LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 March 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Colliery Worker Drowned. Caught in a strong undertow at Blaketown beach late on Saturday afternoon, an employee of the Wallsend Collieries was drowned. He was Leonard C. P. Thomson, aged 24, single. A member of the surf club noticed Thomson signalling for help and went out with a life-saving belt, but after 25 minutes’ search was unable to locate him. Thomson’s relatives reside .in Christchurch. Woman Injured in Motor Accident. As Raymond Martin Lyons, 129 Russell Street, Palmerston North, accompanied by Mrs Lyons, were returning from .Wellington to Palmerston North by car on Saturday, the car went off the road about a mile south of Manakau, and collided with a petrol pump. Mrs Lyons received body injuries and slight concussion, and was admitted to Palmerston North Hospital after receiving medical attention. Mr Lyons was not injured, but the car was damaged considerably. TWo Men Injured. While J. E. Hulme, a soldier in camp at Palmerston North, was riding a mo-tor-cycle along the main road on Saturday, with C. V. Kiddie as a pillion passenger, the front tyre of the machine blew out at the Ohau railway crossing, and both men were precipitated on to the road. They were attended to by a Levin medical man, and admitted to Palmerston North Hospital, both having received head . injuries. Hulme’s parents reside in Short Street, Masterton. The motor-cycle was badly damaged. Mr Hulme’s condition this morning was reported as being satisfactory. He has fairly extensive injuries, though not of a serious nature. Fire on Ship. Fire which was discovered early yesterday morning in a vessel berthed at the Glasgow Street Wharf, Wellington, caused serious damage to cargo. The outbreak was suppressed within three hours and comparatively little damage was done to the ship. The cause of the fire is believed to be sparks from welding that was being done on Friday night immediately above a fan room. This room houses a fan for circulating air throughout the cargo and the fan would have the effect of fanning the sparks. The first material to be discovered on fire was the cork insulation of the fan room. Detectives liave been making investigations in case the fire had a more grave origin. Ostler-Christie Appeal. A fixture for the hearing on Thursday of the appeal by Harold Alexander Ostler and Travers Burnell Christopher Christie is expected to be made by the Court of Appeal when it meets in Wellington today to make fixtures for the hearing of cases. Ostler and Christie were convicted and sentenced in the Supreme Court last month to a term of imprisonment lor attempting to publish a subversive statement. Three questions they raised at the start of the trial are to be referred to the Court of Appeal, and if Ostler and Christie persist in their desire to conduct their own case rather than employ counsel, it is expected that bail will be granted to enable them to cto so.

N.Z. Chess Championship. There was a large attendance at the rooms of the Wellington Chess Club on Saturday afternoon to witness the play-off between Dr. Allerhand and Mr Wade, two members of the club, who tied for the New Zealand title when the annual congress was held at Timaru during the Christmas holidays. Dr. Allerhand had the move, the opening being, in effect, the queen’s gambit accepted. At move 23 Allerhand succeeded in regaining the gambit pawn with the preferable game. Both players were rather short of time in a rather complicated middle-game, and each had to play briskly to get his fortieth move made before the flag fell. Allerhand emerged from this midgame clash with the exchange and a pawn to the good. This double advantage enabled him to score a wellfought and most interesting game at move 55, early in the evening session.