NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 112, 13 May 1937, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

Surplus of Motor-drivers.

. Employers ; . who want to fill, certain positions are finding -it very difficult at present .to' get suitable applicants, but this apparently does not apply to motor-drivers. Advertisements., for drivers which have appeared in "The Post" .recently havecdrawn as many as 60 replies. Prompt Action Required. The curator df the Christchurch Botanic Gardens (Mr. J. A. McPherson), says the "Press;" will be able to secure seeds of hickory trees from the Arnold arboretum in the United States only if the staff, of the arboretum.. are more prompt than the small boys and squirrels. A reply to this effect was received by Mr. McPherson when, he made a request for the seeds of as iriany species as possible. In Christchurch the.Staff of the gardens has.no squirrels to •■■'contend1 -with, but small boys take heavy toll of the sweet chestnuts. - Family's Hasty Escape, An old landmark in the Whangarei Heads district, the Parua Bay Hotel, situated about 20.miles from Whangarei, was destroyed by fire on Monday night (states a Whangarei correspond^ ent). The licensee and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Chaplin, and their, three children were preparing to go to bed iv/hen -the. fire was. discovered but, as there were no fire-fighting appliances available and the building was •an old one, little could- be done and practically nothing was saved. So quickly did the. flames spread' that Mrs. Chaplin, who was putting the children to bed, was compelled to help' them to escape through1, a window. The building was owned . by. Mr. C. R. Eowell, of Tikipunga, who for a number of years was licensee of the Commercial Hotel, Whangarei. A Legal Coincidence. By a curious coincidence, a. knotty legal point argued before the Court of Appeal in 1924 by Mr. Justice Fair and Mr. Justice' Callan as counsel was revived before the latter in his role of Judge during the hearing of a forgery case in the Auckland Supreme Court on Tuesday (states the "New Zealand Herald"). Mr. Justice Callan recalled the 1924 hearing, when he appeared for the appellants,'. and Mr. Justice Fair, who was presiding in the downstairs courtroom, represented the Crown. In the case on Tuesday, his Honour heard to some extent similar arguments to those which originally had been settled by the Court of Appeal. Pest Offices for Christchurch. Plans are being prepared of buildings-, to replace three suburban post offices in Christchurch at a cost of between £15,000 and £20,000 (states the ■"Press"). The post offices to be replaced are those at Linwood, Sumner, and St. Albans, all of which have been in use for many years and have become inadequate to cope expeditiously with the increased business of the Post and Telegraph Department. A sketch plan of the new building for Linwood has been approved by the Department, and the working drawings have been begun. The designing of the Sumner Post Office will be commenced at once, and when these drawings have been finished the plans of the St. Albans Post Office will be prepared. The architect is Mr. W. H. Trengrove, of Christchurch, who is the supervising architect for the Christchurch railway station.