LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 July 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Mail Lost. The Postmaster-General, Mr Webb, ( last night announced that a small mail consisting of one bag of letters from Great Britain, routed by surface mail across the Atlantic, and by air mail across the Pacific, had been lost through enemy action. The approximate dates of posting were May 10 to 12 inclusive. The mail contained no registered articles. Kiatere Harriers. Members of the Kiatere Harrier Club will probably travel to Wellington on Saturday to compete in the Provincial Championships to be held at Lyall Bay. As arrangements have not yet been completed members are requested to attend the weekly training run tonight at the Kuripuni Triangle at 7.15 o'clock so that the matter can be discussed. Alleged Theft of Parcels. An allegation that a Post Office nightwatchman had been stealing parcels posted to soldiers overseas was made by Detective-Sergeant McClung in the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court yesterday. William Irvine, aged 43, was charged with the theft of an electric trouble lamp and 50 feet of flex, the property of the Post and Telegraph Department. Irvine had been employed by the Department as a nightwatchman for 27 years, said DetectiveSergeant McClung, in asking for a remand. He added that accused had been stealing parcels which were posted to soldiers overseas, but which had never been received. A number of these parcels had been found in Irvine’s possession. Irvine, who said he did not want bail, was remanded m custody till August 7. Taxi Driver Assaulted. At about 9.30 on Tuesday night an Auckland taxi-driver, Jack Stewart Young, aged 40, was attacked by an unknown man who was travelling as a passenger in the rear seat of his taxi, and was struck three blows on the head from behind. His assailant jumped •from the taxi as it was stopping and escaped. Young drove the taxi after the man for a short distance, and on returning to the scene of the assault found in the rear of his car two pieces of wood, each about nine inches long, connected by a length of wire. It is thought, however, that he was struck with something heavier than this, as he has two lacerated wounds on the head, and bruises and abrasions on the forehead. The police searched for the assailant without success. Young was I taken to hospital, and after receiving attention returned to his home.

First Aid Lecture. The third of a series of lectures to the E.P.S. and Home Guard first aid classes will be given by Dr T. L. Parr in the St John Ambulance rooms, at the rear of the Social Security buildings, at 7 o'clock tonight. Student Cuts Fingers. A student attending the evening trade classes at Wairarapa College, lan Thomas Rutherford, Masterton, was admitted to hospital last night with cuts to his fingers, received, it is reported, while working in his class. Window Cleaner’s Death. Fatal injuries, caused through falling from the second story of a building, were received by a window-clean-er in Wellington yesterday afternoon. He was Arthur Benjamin Willis, married, aged 58 years, of 35 Hopper Street. Mr Willis was cleaning the outside of a window of the Stewart Dawson building, Lambton Quay, when it is believed he overbalanced, falling to the shop veranda, which was smashed, and then to the roadway. He received a fractured skull and a fractured right thigh and died on the way to hospital in the Free Ambulance. Benzine Stolen by Juveniles. Four boys were before Mr H. P. Lawry, S.M., at a sitting of the Children’s Court in 'Masterton this morning on charges of having stolen benzine. Counsel for the owners pointed out that considerable-, inconvenience arose in business circles when petrol was stolen. In addition to the supply of petrol being governed by coupons, the vehicles had to move off in the morning before petrol stations opened and if petrol was stolen during the night it might mean that ®many men suffered delay. Mr Lawry placed three boys under the supervision of the Child Welfare Officer and admitted a senior boy to probation for 2 years. Choked with Meat, An inquest on a man who choked to death in a Wellington restaurant was held before Mr W. G. Mellish, coroner yesterday. He was Walter Ladner, cabinetmaker, aged 62, single. Evidence showed that Ladner went to the New Idea Restaurant, Vivian Street, about 5 p.m. last Thursday. He ordered steak and kidney stew. A few minutes later a waitress noticed that he was coughing and appeared distressed, and was sitting with his head resting againsi the wall. She rang up the Free Ambulance, but the driver, when he arrived at 5.15, found that Ladner was dead. Dr. P. P. Lynch, pathologist, said he found on making a post-mortem examination that a lump of meat about two inches by one inch was lying in the windpipe, firmly impacted in the opening of the larynx,