NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 2, 4 January 1943, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Large Sum of Money Found. The guard in charge of one of the railcars running on the West Coast was recently astonished to find, wedged in one of the seats, a large sum of money, reported to have run into three figures, states the "Press." [Railway officials were even more astonished when no one reported having lost the roll of notes. From some particulars obtained, however, officers were able to trace the owner, who had apparently given the money up for lost. Judging by the position in which the money was found, it had evidently been wedged deeper into the edge of the seat over a period of possibly three days. Youth Fulled the Trigger. As a result of an accident with a .22 rifle that he was handling on the Papa-kura-Mercer train on Friday afternoon, Ronald Dyer, aged 19, a farm hand, of Onewhero, received a gunshot wound in the neck. The accident occurred at the Pukekohe railway station, and alter being attended to by Dr. Gray, the injured youth was sent to the Auckland Hospital, where his condition was reported to be serious. The victim of the accident and a companion were on their way to Pokeno. The train stopped at Pukekohe at about 4 p.m., and the youth's companion went on to the station platform, leaving a rifle on the carriage seat. The youth pulled the trigger and a bullet penetrated his neck. Reported in Hundreds. The outstanding event for many years among New Zealand ornithologists was the reported appearance of the spine-tailed swift at Hokitika on November 29. Since then the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch has received advice from several districts in the South Island that this bird is now in New Zealand in considerable numbers, states the 'Tress." It has also been reported as far north as Auckland. "It is important that all the available data possible should be obtained concerning the spine-tailed swift," says Mr. Roger Duff, acting director of the Canterbury Museum. "We are grateful to those people who have taken the trouble to write to us, and would like to hear from others." This swift, which breeds in east Asia and migrates during the summer months in the northern hemisphere to Australia and Tasmania, has on only three previous occasions been reported in New Zealand. Since its initial appearance at Hokitika, the swift has been reported in hundreds at Boddytown, near Greymouth. That was on December 2. Mr. E. L. Kehoe, a teacher at Greymouth, saw more flocks of them there on December 5. A dead bird was found 25 miles inland from Timaru on December 14. Mr. E. F. Stead stales that these birds had been seen at Waimate (Canterbury), Riccarton, and i Auckland. On December 18 a sick bird was found at Doyleston, near Lake Ellesmere. On December 20 a flock of ten birds was observed flying at Ferguson's, 20 miles south of Hokitika. People who catch the swift are advised not to try to feed it with worms, but to give it insects, such as house flies. An upright piece of sawn timber or bark should be used for a perch.