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Otago Daily Times, Issue 20330, 11 February 1928, Page 10

A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that in the retrial of Arthur George Wallace, who was adjudged a bankrupt on November 19, 1926, on charges of contracting debts without reasonable expectation of being able to pay them, the jury after nearly four retirement failed to agree. A new trial was ordered for Monday at 10.30 a.m. At 7.7 p.m. yesterday the City Fire Brigade received a call to the International Harvester Company’s premises, at the rear of the new building under construction for the Evening Star Company, where an incipient outbreak had occurred through a receptacle containing kerosene bursting into flames. The damage was confined to the paintwork on the back portion of a motor service bus, A quite busy period has been experienced by the. South Dunedin Fire Brigade during the past week. Since Saturday last the men attached to this out station have attended eight calls to outbreaks which have occurred in various parts of. the district which come under their Jurisdcition. The following Supreme Court fixtures have been made for next week:—Monday, bankruptcy and a prisoner for sentence; Tuesday, undefended divorce cases; Wednesday,” civil action, Nees v. Botting; Thursday, civil action, Ellis and Burns v. Hutcheon. One of Dunedin’s oldest buildings is now being demolished. This is the dilapidated two-storey dwelling situated on the hill at the corner of Eglington road and the Main South road. It is a wooden building, erected away back in the roaring gold-mining days of the province, and known to old identities as the Plough Inn. It was the stopping place for the gold escort coaches when on their way from Gabriel’s Gully to Dunedin. It was also the popular resort of miners and oldtime jockeys and racing men. Many hilarious nights were spent within its four walls. For years the building has been used as a residence. Although erected over 60 years ago, the timbers of this old dwelling are in a good state of preservation. A remarkable statement, which serves to illustrate the colossal ignorance of many people in regard to their own infirmities was made during the' hearing of a conrpensation case before the Arbitration Court yesterday. Dr Hall, eye specialist, mentioned in the course of his evidence, that it was quite common for patients who were totally blind in one eye to consult him without being previously aware of their defect. Major-genera!_ Sir Andrew Bussell, in an address at Blenheim, where he unveiled the Marlborough War Memorial last Saturday, reminded those present of the lessons of the war. “I would urge all of you,” ho said, “ that you should try and learn certain lessons from the Great War —lessons that ate implied in the deaths and sacrifices that were made by those men. Outstanding amongst them is the virtue of self-surrender in a common cause. Modem civilisation has become so complex that no man can live to himself alone. We have to realise we are all one body. What is going on in New Zealand concerns you and me, and we can’t put off on to our neighbours those duties which are essentially our own. Those men also displayed the virtue of courage—courage in the face of difficulties and almost certain -deathcourage which, if it counted the cost, did not flinch because of that cost. You will have to-day, and in your future lives, need to call on all the courage you possess. Then remember their example. They also showed the spirit of self-sacrifice in the entire subordination of the individual, without which no great aims and ends can be' achieved. In addition, we honour their sense of duty—that sense of duty without which those common, human weaknesses, to which you and I are subject, would probably have undermined their courage, would have weakened their spirit and possibly brought to naught all their endeavours. It would bo vanity on our parts if, having erecred this monument and unveiled it, we were to say to ourselves: ‘There, that is done with!’ This is only the outward symbol. What we have to consider is the erection in our own hearts of a memorial to these men, and that we can do only by observing and imitating the very virtues which we honour in them.”

It is pointed out by “ Kai Tiaki,” the ' nurses’ journal, that the ' difficulties of establishing reciprocity between Now Zealand and other countries arc very great. Reciprocity in these days of travel —and nurses are great travellex's—is of considerable importance. New Zealand was for some time the only Dominion with which the General Nursing Council of England accepted reciprocity. With Scotland and Ireland nothing has yet been settled. With only one Australian State, Western Australia, has complete reciprocity been established with New Zealand. With Victoria a satisfactory arrangement has been made with regard to all nurses trained in public hospitals and registered after examination. With the other States, correspondence is still going on. A Press Association message from Invercargill states that at the Architects’ Conference Mr F. L. Moody was re-elected president. It was decided to hold the next conference at Wellington in February.

A fire which occurred in a washhouse attached to a five-roomed wooden dwelling at the corner of King Edward street and Macandrew road was attended with an unexpected sequel for the firemen yesterday morning. Burning coals falling from the copper grate set alight to a quantity of paper heaped on the floor. The lady of the house attempted to extinguish the blaze, but was not successful. She collapsed near the back door and was helpless when the South Dunedin and City Brigade machines arrived in response to an alarm sent to headquarters. The firemen are trained for such emergencies, and the woman was attended to until t.ho arrival of a doctor. The fire was quickly extinguished, the damage being confined to one of the inner walls and the floor of the washhouse.

At the Magistrate’s Court, Gisborne, yesterday (says a Press Association telegram) a Maori named George Ngarimu, 19 years of age, was charged with being found by night in a private house in Matawai with intent to commit a crime. Ibe e\idenco showed- that a married woman, a complete stranger to the accused, vas awakened in bed at night by the accused who was interfering with the bedc.othes. She called for assistance, and the accused escaped. The accused pleaded guilty, and was committed to the Supreme Court fot sentence. .

A case of interest to motorists generally was heard before Mr H. W. Bundle, 8.M., at the Police Court yesterday, when Henry Louis Paterson was charged with failing to give an intelligible signal of his intention to turn. It was explained that_ the de-. fendant, who was driving south along Crawford street, turned into the parking area outside His Majesty’s Theatre without signalling, and a motorist who was travelling behind him collided with his car. Mr P. S. Anderson, who appeared for the defendant, described the by-law dealing with such cases as vague, and stated that the point to be decided was whether or not a motorist was obliged to signal when turning or stopping when tha motorist behind him was a considerable distance in the rear. In this case it could be proved that the motorist who was following the defendant was 88ft behind him when he began to turn, and, incidentally, the fact that the motorist who was following took a distance of 90ft to come to a stop showed that he was travelling at an. an unreasonable speed. The defendant, who could see the traffic behind him in a mirror in his car, considered that the motorist in the rear was so far behind that it was not necessary to give a signal. The magistrate, in dismising the case, remarked that the by-law must be interpreted reasonably. As the motorist following the defendant was 88ft in the rear it was not necessary to signal. A mighty fountain gushed skywards in Victoria street, Auckland, on Tuesday evening (says the Star) and played for 20 minutes. The actual scene of the outburst was between Albert and Federal street intersections, where a large main delivered water to the city area. Broad columns shot spectacularly to a height well above the telegraph poles, and sometimes reached the level of the top of a nearby shop. The fountain w.as divided into three distinct arms, and resembled the feathery plume# of the Prince of Wales. Adjacent shop fronts were deluged, verandah gutters were flooded, and the roadway changed into & network of streams. The break was located at a fire-plug, and the warning was given to the City Waterworks Department by a constable who saw it about 11.25 p.m. A gang cut off the flow in the affected section and repaired the main.

“ The Brighton Caves, 20 miles south: of Westport, on the coastal road, are wonderful, and are said to be equal to Waitomo,” said Mr H. E. Kennett at a meeting of the council of the Canter* bury Automobile Association. To make the caves popular the road near Fox’* River will have to be improved.” These remarks were evoked by a letter from the Buller Progress League, enclosing a resolution that the Tourist Department b® asked to improve the road to the falls, which were becoming a popular resort (reports the Lyttelton Times). The council, which was asked for its support for the resolution, decided to identify itself with the recommendation. The president (Mr B. Falck) reported that the Fox’s River bridge was estimated to cost £12,000, and that the work was being pushed ahead.

A pathetic sight was witnessed at th» Wanganui Court the other day, when a young woman who had stood loyally behind her parents helping them _to meet their obligations was sued as a judgment debtor, because she had guaranteed some of her father’s debts when he was out of work. He was not able to obtain work in Wanganui, so the daughter borrowed the money to send him to Australia. Even there he does not appear to be doing very well, as he has only sent a comparatively small sum in the last few months. The magistrate refused to make an order againt the young woman. The Cawthron Institute has (says a. Press Association telegram) conducted successful tests with a moth named “ Tyria ” (for short) which attacks ragwort. Dr Tillyard says he can state positively that the caterpillars, do tremendous damage to this weed and not to other plants of importance. He has asked the Research Council to apply for a permit to liberate the insect, and suggests three centres for the purpose—the King Country, Taranaki, and the Bay of Plenty. The council’s committee asks for further tests, which will be made.

The state of the telephone service was amongst the, complaints put before the Minister of Agriculture (Mr 0. J. Hawken) during his recent visit to North Auckland. It was urged that a central exchange should be established for that area west of the Turntable, in the Bay of Islands County, with an improved service, which would necessarily follow. Failing that, it was requested that the “zone system, with a radius of 15 miles, be adopted, and the Minister was assured that many intending subscribers would then come on to the lines. Since the Minister’s visit (says the Auckland Star) settlers have been able to get the hospital overnight, and this has proved its usefulness, as an extract from a letter from Mr Gerald Ferguson, of Waimate North, shows:— 1 The modified improvement obtained by getting the hospital overnight has proved its nsefulness during the past two nights, as it saved the life of a woman who had to bo taken in to the hospital at half-past 3 in the morning. The husband was enabled to get advice meanwhile from the sisters until he had to make the move. He rang me up and said the chance of getting through meant to what life line would mean to a drowning man.”