Local & General

Chronicle (Levin), 2 September 1949, Page 4

Local & General

Money Was Worth More. The maximum fine that a Magistrate's Court could impose for a gaming offence — £100 — had remained unaltered since 1881, Mr. Cleal, counsel for the Crown.told Mr. Justice Gresson in the Supreme Court yesterday. Counsel added he had calculatetf that the pound then was worth four times as much as today. Bricks From The Garden. "Almost any garden soil makes a good brick," said Mr. D. McC^re, a speaker at. the conference of the New Zealand Insthute of Chemistry at Auckland. "Recently members of a class at a local technical college were asked to bring along a spadeful of soil from their gardens. Rather embarrass'ingly, all samples made slightly better bricks than New Lynn clay." Empire Games Seats. A ballot is expected to he necessary for the distribution of the aFotted 95 seats at the Empire Games to officers of sports elubs In the West Coast (North Island) A.A.A. centre. A circular going out to all clubs in the centre from the president, Mr. G. Benson, Wanganui, yesterday states the clubs must make applications for seats before September 6, and that the price of the seats, thr^e guineas or four guineas, must accompany the application. Dan«rerous Firearms. "The accident rate with firearms is lower than that of 1847-48, being 43, of which 11 were fatal, as against 48, of which 14 were fatal," said the annual report of the Police Department which was tab'ed in the House of Representatives. "This year's total does not include three deaths regarding which the coroner could not -decide wfiether they were due to accident or design. The death rate was the lowest since 1936." Don't Delay. Action by an inexperienced person was better than none at all, said speakers at a Safety Evening he'd by the New Zealand Institute of Industrial Management, emphasising the importance of "applying artificial respiration to any victim of a severe eiectrical shock. The proportion ^of recovdries when artificial respiration was' begun wi'hin three minutes of the accident was twice as high, as when action was delayed for a few minutes longer. Picture Theatre Admission. t No recommendation regarding prices of admission is made in the report of the Parliamentary Commitlee on the motion picture industry presented in the House of Representatives yesterday. The committee stated it is firmly of Ihe opinion that existing prices are reasonable. In its view, increased prices would immediately tend to increase the charges of fi m hire, and the spiral of successive increases passed on to the public would have /the normal consequences. Prices In U.S. He had been puzzled by the apparent inequality in the rises in prices which had taken place in Ihe United States since his last visit ten years ago,. said Mr. C. H. Taylor, a Christchurch businessman,' when he returned after five weeks in America. Prices generally seemed a little higher, but there were in'dications of a recession, with saies everywhere, the general idea of traders apparently being to accumulate money as quickly as possible. It was hard to understand, however, >why nylon underclothing should be so dear in comparison with nylon hose , and cotton goods.