RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 283, 27 August 1935, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current

Events

(By Kickshaws.)

Aircraft, it is declared, are booming. Yes; horrid, noisy things!

Such is the social system in Samoa poverty is non-existent. It is time Samoa got more civilised.

Anyway, that fierce wind squall that suddenly descended upon Dunedin is a nice little puff for the South Island.

"Would you oblige by publishing the following facts about Maori Rugby?” says "Inquirer.” "(1) Wbeu did the last Maori Rugby team visit England? (2) Number of matches played in England and France, and number won, lost and drawn. (3) Names of manager and players.” The Sports Editor has kindly supplied the following facts: "The last Maori Rugby XV to tour Great Britain was the 1926-27 team. This side played 31 matches, of which 22 were won. 7 lost and 2 drawn. The Maoris met France at Colombes ou December 26, 1926, and won by 12 points to 3. During the tour the team scored 457 points to 194 against. The manager of the team was Mr. W. T. Parata, with Mr H. Harris as assistant-manager.

“The Maori team comprised: Backs, D. Pelham (Auckland), J. McDonald (Marlborough), A. Falwasser (Taranaki), H. Phillips (Marlborough), P. Potaka (Wanganui), T. P. Robinson (Canterbury), L. R. Grace (Hawke’s Bay), W. Lockwood (East Coast), W. Barclay (Hawke’s Bay), captain, R. J. Bell (Southland), vice-captain, E. G. W. Love (Wellington), D. Wi Neera (Hawke’s Bay), W. Shortland (Hawke’s Bay), H. Kingi (Wanganui), W. Mete (Horowhenua); forwards, O. Olsen (North Auckland), J. Steward (Otago), J. Manihara (Canterbury), A. Crawford (East Coast), T. Dennis (Poverty Bay), W. Rika (North Auckland), T. Manning (South Canterbury), S. Gemmell (Hawke’s Bay), P. Haupapa (Bay of Plenty), D. Tatana (Horowhenua), P. Matene (North Auckland), W. Wilson (Hawke’s Bay), J. Gemmell (Hawke’s Bay).

“In addition to the matches in Britain and France, the Maoris played four matches in Canada, with the following results: January 26, v. Vancouver, wou, 40 to 0; January 29, v. Victoria (British Columbia), won, 41 to 0; v. Vancouver University, won, 12 to 3; February 5, v. All Mainland team, won. 43 to 0, Two games were played iu Melbourne, the Maoris winning the first by 30 to 0 and the second by 57 to 0. A match was also played at Colombo and won by the Maoris.”

What with those six schoolboys whose car turned some alarming somersaults and that motor bicycle rider who fell off at 100 miles an hour, and remounted to win his race, the world seems to be passing through a lucky period. These escapes are a reminder of a curious accident that occurred to a motor-car near” New York. A speeding car broke through the chain stretched across the entrance of a drawbridge that was being raised. The car rushed up the drawbridge and leaped across the gap to the other s*de without injury either to Itself or the five passengers in it. As a matter of fact, cars are better jumpers than we imagine. It has been shown that, given suitable ramps, a car can jump twenty or thirty feet without harm. The idea is submitted with due modesty as an economy measure for roadbuilders. Instead of one-way bridges we could have two-way leaping ramps. Small rivers would only require a take-off on either side, but the new crossing at Paremata would be designed in easy leaps.

New Zealand has not been left out in the cold where lucky accidents are concerned. In ‘a brief year or two there have been some remarkable escapes. Some live years ago a nasty accident was averted when one speed boat leaped right over another. A couple of years ago a girl who slipped from the step of a moving railway carriage and fell between the wheels and the platform escaped death despite the fact that five carriages passed her. In another case a baby was hurled from a perambulator right in front of a train. The child was unscathed. But for the fact that the leather strap that was supposed to hold the child in its perambulator bad broken there is little doubt that the child would have been killed. The perambulator was wrecked. These things cannot be explained. We put them down to luck because there is no other reason that we know that could account for them. Perhaps one day we shall know more about luck and lucky escapes, and it will be found that there is something in destiny more definite than luck.

There are some people, who never seem to come to serious harm. In fact one man who was asleep in a serious railway accident was still asleep, and the onlv survivor, when the mess was cleared up. In another case a man whs asleep in a house m Irrendof, Germany, when a lorry smashed through the wall into his room. The tire brigade was called. After hard work they cleared away the debris and found—the man fast asleep in bed with the rubbish of the wreckage piled all over him. There seems to be something that watches over sleeping people just as there seems at. times to be guardian over those who are drunk. Captain John Deyer. who it is believed is now living in San Francisco, is one of those over whom some guardian angel watches at all times. In 1906, when 16 years old, he fell 45 feet into a dry dock and survived. The next year he was “drowned” in Italv. in 1912 he was wrecked off Vancouver Island, and was in the water for 70 hours. A year later he was caught in a burning building which collapsed on him. During the war he was ambushed in a train. A woman was shot dead beside him. He. was shipwrecked in 1923 and reported dead. In 1931 he was blown up in an explosion on a yacht, and three weeks later he was trapped in a cabin in a burning ship.

•‘History” writes: —“Could you kindly inform me if Queeu Boadicea was married? If so, how many children did she have? What was her busband’s name? Also, could you kindly supply me with the colour of Bucephalos, Alexander the Groat's war horse?”

[Boadicea was the widow of King Prasutagus at the time of her little “dust up” with the Romans. Her husband had left his kingdom in part to his two daughters and in part trust to the Roman Empire. There is no record that has come down to us as to the names of Boadicea's daughters. Not oven Tacitus mentions them. In the same way we have no authentic record of tlie colour of Bucephalos. It is, however, commonly agreed that Bu<«phalos was black, but there is no confirmation of this in past records.