A French engineer, Mr Pierre Marre has invented an automatichousewife to deal with household chores. He claims that his all-in-one servant, called "Miss Marobo,” will beat eggs, wash dishes and clothes, polish floors and shoes, scour saucepans and peel vegetables. Mr Marre. who is 49. plans to go into production with an intial batch of 250 next month. By April he hopes this will be increased to 500 a month. Export cost will be between £B5 and £9O. Mr Marre’s maid-of-all-work consists of an electric motor in an enamelled box and is designed to hang on the kitchen wall or to be moved around the house on a trolley.—Paris, January 19. Rats And Life Saving Rat catching and surf life saving are two pastimes not usually associated, but a recent committee meeting of the Sumner Surf Club provided an amusing interlude. The meeting was being held in the old pavilion on the beach when a rat. was seen to come out of a cupboard and disappear behind a table top standing on the floor against the wall. Excellent teamwork by F. Hilton and N. Webb. who promptly banged the table top flat against the wall, killed the rat. They were hardly seated when -another rat was observed, doing exactly the same. Before the night was out a total of five had been slaughtered and members found it hard to concentrate on club business. New School Committees Nominations for the first school committees of four new primary schools Gilberthorpes road (Hornby ), Bower avenue. Sockburn, and Bishops road—have been called by the Canterbury Education Board. Nominations will close about the time the schools open and meetings of householders for the elections will be held between February 11 and 13. Nepalese Hillman’s Claim A Nepalese hillman claimed today to have the body of a yeti, the legendary abominable snowman. But a Nepalese Government official said it was probably a valuable sen plant, similar to the mandrake which is very rare in Nepal, and highly valued in Tibet and China for its supposed rejuvenating qualities. Reuters correspondent- said the object was eight inches long, brownish black, preserved in sugar, and resembling a male human being, but with no hair on its body. One arm was missing from the shoulder, and the legs appeared to be cut from the thigh downwards. Katmandu. January 19.

Heavy Seas In North Heavv swells about 40 to 50 feet high have been rolling in along the east coast north and south of Auckland for the last four or five days. The master of the coastal vessel Vespa said the swells kept his ship rolling continuously as they ran down the coast from North Cape. ‘‘l have been many years on the coast and have never struck anything like it before.” he said. A possible explanation is that the waves are the aftermath of the recent stormy weather at the Kermadec islands. No marine disturbances have been reported.—(P.A.) Tokyo Taxis’ Tax Trouble Tokyo taxi drivers protested against a Government plan -to increase petrol taxes today by parking in a solid mass outside the Prime Minister’s official residences locking the doors of their cars and sounding their horns. The Prime Minister, who was presiding over a Cabinet meeting, sent an official to request the drivers to stop the noise. The drivers answered with a long blast of horns and the were called. More than 300 policemen spent more than 45 minutes trying to push and cajole the drivers and their vehicles away. Order was restored when a messenger said that the Cabinet would review proposed measures to increase the taxes.—Tokyo, January 19.