NEWS AND NOTES .

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2856, 10 March 1925, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES .

The British Treasury lias approved the gift t<> New Zealand of a lug of the “Saint” class, with lull equipment and permanent stores, valued at .Cl 1,000 for use as a re--i ue tug at Auckland. The Auckland Automobile Association enrolled 80(1 members recently. Their delegate to the North Island Motor Union conference staled that two-thirds of those had been obtained per medium of press advert ising.

A bottle picked up at Bayly s (bilge, near Daigaville, by a Maori was found to contain a clipping fimu the Hobart Mercury of December 30. 1004, on which was a message signed f). S. lmrie, BrookEll, I'.K.A., and thrown overboard fiom the mail steamier lonic. Ihe message was somewhat discoloured, but easily decipherable.

In Farringdon Street, London, stands the oniv public-house in London possessing a pawnbroker s lie disc. While attending a cockfight incognito George IV. borrowed money from the landlord on the security of his gold watch. Great was the surprise of that worthy when lie received a few days later, a Royal Warrant, conferring upon him the right to lend money on pledges.

A Dargaville business mail who sent a prime New Zealand lamb through the Meat Producers' Board to a relative in Liverpool, lias received an acknowledgement by mail of its safe delivery. The lamb arrived in perfect condition, and the recipient stated that the butcher’s assistant had come to the house in the evening and cut it up; and he himself was busy next day posting pieces to relatives in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen.

At the Dunedin Supreme Court, oil Tuesday, Donald Leacroft Freer, Anglican clergyman, of Port Chalmers, aged 43, who pleaded guilty to several cases of grossly indecent assault, received probation for Die full term of 5 years, a condition being that lie forthwith enter a mental hospital as a voluntary patient, remaining there till discharged by the superintendent. The facts stated showed that Freer was injured by a high explosive in the war. Mr Justice Sim said he gathered that Dr. AlcKillop thought the prisoner a proper subject for treatment although not of such unsound mind as to be committed. He certainly seemed on the border line.

Twelve respectable citizen of Auckland found themselves the centre of a crowd *of deeply suspicious and curious persons on Saturday evening as they were escorted from a city hotel by a couple of uniformed jiolico constables siun,e time after fi> o'clock. They’re all under arrest!” “The place has been raided!” “Drinking after hours!” These and similiar comments were heard as the parly made its way along the street under escort. The twelve enjoyed Jho joke tremendously. Bad; in the jury room tit the Supreme Court the incident was doubtless recalled, lending a little gaiety to the serious business of unravelling knotty points in an involved civil action, which had occupied their alien! on for five days.

Two Australian chemists have invented a substitute for glass, which because of its likeness to opal, they have called “pollopas.” The new substance can he worked on a turner’s lathe at a much lower temperature Ilian glass, and is one of the most elastic substances hitherto discovered. It is much softer, and does not keep out l lie. violet rays of light, and so. should he of the greatest use as window glass for hospitals and hothouses. It is easily dyed, and solutions of ii can be applied to cloth (hat will give it a stiff and shiny surface and will not. wash out. It will serve as binding material in connection with printer’s dyes and in the textile and paper industries, and will also be of Ihe greatest importance in colour photography. Poll-opas will probably be manufactured on a large scale in the next few months.

The hell that announces the departure of trains from the local station, clanged on Monday afternoon, and passengers for the South hurriedly farewelled friends and dashed to secure their seats. The man who usually signals out the trains, knew that something was wrong somewhere, and hurried on the platform to discover the cause of the ring five minutes before tunc. Standing underneath the hell was a. well-proportioned Maori, and smiles wreathed his dusky countenance. “Did you ring that hell? he was asked. ' “Oh yeh!” replied Die native unconcernedly. “Mr ring the hell to hurry up te wahine Here she come now.” The railway official looked in the direction indicated, and espied a native woman nllirod in si stress ot many colours, lumbering along tlm plat form uinlci a burden of a number of parcels.— Wanganui Chronicle. Some Maoris have queer con-

ceptions of the functions and duties Government departments, as evidenced bv the fact that recently Die local Post Oilier officials received a letter from an uj. -river native demanding prompt deliwnv of certain articles, some ot which, l,v the way, they do not deal in. The <dd Maori enclosed a Cl "ole, and requested that she be forwarded a. packet of envelopes, n ‘‘maul ei.mib to clean the Imir with,’ am. sundry other goods. She also mtimaled that after the cost ot the articles, and the “cartage,’ had been deducted from her note, -he desired the balance of it in small monies. The postal authorities enjoyed the little joke, and had the goods purchased an ddespatelied p, the unsuspecting native. However, it is not likely that they would welcome an over-abundance ot instructions of this nature. Wanganui Chronicle.