By Brian Yatman
Saving the horses
"Miss Louise Jane Gurney, who, with Mademoiselle Soubeiran, founded the school Kambala, died last week, and the thoughts of those who passed under her influence must be dwelling gratefully and lovingly on those days. Who does not remember her hiring a cab and then walking up the hill to 'save the horse'? And her last years, borne so bravely, alone with health and memory failing, and yet still eager to help."
Mail to England, 24th April 1931Credit: Fairfax Archives
The wrong trousers
Twenty-three-year-old wireworker Bruce Phillis, accused of theft, stood on a courtroom table dressed in a pair of trousers that allegedly linked him to the crime scene: "Do you think, gentlemen, that I would buy a pair of trousers that do not meet round the waist? The side straps, you will see, have to be left undone. The back is very tight, and to put my hands in the pockets, you will admit, is a very hard task." He was acquitted.
Children's libraries
Speaking on the subject of children's libraries to members of the Feminist Club, Mrs. M. Matheson said: "Every child should have this educational service as its right - a service which would fill the vacuum into which 'the movies' and the radio at their worst have slipped." Children from the poorer areas did not get the best from the cinema or the radio, added the speaker. She also advocated for a children's theatre.