IN TOWN AND OUT

Southland Times, Issue 21822, 27 September 1932, Page 4

IN TOWN AND OUT

NEWS OF THE DAY' 100 Bicycles Stolen. Over 100 bicycles have been stolen in Invercargill since the beginning of the year, although the majority have been recovered in various stages of repair. A number of arrests have been made. Police Examinations. The annual promotion examinations of the Police Department will commence to-day. Seven members of the force in Invercargill are to sit the examination, which is to be conducted by Inspector P. J. McCarthy. The papers have been sent from Wellington by the Commissioner of Police. » » » » Fire in Wood-house. At 8.25 last evening the City Fire Brigade received a call to 178 Tweed street, where a wood-house belonging to a residence owned by Mr Walter Henderson and occupied by Miss Short had caught fire. No trouble was experienced in quelling the outbreak. The building and contents were damaged. The fire is thought to have been caused by a spark from outside lodging under the building. ♦ » » • A Walking Record? While the rest of the world has been worrying about records on land, on sea and in the air, a number of young men in Southland have been confining their attention to establishing a walking record from Invercargill to Bluff.' Times of four hours and three and threequarter hours had been established, but on Saturday afternoon both these times were bettered. Two young men, Mr R. Tansley, of Invercargill, and Mr A. Parkin, of Riverton, walked the distance in 3hr 38min. » » • » Trampcrs’ Outing. Ideal weather conditions favoured the Southland Tramping Club’s trip to Daffodil Bay on Sunday. Leaving Invercargill at 10 a.m, 36 enthusiastic trampers proceeded to the clubhouse at Otatara and after partaking of lunch left for the bay, arriving at their destii—Lion at about 3 p.m. Daffodils were in abundance and presented a very pretty picture with a background of native bush on the surrounding hills. After a ramble through the bush and a visit to a freak tree which resembles a man’s head, the party left for home, calling in at the clubhouse for tea. * * » » Kowhai in Flower. ' An early flowering kowhai in the garden of Mr C. S. Longuet in Gala street has not escaped the notice of a tui which, thankful for the sustenance to be derived from the flowers, has again taken up temporary residence in the locality. The kowhai in Mr Longuet’s garden is of the North Island type which flowers much earlier than tlie South Island variety. It was reported recently that the kowhai was blooming in Auckland and the five weeks of almost uninterrupted sunshine experienced in Invercargill have probably been responsible for similar early flowering locally. Smallest Dog in the World. In a glass case in the window of A. and W. Hamilton’s, Esk street, is to be seen the smallest dog in the world—or its nearest relative. It was—for it is nearly a century since it lived—a King Charles spaniel which through close breeding grew no larger than a rat. It was born in Tasmania in 1840 and lived for eighteen months. For such a dog there was no ordinary interment. It was put in the hands of a taxidermist and has ever since retained the bloom of its early manhood. In 1854 it \vas brought to Southland and now, in 1932, it will for a few days be on view in Invercargill. * * * • Child’s Narrow Escape. When Mr John Robert McCulloch, a traveller residing at 16 Ramrig street, was motoring between Invercargill and Dunedin yesterday about 4.30 p.m., he came on several children who were playing on the roadside near Ota Creek. A little boy named McDonald, aged three years, a son of Mr John McDonald, a farmer of Ota Creek, who was one of the group, ran on to the road. The car veered off, but the boy ran back again and was struck by the bumper. He fell between the wheels as the car stopped and he then crept out from under the car. Apart from a small scalp wound he was unhurt. * ♦ ♦ ■ ♦ Strange Fish on Exhibition. In the course of plying their calling deep-sea fishermen occasionally come across some strange creatures, the latest to attract attention being a leather-jacket, a sea perch, a johnny dory and a rock cod. These were included in a recent catch in Foveaux Strait and, upon being placed op exhibition yesterday in the window of Messrs Pasco Bros.’ shop in Dee street were a source of considerable interest to passers-by. The johnny dory is of a very rare type, having twelve prongs in its head and possessing a pink body, scarlet fins and a bright yellow tail crossed with maroon stripes. Dull in comparison is the rock cod which is an unsual dark purple colour with attached to its lower jaw an appendage resembling a beard. The sea perch is a very pretty fish, its composition being made up of various shades of pink. Of a type commonly found in Australian waters the leather-jacket has no bright colourings in its make-up and, as its name implies, has a hard rough skin. Bank Manager’s Experiences. In the course of his long period of service Mr John Mac Gibbon, a onetime Invercargill resident who recently retired from the managership of the Christchurch branch of the Bank of New Zealand, met with many strange experiences. Relating these recently, he made reference to a period in which h was relieving in Central Otago. It was during the gold boom that Mr Mac Gibbon once handled 1300 ounces of gold from the Electric Company, the record for the best week’s dredging. He had to keep the gold in the bank during the week-end, and it was a worrying experience looking after it until it could be sent to Dunedin. While in Central Otago, Mr Mac Gibbon had the experience of two dishonest Chinese—one who stole a small quantity of fine gold after having his winnings weighed in the bank, by the use of a piece of sticky paper, to which the gold adhered; and another who put a lot of brass filings in the gold. Another bank had experience of a man who came in with a bar of gold which seemed to be genuine, but which, when assayed, was found to have a large lump of base metal inside it. “I have been asked,” said Mr Mac Gibbon, “what was the strangest proposal ever put to me. It happened in Christchurch not many years ago. A woman came in and asked me for an overdraft. I did not know her, and she had no account with us. I asked what security she had to give me. The security she offered was a troupe of performing monkeys.”