NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24605, 13 May 1941, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

nPHE appearance in Egypt of LieuA tenant Davies, the man who became world-famous as the officer in charge of the bomb disposal unit which removed a huge bomb that menaced the safety of St. Paul’s, in London, is related in a letter which has been received in Dunedin from a New Zealand officer now in Egypt. “ Yesterday I attended, together with my colleagues of all units of the British army here, a lecture on bomb disposal, that is, the removal and rendering harmless of unexploded or delayed action bombs, given by the very famous Lieutenant (now Major) Davies, the man who won the George Cross for removing the bomb from St. Paul’s Cathedral,” he writes. “You will have seen his photo in every illustrated paper in the last few months. He has certainly done some wonderful things, and his talk was very interesting and produced a few pieces of good wit, the best of which was— ‘ The essential characteristics required of a volunteer for bomb disposal are a strong back and a weak mind.’ He also astounded us concerning the number of bombs his squads had successfully removed in England in the short period of three or four months.” A Substantial Estate The estate of Miss Eliza Borrie, of Dunedin, has been sworn for probate purposes at under £40,000. Public Health Returns During the week ended at noon yesterday, one case of mumps was admitted to the Logan Park Hospital. Two cases of scarlet fever and one of mumps remained at the institution yesterday. Supreme Court At a sitting of the Supreme Court yesterday morning, before Mr Justice Kennedy, a petition by Scoullar and Chisholm, Ltd. (Mr E. A. Duncan), under the Companies Act, 1933, for leave to reduce the capital of the company from £35,000 to £15,237 10s, was granted. Kerosene Lamps on Motor Cars Motorists anxious to meet their obligations arising from the black-out regulations, but equally anxious to avoid running down the batteries of their cars by prolonged use of parking and tail-lights (states the New Zealand Herald) are trying various ways of solving the problem. Small kerosene lamps, to be firmly fixed to the front and rear bumpers when the car is left on the road for long periods at night, are now carried by some motorists, although sneak-thieves have already shown that these lamps should be padlocked in position. Other motorists have experimented with electric torches as improvised parking lights, but the cost of battery renewals does not make this proposition attractive to many.