Invention for dipping headlights

A number of representative motorists met in Christchurch on Saturday night to test a new device for overcoming the glare from dazzling motor lamps. The invention was one designed by Archdeacon Ensor, of Hororata, and Mr Sampson, a motor engineer. It consists of an adjustable hood, which comes half-way down over the headlight, combined with a tongue-shaped reflector under the lamp, which is elevated simultaneously with the dropping of the hood. The effect is very striking. The light rays illume the front of the car, particularly the axle and front wheels, and spread across the road below the line of vision of an approaching motorist. Cars equipped with this device could pass at a reasonably high rate of speed, without any danger of colliding, as dazzle is completely eliminated. At the same time the light rays show up a cyclist or pedestrian who may be in the vicinity. It is claimed that if the device were universally adopted the number of accidents which result from driving at night would be greatly reduced.

Pillaging problem on railways

Christchurch: With hundreds of loaded railway wagons standing on the sidings between Lyttelton and Riccarton, owing to a lack of accommodation in the clearing sheds, many cases of pillage and theft are being reported. So bad has this position become that the shipping companies are refusing to accept any responsibility for goods left standing in the open trucks. The Railway Department also is not accepting its full responsibility. According to their bills of lading the shipping companies are liable for losses to goods held in the sheds up to one month, but before the goods reach the sheds, owing to the congestion, they are often held for this time on the sidings. The sidings are patrolled by guards, consisting largely of superannuated railway servants, who are specially engaged for the purpose, but the area to be covered is a large one, and determined thieves have been able to evade the patrols.

Old Kaikorai resident dies

There passed away recently, at the age of 69, one of the oldest residents of the Kaikorai district, in the person of Mr John Fraser, a son of the late Alexander Fraser, after whom Fraser’s Gully (the popular pleasure resort) is named. Mr Fraser, with his parents, arrived in Otago sometime in the 50s. He was then a lad in his teens. He was a councillor in the late Roslyn Borough Council. He started a night school in one of the sheds in Fraser’s Gully, and taught elementary subjects to many of those who are now prominent in the district. He was prominent in cricket and was a member of the defunct Kaikorai Club and an enthusiastic worker during its existence.

Father’s cruelty to daughters

Serious allegations in regard to cruelty to two girls aged 12 and 11 were made in the Juvenile Court in Christchurch on Saturday (says a Press Association message). The evidence taken showed that the father, who is in good financial circumstances, owning two farms, forced his two eldest children to do all the housework, besides milking 12 cows daily. Their hours of work per day averaged 16, and for falling asleep at their tasks, he thrashed them on occasions. The magistrate adjourned the case in order to give the father an opportunity to answer the charges. — ODT, 20.12.1920.