However, in a large number of cases in this city yesterday, gratitude turned first of all to disappointment and then to annoyance and execration.
After the usual ring and a complacent wait for the obliging request of ''Number please'', a good many subscribers received no answer, and when a second and more vigorous ring was greeted with the same stony silence they began to realise that something was wrong.
A few moments of sober reflection soon convinced them that a brief request from the Telegraph Office to pay a small monetary contribution into the funds of that department by October 14 had been overlooked, and, when the necessary financial lubrication had been applied, the wires were set in motion and the bell sounded again with a cheerful tinkle that had a doubly pleasant sound.
To those subscribers - and their number approached the vicinity of 1000 - who thus found themselves isolated from the world at large any humour that the situation might possibly have contained was probably not apparent, and the inconvenience arising from their unintentional neglect was probably the dominant factor present in their minds.
• The Wakatipu Mail has been asked by the Acting Chief Postmaster, Invercargill, to suggest a name - not Maori - for the Frankton Post Office.
It is pointed out that this alteration is necessary in order to avoid confusion between the postal names of ''Frankton'' and ''Frankton Junction''.
On interviewing several residents of Frankton it is ascertained that there is a decided objection to any change in the name, as the present one was given many years before the northern town was given its name of Frankton Junction.
No doubt more will be heard of the matter later on.
• A practice which has been indulged in to some extent by some parents is that of sending children to the railway yard to pick up coal (says the Timaru Herald).
A juvenile and his parent appeared before Mr V. G. Day, S. M., on Saturday, the child being charged with the theft of coal.
The Magistrate admonished the boy, and pointed out to the parent the seriousness of the case.
When children were sent on such errands, which parents knew were illegal, it encouraged them to steal and be dishonest otherwise.
• The Dominion Council of Boy Scouts in Christchurch has appointed a financial organiser to raise a fund of £2000 throughout the dominion for the purpose of placing the Scouts in readiness to assist all patriotic movements.
In Britain Scouts are being used in patrolling bridges, telegraphs, and other public works; serving billeting, commandeering, and warning notices; collecting information regarding supplies, transportation, etc.; assisting public relief measures; assisting families of men employed on defence duties or the sick and wounded; establishing first-aid dressing or nursing stations, refuges, dispensaries, soup kitchens, etc., in their club rooms; and acting as guides, serving as despatch riders and signallers.
Boys in New Zealand have been assisting ever since the war started as messengers and collectors, but want to be thoroughly prepared for anything that 15,000 boys and 800 officers may be able to do.
The force will shortly be 20,000. - ODT, 15.10.1914.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
