ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25924, 16 August 1945, Page 6

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

Questions will not be answered unless . accompanied by the name and address of the correspondent.

" Thora.”—As the husband’s income totals £5 a week, the wife is not entitled to receive any age benefit. “ Tar Baby,” Oamaru. —More detail is required to enable your question to be fully understood. " Inquirer,” Otago.—Although as a general rule a parcel sent overseas must not exceed 51b in weight, and cannot contain more than 21b of any one article, an exception is made in the case of cake, which, with the container, may be 51b in weight. “ Black Maria.” Seacliff.—The van which conveys prisoners from the police courts to gaol is known as “ Black Maria.” The tradition is that the van referred to was so called from Maria Lee, a negress, who kept a sailors’ boarding house in Boston. She was a woman of such great size and strength that the unruly stood in dread of her, and when constables required help it was a common thing to send for Black Maria, who soon took charge of the refractory and led them to the lock-up. Thus a prison van came to be known as a Black Maria.”