News Of The Day

Northern Advocate, 22 May 1941, Page 4

News Of The Day

Accident to Young Roy A five-year-old boy. Geoffrey Adams, son of Mr. Adams, of Pipiwai, was admitted to the Whangarei Hospital last night, suffering from a broken left arm and left leg. The injuries were received when the boy was caught in the belt driving a milking machine at his father’s farm. * * * * Butt Causes Death. , A returned soldier, Mr. Charles Frederick Voss, single, aged 52, of Bulls, when crutching sheep at Mr. H. .P. Brightwell’s woolshed on the Bulls-Turakina road, Marton, was butted on the head by a sheep. He collapsed and died almost immediately.

Men Wanted for Camp Duties Men are urgently wanted for various duties at the Waiouru military camp. These include typists, clerks, general labourers, mess orderlies, cooks, telephone operators, men for petrol duties and for the motor transport section. Any person desiring further inforamtion should communicate with the Army Office at Whangarei.

Trapped in Graf Spee Hull William Boyd and Harry Williams, British divers employed by a Uruguayan firm, were killed in the submerged hull of the sunken German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, the Buenos Ayres “Herald” reported recently. The divers were reported to have been trapped under water for 86 minutes. Salvage work on the wreck has been abandoned because of strong currents. • * * * The “Churchill Age” This period of time, in which we are now living, will probably be called the “Churchill Age” by the historians of the future, is an editorial comment in the “Efficiency” magazine. “It will be the third and greatest golden age of the British peoples. We had the ‘Elizabethan Age.' made glorious by the defeat of Spain and the exploits of Drake and the plays of Shakespeare. We had the ‘Victorian Age.,’ when we became the leaders of the world in industry and finance. And now we are living in the beginning of the ‘Churchill Age,’ which will shine for ever in history as the period when we defeated Hitler and restored civilisation. We who are now alive are privileged more than all the British generations of the past, and perhaps more than all the British generations of the future. This is our supreme age of great men and great deeds. We are all St. Georges. We are putting an end to the dragon. We are making sure that all future generations of British peoples shall live happily, prosperous and free.”

Not Possible

At the Whakatane Chamber of Commerce meeting, two members were taking part in a discussion. They do not always agree with one anothei’, albeit good-naturedly. One spoke and the other l'ose to address the chair with “I don’t agree with the previous speaker. . . .” “I didn’t expect you to! ’ was the dry interjection of his vis-a-vis.”

Passes in Red Cross Examinations An examination has been held in Whangarei for the hygiene and sanitation class of the Red Cross, the examiner being the Medical Officer of Health for North Auckland (Dr. G. O. L. Dempster). The following passed the examination: Mrs. Hart, Mrs. Wade, Mrs. Collins, Miss Beehre, Miss Cullen, Miss Deeming, Miss Densem, Miss Gibbons, Miss Pitney, Miss Pritchard, Miss Rishworth, Miss Steele and Miss Simons.

To School at 7 a.m. School hours in the Dutch East Indies are very strenuous, according to a Dutch visitor, from Sumatra, Mr. A. J. L. Wenink. “A boy of 14 will have to go to school at 7 a.m., so he must rise at 5 a.m., snatch a bite and work with only five minutes respite between lessons, until 1 p.m. Then he takes lunch and after that he is sporting all afternoon. After that he has work to do which may keep him busy until 9 or 10 p.m. He takes French, English and German, and his geography is doubled because lie must learn all about both Holland and the Indies. So he has to take a few months’ respite every now and then, and then of course he gets behind with his work,” Mr. Wenink said, in an interview.

Rare Rooks in America. Data received by the editor of the Literary Supplement of “The Times” of London from the Bibliographical Society of America have enabled him to make a digest of the bibliophile treasures to be listed in the second census of fifteenth-century books owned by libraries iii the United States, Mexico and Canada. The result of the first census was published in 1910, and long since out of print. The editor writes: “While there are nine more or less perfect copies of the 42-line Gutenberg Bible as well as numerous fragments of the 36-line edition, there are but four single leaves and one double folio in the whole of North and South America. Of the Balbus ‘Catholicon’ of 1460, there are 10 copies, and of the “Dialogus rationis’ of Matthew of Cracrow, six copies. Of the ‘Donatus’ of about 1450 there are three copies, of the 28, 30 and 33-line editions respectively."

Gas Mask In The Commons Mr. W. R. Robinson, Labour member of Parliament for St. Helens, caused a mild sensation and some amusement in the House of Commons recently by wearing a gas mask while the House was in session. It was the first time anyone had worn a gas mask in the House of Commons. Cabinet Ministers sitting on the bench opposite him smiled broadly as Mr. Robinson sat unconcernedly with the mask covering his face, its black snout wobbling up and down every now and then when he coughed. Mr. Robinson rose at one point hoping to make a speech with his mask on, praising the new budget, but he was not called on. Another member asked and received the ruling that while it was not out of order for a member of Parliament to wear a gas mask while someone was speaking, it would be much better worn outdoors. Thereupon Mr. Robinson removed tire mask, beamed, and put on his spectacles.