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Otago Daily Times, Issue 23109, 8 February 1937, Page 8

Big Building Project A Press Association telegram from Hamilton states that a comprehensive scheme involving the rebuilding of the old portions of the Winter Show buildings and the acquisition of further land has been authorised by the Winter Show Association Committee, and a building programme costing ov/m £60,000 will be taken in stages, commencing after this year’s show in May. The buildings will include three new halls of similar size and design to the Bledisloe Hall, a new concert hall to seat 800 people, a restaurant with dance floor, a kitchen, and also new administration offices. When completed, the association will have the largest and most up-to-date show buildings in the southern hemisphere. The halls will be built in steel with no ground pillars so as to allow of exceptional floor space. Racehorse Wounded

Shots fired at a racehorse owned by Mr Graham M’Cormick, of Hastings, resulted in the horse receiving a bullet wound. The incident happened when Mr M’Cormick was grazing the horse, a three-year-old brown filly by Nigger Minstrel out of Miss Cute (imp.), near a miniature rifle range. Police investigations are being made. Inquiries reveal that while the horse was grazing a shot was fired and the horse reared. A friend of Mr M’Cormick, who heard the shot, came out to investigate, and while he was standing near a hedge a bullet passed nearby. No one was to be found on the rifle range when an inspection was made, but evidence was not lacking that several shots had been fired and some damage done.

Fire Calls A fire in an outhouse of a residence in Wesley street, South Dunedin, was responsible for the Central and South Dunedin brigades being called out at 12.36 p.m. on Saturday, but little damage was done. A rubbish fire in Alfred street resulted in the brigade being summoned at 8,12 p.m. The brigade qlso answered a call to a nine-roomed two-storeyed wooden house at 14 Tennyson street, owned by Mr Graham, at 8.22 p.m. The fire caused slight damage to a cupboard under the stairs, but the cause of the outbreak is unknown.

Superfluity of Names “ Everybody in this case seems to have at least three names,” said'Mr Justice Fair in the Auckland Supreme Court during the hearing of a case in which numerous Maori witnesses were called. Considerable confusion was caused through the witnesses referring to each other sometimes by long Maori surnames or Christian names, sometimes by Maori contractions, and sometimes by English translations. In one instance, just when all the variations seemed clear, an entirely name was introduced, and this, it was explained, was a nickname.

Level of Lake Rotorua The serious fall in the level of Lake Rotorua, which was experienced between the years 1930 and 1935 and which prompted representations to the Government from local bodies and other interested organisations in an effort to have something done to bring the level back to the original height, appears now to have been arrested. Records taken regularly by the Rotorua Borough Council foreman show that after the level gradually rose as a result of the wet winter during 1935, the new level, equal to that of 1926, has been well maintained ever since. On January 30 last a reading taken, showed that the level was only three inches below the peak height reached during the winter months of 1936. Apart, from an abnormal rise overnight of February 2, 1936, as a result of the storm experienced on that date, the level has never varied more than a few inches since, in contrast to earlier years when the drop, particularly in the summer months, wpuld amount to as much as 12 inches at a time. __, Delay in Printing of Awards

Several members of the executive of the Wellington Manufacturers* Association expressed, at their meeting last week, dissatisfaction at the late publication of awards made by the Arbitration Court. It was stated that awards were ordered by the court to become operative in some instances weeks before copies of the awards were available to the firms concerned. The explanation given was that the Government departments were extremely busy as a result of the application of new legislation and | irticularly on account of the volume of printing work to be done, but members considered that, even so, the delays were too great, and the stress of work upon the Government departments did riot alter the fact that it was a serious matter, both from the point of view of employers and employees, to be bound by awards the contents of which could not be ascertained.

Fifteen-year-oid Message After carrying a message' fur the last 15 years, Mr T. J. Thomas, of Titirangi. lias at last delivered it to the man for whom it was originally intended, In 1922 he was bidding farewell to the guide who had shown him around the graves on a French battlefield when an Englishman standing alongside, evidently attracted by his accent, asked him whether he came from New Zealand. Mr Thomas replied that he did, adding that he came from the Gisborne district. “Then I used to deliver your newspapers when the Spanish-American War was on,” said the Englishman. “I am Willy D .” “ Willy ’’ asked Mr Thomas to deliver a message to a former playmate. and last week, after 15,years’ inquiries, Mr Thomas located the man at Avondale, near his own home.

The Crest of Alcoholism The question of how long after alcohol has been consumed the highwater mark of intoxication is reached was discussed in some detail during a case in the Wellington Magistrate’s Court. One medical practitioner who examined the defendant at 1.55 a.m., approximately an hour after one glass of wine had been taken, said that the question depended to some extent upon the food a person had had previously and whether he was used to alcohol. Another medical practitioner, who said that the defendant was not intoxicated at 2.45 a.m., 50 minutes later, said that recent medical research, as late as last year, had shown that alcohol concentration in the blood two hours after drinking was almost as great as an hour afterwards, and that an examination two hours afterwards was a fair test. The magistrate (Mr E. D. Mosley) said: “ Of course, medical men differ about that.” The doctor replied that maximum intoxication might not be reached until four hours after drinking. The time of maximum intoxication varied from person to person, upon the functioning of their glands, and upon a number of other similar factors.