Local & General

Chronicle (Levin), 11 September 1948, Page 4

Local & General

e Form-ridden Nation s Britain today was a form-ridden | nation, with form-filling neces- | sary . for every *.action, said Mr. i Harold Pointer,.. the Christchurch | Tramway Board's. new traffic manI age-r., speaking at. a Business Men's s Ciub -luncheon on life in Britain. | "The trouble is that after spend- ! ing hours filling.in forms, they I always come .back," said Mr. i Pointer. Controls had lowered the ? standard of morality, because I everyone evaded the law in minor j ways. ... 1 Double Dealing | It liappened ih Christchurch. A | bus passenger . asked the driver to ! change\ifot ls Td* an Australian i florin, as^he had no small change. | The driver ^ree^andithe passenS ger hastily swept a shilling, a sixI pence, and a penny from the tray i to make way for; ihe waiting pas- | senger behind 'him. It Was some I time later that the passenger disI covered that the coins he had j pocketed without- examining them ! comprised an Australian shilling, I an Australian sixpence, and an I Australian penny! I "Democx-acy, . You Know!" | How the indoctrination of the 1 Japanese with the democratic way I of life sometimes backflres at the i occupation authorities was told by ? the Rev. Father .W. W. Ainsworth, I a Roman Catho'lic padre, in an | address to the Wanganui Officers' j Club. . When in Japan he had befriended a lift-boy who took a j pride in learning English. Father j Ainsworth said. To his astonishment one morning the lift-boy's j greeting was: "Good morning. How are you? Tomorrow I" strike — all j liit-boys strike. Democracy, you | know!" ■ Pamir To Move I After nearly a month's stay in j Auckland the New Zealand four- : master barque Pamir will move ! from her berth to the stream on j Monday morning to wait for a ; favourable wind to take her into ! Hauraki Gulf. She is bound for ! Wellington to complete the dis- | eharge oi her cargo of British cement and Belgian basic slag. The passage to Wellington of 550 nautical miles will take from a week to a fortnight depending on the weather. It will be made by way of the East Coast route which is dominated by the traditional sailing problem of obtaining suitable winds rounding East Cape. Greymouth Stelics Following the demolition of the Greymouth Towii Hall tower an iron box, which was buried beneath the founhation stone of the hall on December 30, 1904, was found. In it were three bottles, one containing grains of wheat, perfeetly preserved. Another contained "kotuku mineral oil," and the third, "colonial wine." There was a collection of King Edward VII coins, dated 1902 and 1903. They ranged from a half-penny to a haif-crown. A typewritten scroll recording the history of the bor- • ough of Greymouth, together with a list of mayqrs to 1904, was also in the box. The scroll gave details of . the negotiations which led to the building of the 'town hall and the letting of the contract to Mr. T. Bell for £9740, after a donation of £2250 had been received from Mr. A. Carnegie, the American millionaire. There were also copies of the Greymouth Evening Star and Grey 1 : River Argus of the day before the Jbox was sealed. , l,