LATE LOCALS.

Hokitika Guardian, 5 December 1930, Page 5

LATE LOCALS.

A fire .'whichsocouVred in 1 a Palmerston North warehouse on Saturday ofternoori. is : ' l sfifd to"have been caused, by a boy’s unwary -aetion with a cigarette lighter. #tjHe had filled it. with benzine, some of which had spilled on his hands. Wthoilt realising this, he tried the lighter and the petrol burst into flame an dhis hands were badly 1 ' burned. He' dropped the* lighter, and '

the petrol oozed out and started the fire, ' : ‘ 1 \ ‘

1 A new use for discarded oil from motor-cars, etc., has been discovered by a West Gore, resident. Last, year he painted one or fwo of the trees in his orchard with used oil and had excellent results in brighter foliage and better fruit from the trees. This year he has extended the experiment tOj include practically every apple tree in his garden and has also includedisOme rose bushes. The old oil haS'~»*’yfery> marked effect in the destruction of insect life, ’ '

Two examples of cases in which circumstantial evidence was just as cogent as direct evidence were given recently by ; Mr Justice Blair in the Supreme Court at Napier. “If you find a trout in your milk-jug,” said his Honour, “you are fairly safe in assuming that there is something more than milk there, that there is water. That is purely circumstantial evidence. Take another case. If a man sees a eat take a canary qnd eat it,.that [is direct evidence. But the circumstantial evidence is just as strong.if 1 the man comes into a room, finds a cage empty,. feathers lying around, and a cat wiping feathers off its whiskers—and no canary.” ; 5

A stir was created in Hastings recently when a clerk sleeping on the premises of a local bank fired four revolver shots through, a window, thereby attracting a constable and several passers-by, sayq an exchange. Thrice someone had telephoned the clerk intimating that the hank was on fire, and though he made thorough investigations he w.aS' unable to< discover signs of an outbreak. . The firing of the shots was his method of calling the police, who were informed of the circumstances. ; A search of the bank and other premises, in the vicinity was unfruitful *jirid the conclusion was reached that someone was playing a joke. "• ~ V.; /TjK' •- ■’ '■