GENERAL NEWS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6807, 10 January 1929, Page 6

GENERAL NEWS

Avalon, Val, and Rona are definitely competing in the long-delayed Sander? Cup trial next Saturday, states an Auckland message.

Henry Ileiniscli ,nged 79, committed suicide at Springston, Canterbury, yesterday morning by drowning, after severing an artery in his wrist. For the past week, harvesting operations have been in full swing in and around the Woodvillo district. A fsuture of this year’s harvest is the good quality of hay being cut, reports our correspondent.

All sorts of radiator mascots are to be seen —some imposing, some daring, some merely vulgar—but what must be by far the most appropriate was noticed in Wanganui a few days ago —a small silver dummy on the radiator cap of a “baby” Austin. The first parachute to be released fiom a New Zealand Air Force machine was dropped from a D1J.50 machine at a height of 2000 ft. above Wigram aerodrome, Ghrustchurch, on Tuesday. The parachute carried lead weights equivalent to the weight of a man.

While road grading work was in progress in Ferguson street, opposite West street yesterday afternoon, the borough road roller broke through the not too permanent way over the sewer line and a good deal of labour was necessitated before the machine moved to safer ground. A strong protest has been mado by the Dunedin Returned Soldiers' association against the action of the government in entering into a contract for the supply of a certain typo of artificial limb while other types, it i 3 contended, have not been given a fair or long enough trial.

A motorist in Dunedin left his car standing in King Street on Monday afternoon for a while. He returned later, and when he had driven for some distance ho noticed a woman gesticulating wildly on the road in front of him. Wondering what was wrong he pulled up, and then discovered that a little girl, between two and three years had curled herself qp and gone to sleep on the running board opposite to the one which he had used to step into the car.

A black and white retriever, an old identity of the Dunedin waterfront,, was found dead on a vacant section near the w-aterfront a few days ago. The dog, known by the name of Jack, proved a faithful companion to the Harbour Board’s night staff for 16 years. He claimed no owner, but made great friends with certain waterfront officials, all of whom treated him with every kindness. The dog spent a great deal of his time following the Harbour Board’s night officers on their tours of wharf inspection. On cold winter nights he was made comfortable in the watchman’s ’office, and when t!>at official went off duty the faithful animal did the rounds with the relieving officer.

An unusual turn of events is related in connection with the Nuhaka A. and P. Association’s weight estimating competition conducted as an adjunct to last week’s show. Many entries were obtained for the event, after which the sheep were killed and hung up to cool before being weighed. In the meantime, however, some person had removd one of the carcases, presenting a confusing position for the society, not so much in the loss of the sifeep, but in the awarding of the 'prizes for the event. Before opening the boxes containing the estimates, it was decided to add an estimated weight to that of the remaining sheep, and award the prizes accordingly. The matter of the missing carcase has been placed in the hands of the police. “It was a good thing for New Zealand that she did not accept the invitation to join the Australian Federation,” said Professor A. B.'Taylor, M.A., who arrived at Auckland by the Maunganui on his annual visit to Ilia relatives. He is Professor of English at the University of Tasmania, in Ilobart, where there are just under 300 students. The professor’s studies were interrupted in 1915. when he left Auckland for the war, but after the Armistice he went to Oxford and graduated M.A., subsequently taking up his present nosition. He said be thought Tasmania was undoubtedly suffering from having thrown in her lot with the mainland. The thing was inevitable but it was unfortunate for the island. The fact that Tasmania had been absorbed by her larger neighbour had affected her detrimentally, and that was why he as a New Zealander, was always glad the Dominion had refused the offer to come in.

“Some of the heaviest capital expenditure in recent years has been involved in the erection of nurses’ homes, the pleasing appearance of which is e. feature in most of the institutions,” states the Appendix to the annual report of the Health Department. “The general appearance and commanding situation of these buildings often suggests with what little, if any, alteration they could have been utilised as blocks of private wards, thus completing the hospital system; and the question arises as to the necessity or desirability of housing the nursing staff in the institutional grounds. Only recently one large hospital met complaints as to the over-working of the nursing staff by stating that it had r.ot the accommodation for any more nurses. 13 there any reason, however, why the nurses should not live out — at any rate the trained nurses? Possibly all that can be said is that if some of the trained staff lived out it would release accommodation to meet the need for the extra nurses required to givo effect to the ‘one day off per week’ policy, though the amount of accommodation so released might be negligible.”