General News

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28259, 23 April 1957, Page 10

General News

Acrobat’s Plight The Governor-General (Sir Willoughby Norrie), Lady Norrie, and their 10-year-old daughter, Annabel, saw six men go to the help of a motor-cycle acrobat who hung head down 15 feet above the ground at the Auckland Easter Show at Epsom yesterday. The acrobat, Mr Ernest Staig, had attempted to somersault his cycle while suspended from a revolving platform, but a heavy fever had left him too weak to complete the manoeuvre. Three other members of Mr Staig’s troupe counter-balanced him on the platform while show patrons righted the machine and helped him down. Mr Staig was slightly shaken by the experience and dizzy from the spinning. Some petrol from the machine leaked on his clothes. Before the motor-cycle show, their Excellencies watched a display of trained horses and dogs. They spent an hour and a half at the show.—(P.A.) Ship Shaken by Earthquake When the Union Steam Ship Company’s islands’ vessel Matua was proceeding from Apia to Suva, it was shaken by a submarine earthquake. The Matua arrived at Lyttelton yesterday morning with passengers and a cargo of bananas from Suva. The earthquake occurred on April 15. The weather was fine, with bright sunshine, when at 7.17 a.m. the ship began to shake. Masts, boats and gear vibrated for about a minute. The compass made a complete revolution of 360 degrees, and then became normal. At the time, passengers were preparing to go down to breakfast, and most of them were unaware that there was an earthquake. It was learned later that the earthquake was felt fairly severely at Apia, but it was not felt at Suva or Tonga. Weedons School Bath A swimming bath has been built and fenced at the Weedons School as a result of rapid fund-raising by parents and other residents. After two years of providing transport to the West Melton swimming bath for the children to have instruction, parents decided to hold a public meeting to decide whether there was sufficient support for building a bath at the Weedons School. The sum of £450 was set as a target to qualify for the full Government subsidy, and £175 was contributed immediately by those at the meeting. Within half a day the remaining £275 had been subscribed by residents who were approached for contributions. The bath has dressing sheds and a sunbathing bay. The ground on three sides has been laid out ib lawn. Bashful Winners A syndicate is keeping quiet about its £lO,OOO win in a Melbourne lottery last week. After three days of Inquiries by the “Otago Daily Times,” the seller of the ticket was traced, but he refused to name the winners. After saying that the situation was confused, the seller said the holders had been to see him and had asked that their names be withheld. “All I can say is that it is certainly not a young woman,” he said. “The story that she has won it is all rot.”— (P.A.) Easy Fishing Thousands of fish swarmed into a small inlet in Breakers Bay, Wellington, late yesterday afternoon. A shoal of whitebait fled into the bay, seeking protection from a school of herrings, behind which came hundreds of kahawai. Finding themselves near the shore, the whitebait turned to escape. In a few seconds, the inlet was filled with fighting, hungry, panic-stricken fish. Many of them were either fighting or feeding in about a foot of water. Others leapt out of the water and landed on the shore. Adults and children with pots and pans rushed to the scene and scooped K the fish out of the water, sometimes three varieties at once.—(P.A.) 17 Per Cent. Buy for Cash At the end of last year, New Zealanders owed £9,600,000 under hire-purchase agreements. Using trading figures supplied by 49 firms, the latest Abstract of Statistics shows that of the £3,865,000 worth of household and personal goods these firms sold last year, only £707,000 worth were paid for in cash. Hire-purchase agreements negotiated by the 49 firms during the same period amounted to more than £3,148,000. In the final quarter of the year, only 17 per cent, of the goods sold were for cash. Plunket Film As part of the Plunket Society’s jubilee year programme, the society' 1 is having a film made by the New Zealand National Film Unit to present a general picture of its activities and to stimulate public interest in the work of the society. Next month sequences will be filmed in Christchurch at the Karitane Hospital and the Central Plunket Rooms, and in other cities. The filre is being directed by Mr Frank Chilton, of Christchurch, the unit’s South Island director, and produced by Messrs Geoffrey Scott and Cyril Morton. Boy’s Samoan Canoe One of the proudest boys in Auckland this Easter has been Andrew Jackson, aged 14, the owner of a Samoan bonito canoe. The craft, one of a traditional outrigger type used by the Samoans for fishing beyond the island reefs, was a gift to Andrew during his summer holidays in Samoa from a chief, Tuatagaloa. It was subsequently shipped to Auckland, and Andrew has since been getting it ready for use on the Waitemata Harbour. The canoe is 27ft long and is built in sections intricately joined together. Such craft in the Islands often put to sea with a crew of three or four Samoan fishermen. Dual Interest Included in the 26 part-time teaching appointments for evening classes approved by the Seddon Memorial Technical College board of managers was Mr I. J. Day, described as a registered plumber and assigned to plumbing theory. “Who is this Mr I. J. Day?” asked Mr A. R. Merrington. “That is Ivan James Day, chairman of the Auckland Education Board,” answered the principal (Mr H. M. Scott). Mr Merrington, smiling: “Have we any authority over our staff?”