PERSONAL

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 354, 11 September 1933, Page 4

PERSONAL

Mr W. J. Poison M.P. will leave for Auckland by the express tonight.

Miss Myra Wilson is spending a short holiday with friends at Mangatoki.

Mr C. H. Rogers left by the morning mail train on his return to Wellington after spending a short holiday with hi's father, Mr C. H. RogersRegan Street.

Master Vivian King, who has been; spending his term holidays with his parents of Brecon Road, left by the mail train this morning for Wellington on hisi return to college.

Master E. Madden left by the express after a holiday spent with Master lan Whittle at the Stratford Hotel.

The Hon. J. A. Young, Minister of Health, left Wellington for the South on Saturday evening to take part in the Lyttelton by-election campaign.

At a meeting of the Woodville District Jockey Club Mr W. H. Caisford was elected president of the club, the position having become vacant through the death of Mr S. Bolton.

His Worship the Mayor, Mr. J. W. McMillan, has been advised that Mr J. S. Jessop, Deputy Chairman of the Unemployment Board, will be in Stratford tomorrow, when he will meet the Stratford Unemployment Committee and members of ihe unemployed.

The Unclaimed Motor Car A resident of Sydiienham, Christchurch, Mr. Ralph Berry, claims to have bought the winning ticket in the Wellington art union tor which a motor car was offered as the prize. Mr Berry has in his possession scraps of a ticket giving, partly completed, the number, which is DK2233. The question arises whether a missing portion of the third numeral was the top of a five or a three. Mr Berry has been searching for his ticket ever since it was reported that the winning number was sold in Christchurch and not in Auckland.

Six Weeks Without Pay After working nearly six weeks without pay, members of the outside staff of the Opotiki Borough Council decided to cease work. Their decision .was made as the result of legal opinion, which was presented at Tuesday night’s meeting of the council. which stated that the Council had not been responsible for the wages of the men since July 27 when, according to legal opinion, the men were dismissed. Two of the five dismissed employees, Messrs. Talbot (foreman) and Hartshorne (wharfinger), have been appointed to fill the respective positions until new appointmetns are made.

A Gisborne Story About 12 years ago a Gisborne resident received from a friend in Queensland, as a curio, a brightly coloured beetle of a type not found in New Zealand. As usually happens with things of that sort, the beetle was wrapped in cottonwool and put away in a cardboard pillbox. It was dead when it arrived from Australia and there was no doubt about it being dead when the box was opened six years later; Yet, when a day or two ago the Gisborne resident was sorting through a turnk in which the iMllbox was kept, she found on opening the box that six little beetles had hatched out, and one was still alive, although the original beetle had been incarcerated for 12 years in a practically airtight box, without food or Jiglu.

Was it a Nightingale? Campaign Against Earwigs Although the earwig is chief among the insect nuisances of Christchurch, and one that does much damage to fruit, flowers, and vegetables in a yea.', mos thouseholders are ignorant of its characteristics, habits, and seriousness as a pest, states The Press. To be effective a campaign against earwigs should commence in the first few weeks of this month, when the hatching of eggs commences. During August and September, according to temperature, the eggs hatch the minute white earwigs swarm in the ground. Earwigs are nocturnal and on the first jiight after hatching the young earwigs leave the ground and feed upon the tender parts of plants. Poison baits and traps have proved the most satisfactory methods of combating the pest. One method advocated by a gardener in Christchurch requires the use of sodium fluoride dissolved and set as bait with bran. It is safer to use than arsenic compounds, which, however, are good where conditions suit their use. Rolled newspapers and hollow rods or pipes are common and easy methods of trapping earwigs, which when caught are best killed in hot or boiling water, a method which ensures the destruction of all eggs.

“Stop When the Dogs Bark” While most persons requiring the services of the St. John Ambulance can give definite and easily followed instructions to the driver as to where he is to call, it not infrequently occurs that very vague and complicated messages are received, but one that was sent on Wednesday morning to the Fire Brigade headquarters by a doctor who was attending a patient at Ravensbourne almost reached the limit so far as directness was concerned, states the Otago Dily Times. The message ran as follows: “Turn off main road at monument; go around Harbour Terrace; turn up Junction Road into Hill Street: proceed a short way along Hill Street; turn down Stuart Street; go along and turn into Ross Street, then turn up Athol Place into Hill Street again, drive a short way, turn into Albank Street, anr stop when the dogs bark.” Had the message come from a less authentic source the driver would probably have regarded it as a hoax, but it seemed to be genuine enough, and he decided that the only thing to do was to follow the instructions to ihe letter. This he did, and on turning into Albany Street, he had arrived opposite a certain house when he was greeted by the loud barking of half a dozen dogs, which rushed out into (he street, lie stopped there, found that he was at the right flace, and collected his patient,

Was it a nightingale that a Riccarton man heard in Hagley Park, opposite Hagley Street, about midnight on Monday? asks the Christchurch Sun. He thinks it was. He swears it was. No other bird, he says could have that flutelike note, those trilling effects. He has two witnesses who heard the bird too. They aiso say it was a nightingale. He first heard the bird about midnight. He sat entranced, listening,even as John Keats listened to the song that inspired his immortal ode. For half an hour the carolling continued. And then a strange thing happened. The other birds in the park awoke to life and burst into full-throated song, as if to provide a chorus for the melodious stranger. Upon the still night air the notes rose and fell, weaving a pattery of melody. That is what this Riccarton man heard in Hagley Park on Monday night, about midnight. Was it a nightingale?

Monkeys as Comedians An unrehearsed comedy, in which the chief actors were two monkeys on exhibition in a largo shop window, entertained a large number of shoppers in Christchurch. The animals had attracted so much attention by their antics that two entrances to the shop were blocked by interested spectators. The management decided to white wash half the window to free one doorway of congestion by thus obstructing the view. A shop assistant did the white washing. The monkeys promptly rubbed the whitewash off the glass, the assistant was sent back to recoat the window. The monkeys, apparently seeing the possibilities in the whitewash, rushed him and captured both the brush and pot of whitewash, and very soon succeeded in plentifully dedaublng the window', the floor, themselves, and an artificial tree provided for their amusement. After this burst of fun the pair retired to the topmost branch of the tlree, triumphlantly bearing the pot with them.