NEWS OF THE DAY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21580, 6 December 1944, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY

Killed by FailiiiK Branch Mr. Ashton Reginald Cootes was killed at Otaki. yesterday while cutting down it tree. A branch fell and struck him on back ot the head, death being instantaneous. P.A.

Without a Tag The Wellington Hospital Board pays accounts totalling well over £1,000,000 a year. Its audited statement of accounts for the year ended March 31, 1944, has been returned by the Controller and Auditor-General without a “tag." Body By Railway Line

The bodv of a single man, aged about 30, was found beside the railway line about a mile north of Wangaehu station at 7.30 a.m. yesterdav. He was Mr. Edgar Beech Jones. The discovery : was made by -the driver of a passing tram. It is Presumed that Mr. Jones was knled by a fain which passed during the night but the reason for his being on the line is not known. He hod been working until recently on the Campbell estate at Brunswick. Not So Familiar • A scerhing proof of the fact that more than mere listening is necessary to enable New Zealanders to master strange tunes was evidenced at yesterday’s Rotary Club luncheon when as a special tribute to the guest speaker. Mr. Sydney Greenbic, proceedings opened with the American .National Anthem. Printed copies of the words had been distributed to those present,' but despite the great number of times the tune has been heard at theatres, over the air and at public functions during the last three years, the gathering experienced considerable difficulty in rendering it.

Tumbler Explodes To have an ordinary, empty, clear glass tumbler explode in. her hand was the alarming experience of the five-vear-old daughter of Mr. R. Shepherd, Cass street, Kaiapoi. The child look the glass from a cupboard ro have a drink and was holding it in her hand when, with a report, like the bursting of a paper bag. it disintegrated. The tumbler., which had been in use in the household for about nine months, was strewn about the room in hundreds of pieces, -but the interesting part of the unusual happening was that the fragments wore found to be at. least twice as (hick as the original tumbler was. At the time of the explosion parts of the glass seemed to crystallise into lumps, while others were split into fine slivers of needle thickness.

A Famous Negro Applause greeted the name of George Washington Carver when it was mentioned by Mr. Sydney Greenbic in the course o.‘ an address yesterday to Gisborne Tictnrians. The speaker was referring to the great progress which had resulted from the freedom of Americans to develop the resources of their country. Tlie negro chemist.' who became before his death one of the outstanding figures of the United States, he said, had been born a slave in the year before the emancipation and know nothing in his youth but hardship and struggle. Lnlev ho made hitherto waste lands fertile and continued in his work of discovery, accepting for it not a cent for himself.* “He died a free man." Mr. Grecnhie commented “and poor by most standards, but lie had made the world around him richer -by his living."