LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 June 1938, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Masterton Police Force. The Masterton police force has been considerably strengthened in the past few months. Besides a senior sergeant and a detective-sergeant, there are now six constables stationed in Masterton. It is understood that in future there will be two men on night duty instead of one, as in the past. Accident at Petone. Three persons were injured when a car driven by Mr Francis Drummond Briggs, 20 Puriri Street, Miramar, missed the turn at the Petone railway crossing last night, crashed across the garden plot fronting the Malleable Casting Company’s premises, anil capsized. Miss Marie Knight was slightly injured, and was taken to hospital with shock. Mr Norman John Snook, oi the Taita Hotel, was also taken to hospital with slight leg injuries, but was discharged after attention. Mr Briggs, who was slightly injured, was able to go to his home. The only other occupant of the car, a woman, was not injured, but the car was badly damaged.

Car Catches Fire. The Masterton Fire Brigade answered a call, received by street alarm, about 5.30 o’clock last evening, to the south end of Queen Street, where a two-seater motor car. owned by Mr A. W. Fawcett, had caught alight. The brigade was promptly on the scene, but the outbreak was subdued with buckets of water before any material damage was done. Misdirected Enthusiasm. Golf has been described as “a long walk spoilt by looking for balls.” An Invercargill woman golfer had no such complaint —if it is a c- rml,rutin a match the other da . T ?.r d. r followed her to the !■ •. . i-i with , misdirected enthusiasm, nd i.w-' to relieve her of the I; dm.-o ".diking between holes by r the - ball after every drive, ?•..•. aid,' he fail to keep his ; ball. It was proudly snapped up from rough or green and equally proudly carried back and deposited at the golfer’s feet. The dog seemed rather injured when his efforts were not rewarded by kind words, but did not let this : turn him from his self-imposed task.

Rotary Club. A talk on the tropical islands of the Pacific, with particular reference to the coral reefs and varied formations of coral, was given by Colonel W. A. Tate, Greytown, at the weekly luncheon of the Masterton Rotary Club yesterday. On the motion of Mr E. G. Coddington he was accorded a vote of thanks by acclamation. Eliminating Epidemics. “If everybody displaying the slightest symptoms of a cold remained in bed for a reasonable time, epidemics of colds and influenza would be eliminated,” said an Auckland doctor, when commenting on the general health of people in his district. He added that the severity of a great many cases would be lessened were it not for the fact that people generally had a false conception of their ability to resist illness. Man in Nurse’s Uniform. A theft from the residence of Sir James Elliott in Kent Terrace, Wellington, on Saturday night of a nurse’s uniform is being investigated by the police. A male intruder is stated to have donned the uniform in place of his own clothes, and to have been last seen disappearing along Cambridge Terrace in his new garb and without shoes and socks. He is described as above middle age. Railways Finance. Railways revenue and expenditure figures for the first four weeks of the current financial year- are published in the Gazette issued last evening. Revenue for the period amounted to £757,047, as compared with £771,977 for the corresponding four weeks last year, a decrease of £14,930. Expenditure totalled £058,244, as compared with £638,252, an increase of £19,992. The net revenue was therefore £98,803, as compared with £133,725 for the corresponding four weeks 12 months ago. National Party Caucus. The caucus of the Opposition members in the House of Representatives concluded last evening. The Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Adam Hamilton, subsequently stated that the Opposition members on the special Parliamentary Committee which examined the Government’s social security proposals—the Hon J. G. Cobbe (Oroua), Mr S. G. Holland (Christchurch North), and Mr H. S. S. Kyle (Riccarton) —had reported to the caucus on these proposals. Successful Queen Carnival. A total of £572 has been raised by a queen carnival to raise funds for reconditioning the Public Hall at Sandon. The carnival was brought to a successful conclusion last night, and of the three candidates for regal honours, Miss Ruth Henson, Eastern Queen, topped the poll with 62,461 points, which represented £259. Next was Miss Francis Anderson, Western Queen, with 39,100 points, worth £162. and then Miss Jean Butler, Central Queen, with 36,308 points, representing £l5O. Unusual Visitors. A Whangarei bootmaker reported recently that he had an unusual visitor, when a pheasant entered his shop and took shelter behind some packages when it was captured and released. A Hamilton business man claims to have had a still more unusual experience. One night a large morepork entered through an open window at the back of his shop and lighted on a shelf. After a calm survey of the interior, it took a leisurely flight round the shop, and then flew out through the front door, incidentally giving a shock to a couple of customers who were entering. A collision was missed by inches.

Emu-Shooting Expedition. Wallabies, kangaroos and emus were a common sight on some of the Australian country roads, said Mr Percy Oliver, of Napier, who, with a Napier friend, has been spending the past four months on a touring holiday of Australia. On one occasion they were with a shooting party which went out after kangaroos and emus, but while they able to bag two of the latter, Australia’s kangaroo population was not affected. “The birds run exceptionally fast and are very tricky,” Mr Oliver added, “and despite their bulk they are hard to draw a shot on.” In some parts of Australia, he added, the heat was so oppressive that farmers were disposing of sheep at the price of 3d each.

Lipstick in Church. The Rev Father J. Lanigan said recently from the pulpit of St. Ambrose's Roman Catholic Church, Melbourne, that he strongly disapproved of girls coming to Mass and Communion with large quantities of lipstick on their faces. He said that a previous Mass that morning he had been compelled to’ leave the altar and wash his hands, because lipstick had been smeared over his fingers while he was administering the sacrament of Communion. "As far as make-up is concerned, I can only say that I get a certain amount of mirth when I see some girls in trams and trains," Father Lanigan continued. "How they can appear in public with faces looking like theirs after studying themselves for half-an-hour in a mirror, is beyond me.’’ Unluck Thirteen. Thirteen has played a frequent part in the life of Mr E. E. Weston, of Weston Brothers, whose premises were burned out in the Manchester Street. Christchurch, fire recently. The last he saw of his place was on Friday, the 13th. and the first thing that attracted his attention when he went to scene of the fire was a calendar on a charred wall bearing the date May 13. Weston Brothers have been burned out three times. The last occasion was in 1933, when fire wrecked his place on the 31st —thirteen reversed, he pointed out. On that occasion he had planted flowers in the afternoon. He counted those in the bed and those left in the box — thirteen in each. “Something's going to happen,” he remarked to his wife. That night he answered the telephone to bo told that his business premises wore ablaze. Mr Weston can go on recounting dozens of instances of how the number 13 has turned up throughout life. The first busino<-<- b~n’- no ...■ml he opened was on I'm rtf’’ it... l. 'Came engaged on the 131'-, Ts firs'| registration nnmh' rs .trlcied »’p j L. 13. And still Mr Westen claims he; is not superstitious.