Local and General News

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21184, 3 November 1938, Page 6

Local and General News

Differential Railway Rates On receipt of a letter from the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce requesting support for a move towards the abolition of differential railway rates, the Levels County Council decided yesterday to support the move. Magistrate's Court Messrs C. W. Wood and H. G. Naylor, J.P.’s, presided at a short sitting of the Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning, when judgment was granted plaintiffs in the following undefended civil claims:— Timaru Gas, Coal and Coke Company, Ltd. v. Havelock Williams £3/2/6, costs £l/3/6; Ernest S. Gibb v. J. Shewan 8/-, costs 8/-. First-aid In Schools The suggestion that flrst-aid should be made a compulsory subject In all schools for children of 11 years and upward was approved by the Birkenhead Borough Council. It was pointed out that increasing road traffic and the popularity of bathing on the beaches made the risk of street accidents or drowning greater. It was considered imperative, therefore, that knowledge of what to do should be possessed by those on the scene, pending arrival of the doctor. A Happy Choice Several New Zealanders who returned from Sydney by the Awatea on Saturday remarked upon the enthusiasm with which the Australian people generally had heard of the appointment of the Duke of Kent as the next Governor-General of the Commonwealth. “Everyone I spoke to seemed to be delighted with the news,’’ said Mr W. T. Barton, of Wellington, and his remark was endorsed by other passengers, showing conclusively that no happier appointment could have been made from the Australians' point of view. A Shortage of Kittens Heavy mortality among cats was caused during the winter months as the result of the worst epidemic of influenza to affect animals in Auckland for many years, states the “New Zealand Herald.” The fact that females suffered most from the epidemic has resulted in an unusual shortage of kittens at present. The Auckland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has a list of about 60 persons who have applied for kittens in recent weeks, and the demand is said to be much in excess of the number of kittens available. , Wreck of the Wairarapa One of the most disastrous wrecks on the New Zealand coat, the loss of the Wairarapa, occurred 44 years ago on Friday. A passenger steamer of 1736 tons, the Wairarapa was bound from Sydney to Auckland with 230 passengers. At midnight in thick weather she crashed into the base of a cliff on the north-west of Great Barrier island. The number drowned or who died from exposure was 137. Only two of the ship’s boats could be launched and in them about 60 persons escaped to land. At daybreak, some who had clung to rigging were able to reach the rocks by land line, but many had been swept off by heavy seas. Juries Differ The way juries can differ on the same facts was revealed in the Supreme Court last week, at Palmerston North. The plaintiff, a woman, brought two separate actions. In the first she claimed £750 general and £55 special damages for injuries she had suffered as a passenger in her husband’s car, which left the road and fell down a 165 ft drop. The defendant, she alleged, had been responsible for the mishap through the negligent manner in which he had driven his car when passing the car she was in. The jury in that action found for the defendant. A second claim by the same plaintiff was for £2OOO compensation for the loss of her husband, who was killed as a result of the accident. The jury in that case awarded her £750. Australian Wool Clip Mr F. B. Clark, well-known Christchurch woolbroker, was among inward passengers aboard the Awatea, which arrived at Wellington from Sydney last Saturday. In an interview, Mr Clark said that while in Australia he had learned nothing that would enable him to comment on the coming wool season. “I saw some of the present season’s Australian clip,” he said, “but it was in bad condition through the drought, and the prices realised for it are no indication of the true tone of the market.” Mr Clark added that he heard in Australia that it was expected that the present season’s clip would be 10,000 bales short of last year’s output, but it was too soon to say whether that would react in favour of the New Zealand market. "Pyjama Girl” Case In addition to the reward of £lOOO offered by the New South Wales police for information leading to the conviction of the person responsible for the murder of an unknown young woman found in a culvert on the Albury-Howlong Road, near Albury, on September 1, 1934, a further reward of £5OO will be paid to anyone who can supply information establishing the identity of the victim. The mystery became known as the "pyjama girl” murder case. Intensive inquiries made by the Australian police and by the police in all parts of the world have so far been fruitless. A detailed description of the body, together with reconstructed photographs of the face, and a description of the pyjamas in which she was clad, were circulated throughout Australia and New Zealand some time ago. The victim, it is believed, was between 22 and 27 years of age and of slim to medium build. Finders Not Keepers "I want It to be understood that people who find boats and wreckage have no right whatever to appropriate what they find to themselves. The correct thing to do is either to see the police or to advertise the finding of the goods,” said Mr A. M. Goulding, S.M., in the Petone Court, after the hearing of a charge against a man of stealing a dinghy valued at £B/10/-. The accused explained that he had found the boat floating in the sea off Petone, and that after It had been lying unclaimed on the beach for four or five months he painted it and sold it. Saying that no jury would convict the accused, though he may have been guilty of a technical offence, the magistrate adjourned the case for one month, and indicated that if the accused arranged to make restitution to the most recent owner of the boat, which was ordered to be returned to its original owner, the charge would be dismissed.