Injuries Prove Fatal.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 January 1939, Page 4

Injuries Prove Fatal.

Andrew Wilson, aged 171, Manunui, died in New Plymouth Hospital yesterday as the result of injuries received at New Plymouth railway station on Sunday when attempting to board an excursion train to Taumarunui. Traffic Officer’s Device.

An unusual method was employed by a traffic officer to avoid congestion of traffic at the scene of a collision between a motor-car and a lorry on the great South Road near Pokeno. After repeatedly informing passing motorists that their help would not be needed, he chalked a notice, “No one hurt,” on the back of the damaged car. The device had the desired effect and the officer was able to continue his work without further interruption. Auckland Museum. Two notable recent acquisitions by the Auckland Museum are collections from China. The former is a large lot of ethnological specimens at present in Dunedin, and the offer of acquiring it has been secured through the efforts of Messrs W. Goodfellow and E. L. Vaile. Final acceptance is subject to the curator’s decision on their quality. The other lot is a choice selection of ancient Chinese pottery and bronzes, ranging from 5000 years to 2000 years in antiquity. Bathers in Trouble.

During the New Year holiday period several unwary bathers were caught by the tide at Foxton Beach and were rescued by the beach patrol, which performed very useful service to holiday-makers. Monday was a particularly busy day for the life-savers, and Hie reel was run out four times Mr D. Vertongen, captain of the lifesaving club, first brought in a youth and then a girl who were overcome by the tide. Later another youth was brought ashore exhausted, and as he was reviving in the clubhouse another call came for help. A third time Mr Vertongen swam out, followed by Mr B. Smith with the belt, and they took a bather out of danger, assisting several others who had been swept off their feet. It is considered that the trouble bathers experienced was caused by holes washed out by recent heavy seas. Return to Dairying.

There is every probability that in the coming season there will be a definite swing from sheepfarming to dairying in Taranaki. The trend during the last two or three years has been the other way. Sheep have made inroads into a district formerly regarded as essentially dairying land. Labour difficulties, not so much the increased wages which farmers generally are prepared to meet, but the impossibility in many cases of securing reliable labour either on wages or on the share system, have caused some farmers to change from dairying to sheep farming, and have caused others to reduce their herds to such size as the available labour could handle without difficulty, and to replace displaced cows with ewes. Experienced farmers and men who keep in close touch with the stock market position predict that next season there will be a definite change. Flooded Coal Mine. Through the burning out of the motor driving one of the pumps that are being used in efforts to unwater the flooded Hikurangi coal mine, in North Auckland the work has been delayed. This accident has not only slowed up the pumping, but has also prevented the proposed shifting of the smaller pumps to the lower level. It is now nearly two months since water drove the men out of the workings and, although prompt measures were taken to expel the water, progress has been slow. At first there were only two small pumps working and these could not cope with the inrush. A large pump was later installed and when all the pumps were working the drop in the water level was slow. Another large pump is'being assembled for installation, and | when this is working it is hoped that - the mine will soon be cleared of wa- | ter and coal production be recom- j menced. At present a small mine nearby is being worked to obtain coal j to feed the fires for the boilers that drive the mine machinery.