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Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 13, 13 December 1932, Page 6

About ninety officers and non-com-missioned officers are in camp at Burnham (Canterbury) for the New Zealand Permanent Forces refresher sixteen days’ course. A child, Bret Netherton Duthie, aged nine years, whose parents live at Waihou, near To Aroha, had the tops of three fingers of the left hand blown off when playing to-day with a detonator.

The Limited express from Auckland this morning was a quarter of an hour late in its arrival at Palmerston North. The delay was occasioned by train requirements in the vicinity of Ohakune,

While working at a small coal mine at Rangitoto, six miles from Te Kuiti, Mr T. Wallace was buried by a fall of coal, which came down without warning. The injured man was extricated and conveyed to hospital with painful injuries.

So far approximately 150 ounces of gold has been won from Messrs Percy Bell and Kilgour’s claim on the Ivawarau. The return last week totalled 18 ounces, those for the previous two weeks being 10 ounces and oO ounces respectively.

“The popular theory that diphtheria is due to defective drainage has long been exploded,’’ said Dr F. W. W. Dawson, medical officer of health in the South Auckland district. He said diphtheria was always passed on by an acute case or a “carrier’’ and the germs were spread by speaking or coughing. The New Plymouth Harbour Board’s dredge Paritutu is to be overhauled at a cost of £5300 and placed in commission for a further period of four years, according to a decision made by the board (reports the Taranaki Daily News). Since it is estimated that the life of the Paritutu is not more than another four years, the board decided to consider the acquisition of a new' and smaller dredge suitable to the requirements of the port to replace the Paritutu after four years.

Freaks of various kinds are' brought into newspaper offices from time to time, nnd the latest that the Hawke’s Bay Tribune has encountered is an egg laid w'ithin another egg. The bird responsible for this extraordinary performance is a hen of the Rhode Island Red strain, and both eggs were perfectly formed. The outer egg w r as of considerable size, and the shell of even colour, but the inner egg, which was of the average size of a hen’s egg, w'as most delicately speckled.

It is understood that the personnel aboard the Southern Cross when Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes Iris flight across the Tasman Sea will be: Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, pilot; Captain P. G. Taylor, co-pilot; Mr J. W. Stannage, wireless operator; Mr Wilfred Kingsford Smith, brother of the pilot; Mr C. Shaw, of the Vacuum Oil Company. When the plans for the flight were first made public it was definitely stated that Mr Pethybridge, who is an aircraft engineer, would be one of the crew', but his name has not been mentioned recently.

“From what I have heard I’ really believe you are better off in this country than we are in America,” said Mr L. T. Highleyman, of Miami, Florida, who arrived at Wellington by the Makura from San Francisco yesterday morning. Mr Highleyman, who is an ex-banker, is on a world tour, and it is his intention to remain in the Dominion until early in the New Year, when lie will proceed to Australia. “We have had. a long spell of sickness, but a time comes when one has to get well,” said Mr Highleyman, in discussing economic conditions generally. “All we have to do is to keep our pecker up and we will be all right. I think things are picking up a little, although less in America than here. I really believe you are better off than we are in the States.”

When Christmas Day falls on a Sunday is the following day observed as Christmas Day or just as an ordinary public holiday? This is a question that has given rise to some speculation this year, and neither an affirmative nor a negative answer can be given. According to the Public Holidays Act, when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, the following rules shall apply with respect to the construction of the provisions of any Act, award, or industrial agreement in so far as they relate to Sunday, Christmas Day, or Boxing Day. Where provision is made for the granting of a holiday or the observance of certain hours of labour, or the payment of certain rates of wages on Sundays, such provisions shall apply without modification on the Sunday being Christmas Day. Similarly, with respect to Christmas Day, such provisions shall apply on the next succeeding Monday as if it were Christmas Day, and with respect to Boxing Day, on the next succeeding Tuesday as if it were Boxing Day. The effect of this legal phraseology is that for the purposes of the Shops and Offices Act, the Factories Act, and industrial awards and agreements, Monday, December 26, is to be regarded as Christmas Day, and December 27 as Boxing Day, but December 26 will not bo observed as a Sunday. The hotels will be open on that day and race meetings will be conducted, and there will be no restrictions on public entertainments.