NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 1, 3 January 1939, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

Flying Dutchmen. All Dutchmen were proud of the progress their airmen had made in i civil aviation, said Mr. G. Jeppe, a Dutch East Indes planter who arrived at Wellington by the Awatea yesterday. Holland had established airways second to none in the world and had j linked the mother country with the East by air. All parts of the East Indies could make easy connection with the aeroplanes trading between Holland and Java.' Frost at Gisborne. The weather in Gisborne recently has been marked by unusually low grass temperatures, according to observations taken at the Gisborne Aerodrome meteorological station, states a correspondent. A frost- of 6.3 degrees/ was recorded on Wednesday morning, while on the previous Friday the grass temperature was even colder with a frost of 7.3 degrees. These figures are surprising when it is considered-that Gisborne's severest frost during the winter was one of 6.3 degrees, recorded on July 10. The frost on December 23 is the heaviest the aerodrome station has recorded for the year to date. Railway Travel. ■ Although returns have not yet been made up the number of railway passenr gers transported to and from Wellington during the New Year weekend is believed to have been greater than last year. New Year traffic does not nearly approach the Christmas rush, but on this occasion extra expresses and passenger trains on all routes have had to be arranged to cope with the larger numbers travelling. Today's and tomorrow's express trains, are heavily booked, principally by holiday-makers returning to their homes. Fewer Tramway Passengers. The holiday weather has not been kind to the Wellington City Tramways. Returns are stated to be down compared with last year in spite of the fact that there has been an increased number of visitors in the city. This is principally accounted for by the fact that the usual traffic to and from the various beaches has been almost nonexistent this year. Even the improvement during the New Year weekend j did not assist the tramway figures to any great extent because, north-west winds yesterday and today made most of the beaches served by the trams unpopular. A tramway department officer said today that the loss of the usual Boxing Day traffic was more serious than that of any other day. If the people did not travel on Boxing Day then they did not seem to do so during the New Year , weekend no matter how the weather improved. Five People Saved. Five people, including two women, were rescued in spectacular fashion from drowning when they were carried out to sea on inflated rubber rafts at Waihi Beach on Friday, states a correspondent. All five were brought ashore in an exhausted condition by members of the Waihi Surf Life-saving Club and another bather, Mr. D. Hunt, who brought two men ashore on his surf-ski. The people rescued, three of whom were visitors to the beach, had gone into bathe on a falling tide and with a strong wind blowing from the shore, and it was not long before they were carried rapidly out to sea. Their plight was noticed by the look-out patrol and beltmen were sent out. The two women, Mrs. Laurie, of Te Aroha, and Mrs. H. D, Clifford, of Hamilton, were brought ashore by the beltmen, while the men, one of whom was Mr. J. Turner, of Matiere, were brought in by Mr. Hunter on the surf-ski. The women and Mr. Turner, who was suffering from shock, were given treatment on the beach.