NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 83, 2 January 1935, Page 11

NEWS IN BRIEF

Oil in Oriental Bay

Complaints that patches of oil are frequently encountered floating on the harbour water at Oriental Bay have been made lately by Wellington bathers. A few days ago a city solicitor while swimming not far from the beach failed to notice an oil patch with the result that he spent the rest of the day ridding his body of a greasy brown deposit and attempting to clean his bathing costume. Another swimmer rose after swimming under water and found himself haloed with oil. “It took me two hours to get it out of my hair,” he said.

Sculler Breaks Kneecap. After winning the first race at the Picton regatta yesterday, P. A. Abbott, the Petone sculler, broke his kneecap when lie slipped on the deck of a launch while watching the remainder of the racing. He was taken to the Picton Hospital, where his knee was set, and returned to Wellington last evening in the Wahlne.

Ambulance's Big Mileage Bay. An abnormally large number of calls from outside Wellington on Saturday kept busy the cars of the Wellington Free Ambulance, which travelled altogether 612 miles in the 24 hours. There Were only 20 cases, which officers of the service called a “small day,” mentioning that anything up to 40 was not unusual ; but on Saturday ten of the calls were made from farther afield than the city and suburbs, hence the large mileage. Starting at 12.10 a.m. and continuing until late the next night, the ambulances were called to Paekakariki, Petone, Trentharn, Upper Hutt, Otaki (twice), Lower Hutt, Wai-nui-o-Mata, Porirua and Belmont.