ITEMS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 143, 13 March 1931, Page 11

ITEMS IN BRIEF

About People and Events MR. FORBES’S BIRTHDAY i The Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, Prime Minister, was 63 years of age yesterday. He was born at Lyttelton in 1868. Quinnat Salmon on Market. The first quinnat salmon of the season has made its appearance in Dunedin shops (states a Special Service message). They are in perfect condition and make choice eating. Many Tents and Blankets. Since the earthquake the Defence Department issued altogether at Hastings and Napier some 5000 tents and 22,000 blankets. Stagnant Pool in Kent Terrace. There is a pool of stagnant water in Kent Terrace that is rapidly becoming a nuisance. Already swarms of sandSico are in its vicinity. Tennis Postponed. The finals of the Karori tennis tournament for the Earthquake Relief Fund, which were to have been played on Saturday next, have been postponed indefinitely. Unauthorised Tournaments. A feport that players have been taking part in unauthorised tournaments to be investigated by the Wellington Lawn Tennis Association. Rower Injured. As the result of a racing skiff bumping into him when he was rowing on the harbour, Mr. G. Haydon, a member of the Wellington Rowing Club, was taken to the public hospital by the Free Ambulance, suffering from a punctured wound in the groin. War Memorial Panels. The marble panels for the Wellington War Memorial are nearly finished. Tho sculptor, Mr. R. O. Grose, of A'i -khiud, advised “The Dominion” yesterday that they should be ready for Arnac Day. Fall in Street.

Through falling down in Onba Street at 3.35 p.m. yesterday, Mrs. M. G. Taylor, of Massey Street, Woburn, received a scalp wound. She was suffering from slight concussion when attended to by the ambulance prior to being sent to hospital.

Bus Terminal. At this afternoon’s meeting of the bylaws committee of the City Council, the proposal to centralise the point of .departure from the city of the various suburban bus services will be discussed. The bus proprietors have been invited to attend. ■ ."t'

Wife Finds Husband Dead. The body of Charles Richard Croeker, a Christchurch City Council labourer, was found yesterday morning with the head close to a gas pipe, from which the cap had been unscrewed. The body was found bys the man’s wife-.who was awakened at five o’clock by the smell of escaping gas. At the inquest the coroner found that Crocker died by gas poisoning. Scissors Penetrate Child’s Forehead. A little girl, one of two small refugees, the children of Mr. S. Petherick, who are staying with Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Wig- • gins, of Greytown, tripped with a pair of' scissors in her hand, states a “Dominion" Special Service message from Masterton. Her forehead was penetrated, and a point of the scissors broke off. The wound inflamed quickly, and although the piece of steel has been located by an X-ray Examination, it has not yet been found possible to operate. Cycle Meeting at Levin. At its meeting last evening the executive of the Port Nicholson Amateur Road Cycling Club (Inc.), decided to hold another cycle meeting at Levin on Saturday, March 21, in view of the success which attended the meeting held there recently. Trophies won at the meeting already held will be presented at the club rooms on Thursday night next. The date set for the provincial championships is March 28. Fire-Raisers’ Toll. The approximate fire losses caused by the activities of the Christchurch fireraisers, Robert and James Gray, who were sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment last year, on charges including twenty-two cases of arson, was £48,500. These figures are given in the report of the superintendent of the Christchurch Fire Brigade (Mr. C. C. Warner) for the year ended March 31, 1930. The principal damage waa done to the follwing premises:—July 14, 1929, Bing, Harris and Co.; July 1, 1929, J. M. Heywood and Co.; August 1, 1929, D. H. Brown and Son’s petrol store; September 1, 1929, Jones’s Cycle Store, Bedford Row; December 10, 1929. O. D. Gough and Sons’ boot shop, Colombo Street. Dictionary Goes Missing. The fact that Webster’s dictionary is missing is causing the authorities at the Canterbury Public Library concern, the librarian, Mr. E. J. Bell, told a "Sun” reporter. In the past it has not been unusual for enterprising entrants for word-building competitions to hide the dictionary, but this time all efforts at finding it have proved fruitless. Tbe search, however, has had its compensations in the shape of a parcel containini: several lengths of fugi silk, which one of the searchers unearthed. The dietionary cost about £4/10/-. It is a puzzle to the librarian how the remover escaped notice, as the volume is about the size of a family bible. Old Railway Carriages. Surprise was expressed by a Christ' church contractor to the “Sun” about the method of disposing of railway carriages for which the. department hag no further use. These were just burned, he said, and much valuable timber was lost that could be used for firewood by the poorer families in- Christchurch, whose unemployed members would ba only too pleased to assist in the dismantling. Many people would be feali ing the pinch of the hard times this win# ter. he stated, and quite a lot of fn< could be obtained from one or two car* riages. 1 White Pine for Butter Boxes. < “The time is fast approaching whte butter boxes and crates will be manufactured cheaper in the Dominion than they can be imported from abroad" remarked Mr. J. H. Meyer at the Chamber of Commerce meeting on Tuesday. He explained that the sawmillers of New Zealand were making arrangements to utilise white pine again for butter-box making. The president of the chamber, Mr. D. J. McGowan, remarked that it certainly was an anomaly that American butter boxes could be imported cheaper than they could be manufactured in th* D<> minion. Lemons for Earthquake Sufferers. Twenty cases of lemons donated by the - C. D. Hubbard Fruit Co. of Carpentaria, California, for distribution in the Hawke’s Bay earthquake area, ■will be admitted'free of duty. The Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, has advised the local representatives, Messrs. Townsend and Paul, to this effect. The Californian company was itself a serious loser in the Santa Barbara earthquake. Departmental Efficiency. “Referring to the arrears of land tax amounting to 1/9 owing by you.” says a letter posted by the Land and Income Tax Department to a Hastings businessman a fortnight after the earthquake, “1 have now to advise yon that a charge will be registered against the title . . . unless an immediate settlement is made.” Thus, comments the “Tribune" does one of our Government departments grow more zealous every day. more efficient, more keen, more official, and what not.