Runaway Waggon.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 70, 20 February 1939, Page 6

Runaway Waggon.

An empty sheep waggon made the trip of seven miles from Kapuka to Titiroa (Southland) on its own account late one night last week. The fierce gale caught the rear of the waggon while it stood at the siding at Kapuka, and kept up the pressure till the truck had raced over the seven miles and been brought to a standstill by a rising grade at Titiroa. Behind it came a surfaceman on a jigger, on which he had started in pursuit of the runaway truck.

Contentious Phrase. Tho fact that a definition lias never been given the phrase “in charge of” in connection with the motor vehicles regulation prescribing the penalty for the offence of being in charge of a motor vehicle while in a state of intoxication was mentioned in the Magistrate’s Court by Mr A. M. Ongley this morning. Counsel for a defendant charged with an offence of this type, Mr Ongley urged that the circumstances did not show defendant was actually in control of the car or had indicated his intention to drive it. Ho was, in fact, on the footpath and walking away from the vehicle. Mr 11. P. Lawry, S.M., who recalled that penalties had been imposed in cases wherein a driver had been in a bar and, in another instance, sitting on a kerb, said lie was convinced a primu facie case liud been made out.

City Council Resumes. The Palmerston North City Council will this evening meet for the first time since December. Record Cricket Crowd. The attendance of the public during the cricket match on Saturday at Wanganui in which Sir Julien Calm’s team participated, is believed to be a record for that city. The takings were £97 odd. Fire Destroys Bush. A serious bush lire broke out on the property of Mr A. F. Dampney, Teuri, Ormond villa, on Friday, and raged throughout Saturday. A. call was sent out lor helpers, and the fire was stopped yesterday after 500 acres of | bush had been destroyed. Accident at Aerodrome. I An employee at the Ohakea Acro- | drome, Mr George Jones, aged 30, married, of Palmerston North, was j brought to the Palmerston North BubI lie Hospital by the Free Ambulance on | Saturday afternoon suffering from injuries to his back received through being caught in a fall of earth. Water Supply Improves. Following a dry spell, the city water supply at Tiritea had been (jrawn upon to such an extent that on Saturday the level of the dam in the reservoir there was two inches below the lip. Pain that night materially improved the position, and there is now an overflow of 2 inches at the dam. Weraroa Escapees. The two youths who escaped from the Weraroa Training Farm, at Levin, on Friday, are reported to have been observed by the police in the vicinity of Napier. Two new bicycles which were removed from Levin, and which the two youths arc reported to have been observed riding, were abandoned in Palmerston North. Engineering Supplies. Engineering supplies to the value of almost £2,000,0UU were ordered in England in the last year by the New Zealand Government, a Yorkshire newspaper reports. Among the contracts placed were those for copper wire, lighting equipment, lathes, oil, tent calico, circuit breakers, automatic dials, bridge building eqiupment, steel springs, locomotives, and aviation embarking pontoons. Motorists’ Mishap. While returning from Marton by motor-car on Friday night, a party of Palmerston North residents came to grief on the Greatford Poad just below Curl’s bridge, their car leaving the road and ending up in a ditch, a stout hedge preventing it from turning completely over. Fortunately the occupants of the car escaped with minor scratches, but the vehicle was damaged, and could not be removed until the following morning. The motorists came to Palmerston North by private cars.—Bulls correspodent. Tongan Advantages. After spending two months living in a hut at the village of Pangai in Vavau, in the Tongan Group, and studying closely the habits and customs of the natives, Dr E. Beaglehole, lecturer in psychology at Victoria University College, Wellington, and his wife have returned. “The V>ngan is in a much happier position to-day than the Maori,” said Dr Beaglehole. “Tongan social life has not been broken down to the same extent as has that of the Maori. There are few landless Tongans and so there is not the problem of starvation.” Accident at Polo. While playing polo at Bulls on Saturday afternoon, Mr F. E. Cousins, of Fcilding, received a fall from his pony, and fractured a leg at the ankle. A doctor attended to the unfortunate young man, and he was conveyed by ambulance to the Palmerston North Hospital. Mr Cousins collided with a member of his side, Mr Q. 0. Wilson, while both were defending their goal in a skirmish. In the collision Mr Wilson was unseated, but came to no harm and it was thought that there was nothing more to the incident, but a moment or so later Mr Cousins slipped from his pony to the ground and spoke about an injury to his leg. Application for “Iron Lung.” Tho Palmerston North Hospital Board to-day decided to make the necessary application, through the Department of Health, for an “iron lung,” the equipment which is being supplied free to hospitals throughout .the Empire, except the cost of transport estimated in this case to bo £lO, under the Lord Nuffield grant. The managing-secretary (Mr A. J. Phillipps) stated, that during the last month, strangely enough for the first time, the use of this equipment had been required on two occasions. The board’s action was taken on the motion of Mr A. E. Mansford, who said they never knew when the use of the “iron lung” might be required Jeweller’s Premises Entered. At about 12.45 o’clock on Saturday morning Mrs E. E. Hirst, wife of the postmaster in Levin, hoard what she though to be the sound of plateglass breaking in Oxford Street, Levin. She rang the telephone exchange, which communicated with the police. Constables Baker and Hercock found that the plate-glass window of Mr S. Worsf old’s jewellery shop had been smashed and jewellery removed. After inquiries had been made a stranger to the town was arrested by Constable Hercock and wristlet watches and pearl necklaces to the value of £5 were found. The arrested man will appear in the Magistrate’s Court. The same shop was broken into two years ago. Policy of Caution. A warning against precipitancy on the part of Methodist ministers, and of circuit officials in their behalf, in seeking to replace the church’s superannuation provisions by those of the State Security scheme was given at Saturday’s session of the annual conference of the New Zealand Methodist Church now sitting in Christchurch. A legal member of the conference, Mr C. E. Taylor, of Fcilding, in discussing the actuarial position of the church superannuation fund, endorsed the cautionary advice of the Supernumerary Board and its treasurer in respect of the action of circuits and ministers in the matter of hastily substituting social security provisions for those of the church fund.