A young lady arrived in town from a distant part of the dominion a few days ago, and stayed with her relatives at a hotel.
The bridegroom and his friends were at another hostelry.
It is related that the young lady had expressed unwillingness to go to the altar with the gentleman, but the latter's suit was favourably viewed by her parents, and rather than disappoint them she decided to go on with the ceremony.
At the church there was a fashionable attendance of friends and relatives of the couple, including some prominent personages, one of whom gave the bride away.
All apparently was going well, but a little later after the bride had driven in a motor car to the groom's hotel consternation was caused by the discovery that the lady was missing.
Search was made, but, like Ginevra of old, the bride seemed to have vanished completely.
Subsequently it was said that a motor car had been seen dashing away from the hotel with the bride and someone, believed to be a male relative, in it.
The supposition is that the lady, though unable to master up courage to declare the wedding ''off'' before the event, had sought her relative's aid to escape afterwards, leaving the groom lamenting and the wedding guests dumb-founded.
The movements of the runaway car are wrapped in mystery.
• A story of endurance, pluck, and of bush comradeship is to hand (says a Wellington Press Association message) from King Country.
It concerns a man named Herbert Worsley, aged 33 years.
He was engaged tree-felling in a bush 20 miles from Raurimu on Monday, when a tree fell on him, breaking and mutilating his thigh.
Eight comrades set out at 5 o'clock that afternoon to carry him on a long journey over steep mountainous country to Raurimu.
When they had proceeded five miles they secured a trap, but this broke down, owing to the rough and broken nature of the country being traversed, and the party had to abandon the vehicle.
They continued their march sometimes through dense bush, at other times over rough clearings of piled-up logs, and were frequently wading up to their knees in mud.
The night was bitterly cold, and the darkness in the bush was a great handicap, the whole party frequently stumbling over logs, missing their footings and falling down slopes.
Worn out and fatigued, they reached Raurimu at 8 o'clock yesterday, where Worsley was placed in the train and conveyed to Hamilton Hospital.
• ''Our missionaries in Papua, having to deal with naked savages in a climate in which clothing is trying even to the white man, have come to the conclusion that it was not their business to dress the natives, who saw no indecency in being without clothing,'' said the Rev. R. W. Thompson, speaking in Sydney last week.
''In due time, when civilisation spread, clothing became inevitable where there were communities of white people, as they would not allow the natives to walk about the streets naked. But the serious thing is that the natives have a very limited wardrobe, and in a moist and hot climate they get their clothing drenched with perspiration, and through having no change they get chills which lead to phthisis and other complaints. The native women wear a kilt, which is perfectly inoffensive, but the great problem is to get suitable garments for the men. As Dr. Lawes expressed it - a ball of twine would dress a whole village.''
- ODT, 8.7.1914.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
