DOMINION ITEMS

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 December 1944, Page 4

DOMINION ITEMS

i LEG FRACTURED CHRISTCHURCH, Dec. 26. ? A solicitor, Frajik Driessen Sari gent, ot 186 Worcester Street, had his right leg fractured and suffered slight concussion when he was knocked over by a motor-car outside the Chief Post Office in Cathedral Square on Sunday evening. He was taken to the Christchurch Hospital. ! STUDENT DROWNED t GISBORNE, December 26. Alexander Ngaere Edwards, 15, a i student of St. Patrick’s College, Silverstream, lost his life on Sunday - evening, when a row-boat in which f six young people were crossing the ■ Wairoa River capsized, throwing the i occupants into the water. Four i reached shore without difficulty but ’ Grey Edwards unavailingly endeav- ; oured to assist the victim who was ' a poor swimmer. GAMING CONVICTION ' AUCKLAND, December 26. i Pleading guilty to a charge of using . premises as a common gaming house, • James Patrick Broderick, labourer. was fined £75 by Mr Luxford, in de- ; fault two months’ imprisonment. The police stated that on a search warrant being executed Broderick admitted having used the premises as a gaming house for the past seven or eight months. Counsel said that the premises had previously been occupied by a bookmaker. People kept coming in for bets, and Broderick foolishly succumbed to the temptation and took them. CANTERBURY STORM CHRISTCHURCH, December 26. A violent electrical storm, which brought torrential rain and hail, broke over the northern suburbs of Christchurch and part of North Canterbury yesterday afternoon. Vivid lightning flashes and thunder which sounded like a heavy artillery barrage accompanied the rain, which levelled crops, flooded streets and side channels, left orchards and market gardens inches deep in water, and forced hundreds of holidaymakers to. seek shelter. The storm lasted from 3.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m., and swept over the Fernside, Rangiora, Loburn, Papanui and Marshland districts. The rain was heaviest in the Marshland area, where residents described the storm as like a cloudburst, and the worst of its type for 50 years. Hail fell in most of the districts, and there was a very light fall of hail in the eastern part of the city, but generally the fall was not as violent as it was during the storms earlier in the month. The hailstones were, of the jagged icicle type, but orchadists stated last evening that they did not do as much damage as the hail in the previous storms.