TOWN and COUNTRY

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 309, 20 July 1933, Page 4

TOWN and COUNTRY

Stratford Aero Club A general meeting of the Strafford Aero Ciub will be held in the premises of Messrs. R. H. White and Company tonight. The business on hand will be to consider the rules of the club which have been drawn up tor approval. Tonight's Wrestling The wide interest which attaches to tonight's wrestling bout between "Whiskers" Blake and George Walker is indicated by the fact that this morning the box plan at Rex Watson's was full. Every ringside seat and hundreds of others had been reserved. Feathered Visitor An unusual native bird has taken up its abode in the garden of Mr. E. 11. Young's residence in Brecon Road. It is a green and brown bird, with i\ note like a tui, but is smaller, being about the size of a sparrow. Mrs. Young states that the visitor is quite tame, and can be approached to within a few yards. It has not been identified as yet. Bawbees The enlightening statement that the word bawbees is a correct ,l< • !) ical term for a Scotch coin was miiae by Archdeacon. G. H. Gavin in a lecture on old coins at the antique exhibition in the Stratford Town Hall yesterday afternoon. "I had always thought that bawbees —of which I often heard my father fall:—was a alang term for a 'bob,''' said the archdeacon. "Actually, however, it is a correct technical term for a Scotch coin." He produced a bawbee stating that it bore, along with other inscription, the cross of St. Andrew.

Hiqh School Rugby The Stratford Technical High School Rugby fifteen will play three games with other college teams bcTore the season closes. A match with the Hawera High School first fifteen for the Sergeant Cup, now held by Hawera, has been arranged for next Thursday at Hawera.. Rongotai College will visit Stratford on August 17 to play the Stratford fifteen at Victoria Park. Before the term ends a match will be played against the second fifteen of Wanganui Technical College at Wanganui. The school fifteen has played eight games in the third grade competition and has 11 championship points. No other team in the contest has n'ayed less than nine games or scored more than 11 points.

Rpoid Progress Tremendous damage wa« do"e to about six miles of the Puniwhakau Road in unprecedented floods and vnchouts which occurred several weeks ago. Prompt action, however, on the part of the Public Works P' 1 - rnrfT , intl< -_ Cluneal and Mr. W/ J. Poison, M.P., set the wheels i" motion to repair the damage, and vro'd has been made wPh the work. The county engineer, Mr. J. W. Spence. stated today that a full-width road has been reformed for over half the distance of the damaged portion, tbe o'ily break beinr a <-itr> for a b v idg<\ This, however, will be erected in the course of tbe next dav or two. Farther on an e ; ght-foot track has been put. through. M". Spence said I hat cars-would probably be able to make use of the road some timo next week.

Gorid Record of Railways "Do you know tho n*rcentap , e of lossns on the railways?'' asked Mr. Aiekin, railwnv lav officer, of a witness before tho Transport Board, statfw the Now Zealand Herald. Tho witness had remarked thai thorn was moro likelihood of parcels fmwp: astray by rail than bv car. "Would you he surnvi c "d to know.'' Mr. Aiekin continued, "that tho p" l '- o.ontafe loss in tho Inmost ot anv railway in tho world?" The witness fid he had "a frreat fl<vO nf time" to** the railways. "Tf von' h"d b«nn rmvnljini» on tho railways latclv you would have discovprffl that the railways ar" somewhat different from what tbny were 14 years ago," raid Mr. Aiekin.

They Didn't Know ]t is always considered the first, essential when parties go to court to know the facts of one':; case, and know them well. In the civil action heard at Auckland in which the pacing gelding Oliver Thorpe figured, it was surprising that the parties, in evidence, consistently mentioned that it, was the second race at the February meeting of the Auckland Trotting Club that Oliver Thorpe had contested. Mr. McKean, S.M., who had been casually glancing through the race book, remarked thai he could not find Oliver Thorpe's name among those listed, and it. was not till he had glanced at the subsequent events that, he found the horse had raced in the fourth event, and no!) tho second.

Hoarding Gold Exhausted The exhaustion of supplies of hoarded gold coins, reflected by the closing of several gold-buying shops which sprang up like mushrooms some months ago, following the rise in price of gold, is mentioned in the annual report of the New Zealand Numismatic Society. Another factor contributing to the closing of these businesses was the export duty of 12t Gd per ounce placed on gold.

Veteran Railway Waggon A relic of the early Canterbury railways, an old waggon which saw service on the Rakaia-Ashburton Forks Railway Company's line about 50 years ago, is still being used by the Railways Department at Christchurch for heavy work. This veteran waggon was brought, from England by the company, which built and operated the Methven branch line before it was bought by the Government, and it is still quite serviceable.

Pheasant Causes Alarm A resident of Fealherston hearing a strange noise in his poultry yard recently, and thinking til it thieves were about, commuicated will) the police by telephone. On their airival they found a pheasant in (lie yard in a dvinjr condition. On examination it was found that the bird had died through breaking its neck. It is surmised that the bird either struck a post in its flight• or, Immhk startled while feeding in the scrub, caught its neck in a fork of manuka or gorse tree. ; • • ' t - : -