IN TOWN AND OUT

Southland Times, Issue 20525, 29 June 1928, Page 8

IN TOWN AND OUT

NEWS OF THE DAY. Cheap Eggs. M The price of eggs in Invercargill has been reduced again. Two shillings per dozen is the present retail value. For this period of the year, the price is considered phenomenal, and as there are plenty of eggs to be had, it is likely to remain so for some time. Local merchants comment on the over-supply, and say that it is many years since so plentiful supplies were available during winter. Hail and Snow. Invercargill experienced a touch of real winter yesterday. Shortly after noon a heavy hailstorm passed over the town, leaving in its wake drifts of hail plied up against fences, houses and buildings. This was followed in the evening by a mild snowstorm, which covered the town with a beautiful white mantle. The fall lasted for 20 minutes, but was not sufficient to prevent the melting of the mantle within half an hour of the fall. Bluff Town Hall. The new Town Hall at Bluff will be completed in from two to three weeks. After that the council staff has still to instal the lights and lay asphalt round the new structure. Special lighting will be done from the street lighting mains. The contractor, Mr A. J. Ball, took over the section on November 21, and as his time is up on July 21, he will have taken only seven months to do the work. A grand carnival and bazaar is being run to provide funds for the furnishing. ♦ * * * Meaning of “Puni.” On Wednesday an article on the Puni Creek was published, in which the meaning of “Puni” was given as "blocked up” or else “a crowd of people,” and it was suggested that the word applied either to the frequent blockings of the Puni or to the fact that the Maoris used io camp on its banks when cutting the flax which was so abundant there. A Times reporter was told last night by a scholar of Maori that "Puni” also means “dark’’ and was applied to the creek on account of its discoloured water. * * « » First Impressions! Perhaps it would be a difficult matter to convince the many passengers who arrived by last evening's express train that the snowstorm which greeted them just after the train pulled in was quite an unusual welcome—not a “typical” one as one traveller was heard to remark. However, first impressions are lasting, and as there were a number of visitors among the passengers, doubtless “arriving at Invercargill in a snowstorm” will always remain in their memories. Perhaps the “blame” may be put on to the Railway Department. The express was half an hour late. There was no snowstorm at 9 o’clock! * * * * The Coal He Left Behind. When a well-known local man moved from Invercargill a short time ago he left a quantity of coal in the coalshed. The tenant who took possession of the dwelling burnt the coal, and at the same time called down blessings on the good-natured generosity that had prompted the late owner to depart without the black diamonds. What was his horror and indignation a few days later, however, to receive a letter from the late owner, stating that he was aware of the coal that he had left behind and offering it to the new tenant at a tidy figure! The new tenant considers it the prize example of meanness, and is busily engaged in searching into the late owner’s ancestry to discover if the blood of Scotia courses through his veins.

Weddings and Wireless. The wonders of wireless will never cease. On Wednesday evening a wedding was celebrated in a home in Invercargill and the glorious strains of the Wedding March w’ere wafted in to the celebrants by a loud speaker from the next house. The owner of the wireless set, a friend of the bride's, had communicated with the Christchurch broadcasting station telling the manager there of the forthcoming event. Just as the officiating minister was about to unite the happy couple the broadcaster announced to all listeners-in, including the wedding party, that at Invercargill a nuptial ceremony was about to commence and that in honour of this the orchestra would play the Wedding March. Then came the music and the ministers’ pleasant task. So overcome was the bridegroom at being the first to have Mendelssohn’s March broadcasted at his wedding that he was utterly unable to find the ring and the minister had to use his own to bind the two. Later the real ring was found and the parson’s returned.