LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 10193, 4 January 1926, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Burglars at Sumner during the past few days visited a two-storeyed house during the absence of the owner, and stole household furnishings valued at £IOB.—P.A. The visitors,, including, resident campers, at Wailii beach, a popular seaside resort of the district, numbered over 3000 on New Year’s Bay. —P.A. The Customs revenue collected in Wellington during the year totalled £2,450,192, this being an increase of £303 750. The beer duty total was £55.368, which is a decrease of £4.971.—P.A. Eleven hundred poor. children of London were the. guests of - New Zealand''children at ’ luncheon r at’ the Guildhall, under the auspices of .the Church Al’my. Prebendary Carlisle, presiding, announced a cable a thanks and greetings had been sent to •New Zealaad.-7-A. and N.Z.C.A.. _• -V.‘■' «v^r

A euchre party in aid of the Kaiti Ml will bo held in Überty Halrt£ night, commencing at 8 o clock, prizes will include hams, etc.

Falling from a tree yesterday, an clevenljfnr-old boy, Tom I'oley oi Neatana had the misfortune to break lS’leg. ’He w.» admitted to Cook Hospital later in the day.

Four boats’ crews were swamped at Akaroa on New Year’s Hay, dure fng a regatta, and had to be picked up by launches. A coxswain was nearly drowned, but recovered after treat merit.—P.A. ‘

The English Futurists concluded a very successful season m Grisborne at the Opera House on Satui day night, when there was a very large audience. In returning thanks to the P“M° their patronage, All. Cyril - , , stated that a return season "ou!d be played in Gisborne probably m next.

“From wlmt 5 have seen m America ” said the Mayor of Marnekvillc N S.W., recently, ‘‘fiats are hell on earth ” Ho asked the aldermen to realise 3000 to 4000 babies being killed every year by falling Horn foe c*eanes ” The council decided to cooperate with the Vancluse c ouncil in its campaign against flats.

A man from the waybacks remarked that whisky was nothing like it used to he in the old days. He said Mint out in his bush camp with a benzine tin, a few pounds of P ot ®*“®- and a worm it was no trouble to man ufacture a gallon or two ol prom spirit, and it saves them the trouble of making long journeys to town.

One of the officers of the local SI John Ambulance Association was called upon yesterday afternoon to render first-aid in the case of a young udy who fainted on the AVarkanae be acn and ,in falling, received a nasty knock on the back of the bead. Good of the local association was aband and, after receiving attention the young h’dy was able to proceed to her home.

Thoun-b unfavorable to holidaymakers: the heavy rains experienced throughout the district aunng the holidays have been most beneficial to the farmers and graziers and should greatly help to relieve toe siti.at.oifn regard to fat stock., The ram certainly came too lute to niake difference in regard to the fattening of lambs, but with a days rain during the month xeed should come away well, and big sheep fatten rapidly.

A violent, dazzling, brilliant electrical disturbance visited Hastings just after midnight on Friday night, coming from the south in blinding hashes accompanied by deafening thunder. It semned to spend its' fury on the town, culminating in hurling a large globe of fire across the sky, which changed the night to noon, and burst with a terrific report, causing much alarm and extinguishing the town electric light. Soon after the storm sped out to’-sea. No serious damage is reported.—P.A.

Employees of the Moscow Narodny Bank nearly caused a riot in Holborn during the Armistice observations by flinging up the windows of the building and singing the Red Flag during the silence. Hundreds of men and women employed in other offices attempted to enter the bank and chastise the interruptors, but their employers dissuaded them from such a course. The directors of the bank have issued a statement recording their disgust at the insult to British feeling, and declaring that the culprits were English messengers, who were immediately dismissed.

The cricket match between the Nomads touring team and the Poverty Bav eleven, was commenced on the Oval on New Year’s Day afternoon, when Collins and Cameron were the opening batsmen for the visitors.- The partnership produced 60 in 3-5 minutes. when play had to be suspended for the day on account of heavy rain. Play was not commenced on Saturday until 11.45 owing to the wetground and only eight runs were scored before heavy rain again set in. and the match was abandoned.

Alemhers of the City Band spealt in glowing terms of the arrangements that were made for them in their trip tip the Coast to Ruatorea and Waiomatini, where they played for the sports gathering held there. Nothing was too much trouble for the residents in their endeavour to make the band comfortable. A special rotunda was erected for the occasion, so as to keep off the rain or the sun. The bandsmen were entertained by the Hon. A. T. Ngata, Airs Ngata, and their family, and were _ their guests during their stay at Waiomatatini.

Chunks of ice weighing eight ozs. and measuring five inches in length, fell with the storm that descended on Belvedere, a little Kentish town of nurserymen. Hundreds of thousands of panes of glass, representing thousands of pounds, were smashed, hundreds of pounds worth of stock were ruined, streets and houses flooded, and the tram service held up by an avalanche of gravel washed down from the heights of the Ruff into the valley town of Lower Belvedere. People rushed for the nearest shelter, hut several were hit by jagged lumps of ice, which bruised them even through their clothes. Practically every house in the town had or.e window or more smashed, and so heavy was the falling ice that it burst the quarter-inch plate glass roof of Vickers, the armament factory. One piece crashed through the slate roof of the Salvation Army hall and another, weighing eight ounces, through the roof of'tluT Conservative Club.

Families of 16, although quite common is the old days, are now almost unknown. It was with a good deal of interest that the members of the relief committee at Auckland listened to a statement made by a person at present in ill health that she had ten brothers and five sisters (states the Star). The chairman said it was almost a record, although cases had been brought under their notice where there were IS in a family; but he wished to compliment the family on its valuable contribution to the population of the country. It was quite easy to see that a father and mother rearing such a large family would have little chance of gathering much of this world’s goods, but they had dono something better, because each individual brought up in healthy surroundings * and able to play their part in the battle of life added in every way to the development of the Dominion.

Some excitement was caused on Waikanae Beach yesterday afternoon when it was seen a bather was far out beyond the line of breakers and appeared to be in difficulties. Some hundreds of people swarmed to the edge of the water near Grey Street, and a telephone message was sent to the Police Station to send out a launch at once. The reel team were soon at work, and the man was brought in. It was then discovered, that he was one of the reel team,, the member who goes out to be rescued, familiarly termed “shark’s bait.” He had gone out some 400 yards in accordance with instructions, but the beltman who was detailed to bring him in got severely buffeted at about 3SO yards Seeing that he was not to be rescued, “shark’s bait,” in a foolish spirit of bravado turned round and swam some fifty or sixty vards further out to seav Tiring of his game after a time he "came in within reach of the beltman, and-amidst a scene of some excitement. was brought to shore in the regulation, manner, hut needless to say- recovered immediately on being deposited, qn the asarid. - .. / 4-- ' ■ ’ ".7.:

and ie4 P i 1 ng t csS’gr!nd n ?quart2 pounds caused -7 Wnm r • 'i u ? T rter ; Es tjs York city, says Ti£? Such enormous lobsters were C S m JJ CW York harbor long ago lb is srrtte h «s'\r the i Wr“ ” o| ‘ < -”*S“”£olters from America,” written in 1792 savs that monster crustaceans five or six leet in length were taken in New York waters before the war with Englund. but that ‘since the late cannonading they have entirely forsaken the coast, not one having beer, taken or Kiiice the commencement of hostilities. Jn the middle of the t cvc teen tli century Adriaen van’ dt Donck, a member of the Council o Rotei Stuy ; c.-.ant in 1649, kept a journal in which he described some of the natural resources of New York. Ho mentioned the monster lobsters', but said that ‘‘those a foot loim are bett-cr for serving at table.” "

To be arrested : s a criminal has been the fate of seve ml men v, ith “doubles” (says the Arorning Post.; In 1867 a butler named Johnson was arrested in London, identified as a man who had committed a series of burglaries, and sentenced to 10 veers’ penal servitude. When he had" served five years his “double” confessed, and lie was released. A Scots farm bailiff named Gale, while on holiday in London., confidently pointed out a man who, lie affirmed had robbed him in a tavern, the landlord of the tavern picked out the same man from among nine others. But the accused turned out to be a civilian engineer in a large way of business, ar.d it was proved that he could not nossibly be the man. Then, before the days of finger prints, there was a barber’s apprentice named Mali, who, though duly identified, proved that he could not be guilty by showing that at mjf time of the alleged theft he was standing in the clock of the Old Bailey charged with another offence, of which he was also innocent, he having the misfortune to be the facsimile of a notorious thief.

Of special interest to the members of the Gisborne City Band, who were at Waiomaiatini for the annual sports meeting held there, was the novelty of witnessing the way in which the natives of Ruatoria ushered in tire new year. Kerosene tins were very much in evidence and there was r.n assemblage of dose on 50 natives, mounted on horses, who each tried to outdo the other in making tire most noise. Some daring riding was witnessed and the wonder of it was that some of the onlookers were not hurt, but the natives had thorough control of their mounts and completely outdid Tern Alix and his confreres "of the screen in their daring feats of horsemanship. '-'hits were made by the band and others to pro-minent-"citizens on a first rooting excursion, and anybody who had any sleep before 4 o’clock in the immediate vicinity of the township was indeed fortunate.

A theft not without its humorous aspect occurred at Ashburton on Christmas Eve. With a view to festivities during the holidays two local residents, whose places of residence are quite a quarter of a mile apart, have been busily occupied for some time in manufacturing lb gallons of ale. of which they have been very proud: so proud in fact. that, they gave a certain amount of publicity to its excellence. The ale was kept at the residence of one of the “co-opera-tive workers,” while the bottles were kept at the house of the other partner in readiness for the ceremony of bottling on Sunday. On rising the- resident in charge of the battles discovered that his wash-house had been broken into and a number of the battles taken or broken. He was not greatly perturbed by this, secure in the knowledge that the brew was stored elsewhere. He informed his partner of the burglary and he also enjoyed the joke. liie worst part has vet to be told, however, as on go-in-t home the “storeman of the beer found to his dismay that a burglary had also taken place at his residence. The barrel containing the beer was still there, but its contents bad been extracted. The thieves must have worked secure in the knowledge that thev would not be disturbed, as n would take some time to shift lb gallons of ale.

The approach of Christmas means a busy-time for the housewife, and non the'least of her worries is the baking of the Christmas cake. This operation has to be performed with minute attention to detail to ensure comparison with “what mother used to make.” But accidents will happen as a young Auckland matron has discovered. relates the Star. She mixed all the ingredients to recipe and added the time-honored tabiespoonrul ol brandy to provide the necessary P ; q* uanev down to the last bite. Ihe cake was baked a luscious brown, and then sudden misgivings assailed the ladv as she looked at the bottles on her pantry shelf. The next act in the little domestic drama was the amazement of a well-known Quee,i Street chemist as he tried to find out why an agonised feminine voice asked him over the phone what his wellknown hair restorer was made of ana could you eat it in a cake! The cook had juggled two bottles winch looked alike and the contents of which emitted spirituous odours, hut alas were not both designed for the same service to mankind. Needless to say the cantharidic • element m the bay rmn of the hair restorer lird successfully produced a new flavour in the product which condemned it to an ignominious finish in the poultry yard instead of a place of honour at the festal board.