CHRISTCHURCH NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4406, 12 July 1901, Page 3

CHRISTCHURCH NEWS.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, July 11. This morning a private exhibition was" given of a new totalisator,,the invention of Mr E. Reynolds, of Christchurch. The principle of the new machine is gravitation pressure on • a lever, which throws out a ticket for the purchaser, and at the same time releases a marble. Thi s marble runs along a tube and works, the whole of the machinery, indicating the investments on the different horses in a race,’ according to the particular lever pressed, and also registering the grand total in full view of the public. At the trial working this morning everything went without a hitch, and it seems that a totalisator showing the actual investments upon every horse in a race and . the grand total on the machine $t one and .the same time is, an accomplished fact. Mr Reynolds’s machine is so simple in construction and the method of working that one: wonders' why it was not thought of before. Tickets can be issued with the greatest despatch, and one man can do the work of three' operators with the old style. Though it is said that the three children of Mrs Day, who were burned to death at Lyttelton this afternoon, were not actually locked in the house, the sad occurrence has once again brought home forcibly the danger of leaving little children unattended, even if only for a short time.. The brigade turned out in force, but the situation was too high for any pressure of water to be obtained. Mrs Day had left a fire in the front room when she went out. The bodies of the little ones were found charred to cinders. . The boy and the youngest girl were found in the front room, the former having put a pillow over his head, while the girl had taken refuge under a couch. The other girl was found in the kitchen. Attempts by would-be rescuers who heard the screaming, to get through the windows wore futile, as the flames drove them back.