CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19511, 9 June 1933, Page 8

CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

IN AND ABOUT THE CITY. CHRISTCHURCH, June 8. Personal: Sir Hugh Acland, who is a member of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, was congratulated at last evening’s meeting upon the honour conferred upon him by the King. Messrs W. J. Boyce and W. P. Glue weer appointed last evening to represent the Canterbury Progress League at the meeting called by the Mayor (Mr D. G. Sullivan, M.P.) in regard to unemployed relief camps. Motions congratulating Professor R. Speight on his election to the position of president of the New Zealand Institute, and Dr H. G. Denham upon his election as a Fellow of the Institute, were carried at the meeting of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury last night. A Canterbury cricketer of some distinction, Mr T. J. Malone, has died, :»t the age of 57. Tom Malone was a slow spin bowler, spinning the ball either way, whose name often comes into discussions of cricket in Canterbury between 25 and 35 years ago. He played first for the old Addington Club. In 1895 that club was merged in the Sydenham and Addington United Club, and eventually it became known just as the Sydenham Club. Tom Malone played for it until district cricket came into operation in Christchurch, when he joined the West Christchurch Club. He first played for Canterbury in the 1895-96 season, against Otago. Canterbury Alert: A decision to press for Canterbury’s share of the increased Public Works Department vote to be expended on main highways has been made by the Canterbury Progress League executive. Mr G. Maginness raised the point of the allocation by the Government of an extra £500,000 for public works, including highways. He moved that the Government should be approached + o see if some part of the £500,000 should be used for sealing roads in Canterbury. Hardening Up Time: “We don’t know whether the strenuous times are hardening men and boys, but the attendances at our club activities this week have been much greater than is usual in bad weather,” said Mr A. J. McEldowney, secretary to the Christchurch Y.M.C.A., to-day. On Monday evening, for instance, the city primary boys’ group had the biggest attendance it has ever had. A great deal of keenness was being shown in all groups. Mr McEldowney said. Club captains, chosen from among the boys, were showing a sense of responsibility that had sometimes been lacking in other years. Hit by Big Seas: The absence of four large panes of glass from the thwartships screen at the forward end of the deck below the promenade deck of the ferry-vessel Rangatira caused some speculation after her arrival at Lyttelton this morning. The damage was done when the Rangatira shipped two big seas in succession about 3 o’clock this morning, the panes of thick glass being knocked clean out of the frames. No other big seas were encountered, and the ship was only twenty minutes behind her usual time in berthing at Lyttelton. Oysters Sell Well: Sizzling hot from the frying pan curried, raw, stewed or in the form cf thick, creamy soup, oysters appear to be becoming one of the staple winter foods in Christchurch. They are selling steadily to a good demand, and, as an indication of the number of oysters sold daily in the city, one big fish shop disposes of from 120 to 150 dozen a day. Oysters are in good supply, and the present time may be called the height of the season, which ends in August. Oysters are a valuable food, and are frequently prescribed for convalescents as a tonic. They are easily assimilated, being classed among the white meats. Oysters are considered by many as the choicest of delicacies. Time to Advertise: “How many of your customers have told you in the past month that it is useless to spend money in advertising at the present time?” was one of the questions asked by Mr J. J. Staples, during the course of his talk entitled “Printing that Wins the Benediction of the Advertiser,” to members of the Christchurch printing fraternity. Continuing, h~ “In these days people are more ned to study their expenditure. They want to be told all about an article before they invest their good cash on it. The time to advertise to them is now. In good times anybody could ‘get by’ and get customers. To-day the customer goes where he’s invited and where he has been assured by the advertiser of a fair deal.”

Men Go Into Camp: Bound for the State Forestry Department’s new camp at Jollie’s Pass, Hanmer, twenty-five relief workers left Christchurch this morning. They formed the second draft of men who have gone to the camp from the city this week. The first draft, which numbered twenty, went into camp on Monday, when the new camp was opened. It is a camp for single men, and provides accommodation for fifty. Young, middle-aged, and old men left the city in the morning’s draft. All were travelling a road at the end of which there was the promise of a steady job, three meals a day, a warm bed at night, and ten shillings a week as wages. They left cheerfully, although they had been told that the winter was severe in the region where they were going. “It’s a job, and a darn sight better than nothing,” said a man who voiced the philosophical outlook of the party.

Irrigation in Canterbury: The District Public Works Engineer, Mr F. Langbein, at the request of the Canterbury Progress League, is to submit a report to his Department on the various sources of water supply in the province in connection with the irrigation scheme which the league has in hand.

Reporting to the meeting of the league, Mr P. R. Climie stated that since the previous meeting progress had been made in the direction of furthering the irrigation scheme in Canterbury. The Minister of Public Works said that his department would undoubtedly co-operate. Mr Climie told the Minister that an immediate report could not be expected but the work could be spread over two or three months. In the meantime the league was continuing with the experiments it was conducting.

Wintry Weather: After a fine, clear night which gave promise of a good frost to follow, the sky again clouded up from the south this morning, and rain commenced to fall in showers from ten o’clock. Conditions generally over the province were bitterly cold, with continued rain in most parts, and with further falls of snow in the back country.

Up to 9.30 a,m. to-day the Magnetic Observatory recorded that ,06in of rain fell during the preceding twenty-four hours, bringing the total for the year to date up to 8.44in, compared with 7.44in at the same date last year. If the temperature had been .4 of a degree colder, it would have been freezing.

While predicting finer weather, the Government forecast adds that the storm which caused the recent heavy rains in northern New South Wales is, however, approaching across the North Tasman Sea. Rain was experienced at Lyttelton this morning till after 10 o’clock, when the weather cleared, but remained threatening. There were eleven vessels in port this morning, requiring all the available union labour and about 100 unemployed men.

Family’s Night of Terror: Their home isolated in open farm country which residents say was a mass of blue flame, Mr and Mrs Charles Watson and their daughter, Miss F. Watson, of 64 Mcßratney’s Road, Waimairi County, had a terrifying experience on Tuesday night. Right in the centre of a most demonstrative electrical disturbance, the house was smitten by lightning whose effect on the wireless and electrical installations produced two violent detonations, blew out three glass window panels in two rooms, set fire to the house, damaging the wallpaper in two rooms, blew out the electric meter, and set fire to the kapoc pillow on a bed. It was a veritable night of terror for the household. The family retired at 10 pm., and about 10.30 p.m., when the thunder was at its worst, it seemed to be right overhead. The darkness of the vicious winter’s night was shot with flashes of blinding brilliance, and the closeness of the first big thunder clap so filled Mrs Watson and her daughter with awe that they hid their heads under the bed coverings. The two women slept together in the front room, and Mr Watson in a back bedroom. Then followed another immense roll of thunder, splitting the night, and impressing the whole family with a sense of rising and falling as though the house were afloat on a tide. Immediately there were two violent detonations which residents heard a quarter of a mile away. As Mrs Watson said, the whole house seemed to be electrified, and she and her daughter were almost thrown out of bed. It seemed that the house was bursting asunder as two windows in the front bedroom and one in the sitting-room were blown outward, and the cold wind swept in on the terrorstricken women.

Mrs Watson told a reporter that the accumulated effect of the nightmare experience, while it lasted, made her think that the world was coming to its end. Not so very long ago she was in ill-health for about two years, and the series of events on Tuesday night have unnerved her.

Mrs Watson is firmly convinced that she and her daughter would have been killed if they had not been hiding their heads under the bed clothes.