LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4532, 26 February 1923, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A resident of Devonport (Auckland) has drawn the winning number in “Tatt’s’ Launceston Cup. One of Pukekohe’s oldest celebrities, in the person of Mrs James Cpmrie, died last week at the age of 98. Cabled advice states .that the price of newsprint paper is hardening, and will advance in the near future. At the end of the year there were 256 schools in operation in the Wei-, lington education district. The Wellington Education Board lias passed the following resolution : “That in view of the large number ot womqn teachers and of the special, needs of girls in our schools, the time has come for the appointment of capable women to the inspectorate and the administrative positions ih the Education Department.

During one of the late electrical disturbances pervading Hastings and its surroundings a man who was mowing the polo grounds at TWyford met with a trying experience (say<s the “Hawke’s Bay Tribune”). Caught in the sudden fury of a storm, he made for the shelter of the polo pavilion. Whilst inside it he felt the whole building lifted up, twisted round, and dislodged from its piles, and, becoming alarmed, he tried to escape through the doorway, which, however, he found jammed, making him a prisoner. Looking for an outlet he tried a windpw, which, lie was able to open, and he succeeded in regaining his freedom into the midst of the rain and lightning. He then fotind refuge in the residence Of a neighbouring farmer, who, when the storm had subsided, went with him to inspect the scene of the occurrence. They found that the pavilion had been lifted clean off its foundations and deposited some few feet away from its original position. The displacement bf the structure was entirely due to the force of the electricity wi,th which the atmosphere, was charged, and was not in any way the result of wind, the air' being comparatively calm at the time.