In the News

Southland Times, Issue 24492, 21 July 1941, Page 4

In the News

Not Grand Opera “Did your neighbour have a radio?” asked Mr C. S. Thomas of a witness in a divorce action in the Supreme Court in Timaru. “Yes,” replied witness. “Did you ever go in to hear it. “Yes. About three times a week to hear the wrestling and boxing.” His Honour Mr Justice Northcroft: Did you ever go in to hear grand opera? Witness: No. Big Sheep Shipment

A hundred stud rams, many of them prize-winners at last season’s shows, are now being assembled in Wellington for shipment to North and South America. They are Corriedales, Lincolns, Romneys and Southdowns,' of which New Zealand has developed exceptional types. By the time some of the sheep reach their destination, the cost of transport will amount to about £6O each.

Dearer Seeds Because of higher freight and other charges, all imported seeds are expected to rise sharply in price this year. This is indicated by a report that the price of chou moellier seed from one English firm has been fixed at 5/- per lb) compared with 3/10 last year. Dangerous Shooting

Two brand-new rifles were on exhibition in the Upper Hutt Magistrate s Court last week. They were the property of two youths of 18 and 19J years of age, and had been used for target practice in a shed only seven yards from a public street. Evidence was given that bullets, which had an effective range of 500 yards, had come through the back of the shed and crossed tire street. The Magistrate, Mr A. M. Goulding, S.M., fined each of the youths £2 and ordered the police to apply for an order under the Arms Act for the owners of the rifles to show why the weapons should not be confiscated. Colour-Blindness

“From 4 per cent, to 5 per cent, of men are wholly or partly colour-blind—red-green blind as we call it, said Mr G. Maxwell Keys, boys’ vocational guidance officer, when speaking at a meeting of the Parents’ National Educational Union in Christchurch. On the other hand, he said, he had met only one woman or girl who was colour-blind. Sea Lion at Greymouth Far north of the usual latitude for such animals, a well-grown sea lion has made a temporary home on the south breakwater at Greymouth during the last few days. On Thursday afternoon the sea lion was basking on the rocks about halfway between the signal station and the end of the breakwater, but it disappeared on Friday morning. Airman’s Luck A Christchurch youth in training for the Air Force has begun his career with the nickname “Lucky.” It happened this way. A party of naval and Air Force trainees were recently travelling from Auckland to Wellington by. train. A little way out of Wellington it was found that one of them was. missing. His mates assumed he had missed the train at the last stopping place. They put his gear together and took it to the steamer express wharf at Wellington, for they were to travel on to Christchurch overnight. Hours later the missing one turned up. He calmly announced that he had fallen off the train. “Nothing serious,” he said. “Just fell off.” By a stroke of great good fortune he suffered nothing more than a bruise or two. He picked himself up after his fall, walked seven miles to the nearest station, and caught the next train to Wellington. They called him lucky after that. The Guards Have Their Code An amusing story was told by a New Zealand officer who has returned from the Middle East, and who was attached temporarily to a regiment of British Guards in the Western Desert. With a British officer, a sergeant and a few men, he set out to capture two or three prisoners as samples from an Italian force not far away. A high roadway intervened. The New Zealander undertook to reconnoitre the position. He wriggled up the slope and wormed his way across the road until he had a clear view. Then he returned in the same fashion to the other edge of the road, and signalled the others to follow his example. They strode up, and, much to his astonishment, stood upright on the highway. “Why don’t you crawl?” he whispered. “We never crawl in the Guards, sir,” the officer replied. The Italians, however, seemed to be mesmerised, and nothing happened except the taking of the prisoners.

Mr Churchill on Golf Speaking at a dinner held in London recently to celebrate the editorial jubilee of Sir Emsley Carr, Mr Winston Churchill mentioned that Sir Emsley used to encourage him to go and try to learn golf at Walton Heath in company with Lord Riddell and Lloyd George.

“I preferred the company to the game,” said Mr Churchill. “I did my best, and must say that golf did form a technical ritual, and viewed in its proper proportions provides a very agreeable, or at any rate tolerable, accompaniment to conversation.” (Laughter.) Landlord and Tenant

If a landlord pays a price for property far in excess of the real value at the time of his purchase, his imprudence should not be rewarded at the expense of the tenant, and, on the other hand, if he makes a good bargain by acquiring the property at a price well below its true value, the tenant is not entitled to share in his good luck, according to an opinion expressed in a judgment given by Mr J. H. Luxford, S.M., in a fair rents case which came before him recently. In the case under consideration the Magistrate said that the sum of £2OO spent on renovations should be treated as part of the maintenance costs. The actual money invested by a landlord in a tenement was a relevant factor in determining the fair rent, but it might be a decisive factor or it might not, according to the particular circumstances. “The Courts, in the administration of the Act, have tried to fix the fair rent so as to return the landlord 4| to 5 per cent, net on the value of the property, after making an allowance for depreciation of buildings,” said the Magistrate. “If either party shows that the application of the rule is likely to cause undue hardship the rule may be varied.” “Vague and Guileless” Discussing her father’s broadcasts from Berlin, which are arousing great resentment in Britain, Mrs Peter Cazalet, P. G. Wodehouse’s daughter, said: “I make no effort to defend my father, but I think I know why he has allowed the Germans to exploit him like this. He is one of those vague, guileless men, who take people at their face value so long as they are pleasant. If they tell him there is no harm in these broadcasts he will believe them. “I know it’s idiotic, but that’s the sort of man he is. I wish I could stop him.”

Protests demanding that his country should disown him are being sent to London by some of those who were formerly Wodehouse’s greatest admirers.