TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 33, 2 November 1933, Page 15

TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

Items of Interest From All Quarters

Considerable discussion took place at the annual- meeting of the Canterbury Winter Sports Club with regard to a high-altitude shelter. After several members had made inquiries as to the cost, the position, the construction and various other details, the chairman explained that “high-altitude shelter’’ was merely a euphonious name for a tin hut.

The pioneers of the ship Blenheim, which arrived at Wellington in 1840, were a long-lived people. So also were their descendants, one of whom points to the fact that three of them now living in the vicinity of Wanganui are over 90 years of age. in sound physical and mental health —Mrs. E. Rocket, Mr. Ewen Campbell, and Mr. Hugh Fraser.

■While playing In the grounds of the Temuka District High School some two weeks or so ago George Benbow, a sixth standard pupil, fell on a stretch of loose gravel and injured his knee. At the time the injury was not considered serious, but tetanus (lockjaw) developed and the lad was then reported to be in a serious condition at the Timaru Hospital, where he was admitted. Later ‘his condition was reported to have improved.

Russia has learned a good deal from the defects and merits in school systems of other countries, said Dr. J. D. Salmond during his address to the Napier Rotary Club. The Soviet has taught to Russian children only those games which were team games, in true line with the Communistic theory of co-operating with other members of the group. Games promoted for the benefit of the individualist—golf, tennis, and so forth—were frowned upon by the Soviet, he said.

An unusual circumstance was the cause of an accident in which an Auckland Grammar School boy, Raymond Walton Burns, aged 14, of 34 Queen’s Way, Mount Roskill, received severe concussion while riding his bicycle to school. He had elevated the seat of the machine to its fullest possible extent, and when at the intersection of King George and Gillies Avenues, the seat-pillar became dislodged from the frame. The lad lost control of the machine and crashed into a telegraph pole.

On a recent morning an Auckland suburban train was ready to start, time was up, and the stationmaster asked if everybody was there —meaning the "regulars.” Seemingly everybody was aboard, so he rang the bell and the guard blew his whistle, but away over the bridge was seen a young woman running hard,, but, hampered by numerous making hard work of it. So the engine driver, instead of going “ahead,” went “astern” and met the young woman. At the next station a man and woman were helped in like manner.

During the hearing of the charge of murder against John Hubert Edwards at the Auckland Supreme Court a constable had some difficulty in describing how the clothing of. the murdered woman was when he saw the body on the floor of the sitting room. His Honour, Mr. Justice Herdman, suggested that the Crown Prosecutor, Mr. V. Meredith, should make use of his gown to demonstrate the position. Mr. Meredith did so, pulling the hem well above knee-high, whereupon his Honour remarked' with a smile: “I think you had better pull your skirt down, Mr. Meredith.”

To inspect the aerodromes at' New Plymouth, Hawera and x Napier, to which improvements are contemplated, Flight Lieutenant .V. J. .• SomersetThomas, N.Z.P.A.F., and Mr. E. A. Gibson, of the Public Works Department, Christchurch, will fly to the North Island next week. Their tour is not connected with the scheme just approved by the Government for the selection and preparation of emergency landing grounds, on which officers of the Air Force and a Public Works Department engineer will probably cooperate as soon as the flying courses at Wlgram Aerodrome in November are over.

Npw Zealand Airways, Ltd., Timaru, has .just given delivery to Mr. Angus M’lntosh, of Invercargill, the ZK-AAD Moth aeroplane which crashed at Queenstown last Christmas. The machine has received a certificate of air worthiness from the Government aircraft inspector at Sockburn. It was then flown to both Wellington and Blenheim, where it was inspected by representatives of the aero clubs. Ver.v favourable comment has been passed on the excellence of the workmanship. New Zealand Airways, Ltd., has four complete rebuilds in hand at the-pre-sent time, two on behalf of the Marlborough Aero Club, ZK-AAA and ZK-ABZ. The other two machines are ZK-AAY and ZK-ABC, from the Hawke’s Bay Aero Club.

Extensive damage to the fish hatcheries at Durham Road, Inglewood, was caused by heavy rain, almost a cloudburst, on Sunday. The curator managed to stop the flow from the river to the hatcheries, but storm water from the paddocks and the road rushed into the ponds in which the fingerling trout were kept, and in a few minutes the fish were swimming around on the grass as the pond overflowed. When .the plug was removed a large proportion of the fish were swept back into the ponds with the receding water, but numbers were lost. Silt nearly a foot deep was deposited around the hatchery.

Upon hearing that the unemployment money allocation for Napier had this week been reduced by 10 per cent,, the member for Napier (Mr. W. E. Barnard) sent a telegram to the Minister of Employment. He said: “I find 10 per cent, cut in Napier allocation being made this week. Strongly protest against such harsh treatment, which will penalise those unable to obtain share in seasonal occupations. I am especially concerned over increasing misery of wives and little children, and strongly urge you to forgo imposition of cut.” Similarly, the Mayor of Napier (Mr. C. O. Morse) wired: “Emphatically protest against recent reduc-. tlon in allocation to unemployed. Position here .becoming unbearable. Seriously recommend you review position."

Counsel in the Christchurch Civil Court wanted to know how many children a witness had. "Ten all told. Six at home,” replied witness. “Do you '■•moke?” "Three ounces a week.” The magistrate: “If he hadn’t smoked he might have been in the mental hospital.”

While attending to his work as caretaker of the water-race at Springfield (Canterbury), Mr. A. Joines was savagely attacked by bees. He was badly stung about the head and finding no way of escape, jumped into the water-race. Here he was swept off his feet and with difficulty reached the bank. He was taken home in an exhausted condition.

Appealing for co-operation in the prevention of wanton damage at the Patea Domain, the chairman of the Domains Board (Mr. E. F. Hemingway) mentioned at a recent meeting that the children’s drinking fountain and service pipe had been broken and a water tank riddled with shot gun pellets, while the children’s swings had provided pleasure for sixteen-stone Maoris.

That a little publicity in Japan might be very beneficial to the New Zealand tourist traffic was a statement made by Mr. S. Okamoto, a representative of a Japanese rubber manufacturing firm, in an interview with a representative of “The Press” (Christchurch). He said that Japan had a fairly large travelling population, but although a great number visited Australia they seldom extended their travels to New Zealand. There was practically no New Zealand publicity in his country, and he found great) difficulty in procuring a New Zealand guide book from the tourist bureaux.

The skipper of a Port Chalmers trawler had a narrow escape outside the Heads. The vessel was rolling in the rough sea. As the bag of the trawl was hoisted above the deck, .it swung to the roll and knocked him over the side. Attired in sea-boots and oilskins, he had great difficulty in keeping afloat, and half an hour elapsed before rescue was completed, his escape being largely due to the presence of mind of one of his mates in hooking a boat-hook in his coat.

A remarkable and curious ornament, a double coconut, is in the possession of a member of the crew of the tramp steamer Rhymney, which is at present at New Plymouth. The nut, which has been hollowed out and polished, consists of two lobes over a foot long and each from five to six inches in dihmeter. The Seychelles Islands, in the Indian Ocean, where the curiosity was obtained, is believed to be the only place in the world where such nuts may be found.

The Medical Research Council’s statement, cabled this week that the sewing of a sorbo rubber ball containing a concentrated dose of radium into an internal affected organ had cured cancer does not add a great deal to established knowledge in the treatment of this disease, Dr. P. C. Fenwick, of the Christchurch Hospital, declared. He said he had used internal treatment with radium for curing cancer with satisfactory results for years, and the practice was known the world over. The sorbo rubber ball was just one type of container for putting the radium into the infected part. Other methods which had proved satisfactory were fairly generally known and used.

How for four months he comprised the whole of the local naval defence of the Dominion is a story told with some measure of humour by Captain J. R. Middleton, R.N., D. 5.0., Director of Naval Reserves in New Zealand, who will shortly retire from the position. During his final visit of inspection to the Canterbury division of the reserve Captain Middleton told the story, remarking that it' referred to that period some eight years ago, during which the preliminary work of formation was being carried out by him and he was the only member of the reserve. Although Captain Middleton is naturally sorry at leaving a position which has practically earned him the title of the “father of the R.N.V.R.,” he is thoroughly pleased with the success of the reserve and pays a great tribute to the co-operation of the officers and men, particularly to the manner in which he had received the ungrudging support of the officers. After his inspection of the Canterbury division he expressed the view that it was one of the most efficient and impressive parades he had seen during his whole stay in New Zealand. With bis pleasant manner and high degree of efficiency, Captain Middleton has been most popular with all members of the reserve, and regret at his departure has been freely expressed.

It was a sigh of boredom, unmistakable, absolute and convincing—and it came at a time that could not have been more wrong. The picture had just climbed to dramatic heights, a crescendo, so to speak. The heroine had just laid her hand in that of the hero. He had retaliated by completely shutting hers from view In his other. . She in turn completed the circuit by giving him her other hand, so there they were, both hands in both hands. They turned to face each other more completely, drawing the while slowly, but very surely, closer together. It was a dramatic moment. Surely tlie climax could not be far away. It was a piece of finished acting, taking the large audience with it, step by step, sensation by sensation. Each man and woman in that audience felt as did the pair in the picture. It was at that precise minute, „when the woman faced the man, her face raised to his like a flower to the sun, he, his face suddenly setting in stern resolve, that a three-year-old in the audience, tired beyond measure, bored to extinction, sighed loudly, and with effect incomparable.

The Pacific Coast of America is as apprehensive as ever over the Japanese menace, stated Mr. A. L. Cropp, who rsrurued to Christchurch last week. Quite recently, he said, Randolph Hearst, through all his newspapers, isued a warning to Americans. The warning was headed, "Only Prepaiedness Will Prevent War.” In his message he stated that when Japan took strategic steps preliminary to the occupation of the Philippines and Hawaii, and the prosecution of hey long-con-templated war upon the United States, it was America’s business, and the newspapers advised the Government at Washington to take heed and prepare. Mr. Cropp added that it was very pleasing to note that almost every American he met expressed the belief that the time was ripe for a complete understanding between the two great English-speaking nations. Americans generally did not want war. and firmly believed that an understanding between their country and Great Britain would assuredly secure the pence of the world.