LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20513, 3 September 1936, Page 8

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Child Wanders Away A child of four wandered away from its mother in Timaru yesterday. The police were notified and a search was instituted, the missing infant being found after it had been “lost” for two hours. A Healthy District A case of scarlet fever was the „aly Infectious disease reported in the Levels County during July and August, according to a report submitted by the Health Inspector to a meeting of the Levels County Council yesterday. “We are a healthy lot of people in our district,” remarked the chairman (Mr T. B. Garrick) in expressing gratification at the position. Judgment By Default Mr C. R. Orr-Walker, S.M., entered judgment by default in the following civil cases at a sitting of the Timaru Magistrate’s Court yesterday:—John A. Smith and Sons v. Frederick Henderson, claim £2/3/6. costs £l/11/6; Reese Brothers and Unwin Ltd. v. A. D. and T. Wallace, claim £l/16/-, costs 11/-; Bing Harris and Co. Ltd. v. H. Edginton, part claim £6/13/7, costs £l/19, 6. The Shortest Essay This Is how the schoolboy did the shortest essay that Mr J. F. Russell, assistant master at the Auckland Grammar School, has ever seen. He told the story at the reunion dinner of the old boys. The essay, he said, was on “The Most Beautiful Thing I Have Ever Seen.” Mr Russell had been describing the vagaries of boys, and he said that possibly the fact that the essay was done as an imposition explained its brevity. This was the essay: “The most beautiful thing I have ever seen is too beautiful for words.” Communication Interrupted There was a temporary interruption to telegraph services between Auckland and some of the southern centres last night as a result of a motorist, who was later arrested on a charge of intoxication, colliding with a telegraph pole near the railway bridge south of Pokeno. The accident occurred at 8.13 p.m. and the breaking of several of the lines carried on the pole held up part of the Telegraph Department’s service for more than two hours. The impact of the collision snapped a 9-inch hardwood pole about six feet from the top. Kangaroo and Kiwi The kiwi at the Hawke’s Bay Acclimatisation Society’s hatcheries at Greenmeadows was an object of interest to several of the visiting Australian footballers on Sunday when, armed with cameras; they attempted to obtain a snapshot of New Zealand’s Rugby emblem. The kiwi, however, resented the Australians’ advances and had to be held by the visitors while the snapshots were taken. Immediately it was released the bird made for its burrow in the ground, where in its efforts to regain its interrupted seclusion, it dug furiously into the ground in a similar manner to a rabbit. Mining Accidents In metalliferous mines, at which 6746 men were ordinarily employed, five pagjpns were killed and three seriously injured, Mines Statement presented to Parliament by the Hon. P. C. Webb, Minister of Mines. At stone quarries, under the Stone Quarries Act, employing 2002 men, there were four fatal accidents and 10 serious accidents. In coal-mines, where 4231 persons were ordinarily employed, two were killed and 20 seriously injured. The Minister stated that one of the greatest concerns of his Department was the safeguarding of the lives of miners and that a scheme for the establishmnet of rescue stations would be provided for. Development of Tekapo A unanimous decision to support the Mackenzie County Council in an effort to have all the land, say, a 14ft contour, above the mean level of Lake Tekapo declared a national reserve held in trust for the nation, was reached by the Levels County Council at a meeting yesterday. The decision was arrived at as a result of a circular setting out a proposal to dam the Tekapo river a mile below the bridge and so raise the level of the lake from 30 to 40ft, which would inundate practically all the surrounding level land, cover Takapo House to the second storey and destroy a national scenic resort. “There is no doubt Lake Tekapo is a great asset to South Canterbury,” said the chairman (Mr T. B. Garrick) in advocating the Council’s support of the Mackenzie County Council’s protest. Unregistered Motor Cycle Before Mr C. R. Orr-Walker, S.M., in the Timaru Magistrate’s Court yesterday Athol Peter Talbot was charged with driving an unregistered motor cycle in Wai-iti Road, and with having no driver’s license. He pleaded guilty. Senior-Sergeant Hewitt explained that defendant was trying out an old machine for a lad who intended to purchase it. It had no exhaust and was making a terrible noise, which attracted the attention of Constable Ward. Defendant rode the machine, which was in a bad state of repair, to Gleniti and back to Highfield. “I understand that the other lad intended to buy the cycle for £2. so it must have been a fairly good one,” added the senior-sergeant. The Magistrate emphasised the seriousness of anyone, operating an unregistered and uninsured vehicle. Talbot was fined £1 and costs 3/on the first charge, and 5/- with costs 3/- on the second.