Overseas Mails

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23083, 8 January 1937, Page 6

Overseas Mails

The Marama left Melbourne on Wednesday with 284 bags of Australian, English, and Eastern mail for the South Island. The Dunedin portion should reach the local Post Office on Monday morning.

Fire Brigade Calls As the result of a justifiable false alarm the Fire Brigade received a call to the engine sheds at 3.14 yesterday afternoon. At 8.17 p.m. the Brigade was called to the safety parking area in Moray place,, where the wiring of a motor car received slight damage, owing probably to back-firing. One minute later the Brigade turned out to deal with a chimney fiie in Union street. No damage was done. An Impression of Germany

Restored enthusiasm and self-respect, combined with a worship of Hitler which made it impossible for those who opposed him to open their mouths, was noted in Germany by Miss Mary A. M'Lachlan, of the dental department of the Christchurch Public Hospital, who has returned after some months spent abroad. There was great interest in health in Germany, she said, and both for men and women the slim, athletic figure was being aimed at, where formerly the Germans were heavy eaters and drinkers. New Zealand, she thought, needed a " good shake"; she had noticed a general slouchiness since her return.

Mr Hunt and the Police "My relations with the members of the police force while a magistrate have always been most pleasant, and I have never had to say a sharp word to a sergeant or a constable," said Mr F. K. Hunt at the Central Police Station in Auckland, when presentations were made to him as a mark of appreciation of his services on the magisterial Bench. Mr Hunt said he attributed this to the fact that 50 years ago, in Christchurch, he was articled to the Crown Prosecutor in that city, Mr J. C. Martin, who later became a magistrate and then a judge of the Supreme Court. As clerk in his office I spent a lot of my time at the police station, and for years I was closely connected with the inside of the police force," he . added. " I have always had ,lhe greatest respect for the officers and men of the New Zealand Police Force."

City Police Court Two cases of drunkenness were before Mr H. W. Bundle, SMI, in th* City Police Court yesterday morning. The first concerned a charge which was admitted by Martin Joyce, who had 79 previous convictions, five last year, and three in the past three months. The defendant 'said he was on sustenance, and was on the point of going harvesting, but the magistrate, -fining him 40s, in default three days' imprisonment, reminded him that he had said, the same thing last time he was before the court. Harry Ellison also pleaded guilty to a charge of drunkenness. Senior Sergeant Packer said that' the defendant had caused a disturbance at his stepmother's house. The woman was ill at the time, and the police had had to be called in. The defendant denied having caused any disturbance, but the magistrate suggested that the police' would not have been called in if that had been the case. Ellison was fined 22s 6d. in default 24 hours' imprisonment. Time to pay was refused.

Immigration Restrictions "So long as a person is of good character, and has not serve'd arprison sentence within the last two years, there is no restriction . on. his entry into New Zealand," said Sub-inspector J. A. Dempsey in the Magistrate'! Court at Wellington, when a youth appeared before Mr J. H. Luxford, S.M., on a charge of deserting his ship, a cargo liner in the Home.trade. Sub-inspector Dempsey went on to explain "that a provision of the Immigration Restriction Act making further stipulations had lapsed after December 31, 1936. ; „ ~.

Big Bay Aeroplane Crash' • « The date of the inquiry into the accident to the Fox Moth aeroplane at Big Bay last week, in which one passenger was killed and three others and the pilot injured, has not yet been fixed. The three injured passengers are still in hospital (says the Southland Times), and until their health is sufficiently recovered to. allow of evidence being taken, no date can be made for the hearing. ' The injured persons in hospital are progressing well. Mr W. E. Hunt's condition is improving, and Sister Catherine Buckingham and Mr George Ross are both reported to be making satisfactory progress. An X-ray examination of Mr A. J. Bradshaw, pilot of the aeroplane, has revealed that, in addition to the severe scalp wound he suffered, he is suffering from a fractured spine. The doctor who is attending him states that, considering his injuries, his successful efforts to remove the passengers from the aeroplane immediately after 'the crash were most commendable.

Interesting Duel An interesting duel between a harrier hawk and magpies on the Wanganui racecourse Was recently watched with interest by passers-by. The hawk, soaring -unperturbed some distance from its native haunts, was suddenly disturbed by a flurry of wings and a black and white ,shape moving outwards from a clump of gum trees. Two more 4 similar shapes appeared from the same direction, and a fourth rose from'the ground nearby. It was an unequal contest from the start, and the hawk used the power of his wings to put distance between himself and four agile, pursuers, who kept sweeping at him as he sailed majestically away. . ■;

Suspension Bridge Collapses ' ' Tested severely by a mob of 700 sheep, a new suspension bridge over the Waipaoa River (Poverty Bay) collapsed, through the drawing of the suspension cables at one end of. the structure. The,bridge has a span of 340 ft, and cost £llOO to" erect, of the material .being drawn from the old bridge, which Was dismantled to make way for it. The nety bridge was practically completed before the holidays, arid required, only ..painting and some minor woodwork to be done. It was opened for holiday traffic, and was, used frequently by cars and by stock traffic during Christmas and the days follbwing. Then a drover in charge of. a mob of 700 sheep tried to take his mob across the bridge, arid while a number of the sheep milled at one end, bolted clips which were designed to secure the overhead, cables slipped, and the decking was abruptly dropped to the level of the water. The river was'/rather above the summer level, arid water swept across the lowest part of the decking, a number of sheep being destroyed and others being washed or thrown into the river, to find their way ashore lower downstream.

No Job for Linotypes The growth of newspapers in China had been remarkable, said the Rev. George W. Gibb, of "Aberdeen, general director af the China Inland Mission, who is in Wellington at present. Forty years ago he was in a village of 20,000 people which had no newspaper. In every small town to-day there was a daily cr weekly newspaper, carrying picture blocks and illustrated advertisements, though" not of such good quality as those printed in foreign languages. < "All papers printed in Chinese," he said, " are hand set, and there is a good reason for that. There are 5000 characters in common use in their ideographic language, and more than 25,000 that are sometimes required. » No. linotype machine could carry a fraction of the number of the characters from which the words are made up. Chinese is largely a monosyllabic language, and it is necessary to have subsidiary characters to give the differences between similarly spelt words which are conveyed in speech by intonation. Nearly all our missionaries can read and write Chinese. It is interesting to recall that each compositor on the newspaper staffs has several boys to run about bringing him the characters v he needs; but boys are cheap in China. There is not the same freedom of. opinion allowed ,to [ ' Chinese >' editors that exists in European countries; an attack on the authorities would, result in suppression."

Eye Strain.—For eye. comfort or Oetter vision consult Sturmer and Watson, Ltd., opticians 2 Octagon Dunedin.— Advt.

A. E. J. Blake ley and W ts. Bagley dentists, Bank of Australasia, corner of Bond and Rattray streets (next Telegraph Office) Telephone 12-359-Advt

Those who are requiring an Engagement Ring will do well to inspect our stock Peter Dick jewellers and opticians 488 Moray place Dunedin.— Advt