LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 January 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Escape From CeiT. Climbing a thin waterpipe running vertically up a sheer 20ft wall and breaking forcibly through a wirenetting screen at the top, a man who had been arrested in Auckland a short time before escaped from the cells al lite Central Police Station yesterday afternoon. The missing man. who had been arrested in Queen Street, attempted earlier to gain his freedom while on the way to the police station in custody, but was caught after a short chase. A widespread search revealed no trace of him at a late hour last night. He had been arrested on a charge of unlawfully converting a motor-car to his own use. Inter-House Championships.

A message from Napier reports that Hansell Laboratories team, which competed in the North Island business girls’ inter-house championships on Saturday, were unsuccessful, scoring 100 J points as against the winning team's score of 119 points. The Masterton girls met with considerable difficulty in adapting their work to new conditions governing the competition. The physical drill and other aspects oi the displays required were wholly new to them, and they had only two days’ practice to fit themselves for the altered conditions. In the sports section they scored better with 16 points, and were placed sixth.

Cornwell Cup to Wellington. For the first time since the contest was started in 1921 Wellington won the Cornwell Cup when its representative came home first in the ninth race at Plimmerton yesterday. A record for the number of crews to gain two wins was set up during the racing, four of the boats wanting only one win to secure the trophy when the ninth race was started. The crews were Wellington. Auckland, Otago, and Manukau. Conditions for racing were ideal during the weekend and four rapes were sailed on Saturday and two yesterday. The New Zealand monotype championship, which was won by B. Jukes. Wellington, and the delegates’ race were also sailed yesterday. Scot’s Daylight Saving.

A story is being told by a Te Awamutu farmer at the expense of a fel-low-dairyman who hails from Scotland. Observing that his Scottish friend was late with his milking on more than one occasion recently, the native-born farmer commented on it to his neighbour, for at these belated milkings the electric light had had to be used. With a twinkle in his eye the Scotsman explained that with lowered production and increased costs he had to balance his budget somehow, and his late milking was a day-light-saving system he had inaugurated. He used the daylight for necessary work in the house and did his milking by electric light. “The lights, ye ken, cost 5d a unit in the house,” he said, “and in the shed it’s only 2Jd a unit.”

The War Scare in England. A correspondent of a lady visitor to Masterton wrote last month from England, regarding the recent war scare there, as follows: —“We are very grateful that we have peace, and not. war. Our ancestors used to build walls round their towns to protect them from attack, and now it seems that, if the Dictators continue to carry on as they have been doing, we shall have to make provision to live underground. The Government are spending £20,000,000 to provide handy splinter-proof shelters for small private houses, to be supplied free to those who cannot afford to pay for them, but the majority of the population don’t worry in the least, and behave as if war is the last thing they have to expect, and make no provision for a possible war. Let us hope they will never have to change their point of view I can quite understand how you felt when reading the newspaper reports last September.” No First Class Carriages.

From February 1, trains serving the Wellington suburban area will have only second-class carriages. “I have good reason to believe that this decision will not cause much surprise among people in the localities concerned.” states the Minister of Railways, Mr Sullivan. “It is a case of evolution. Of course, the buses which the department have been running for some lime have only one class of seating. The same remark applies to the Wairarapa rail-cars and to the new electric multiple-unit trains in the Wellington-Johnsonville service. The proportion of first-class passengers on the other suburban trains has been gradually declining, and it may soon reach vanishing point, with the improvement of second-class accommodation which is one of the features in the programme of progress. The Wellington experiment will, of course, mean an economy in operation and interest will attach to the reaction of the travelling public to the change.”' Damage by Termites.

The discovery of what arc believed to be millions of subterranean termites has been made by a Mount Albert (Auckland) builder, Mr A. Watson, under an Auckland suburban home. Floorboards of the house had been extensively affected by the ravages of the insects, and from a superficial examination it was estimated that damage amounting to £l5O had resulted. Because of the widespread havoc caused by subterranean termites in other countries, it is felt that the pests discovered in Auckland may represent a serious menace. With a view to establishing the identity of the insects, Mr Watson intends sending samples to the Cawthron Institute at Nelson. In 26 years' experience in the building trade, Mr Watson has not come across any subterranean termites in New Zealand, though he stated that the dry wood termite, a less destructive insect, has become fairly prevalent in recent years.

Baby Left in Car. The other morning a Wellington petrol station proprietor found a crying baby in a car which had been left at his premises. A flat tyre was responsible for this curious situation. A woman with two children and the baby arrived at the petrol station in a car. Leaving the baby in' the back seat of the car without telling the proprietor, the woman and the two children set out to procure a new tyre and inner tube. Some time later the child's crying attracted the attention of the petrol station proprietor. He and his assistants, together with a traffic officer, had a hard task to silence the baby, but with the aid of the contents of a feeding bottle they found near it they were finally successful. Though profuse in their thanks to the proprietor and his assistants for the way they looked after the child when they returned to their car .the trio did not explain why they had left it to its own resources for six hours.