General News

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 142, 17 June 1936, Page 6

General News

“Menace” of the Bicycle. “The regulation requiring cyclists to have bells on their machines dates from the time when bicycles were the fastest things on the road,” said Mr. Wyvern Wilson, B.AL, in the Children's Court at Auckland on Saturday, when a i boy was charged with riding a bicycle without a bell. The magistrate added that, bicycles nowadays, as contrasted with motor-cars, were comparatively innocuous to pedestrians. Air Service Extension. A De Havilland Dragon Rapide aeroplane for Cook Strait Airways, Limited, will be shipped from England toward the end (»f this month. It will be assembled in Nelson, and will probably be ready to take the air in August. At first it. will be employed on the Wellington-Blenheim-Nelson run, while the two machines at present in use are overhauled. Probably about October it will be put into service on the extension of the line from Nelson to Westport, Grey mouth and Hokitika. The machine is similar to those at present used by the company. A Kingfisher Fishes. A Hastings family living in Townsend Street was surprised recently by the presence all day of a kingfisher in a big apricot tree not far from the back door, states the Hawke’s Bay Herald. Never before had one of these birds paid the garden r visii Towards evening the youngest son of the household saw the kingfisher suddenly swoop down to a barrel under the tree and make off with a nice fat tadpole. When tho lad made further investigations he found that not one of the dozen “taddies” he nad netted in a pond near the saleyards remained in the barrel. Southland Beech. Australia is finding Southland beccb increasingly useful, and approximately 200,900 feet ot it will be aboard the coastal trader Kiwitea when she leaves Bluff for Melbourne, states the Southland IDaily News. Southland beech is being adopted to a variety of uses, chief of which is the motor-body build ing at whih Australia is proving herself so expert. This large export cargo has led to an increase in activity among Southland mills, and there is every reason to expect that the favour which Southland beech has found among Australian manufacturers will maintain the export trade and establish it firmly. ‘ * Excellent B'jeaker. ’ ’ “We, have a lot to thank Napier for in providing us with such an excellent Speaker,” said the Alinister of Railways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, when referring to the Hon. W. E. Barnard at the gathering of Napier people to welcome the rail-car Afaahunui. It had boon recognised when the Government was elected that there was only one man to fill such a position as that of Mr. Speaker and Air. Barnard’s name was on everyone’s lips as the choice of that high office. He had been a great success. Air. Barnard had issued a warning, however, that when the session resumed he was going to be more strict. Well. if he were more strict than he had beer., said Air. Sullivan, it would be pretty bad. Switzerland Calling. An unusual telephone conversation took place on Saturday evening between Air. C. A. Biland’ of Cambridge, and his mother in Switzerland. Thu call is believed to be the first radio telephone connection to have been made between New Zealand and Switzerland. Air. Biland advised the post office at Cambridge in the morning that he wished to put the call through, and gave his mother’s address and telephone number. No prior arrangements had been made with his mother either by letter or cablegram. Air Biland was notified about 6 p.m. that the connection had been established, and he commenced to speak immediately io his mother. Mr. Biland has not seen his mother for six years. The audibility was fairly good, and Mr. Hiland reu<iily recognised his mother’s voice. Several sentences, however, had to be repeated, and, although the conversation actually lasted for 32 minutes, the charge was only for live minutes. This amounted to £9. Air. Biland was thoioughly satisfied with the -talk, which had given great pleasure both to him self and his mother. “Not Our Baby.” A, certain measure of indignation, coupled with a great deal of amusement, is felt by members of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce folowing a statement recently published that the chamber was responsible for a suggestion that oysters should he carried by air mail, states ‘he Christchurch •Star-Sun. ‘‘We never made any such suggestion,’ ’ said a member on Saturday morning, “It came before us as a suggestion made in casual conversation with one of our members by the Post-master-General. W e thought so little of the idea that we did not bother to discuss seriously, and no motion was passed regarding it. Whosever baby it is, it certainly i s not ours.’ Further investigation suggested that the idea emanated from Auckland fish mongers, and from them was passed on to the Po.-tmaster-General. but ‘hey, too. deny any responsibility. In at other quarter it was suggested that the idea might he to carry the oysteropened. By this means the carriage of oysters by air tould he profitable. Whether this idea is practicable m;r be a matter of opinion, but the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce is not going to be saddled with responsibility Land of Striking Contrasts. “1 found South America a land of striking contrasts,’’ said Mr. Robert A. Campbell, when interviewed in Christchurch on his return from Chile. In many parts enormous wealth and magnificence were, he added, shadowed by squalor and abject poverty. This was particularly in evidence in Buenos Aires, a city of 2,5(59,000 people, with one street the house numbers in which ran from one to 18,000. Human life was rated very cheaply in the Latin republics. Murder in the cities and in the back country—in the latter case by bandits—was quite common, but, strangely enough, there was no capital punishment in the Argentine Republic or in Chile. Friends in Buenos Aires had informed Mr. Campbell that ouo man, with four murders to his tally, had served only a tonnight in gaol. Another point which impressed Air. Campbell was that in all the schools in Chile and the Argentine, teachers were not allowed to inflict corporal punishtnenv in any circumstances. A curious law prevailed in Santiago, under which any householder on whose premises a serious outbreak of lire occurred wasummarily lodged in gaol, pending proof that the fire was purely accidental. Fortunately, added Mr. Campbell most of the buildings were constructed of stone, concrete or adobe.