LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20930, 8 January 1938, Page 10

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Evidence at Temuka The Executive Commission of Agriculture, which is to investigate the dairy position in South Canterbury, will sit at the Fire Brigade Hall, Temuka, at 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday, and will continue the following morning at 11 o’clock at the Parish Hall, Temuka, not Geraldine as stated previously. Payment of Court Fine “We are not running a time-payment system here,” said Mr F. K. Hunt, S.M., in the Auckland Magistrate's Court this week, when an offender for drunkenness asked for time to pay his fine of 10/-. “I should like a fortnight in which to find the money,” accused said. “You can have a fortnight out at the gaol while you are getting the money if you like,” the Magistrate said. Unholy Alliance “There seems to be an unholy alliance between the highway authorities and the glass merchants," said a Southland motorist after an experience on the Bluff Road, when flying gravel knocked a hole in the windscreen of his car and his hand was cut by the flying glass. He added that his experience was by no means unusual, for its was fairly common for windscreens to be broken in this fashion. A New Year Tragedy One of the minor tragedies of the light flooding which occurred at Mokau recently was the loss of a keg of beer, which was washed out to sea in the frothy waters. A local resident had been celebrating hogmanay not wisely but too well, and, on his arrival home with three gallons tucked under his arm, his wife took prompt action to terminate the carousal. She hid the keg in a safe place in the paspalum on the flats—safe, that is, from all but the unexpected rising of the flood waters. Native Boring Grub Insects that have eaten into the sappy exterior of power poles on South Road, New Plymouth, have been identified as a variety of New Zealand insect. Speciments of the pest in both the flying and grub stages of development were submitted to Mr W. W. Smith, the New Plymouth entomologist, with the result that he was able to discount a suggestion that the borer was the Australian white ant. Mr Smith is also investigating damage done by the insects in a house near the poles. The Six Thousandth Baby On Thursday afternoon the chairman of the Otago Hospital Board (Mr J. W. Dove), accompanied by the secretary, paid a visit to the Batchelor Hospital to make a presentation to the six thousandth child born in the institution. The recipient was Michael Mulqueen, son of Mr and Mrs S. Mulqueen, and the presentation of two guineas was made in the presence of the matron (Sister Every), the house surgeon, the nurses, and other inmates. A similar presentation was made to the thousandth baby in July, 1914, and to the three thousandth in February, 1926.

The Innocent

He was an ardent amaetur horticulturist, and his great ambition was to grow sweet peas which would be the envy of his neighbours. He sought advice—and got it. Following directions carefully, he dug a trench, brushing aside the expostulations of his wife, and strewed the seed along the bottom. His work done, he waited confidently for results. An obliging friend, who did not like to see the hopeful one disappointed, slipped into the garden under cover of night and planted peas just about the trench. They grew in healthy fashion, and the innocent one now considers himself vindicated, but those in the know are waiting to see what happens when his peas grow pods and not flowers. An Unusual Accident Fish stories in their endless variety are taken with the proverbial grain of salt, and doubtless some motoring tales are in the same category. The one which follows is not. A few days ago a motorist on the Willowbank Road approaching Gore was travelling at a fair pace. For some four chains a hare ran on the grass alongside the road, and then decided to cross in front of the car. The animal misjudged the pace of the car, and, to escape being run over, it leapt into the car, collided with the windscreen, and was deposited between the driver and his wife. The windscreen was badly smashed, the passengers in the rear seat being treated to a shower of glass particles, but the only casualty was the hare. Even the most sceptical reader will be convinced of the accuracy of the facts here related when it is stated that' the authorities of the Otego Motor Club Insurance have been supplied with the necessary proof to substantiate the claim for damage.