CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19451, 28 March 1933, Page 11

CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

INTERESTING ITEMS FROM THE CITY. CHRISTCHURCH, March 27. Personal. Sir R. Heaton Rhodes left for Wellington this evening to join the Minis- e teriai party which will attend a meet- t mg of the Waitangi Trust Board. s Mrs E. Rosa Sawtell was made a a life member of the Society for Imperial s Culture at its annual meeting on Saturday evening in recognition of her v valuable services as honorary secretary r over a number of years. Professor J. a Shelley praised Mrs Sawtell’s work, t and said that she would still be an v active member, as she had been elected a a vice-president. Mrs Sawtell resigned t from the secretaryship on account of r ill-health. The Royal Historical Society of Lon- r don, has granted a Fellowship to the Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, of Christ- r church, in recognition of his contri- t bution to the historical knowledge of the South Island of New Zealand, , down to the year 1850. Last year the Epworth Press, London, published Mr 1 Pratt’s book entitled “The Pioneering Days of Southern Maoriland.” This work, which fills a gap in the early ® history of the South Island, has been 1 well received in literary and historical a circles in this country find in a England. j Infectious Diseases. Five cases of dysentery were among | j the cases notified to the Health De- \ partment from Canterbury and the West Coast last week. From the West Coast there was one case of diphtheria and from Canterbury two of scarlet fever, four of tuberculosis, two of erysipelas, one of septicaemea and five of dysentery. There were two deaths from tuberculosis in Canterbury. Girl Cricket Reps. The following team has been selected to represent Canterbury in a Girls’ (( Association match against Otago at ‘ Easter:— ‘ B. Te Rangi, S. Garner, R. Cursons, ‘ V. Belworthy (Mai Moa), R. Symons J (Technical), M. Richards (Argyle House), M. Norman (Ballantyne’s), K. Sullivan, J. Webster (Old Girls), B. Fellowes, E. Berland (Spreydon). 1 Twelfth girl: P. Taylor (Technical). * The selector was Mr M. L. Page. ' Shirley Wins Again. £ For the second year in succession ' Shirley won the rinks championship s of the Christchurch Bowling Centre, ' when it beat United in the final on ? the Christchurch Club’s green, by 21 j points to 18. The green was in excellent order, j The Shirley rink was W. J. Shearman, 1 F. E. West, J. B. Johns, W. D. Ramsay, ' and the United rink was E. F. Black, < F. Lill, G. Rawlinson, T. Freeman. j Mothering Sunday. Mothering Sunday was held all over the world yesterday by the Church of j England. Special services were held in ’ several Christchurch parishes, including St. Stephens, Shirley and St. 1 Chad's, North Linwood. The observance of Mothering Sunday is a very old custom which came to England centuries ago, but it fell into disuse and for many years it was practically forgotten. A few years ago the custom was revived by a prominent member of the Mothers’ Union in England, and it has been taken up all over the British Empire. The special services are held every year on the fourth Sunday in Lent. Grass Fires Frequent. Several outbreaks of fire have occurred in the Southbridge district recently. One broke out in a stubble paddock on a Little Rakaia farm and a willing band of helpers came to the rescue. Another in the Rakaia river- j bed spread with alarming rapidity. | Many farmers who have stacks of oats | on their properties have ploughed around the areas. Strange Visitors. An unusual sight was witnessed in the outer harbour at Lyttelton yesterday afternoon. When yachtsmen were returning from Port Levy they saw numerous large shoals of whale feed, through which they passed. These visitations are fairly rare, but yesterday’s occurrence was even more interesting on account of the fact that it was accompanied by a visit from three albatrosses, which very rarely come so close inshore. For some reason one of the albatrosses alighted on the water and shortly afterwards died. The other two birds which accompanied their mate wheeled about as if mourning its death. The reason for the proximity to the shore of the huge birds was given by a mariner as being probably due to a storm on the coast. Doors Of Relief Depot Shut. If only the people of Christchurch could see the work that is done at the Central Relief Depot in Lichfield Street, contributions for the relief of distress would be greatly increased. The hundreds of people who have been forced to seek help include former architects, accountants and one man, at least, who was drawing £IOOO •a year. The acting director says that the health of the applicants is suffering because of semi-starvation —for that is all the sustenance amounts to. The rush of men and women to be interviewed one day was so great that the doors had to be closed at 11.45, after having been open since 9 o’clock. In nearly every case it was found that a man’s wife and children were “not feeling too well,” and it was not to be wondered at, for. in many instances a wife and family of six had to be kept on just over £1 a week. And the winter months will soon be here. Traffic Test Case. An appeal by Rink Taxis, Limited, against a recent decision in a traffic case heard in the Maistrate’s Court, was allowed by Mr Justice Kennedy in a reserved judgment delivered in the Supreme Court to-day. In the lower Court, Mr E. D. Mosley, S.M., had convicted the company ■ and ordered it to pay costs on a charge i that it permitted a heavy motor vehicle ! to be used in Moorhouse Avenue bei fore a heavy traffic license had been obtained. The Supreme Court judgment set aside the conviction. In giving judgment his Honour said that the real question was not whether the Heavy Motor-vehicle Regulations, 1932, applied to all heavy motorvehicles, but whether the vehicle referred to was a heavy motor-vehicle within the meaning of those words as artificially defined for the purposes of the regulations. If it was not, the regulation did not apply and the conviction had to be set aside. “It was conceded by the respondent, and it is clear, that the conviction ’’ could not be supported for the reasons o given by the learned Magistrate, but it remains to consider whether it may 3 otherwise be upheld,” said his Hon- _ our. s Ryoka Marti Leaves. The Japanese steamer Ryoka Maru f left Lyttelton on Saturday afternoon with 7200 tons of scrap iron on board

for Moji (Japan). Over 2000 tons of the iron was loaded at Lyttelton. The vessel is making a further call at Wellington to take in an additional 500 tons and is expected to leave there to-morrow for Japan. Few foreign crews who have visited Lyttelton can boast of having made more friends during their short stay than the crew of the Japanese steamer. This was due probably to the genial disposition and almost perpetual smile and courtesy shown by the ship’s personnel to visitors wishing to look over the vessel. From the master, Captain Kukushima, to the messboy, they all seemed to have endeared themselves to those with whom they came in contact. A large number of residents and children gathered on the wharf to witness the departure of the vessel, and the Japanese had a busy half-hour before the ship’s departure in signing autograph books. Plucky Badcock. Plucky in the extreme was the performance of F. T. Badcock in bowling j and fielding for New Zealand against the M.C.C. with a broken finger. Oil Friday afternoon, when fielding at cover-point, Badcock stopped a terrific shot from Hammond, and it was obvious that he had damaged a finger severely as he shook his hand in pain and consulted M. L. Page, the New Zealand captain. The game was held up for a short time but Badcock did not go off. He continued to bowl and only went off later for a few minutes for attention. For the rest of the afternoon he bowled finely, keeping the ball on the spot, and was the only New Zealand trundler to give the batsmen any trouble. It was thought that the finger might have been dislocated and it is understood that he played on Saturday against the doctor's orders. For all Saturday morning he bowled well again and continued to field. Under the circumstances his performance in sending down the large number of fifty-four overs, more than double that of any other New Zealand bowler, for 142 runs and three wickets, was all the more noteworthy. It was discovered yesterday that the finger was broken.