LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 December 1943, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Notice to Furlough Men. Notices warning them to be ready to return to mobilisation camps early in the New Year have been received by members of the. Second N.Z.E.F. who have been on furlough from the Middle East since July and who have been passed fit for further active service.

Laid Two Eggs a Day. A Morrinsville resident has a real time-saving Black Orpington hen. During the past week the hen, on four occasions, has laid two eggs a day within an hour of each other. The owner stales that the hen is in a coop with chicks, and there is no chance of another fowl getting in. After the phenomenon was first noted a careful watch was kept, and the bird’s unusual performance verified. Electric Power Break.

Tramway services in Wellington came to a standstill for about 14 minutes shortly after one o’clock yesterday afternoon, and electric lighting dimmed and flickered for a time before being restored to full stregth. It was stated last night that for some cause, as yet unexplained but possibly a flash of lightning, the three hydroelectric stations of the North Island were thrown out of parallel, and their linking broken till the stations could be brought back to even running. Historic Buildings. Investigations by the Works Department have made it clear that the historic and picturesque old Government Buildings at Nelson, erected in 1859-60, cannot be preserved very much longer. At a recent conference with a committee of the Nelson City Council the district engineer stated that an expenditure of £12,000 would be necessary to give them a further, though comparatively short, term of usefulness. The buildings are among the very few remaining that were associated with the Government in the early colonial period. Others are Government House, Auckland, which dales from 1856, and the older portion of the Provincial Buildings at Christchurch, built a year or two later. The Residency at Waitangi, erected in 1833, is in a slightly different category.

Totalisator Investments,

Totalisator investments at Ellerslie yesterday reached the remarkable total of £229,ls7—easily a New Zealand record for one day’s racing—exceeding by £43,619 Ids the previous record amount of £185,537 10s invested at the Boxing Day meeting last year, which was the highest since 1920, when £155,188 10s was put through the machine in one day. ’The attendance yesterday also was a record, totalling 51,000, against the previous highest figure of 46,000 on Boxing Day, 1920. Money poured into the totalisator for yesterday’s Auckland Cup at the rale of more than £lOOO a minute. In the most phenomenal betting ever made on a New Zealand racecourse, the public wagerod a total of £53,616 10s during the 50 minutes for which the windows of the machine were open. Betting at the other meetings held in the Dominion yesterday also showed substantial increases throughout. At the seven meetings no less than £516,696 was invested, compared with £410,861 on the corresponding day last year.