In the News

Southland Times, Issue 24891, 3 November 1942, Page 4

In the News

Bad Luck While cutting long grass in the Gore streets a borough workman discovered numerous articles, including a bottle c.f whisky, stated Cr G. C. Hamilton at a meeting of the Gore Borough Council last night. “Was it a full one?” asked a councillor. “Yes, but he struck it with the mower and it broke before he noticed it,” replied Cr Hamilton. There were murmurs of “Bad luck” around the council table, while one councillor suggested the possibility of paying off the council’s debt with so rare an article.

Small Boy’s “Dip” Strolling unobtrusively into the tepid baths yesterday afternoon, a small boy undressed, leaving only a pair of pants on, went down to the deep end of the pool and jumped in. Fortunately one of the superintendents (Mr H. Smith) was present. Fully dressed, he dived in and pulled out the hapless and surprised boy, who apparently had no idea of how to swim. Road Services After Wai* “I think you can take it from me that the Government has no intention of using the war to interfere permanently with the transport services of the country,” said Mr S. V. Raines, South Island Transport Licensing Authority, in reply to a question at a sitting which he held in Invercargill yesterday. He thought that essential passenger services by road would be restored as soon as the war was over. He did not think for a moment that the Government wanted to prevent operators getting back into business again. However, it was probable that the transport system would be different after the war, and it might not be advisable to restore some of the goods service licences. As a matter of fact some of the goods services were not doing a great deal of business when the licences were suspended. It could be taken for certain, however, that operators who had their licences suspended would have preference when it came to applying for new licences after the war. Unconscious Humour

Unconscious humour was rife during the hearing of an appeal by a pig farmer in Christchurch last week. The farmer was appealing for his son. During cross-examination the chairman (Mr E. A. Lee) asked: “Had your son had any experience with pigs, other than with you?” A few minutes later Mr G. M. Hall, a member of the court, capped the chairman’s remark by drawing a simile between a man looking for labour and not being able to find it and a man looking for stock with the same result. Mr Hall remarked: “This man might believe it is impossible to buy a breeding sow or a boar, and then, by chance, he meets you, and he gets the very pig he has been looking for.” There were subdued chuckles from one corner of the courtroom, but both remarks were lost on the personnel of the court. Court Demeanour

The demeanour of United States servicemen who have appeared several times in the witness box in the Magistrate’s Court, Wellington, in recent weeks forms an interesting contrast in some respects to that of New Zealanders. Perhaps the most noticeable difference (The Dominion says) is that the former, almost without exception, address both police and counsel as “sir” when answering questions. It is noticeable, too, that they are less prone than New Zealanders to give lawyers the obvious reply to a question framed for a special answer. Their unsuspecting use of slang has also on several occasions introduced a breath of a less rarefied atmosphere into court proceedings. Unusual Accident

An unusual accident occurred at Huntly a few days ago, when Mr George Peden, aged 32, a miner, and his child, James Peden, aged 22 months, were wounded by a rifle shot. Mr Peden was wheeling his child in a pushchair along a new road skirting the Hakanoa Lake, Huntly, when shots fired on the other side, nearly a mile away, ricochetted off the water. One of the bullets struck Mr Peden on a leg, inflicting a flesh wound, and the same bullet struck the child on the shoulder. Both were admitted to the Wiakato Hospital.