Mr T. K. Sidey's Definition of Time Bill was the bone of contention, and the ''debate'' dragged on till 8.20 a.m. before a compromise was effected.
The remainder of the Bill was then fought clause by clause, and the division bell was kept constantly ringing.
Clause 3 - the principal cause of the Bill - was carried by 29 votes to 16.
This provides that from the hour of 2 in the morning of the first Sunday in November of each year until the hour of 2 in the first Sunday in February in each year New Zealand clock time shall be one hour in advance of New Zealand standard time, and that for the remainder of the year New Zealand clock time shall be the same as New Zealand standard time.
A new clause limiting the operation of the Bill to a period of three months in one summer only (that of 1918-19) was agreed to on the voices.
The first express leaving Taumarunui for Auckland since yesterday morning left at 2.20 p.m. to-day.
One mile out the engine fell through a bridge.
Particulars are meagre, but it appears that the express, which left about 2.20 p.m., conveyed several hundred passengers, and was an unusually lengthy train, consisting really of the passengers of three previous expresses from Wellington, all of whom had been held up by the slips.
The train smashed into a culvert just alongside the Ongarue River bridge.
The culvert is a few yards in front of the bridge, and the flood waters had so weakened the supports that it gave way under the weight of the engine.
This meant that the first engine practically left the rails, and crashed on to the bridge, carrying that structure away with it as it dived into the river.
The second engine was also derailed, but, fortunately, capsized before reaching the end of the river bank, and so probably saved the whole train from piling over the broken bridge into the stream.
The train was brought to a very sudden standstill.
All the passengers received a frightful shaking, but, fortunately, no one was badly hurt.
On Thursday night two of the windows in the New Zealand Express Company's building were broken by bullets fired from a .22 pea rifle.
The windows faced Bond street, and were situated in the fifth and sixth storeys respectively.
One of the bullets, which is now in possession of the detectives, after passing through the window, struck the wall, and was found lying on the floor.
Fortunately, both the rooms were unoccupied, but in a room adjoining a number of girls were attending a type-writing class, and it was probably through no judgment of the individual who fired the rifle that the bullet did not enter this room.
It is surmised that the rifle must have been fired from an eminence overlooking the building.
• Recently the statement was published that gifts of apples or butter for soldiers at the front and in Egypt should be addressed to the New Zealand Commissioner for Hospitals, Alexandria, and if sent this way that they should go to Captain Billington, No. 3 shed, Wellington, who would forward them.
The Minister of Defence states that he did not know who had authorised the statement.
Captain Billington had informed him that already they had had to refuse apples from various sources, and many cases intended for Egypt had been sent to Trentham.
• Sheep-worrying has been rather frequent on properties around Green Island. Early this week Mr Fred Freeman had a large number worried, and it is estimated that the loss sustained is in the neighbourhood of £200.
The sheep worried were ewes in lamb.
He considered that this was a matter which should be taken up by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in the direction of making it compulsory for the owners of dogs on the outskirts of the city and suburbs to keep them tied up. - ODT, 24.7.1915.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
