LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20783, 19 July 1937, Page 6

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Railway Excursions The excursion from Christchurch to Timaru yesterday proved very popular, 415 passengers leaving the train when it reached here. The train from Timaru to the city had 250 aboard when it left. “And in Spain” In speaking to a proposal In support of a State lottery at the conference of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, one delegate said that Queensland and the Irish Free State received a great deal of revenue from lotteries. Another delegate Interjected, "And in Spain.” This unexpected support was adopted by the speaker, but his remark, "Yes, in Spain,” was received with a roar of laughter, and another delegate commented that there was certainly a gamble going on In Spain at the present time. Hawke’s Bay Roads Severe criticism of Hawke’s Bay highways was expressed at a meeting of the Automobile Association, Hawke’s Bay. The chief patrol officer, Mr M. O. Jack, reporting on the corrugated condition of certain roads, said there was not a good road in the Hawke’s Bay county. “I will go further,” said the president, Mr J. H. Edmundson. "The roads in the whole of Hawke’s Bay province are the worst between Napier and Wellington. They are obsolete. There is no design about a lot of them, no proper super-elevation at curves or anything.” Horses for North Island With the gradual decline In value of farm horses in the South Island, due to the demand for tractors, which have made marked Inroads into the work of the farm during the year, an export movement has now started to the North Island, where values have not depreciated to the same extent. This was exemplified when buyers from Wairarapa and Manawatu went to Canterbury and made substantial purchases. More than 30 draught horses were selected, practically all of which were mares, and these were shipped last week to the North Island, "The Ranks of Tuscany” The contention that he had never solicited patronage from the farmers for his carrying business, made by an operator during the sitting at Dunedin of the No. 4 Transport Licensing Authority, provoked some ironical comment. When pressed again by the opposing counsel (Mr O. G. Stevens) for ah answer, the operator said he had never approached a farmer for his custom; the farmers had always come to him. The remark was greeted with a subdued round of applause, evidently from an interested party, at the rear of the room. "Even the ranks of Tuscany could scarce forbear to cheer," exclaimed Mr Stevens. Demands of Unemployed It is unusual for Labour Ministers to have noisy meetings, but when the acting-Minister of Labour, the Hon. P. C. Webb, addressed a large gathering of the unemployed In the Town Hall concert chamber, Auckland, last week, there was a fair amount of noisy interjections, which occasionad the chairman, the Hon. F. E. Lark, M.L.C., to call for order on several occasions. During the meeting one of the speakers urged the unemployed to organise in one union with the object of affiliating with the Federation of Labour, and the statement was made that the unemployed would support the Government but they want it to carry out its election promises. Another statement was that the men would support the Government but they desired a higher standard of living in keeping with the new basis established by the Arbitration Court. A Question of Terms “Slang is not always acceptable in court, but it is frequently very apt and appropriate,” observed Mr J. H. Luxford, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, Wellington. "There is a slang term which seems to be particularly appropriate at the moment,” continued Mr Luxford. “What has apparently been happening with these unemployment frauds can only be described in the American term, a ‘racket’—a vicious ‘racket.’ ” Later a witness used the phrase “putting him in the pot.” Mr Luxford asked whether that meant “putting his pot on,” and he- was told that that meaning was correct. Counsel subsequently used the term "pipping on him,” and an inquiring look was soon on Mr Luxford's face, but when a witness later used the term “scrounger” several times in quick succession, a smile of recognition appeared, and the term was accepted without question. A Solicitor Discomfited A solicitor who appeared in connection with an application at the sitting of the No. 4 Transport Licensing Authority at Dunedin last week, had good reason to regret that, during cross-examination of a witness, he indulged in a little unguarded flattery After a lengthy questioning, during which there were several brisk exchanges, the solicitor remarked in a placatory manner, "Now, my mind does not work > very fast and Ido not follow your answers.” Quick as a flash came a rejoinder from the witness: “I had noticed that!” Later in the day, however, during the hearing of another case, the solicitor concerned in this episode was able to take a slight revenge when an opposing solicitor concluded a rather lengthy examination with the triumphant exclamation, “Now, we see which way the wind blows!” “Oh, yes,” was his dry observation, “there is always plenty of wind.”