NEWS AND NOTES

Hokitika Guardian, 5 August 1931, Page 6

NEWS AND NOTES

RECORD SHIP TO SHORE RADIO TALK, 'The longest ship to shore telephone call ever made ( is claimed by Mr La Hooke chairman of the Australasian “Section of Marconi” Co., who, while the White Star liner Homeric was in mid-Atlantic, rang up Melbourne—lo,7oo miles away. The conversation lasted for fifteen minutes, and was very clear.

MONSTER FOSSILS UNBURIED. A fossilised plesiosaurus—a prerlistorio reptile-—has been found in a quarry near Harbury, Warwickshire. It is eight feet long and complete in every detail, with paddles, the characteristic long neck and little head, and extensive tail, which is retained in the fossil to the tip. In February, 1928, a. larger specimen was tin' , nn.li< j d n the district, and in November of the

same year another kind of prehistoric monster, an ichthyosaurus nearly 30 ft in length, was lournl there. CLIMBED STEEPLE FOR JOB. Mr E. Stanger, of Huddersfield, a steeplejack working at the top of tho 250 ft spire of St. Mary’s Church, Southampton, was more than a little astonished when ho saw a man climbing towards him, asking for a job. “He did not tell me his name,” said Mr .Stanger, “but ]. understood be was an out-of-work seafarer. and wanted to show me that be could manage heights. I was sorry [ could not give him job. He dejectedly climbed down again and walked away. MEMORIAL TO CONAN DOYLE.' “Blade straight, steel true,” is the inscription on an oak memorial which Lady Doyle has had erected over the grave of her husband, Sir A. Conan Doyle, at Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex. The grove is under Sir Arthur’s study window. The memorial, which was designed by Lady Doyle, has on it a representation of the rising sun. Beneath are a sword and torch symbolising justice and knowledge. An open hook encircled by leaves forms the centre. MARRIED ON A STRETCHER. A man who had both his logs .crushed in a motor accident at Brighton !=onie time ago, was wheeled on a stretcher from the Sussex County Hospital to St. George’s Church 'for his wedding. He was William Stewart "Townsend, and his bride was Miss j Alice Maude Willcox, also of Brighton, to whom .lie became engaged the day before the accident. Nurses wheeled the stretcher into the church, and attendee to Mr Townsend during the ceremony. After the service the couple returned to the hospital, where the matron had arranged' a wedding reception. All the patients wore given a cherry wine and slice of the bridal cake.