LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17762, 9 December 1929, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

.Evidently the “Trade/ is making preparations for Xmas cheer since liquor has gone up with a jump to the head of the’list of seaborne imports to Thames, no less than 64 ton® having passed over the wharves of the Thames Harbour Board during November.

The Post Office has received advice that mails which left Wellington per Tahiti via San Francisco ,on the sth November,- arrived in London on the 4th December. • .

A delightful haziness as to the number of children possessed was shown by a couple of Maoris .who figured as debtors in judgment summons cases at the Putaruru Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. The first, when asked, said “about eight,” definitely [ fixing the family at that .number, when pressed by counsel. The other stated that lie had a large family, “sometimes eight, sometimes two.” He, too, became more definite when, pressed.—Putaruru Press.

“There are plenty of humorous incidents aboard of the crew of the Oarissa (an American ship at present in Wanganui) ‘ “but the most recent one was the Chinese cook getting locked in the refrigerating room for two hours. John did not treat the matter at all as a joke, and by the time he was found he was as near a frigid Chinaman as he wanted to be. Now we have a blue light which is switched on when anyone enters the refrigerator and .cates that someone is ! inside.”

Attention is drawn to the excellent sports programme which is published on page 8 or this issue. • The sports will take place on Saturday next on the smaller High School ground, and will be in aid of the Sports Queen in the Waiomo Queen Carnival. The chief events will be a tug-o’-war, for teams of six men, _ with an excellent prize, and the running of the 75 yards primary school championships for boys and girls, and relays. These latter should attract an excellent entry, and it will be interesting to discover, whether the champion sprinter of the school boys comes from the town or the country. Entries for several events close at noon on Friday,, and the handicaps for those which need handicapping will be published in Fridav’s “Thames Star.” Mr. W. Ensor is the hon. secretary.

Cantilevers and suspended verandahs are the only sort now being built in Wellington, and the pole is vanishing in other directions. In view of the danger to drivers and pedestrians constituted by poles of any kind in these days of congested motor traffic the gradual elimination of these unsightly timbers and standards is highly <£fsirable. The tramways were the first to cut out poles in their overhead cable system, as they constituted a real danger, once proved fatally. Telegraph poles and cable poles of all kinds must eventually follow suit, but the day seems far off when all cables will he put underground, as they should be in the cities. A Wellington man who owns and runs a motor-car told a reporter recently that the statement on the placards displayed on tramcars, giving the cost of running a motor-car as 1/- a. mile, was far from accurate. If the cost were as great as stated comparatively few would be able to run motorcars. His own car was nine years old, and he bought it two years ago for £75. He considered that it had depreciated so much that no further depreciation was possible. If it had cost him 1/- a mile to run he would have paid £915 for the. mileage run since he got it. Actual cost of running during the period was under £IOO, and in the two years repairs had cost him, on a yearly basis, a little over £2O. Another motorist estimated that it cost 3d to 4d"per -mile to run a light car, and about 7d a mile for a large one.

The total outward" tonnage of the port of Thames ‘during the month of November was 114 tons and the inyard 655, the grand total passing over the wharves being thus 769.

Old boys and girls of Thames High School will attend a meeting at the School this evening to go into the matter of the golden jubilee of the school and what form it will take. . Everyone who is interested is cordially invited to attend.

• It was mentioned at last Saturday's Gold Star evening at the Thames Fire Brigade Station that there were nine members of the brigade who had earned the coveted distinction for 25 years’ service and that their total years of service adddcl~up. to 264. Some had done as much as 35 years and others ranged down to 2S years. When Mrs. Clotworthy, of Turua, was driving her car from Thames and approaching the Parawai Station a bee alighted on her windscreen. She brushed it off and the insect started to fly about her face. In an endeavour to avoid .it \Mrs. Clotworthy evidently lost command of the car for the next thing she knew was that it had crashed into a telegraph pole, the car falling on its side into the drain alongside the road. Fortunately for the driver she was only r going at a slow pace and no injuries were sustained by her. She got out of the car unhurt and considerably thankful the accident was no worse.

Rather a good story was put over by Mr. A. M. Samuel, M.P., at the Thames Fire Brigade evening On Saturday. He said that on one occasion he had called at a Hebrew home just in time to hear the father order his son out of the house. On asking the reason Isaac complained bitterly in these terms: “Veil, vat you tink. I give him the best of eddication, I bring him up proper, I do everting for him. How do you tink he show his gratitude. Vy he go and shoin ze Fire Brigade.”

“In all the time I have been connected with Thames I have only heard one complaint in connection with the Fire Brigade,” said Mr. A. M. Samuel at the Fire Brigade function.on Saturday,” and .that, is that they are too efficient. Whatoyou want here is a Hebrew Fire Brigade. ” It reminds me of the campaign in Palestine. After an attack the unit’s commanding officers were called up' to render their list of casualties’. There was a Jewish regiment serving, and when all the ethers had stated their losses the officer commanding the Hebrews answered the queries thus ‘How many killed?’ ‘None, sir.’ ‘How many wounded?’ ‘None. . sir.’ How many missing?’ ‘The w s hole darn lot, sir.’ That’s what *-ou ■"• nut as ji fire brigade for a month in Thames.” concluded Mr. Samuel after the laughter had (lied down.

An apple a day, according to an old saying, keeps^the_doctor away; but for sonte people dislike of the profession has a similar effect. An elderly -man, who gave evidence in the Supreme Court at Wellington, evidently belonged to the type that had not much liking for doctors, for, when asked b) T counsel if he had consulted a doctor since he left the hospital after an aeciden.t lie replied, “No,” and then added, “I haven’t had anything to do wjth doctors all my life. I don’t rely much on them.’ ’ Counsel smiled and said, “Well, there may, or may not, be soiiie wisdom in that.”

, There was quite a flurry among bathers on the banks of the Ruamahaiiga River, near the sale yards, the other morning, when a Jersey hull, obviously not in accord with the general peacefulness of the surroundings, made an appearance. Within a remarkably short period the joys of swimming had been abandoned for those of tree climbing, and with sudden disregard for the properties men in various stages of undress sought more or less uncomfortable fefuges, among convenient branches. One, clad only in 1 a shirt, put up excellent time in a sprint along the banks to warn other bathers. For half an hour the bull paired up-rushes ancV demonstrated, with alarming motions of the head what would happen if the branches liroke, hut finally got tired of waiting and made off. A- story of mistaken alarm being raised in Napier is now going the rounds. It is related that a number of people passing the borough destructor heard what they took to be the moaning cry of a young child, and, fearing that a youngster bad come to some harm, proceeded to investigate with all speed. Being unable to enter the building from which the sigh was coming, the worried passers-by communicated with the engineer, and also requisitioned the service of a policeman. Finally an entry was made, but the investigator’s were rather surprised and at the same time greatly relieved, to find that the noise was caused by a leaking valve in one part of the machinery, the sound closely resembling that a hurt child might make when in severe pain.

Agreement with the proposal to permit the telegraphing of totalisator investments to racecourses was expressed by Mr. H. F. Johnston, Reform candidate for the Hutt, in reply to a questioner at his Petone meeting recently. “I have advocated it for many years,” he said, “and I can’t go back on it now.—(Applause.) I don’t wish to. I think it should be allowed. The present restriction, I believe, is unjustifiable an dharmful in many ways.” The candidate said he could not see why, since betting on the totalisator was allowed by law, a man in the backblocks should be forced into the hands of other people when he wished to have a bet on a racehorse—perhaps his own—because he could not transmit his money for investment on the. totalisator.

“Just brimming over with good things,’ aptly describes this week’s issue of the “N.Z. Sporting and Dramatio Review” with its generous array of the most up-to-date pictures gleaned from all sources. The double centre pages are filled with the most attractive items from abroad, deer stalking in Scotland, Ancient Fair in Shakespeare’s town, speed supremacy on land and sea, Crystal Palace Dog Show, the great event of the week, the official opening of the War Memorial is recorded in an impressive series forming a beautiful souvenir of this memorable event. Very merry and bright is the page of smiling snapshots of the Auckland Inter-House Girls’ Sports at Carlaw Park, showing the hapy young athletes in their various events.