He left his home at midnight on Thursday, and continued riding all through the early morning hours, arriving at Fairlie at 20 minutes past 10.
The meeting was over at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and the member mounted his horse a little later for the long ride home, well back in the Mackenzie Country. Both nights were bitterly cold, and the mountainous country that had to be ridden through was covered in snow.
• Christchurch: Talking with a Press representative on the subject of shop-lifting, the manager of Messrs Strange and Co. said to-day that his firm had had in the past a considerable amount of shop-lifting, and during the last 12 months they have taken special steps to prevent it.
"A number of professional shop-lifters are well known to us, and to our staff," he said, "and are carefully watched from the moment they enter the premises till they leave. The amount of shop-lifting which used to exist was due to the offenders being treated too leniently, and we now have an inflexible rule that in every case that is detected proceedings must follow. We do not display any goods outside, because we think it a bad system, and one conducive to theft. Shop-lifting as far as we are concerned is almost entirely confined to women."
"I do not think shop-lifting is on the increase with us," said the manager of the D.I.C.
"Our experience is that there is an outbreak at sale times and at Christmas, and we have instituted a good number of proceedings during the last six months, with a view to decreasing the annoyance. "
• It is not often that such a congestion of traffic is seen in Dunedin as was witnessed yesterday in Rattray Street.
The train which was due to leave Dunedin for the south at 2.10 pm was of very great length, a large number of wagons being attached to it, and stretched from the station right across the street. The train took some time to get into position, and, furthermore, was 10 minutes late in starting, and the result was that the traffic to and from the wharves was completely hung up.
Before the two engines slowly moved off with their load between 50 and 60 vehicles had assembled on both sides of the railway track, and when the road was at last clear they had not little difficulty in getting clear of each other without mishap. - ODT, 9.5.1912.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
