In Town And Out

Southland Times, Issue 23946, 12 October 1939, Page 6

In Town And Out

inergency Measures Fail

In the event of an electric power failure in Bluff, the council some time ago arranged for the ringing of the bell in the Anglican Church. This emergency measure, however, proved that it has a weakness. On Sunday a chimney fire occurred about 11 a.m. This coincided with the church service and members of the brigade remained unaware of the outbreak. Luckily the fire was not of a serious nature and was soon extinguished without damage to the dwelling.

Missing Car The Invercargill police report that a small grey-coloured car was taken from Leet street between the hours of 7.15 and 8.45 o’clock last evening. The number of the car is 7866. It had not been recovered at midnight. Borstal Inmate’s Escape An inmate of the Invercargill Borstal Institution escaped at about 11.30 o’clock on Tuesday night. He had not been recaptured at midnight yesterday. r . False Alarm The Invercargill Fire Brigade was called to a house at- 239 Dee street at 10.43 o’clock last night. The alarm, given from a street box, was a justifiably false one, thick smoke rising from the house having been seen by the informer. ' Vandalism at Public Library The Empire is at war, and its people have been asked to carry out their daily routines as usual. This idea has been taken very much to heart by one irresponsible person in Invercargill who sees fit to take advantage of the free literature provided in the Public Library. Regularly, one Australian journal has been deprived of its page of recipes and in spite of warning notices placed purposely on that particular page the offender apparently still delights in mutilating the paper. Other such acts of vandalism, which amount to theft, have been reported by those in charge at the library.

Failing to Dip Lights The first prosecution in Invercargill for failing to dip headlights of a motorcar at night was brought by the chief city traffic inspector (Mr E. Stopford) in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Mr Sto’pford said the case had been brought as a warning/ and the Magistrate (Mr R. C. Abernethy) said that on this occasion he would just convict and order the defendant to pay costs.

Garden Competition A garden competition with the object of improving the appearance of the city generally for the Centennial Royal Show will be held in Invercargill this summer and already much interest is being shown. Judging will start at the beginning of November and already several residents have entered. The competition, which will close on December 12, is open to amateur gardeners only. Points will be allotted for both flower and vegetable gardens and five prizes, ranging from £5 down to £l, will be competed for. A vice-president of the Southland A. and P. Association has given the £l5 for prize-money. Any householder living in greater Invercargill is eligible to . enter provided the size of the residential property is not more than a quarter of an acre.

Progress at Homer Tunnel The district public works engineer at Dunedin (Mr P. Keller) reports steady progress with the work at the Ifomer tunnel. The bush work on the road is complete to the 6|-mile peg from the Marion turn-off, and the most advanced cutting is at the 6-mile peg. The road is open for traffic up to the s|-mile peg. The tunnel work is going forward steadily, and the piercing of the lower heading is completed to 63 miles 14 chains s from the Te Anau Junction. This ' leaves approximately 12 chains yet to be pierced.

Taking of Toheroas The months of October and November have been declared a close season for the taking of toheroas on all beaches in the Dominion. A variation of this, so far as it applies to the taking of toheroas on the North Kaipara beach and Ninety Mile beach for canning purposes, has been gazetted. For the canneries the close season will be November and December. This variation, it is stated, officially applies only to canneries working their own leases and does not vary the close season for the general public on the two beaches mentioned.—Press Association.

Success Marred by Tragedy The Wellington father emu, Victor, has again won the annual paternity contest against Silas, the Auckland emu. This year Victor, after nine weeks’ sitting, brought into the world five fine baby emus, covered with speckled down. Unhappily tragedy marred his success. Discouraged, perhaps, by the lack of competition from Silas, or soured at the prospect of rearing a family in a world shaken by war, he has since sat on them and killed the lot. Nevertheless, Victor retains his championship title. Silas failed even-to hatch any of his large clutch. Eight of his eggs were addled and the remainder broken. Victor, at least, hatched 100 per cent, of his clutch, which consisted of five only.

Better Speech An effort to improve the standard of English speech in the Dominion is to be made by the Canterbury Association of Teachers of English. The association adopted the following resolutions:—“To ask the University Senate -to include an oral test as part of the requirements for English in the university entrance examination; to' ask the Education Department to insist on a similar 8 test as a condition of entrance to the teachers’ training colleges; to suggest to the Centennial committee a ‘speech week’ some time next year; during this week there would be several short talks over the air every day on the subject of good speech; to ask the broadcasting authorities to insist on a fairly rigid test for radio speakers, and to set aside a regular time for short talks on the subject of good speech.” These decisions were made after discussions which followed an address by Miss Phyllis Hollow, of the staff of the Rangiora District High School, entitled “The Speech of New Zealanders—A Challenge to Teachers.”