LOCAL & GENERAL

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 10473, 31 December 1927, Page 8

LOCAL & GENERAL

■Monday ■ next being observed a.s New Year’s Day, the Gisborne Times will not be published. The Marania left Sydney at four o’clock yesterday afternoon, and the Maungnnui at five o’clock, both for New Zealand.—U.P.A. An explosion occurred in a primus stove in a tent occupied by a man named Clark, of Hamilton, : at the Wliakapapa huts in the National Park on Wednesday. The tent and "ear destroyed were valued ai £ls. —P.A. A. record run from Home to Wellington was made by the Ruahirie, which arrived! at Wellington yesterday morning. She left Southampton on November 25, and her .long voyage to Wellington was completed .in 33 days 21 hours, or allowing for summer time, 33 days 20 hours. This time includes stops at the Panama Canal and Pitcairn Island, and establishes a new record time for the trip. In no weather was experienced i throughout.—P.A. i If popular opinion is any indication the festive season of 1027 will lie known as the “Book Xmas,’’ for of lath hook*! have occupied the <*premici v position as gi fts. This has occasioned no .great surprise, for this yertp astonishing value is given for a small sum. Leather-bound classics and poems can be purchased from 5/6 upwards, which is considered even better than pre-war value; Then every Xmas sees one particular, novel by a well-known writer placed on the market, but this season there are Lilly a dozen popular authors represented, the most' prominent being S'abatini, Michael Arlen, Geoffrey Moss, Zane Grey, Temple Thurston, Margaret Pedlar, and Robert Hichins, all with novels appearing for the first time. Now Zealand books also claim their devotees, The annuals, of course, are almost innumerable, and exceptional value is seen in volumes of stories of school life,. adventure, etc.., a bulkv-size bbok being retailed at 3/6. Eastwood’s ißook Stores, at the comet of Derby street and Gladstone road, and in Gladstone . road, next to Mrs, Greig’s, have an, unusually large assortment of all literature, and issue an. invitation to the public generally to pay a, visit to brouso over the latest books, no one being pressed to b l} r- *** ,

•For the calender year which municipally; ended last week, Auckland city proper spent nearly one and a half million pounds in building. The total sum was £1,428,392, which was £178,802 less than in 1926. The faulty nature of English orthography may be gleaned from the fact that only) 60 .words are spelt phonetically, such as so, no, potato, iota. Nearly every”, word, certainly every line, contains glaring inconsistencies of spelling and pronminciation. The premises of Mr. J. B. Begg, footwear dealer, in Colombo street,, Christchurch, were entered by thieves on Wednesday night and goods to the value of over £2O stolen. Men s hoots and shoes, mostly of the best quality, were selected. —P.A. Messrs Common, bheltori ahd Co., Ltd., draw attention to the clearing sale of dairy cows, farm implements, furniture, etc., to be held on behalf of Mr M\ G. Morgan, at the farm, To Karaka, on Thursday. January 12. HIM.S. Diomede will mal<r her periodical visit to Gisborne in February and will arrive here from Auckland on the 9th and will remain until the 16th. Thence the warship proceeds to Napier where she .will remain five days, alter which she goes Li Wanganui. ; The Oxford University Press hopes to publish in March the final volume, of the Oxford English Dictionary, which U tit© largest in the world, itwas inaugurated in 1838, and the first volume was published in 1881. The complete work costs £42, contains 15,000 pages, 2,000,000 quotations, and defines 400,000 words. — Sun. Taranaki Oil Fields, Ltd., report for the week ending, decembor 24: Waiapu No. 2 well, depth 2,855. loot in brown shale, 8-1 in. diameter easing to 2,810 feet; Gisborne No. 1 well, depth to 2,045 feet, in soft sandstone, Biin diameter casing to 2,023 feet; Gisborne No. 2 well, collar excavation completed, transport of material progressing satisfactorily. A hod mattress belonging to Mrs. Paseoe, who lives in a house in W hittaker street, which is owned by Mr. J. Rossbotham, was set on fire by a cigarette butt yesterday at noon, ft was carried out on to the verandah in a smouldering condition and it later hurst into flames. A passer-by notified the brigade- who subdued the blase with a chemical extinguisher before any damage was done. An extraordinary incident has occurred at Lcrient (France). A girl bathing on the beach of Toulhars saw a shark apparently struggling against the waves and the rising tide, t ired with a desire to capture .it. she seized the shark by the fins, and pulled with all her strengtlf. Other bathers came up, and everyone was soon taking part in the struggle. The shark, which measured oft, in length, was finally dragged on to the beach and killed. No little amusement was caused at an Invercargill tennis court recently when a spirited game of doubles was in progress. The match was it strenuous one. Twice, the player who was looking after the long .shots dashed along the back line from one end to the other. The third shot found him unprepared at the other side of the court. He made a dash for it hut was just too late. “O-oh ! ! stop it,” he gasped, laughing, ’ I'm not a whippet!” The bite of a small fish paralysed down one side a man woyking on the River Mersey. He was in a rigger's motor boat and when a fish about four inches long jumped out oi die water on to the. fender, picked it up, but immediately dropped it, exclaiming, “It has bitten me.” Ten minutes later he collapsed. A doctor said that the bite was similar to the sting of a jellyfish. The victim was expected to recover completely. A drop of Jd per lb. for second lambs is the only change that has occurred during the week in the export meat market. Killing lias proceeded quietly during the past few days, and bookings, though fair, are net heavy, or far advanced. The improved facilities for freezing stock are being well utilised, and farmers are not hustling for space as in some earlier seasons. The present weather conditions are excellent for the development of stock of all kinds, ahd the condition of stock killed in January should lie exceptionally good.

A pet goat saved Randolph Hitchcock aged 12, of Portland, Weymouth from a fall of 40ft. He was taking the goat on a 12-yards tether to a quarry 40ft high, and near the edge the ground gave way and he fell. He had a turn of the tether rope round one of his wrists, and as he fell the rope became entwined round his legs. The shock jerked the goat off its feet, hut it. regained its footing, stopped on the edge, and hold the hoy suspended. Hitchcock scrambled to a ledge and was rescued with his collarbone broken.

One foggy morning in the summer of 1921 a young officer left Ross Field, near Pasadena- (U.S'.A.), on a solo flight in a balloon. Unexpeeted wind conditions carried him into unehartered desert regions on the north side of the Sionv, Madrc Mountains, bringing about, a forced landing, and resulting in the abandonment of the balloon, which has been missing since the happening. Recently United States forest rangers, carrying out their duties in seldom visited places, came across the missing balloon. It was being utilised by a hermit prospector as a home. The rangers found the fabric of the baboon, vitopes, Ixisket, and other useful parts fashioned into a tenthouse in an unnamed canyon, sheltering a prospector’s possessions while lie looks for gold.

: The annual report of the manager of the Golden Casket tabled in the Queensland Legislative Assembly Stated that 29 Golden Caskets had been held in the last financial year, the ticket sales realising £761,250. The prize money amounted to £b>4,000, State income tax to £36,250, wages to £28,238, profit on account of the Home Secretary’s department £206,721. The receipts of the ipotiierhood and child welfare and hospital’ fund since the inception of tlie casket in 1920 totalled £1,329,594. Of ithis sum the following disbursements bad been made: —Payments to hospitals, £1,025,085; bush nursing association, £3,716; erection and equipment of baby... clinics, maternity wards, and. nurses’ quarters, £2iß,716; erectiou of creche and kindergarten buildings, £4,775; and grants to charitable institutions, £l,lOO, sundry payments, £1,089. The balance of £75,11(1.has been earmarked for the erection of further maternity wards. V

Included in our wonderful selection of Frocks are Voiles and' Washing Silks. ■ Each design original and correct ; every garment surprisingly different and reasonably priced. Frocks for race, wear, for day wear, and. evening and dinner wear are also- here. Millinery in al 1 / its alluring charm from the Chic ready-to-wear to the. smartest of picture. And as a special Xmas offering we are giving a discount of-2/- in the £ off all purchases for cash at Maf&ewson’s, Ltd., Gladstone Rond.'*.*'' •

American marriage customs are gradually gaining ground m .thus country, says a London paper. The practice of the bridegroom’s friends acting as ushers is often adopted nowadays. The American bridesmaids precede the bride, and at the; J chancel fall back on either side of . { the aisle, so that the bride and her d-1 father (or whoever gives her awaj), walk'between them. The ushers hare a pew reserved for them, and take the attendants out at the end of the . ceremony. For simplicity and dignity, however, there is nothing to compare with the English ceremony.. ”0 perfect love” is still regarded the. "marriage hymn,” and is usuallysung just alter the Benediction. Although Mendelssohn’s Wedding March is usually chosen, the. “Lphtngrin” wedding march is very P°.M- > Hu* with actors and nctrpssesj :i ad is often played on the arrival of tip bride instead of a processional hy»,n being sung. -

The possibility of putting d<*n boreholes four or Hive miles . a Pirt over most of the land areas 'of be globe to utilise the earth’s intersaf heat for man’s purposes whs disced in a paper read to the engme-r? ing section of the British Assoomkjft . by Mr. ,J. L. Hodgson, a civil enfejeer, reports the London “D&dy graph.” Mr. Hodgson said th' l ? Fit stored in the hot rocks, ol • tßah.chrt * interior was immense—at least «,- 000,000 limes the heal reserves *» w world’s coal reserves. Duly ts© cit available down to a depth of ’miles under the land areas was UNyf to lie of interest to engineers the next few hundred years, buy.Eii this was 10 times the heat tuined in the world’s coal reserve and if it could be used instead, oft coal would provide the heat requi-xt I by mankind for many thousands iff i years. He declared that exploitat|. 7 of this heat seemed to bo on.tpc -cf A der line of practicability. f] An Auckland P.A. message stars that the child George Brittain, vho was injured in a level crossing *A-i----dent at Morningside, when hiS Hither was killed on Christmas Eye. i* progressing satisfactorily, and is tr. expected tc recover. The victim ci the fatality. Mrs. Ethel Brittain, aid her familv, have been dogged 'ad luck. For the last three. Christmas something had always haj>pened!ar the Inst minute to spoil the season lor them. On Friday evening.let. Mrs. Rrittain had called on Sl 3fi« friends and was talking or the nisfortune which had been their lot at Christmas time. ‘.'Something -a~ alwavs happened arid spoiled fflr Christmas.” she said, . T do .V nothing will happen this year, ye : have had our share.” But the m-. lowing day she was killed by a trnn at the Argvle street crossing in siring her little son. It seems tint Fate had never dealt kindly witn, r-r. Mr. Brittain is a returner! solder, and was injured during the war.