NEWS OF THE DAY

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 39, 16 February 1938, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

The Palmerston Nortk High School Board last evening received with regret the resignation of Miss C, R, Mardon from the stafl’ of the Technical High School, whero she has served since 1922 as a millinery and dressmaking instructress.

Advice was; received by the Hawke’s Bay Hospital Board at its monthly

meeting from the District Public Trustee, Auckland, that the board was a beneficiary under the will of Miss T. M. Siedeberg, who died recently in Auckland. A bequest of £IOO for general purposes has been made. That Messrs L. H. Collinson and Jas. Knight would become honorary members of the general committee, was reported at the meeting of the Manawatu A. and P. Association on Monday. It was decided to congratulate these gentlemen on their achievement, as they had both served 25 years. Within the next few days the work of demolishing the old College Street School buildiig should be completed, as only a small section remains standing. It is reported that for the most part the timber from the building is in very sound condition. With the removal of the old school a valuable section of land will be dear 3d. An outbreak beneath the floor of one of the railway sheds near the Cook street crossing, was the cause of the Palmerston North Fire Brigade being summoned shortly after 10 o’clock yesterday morning. The flames had not secured a firm hold and only the firstaid equipment was required for -..eir suppression. No damage was done. A telegraph pole was snapped off level with tho pavement when it was struck during; a collision between two motor-cars at the intersection of Hastings and Eastbourne streets, Hastings, shortly after one o’clock yesterday afternoon. Both cars were extensively damaged. Apart from a bruised arm suffered by Mr. Hall, the drivers escaped unhurt. Out of a pile of rubble takeu from a huge pot hole which was cleared during preparations for the building of the dam across the Waikato river at Arapuni has como a variety of coloured stones, some of them semi-precious and each one polished brilliantly after countless years in the turbulent water. Mr. W. H. Gregory, resident electrical engineer at Arapuni, has made a treasured collection of these stones. The well-known cable repair steamer Recorder, formerly the Iris, completed 34 years of service this week. A twinscrew vessel of 2258 tons, she was laid down at Glasgow in 1902 for the Pacific Cable Board and was commissioned on February 14, 1904. For many years she was based at Auckland and was used to maintain practically the whole cable system of the south-western Pacific. She was transferred to Cable and Wireless, Limited, and renamed in January, 1932, and latterly das been based at Singapore. Thunderstorms around Waipukurau during the week-end presented a curious phenomenon. On Saturday, thunder with a heavy downpour of rain waexperienced in Waipukurau, but at Vv aipawa, about isix miles away, there was a thunderstorm with no rain. Then on Sunday the position was reversed. A thunderstorm at Waipawa brought with it heavy rain, but at Waipukurau, although there were vivid flashes of lightning, no rain. At Mount Herbert, however, about five miles out of Waipukurau, the storm was very severe, and many parties there who were picnicking and swimming were caught in the sudden torrential downpour coming out of a clea,r, sunny sky. “The rain fell in sheet*;,” was how one camper summed up the situation. Owing to the three secondary schools iu Palmerston North being a fair stop from the railway station, the Palmerston North High Schools Board wrote to the Railway Department asking if it would carry bicycles of country pupils free on the trains. A reply was received at last evening’s meeting of the board regretting that the department could not grant the request as it would tend to the overcrowding of the railway vans. The board chairman (Mr. M. H. Oram) thought the Department’s attitude was not very helpful. The view of the principal of the Girls’ High School (Miss E. E. Stephens) was that 20 minutes of time could be saved each way if the pupils could cycle. Mr. T. D. Lynch, however, thought a bus service from the station to the schools would be mors satisfactory. The board asked the principals of the three schools to supply a report on the matter with the numbers of pupils affected. A sorry procession straggled into Warkworth la,te on Saturday night. It consisted of a circus caravan, which for hours had struggled to get through floodwaters near Wainui after a sudden rise of,the water had threatened to drown many of the animals. The caravan left Helensville early on Saturday morning for Warkworth, and when it came to a section of the road that was under water near Wainui, it was decided to proceed. The waters rose swlftiy when the whole train of waggons was in the centre of the flooded portion and nothing the attendants did could drag them to safety. Monkeys, lions and tigers were in danger of being overwhelmed, for the water had risen above the bottoms of the cages. As a last resource the elephant was called upon and after gigantic struggles it managed to drag, the CEixavan to the firm ground. When the cirous finally straggled into Warkworth the elephant was covered from head to foot in thick clay.