MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 April 1921, Page 1

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

BLUEJACKETS’ TROUSERS. OLD ORDER CHANGING. LONDON, April 7. The man-o’-war’s man’s bell-bottomed trousers seem likely to share the doom of the banned straw hat. The Admiralty lias now ordered bluejackets to wear black gaiters on shore leave. While the younger men welcome the change, consternation has spread among the old tars, who discern ih it an irsidious attempt to impair the Navy’s efficiency, and plaintively ask why seasoned naval men who have cultivated “the dignified swing of the trousers” should hare their dignity destroyed in. the interests of “youngsters who have not learned the art.”

24-FOOT SKEWER. MAN PINNED TO GROUND. LONDON, April 7. A 24ft. steel rod fell down a lift today, skewering a workman. Tt entered at his shoulder and passed down his body to the log, where it protruded at the knee, pinning him to the ground. The rod was sawn through, and an amazing operation followed at the Charing Cross Hospital in th e presence of surgeons. An engineer gripped the rod with a screw-stock, tugged strenuously, and pulled out 4ft. of the rod, which still remained in the man’s body. A doctor held back th e man’s intestines to prevent contact with tho rod. The patient is progressing favourably.