£2000 TO STRATFORD

Taranaki Daily News, 17 April 1935, Page 7

£2000 TO STRATFORD

FIRST PRIZE IN ART UNION MRS. M. KOVALESKI’S FORTUNE. NEWS RECEIVED VERY CALMLY. SMITH TURNS BACK TO HIS FORGE. 9 The holder of the winning ticket in the Grand Five Thousand art union, drawn at Wellington yesterday morning, is Mrs. M. Kovalerki, Hamlet Street south, Stratford, whose husband has a blacksmith’s business in Page Street. News of their windfall was conveyed to Mr. and Mrs. Kovaleski soon after the announcement that a first prize in a £2OOO art union had come to Stratford for file first time. The ticket was held under the nom-de-plume of “Paint” and the number was 114,669. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kovaleski received the news calmly and were by no means as excited as many of those who rushed to congratulate them. They admitted the money would be useful, but said they had nothing very definite in view for its disposal. The first harbinger of his good fortune came to Mr. in the form of a friend who entered the “smithy” and congratulated him on his luck. The sturdy blacksmith was busy wielding heavy hammer over anvil and refused to be drawn from things materialistic, “you go right on up the street to Dr. ; that’s the place for you,” was his advice to the friend, who had some difficulty in convincing him that his statements were no airy flights of imagination, but solid facts. “THE SAME AS USUAL.” Mr. Kovaleski was still as calm even after lunch, when the number of the ticket had been checked and the, auth-, enticity of the. news proved definitely; “Oh, I’ll just box on-the same as usual,” he stated when asked if he had any. plans made. “It will make no difference except that it will set me up, well.” He had recently placed his son on a farm, he said, and the money would be useful in giving his son a favourable start. “It is certainly a good bit of pocket money,” Mr, Kovaleski remarked, and as he turned back to his forge with the words “must get this job done,” he casually dismissed the thought of £2OOO in favour of concentration on the job in hand. An interesting story attaches to the .purchase of the ticket. Mr. and Mrs. Kovaleski were Contemplating painting and papering their home, and on the day the ticket was bought Mr. Kovaleski was in the saloon of a tobacconist and hairdresser. Mrs. Kovaleski called for him and as they were leaving the shop Mrs. Kovaleski saw the book of tickets on the counter and suggested they buy one. He pointed out that they had to pay tor the painting and papering they wanted done and was not keen to “spend the half dollar.” Mrs. Kovaleski, however, was not to be put off and took the ticket.. “What name Will I put on it?” she asked. “Anything,” Mr. Kovaleski replied not very helpfully and then, thinking of the work they wanted done, “put ‘paint,’" he added. And “Paint” it was. The principal prizewinners are:— First prize, £2000—114,669, “Paint,” Mrs. M. Kovaleski, Stratford. Second prize, £1000—129,239, “Just for Luck,” Christchurch. ; Third prize, £400—77,876, P. Brennan, Blaketown, Greymouth. Fourth prize, £3OO-142,189, “Tui,” Wellington. Fifth prize, £200—20,213, R. I. Floris, c/o. U.S.S. Co., Wellington. Sixth prize, £lOO-112,312, “Little Jackie,” Post Office, Omona, via Eltham. Seventh prize, £60—73,790, “Onewa,” Birkenhead, Auckland. Eighth prize, £50—87,614, “Good Old Joe,” Dunsandel,. Canterbury. Ninth prize, £40—157,'281,.“H0me Last,” W. Spooner, ,■ c/o. New Zealarid .Shipping Co., R.M.S. Ruahine, Wellington. Tenth prize, £3O-712,600, “Bull’s Wool,” Auckland. Eleventh prize, £2O--48,621, “In To Win,” Mrs. Pryde, McLean Street, Woodville. . x Consolation prize, £160—190,608, I/D.' Blythe, 49 Moreau,' St." Kilda, Dunedin'. All tickets bearing the terminal numbers 669 and 239 receive £2, Thfere are 322 of them.

The list of £2 prize winners in the Taranaki district is: Mrs. G. Goddard, Waitara; Mrs. V. Butter, Tariki; “What Name,” Opunake; Ted Golucky, Waitara; J. Kelson, Tangarakau; “Going Home,” New Plymouth; “Grading,” Carrington Road, New Plymouth; “Miss November,” Waverley; Ernest . .O’Dea, Kohuratahi; “New Plymouth,” Auckland; Barr Brown, Opunake; “A.J.F.,” Tikorangi; E. Burke, Patea; “Maidstone,” Herald. New Plymouth.