MONDAY, APRIL 10m, 1937

RESCUED FROM SHARKS

SUDBROOK MAN’S DESCRIPTION

Writing from the Union Castle linker Llanstephan Castle, Mr. Douglas Millar, son of Mr. D. Millar, resident engineer at the Great Western Railway pumping station at Sudbrook, describes an exciting incident.

“When approximately one hour’s run from Lourenco Marques, and while passengers were having lunch, the ship’s siren was blown and the engine-room bell rang ‘stop ship.’

“On going to the port side we were just in time to see a lifeboat being lowered, and noticed a native hanging to some wreckage several hundred yards off. We were then many miles from the Portuguese East African coast.

“Upon being rescued, in a very exhausted condition, two other natives were seen, and again the boat crew pulled away to the rescue.

“When the Portuguese pilot came aboard the natives told him their boat had been wrecked in a storm the day before, and that sharks had killed two other natives before our ships arrived.

“One old native with a beard was carried away on a stretcher in a critical condition.

“We are now sailing full speed ahead for Lourenco Marques, the nearest port, and are due to arrive within the hour, after half an hour’s delay.”

NO DECISION ON CRICK HOUSE

SUGGESTIONS NOT ACCEPTED

Various uses for Crick House were suggested at a meeting of Newport Town Council.

Councillor Harold W. John referred to a minute deferring consideration, and said that it was time the council either made some use of the property or got rid of it. He asked that when the suggested hospital conference was called they should consider the advisability of including Crick House in the scheme.

Alderman Clissitt, Chairman of the Health Committee, said: “Crick House has been taken into consideration from the start. With the present scheme we shall have more than adequate accommodation.”

Alderman C. F. Williams: "As far as Wooloston House is concerned, we have no waiting patients."

Mrs M. J. Dunn suggested that Crick House could be used for the isolation of measles cases.

Alderman Clissitt: "I don’t think there is the slightest hope. If you open the door, where are going to stop?

Councillor T. F. Mooney then said that as far as measles cases were concerned, the places of children who were at home suffering from measles were taken in the schools by other children without anything in the way of disinfecting being done. That was a question within their scope or that of the Schools Department.

SCHOLARSHIP PROTEST

MONMOUTH COUNCIL REFERENCES

The Mayor, the Rev. Owen Jones, ruled a councillor out of order when he attempted to discuss scholarship awards at a meeting of Monmouth Town Council.

Councillor G. L. Taylor was told that they were not a Council matter.

Councillor Taylor: "We have to protect our children’s rights."

The Mayor:"We have nothing to do with the scholarships awarded by schools."

Councillor Taylor: "We have governors. Where can we air our views if we cannot do it here, representing the taxpayers?"

The Mayor: "There are the newspapers."

Councillor Taylor: "It is always discussed here."

The Mayor: "I wish to avoid anything acrimonious. I don’t want ill-feeling over certain things that have happened lately. If you bring it up in Council it will cause bad feeling and I don’t want that.

“You know - although not so well las I do – the method adopted in the awarding of scholarships. They go through a very careful examination, written and oral, and they have an interview with the headmaster, and he recommends to the Governors of the school what children shall have scholarships. It is the normal and the proper way and the Governors naturally accept.”

Councillor Taylor: "Is it right for only one girl to be appointed to a scholarship to the borough?"

The Mayor: "I know nothing about that. I know it is done with the best of intentions, and that everything that can be done for our children is done. We cannot air personal grievances here."

Councillor Taylor: "It is not a personal grievance – it is a town’s grievance."

The Mayor: "Is it your own grievance?

Councillor Taylor: "It is not my own."

The Mayor: "I differ and I rule you out of order."

Councillor Taylor: "Very good. I hope it will go to the Press."

The Mayor: "It will – and you can write them."

OVERCOAT THAT VANISHED

MAN IN COURT AT ABERGAVENNY

The disappearance of an overcoat from the cloakroom of an Abergavenny Hotel, where a dance was held, led to the appearance at Abergavenny Police Court on Wednesday, of Reuben Henry Springthorpe, a dining-car attendant, of South Ealing, London, who was summoned for stealing the coat, and a muffler and torch, which were in the pockets.

Cyril Holy, a warehouseman, of Abergavenny, said he attendance a dance in March at an Abergavenny Hotel, and he put his coat in the cloakroom. After the dance when he asked for his coat, he was given one which did not belong to him.

William Taylor, a boots at the hotel, said a man came into the cloakroom and produced a number of tickets, but not a proper cloakroom ticket. The man pointed to a coat and he gave it to him. He was not sure of the coat; it appeared to be lighter than Holly’s. Taylor said he could not recognise Springthorpe as the man who had the coat.

P.S. W. Guy said that on April 1, Springthorpe called at the Abergavenny Police Station, and said eh had come to clear up the matter of the coat. The sergeant asked Springthorpe if he wanted to make a statement, and he replied in the negative.

P.S. Jones said Springthorpe went to Abergavenny as a dining-car attendant on an excursion train which it was intended to run from Ebbw Vale for the cancelled Rugby international match in Ireland.

Mr. J. D. K. Wagstaffe, who pleaded not guilty for Springthorpe, said that Springthorpe took the coat, knowing it was not his own, but there was no felonious intent.

If the international match had not been cancelled, Springthorpe would have returned to Abergavenny a couple of days after the dance. As it was, he was ordered to London, but he came back specially to see about the matter.

Springthorpe had been employed for 12 years by the L.M. and S. Railway Company, and he had a good character.

The magistrates considered the case proved, but because of Springthorpe’s good character, he was bound over.