NEWS OF THE DAY

WEATHER FORECAST Light to moderate and variable winds. Weather fair to fine, with cold night and moderate day temperatures. The further outlook is for fair weather. The Moon. —Full today. High Water.—Today, 5.8 p.m.; tomorrow, 5.42 a.m., 6.13 p.m. Vacant Maori Seat. A writ for the election of a member of Parliament for the northern Maori district to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. P. K. Paikea was published in a supplement to the Gazette yesterday. The writ requires nominations to be made by noon on June 2, and it states that in the event of the election being contested the poll will be taken on June Is. Inflated Prices for Houses. "Is it the intention of the Government to bring down legislation this session to prevent people from buying houses and renovating them to resell at inflated prices?" asked Mrs. Dreaver (Government, Waitemata) in a notice of question in the House of Representatives yesterday. Mrs. Dreaver said this practice was becoming increasingly common, and the public, including servicemen, were being exploited. Legislation in the direction indicated had already been enacted in Australia. The Paperhanger's Visit. For an undefended divorce case in the Supreme Court today it was necessary for counsel concerned to produce a copy of a legal document filed in London. This he did, but the document bore the following tag:—"Owing to a visit from an overseas paperhanger on August 25, 1940, the original agreement was burnt, together with our building. This copy is made from the second original in the possession of the respondent's solicitor, and we trust that it will be accepted by the Court." It was. Carefully Rationed. The few Island oranges, the first of the season, which reached Wellington recently, are not being displayed in the fruiterers' windows. Upon request, however, this comparatively rare fruit is produced from the shop's back quarters, but a customer is lucky if she or he is allowed more than two of the precious oranges. There are so few at present, it is explained, that this rationing is adopted so th \ everyone may have a share. This price per orange is twopence or threepence, according to size. The fruit appears to be in very good condition and further limited supplies are expected to arrive at intervals during the next three months. War Information Office. "Under which regulations, if any, was the Office of War Information, which is publishing party political propaganda over the air, set up?" asked Mr. Poison (National, Stratford) in a notice of question he gave to the Prime Minister in the House of Representatives yesterday. Mr. Poison also asked whether the " expenses of this office were being paid from the War Expenses Account, and whether Permanent Labour Party propagandists were receiving fees for contributing programmes. "The Censorship and Publicity Emergency Regulations, 1939," added Mr. Poison, "provide only for a Director of Publicity, responsible to a Censorship and Publicity Board." "Dangerously Low" Wages. Notice of question was given in the House of Representatives yesterday by Mr. Lee (Democratic Labour, Grey Lynn) asking whether the Minister of Man-power would give instructions that lypung women would not be "man-powered" out of jobs, where they were earning sufficient to pay for a decent room and to maintain themselves, into work at stabilised wages. He contended that these wages, having regard to the circumstances at present existing in northern cities, were dangerously low. Mr. Lee wanted to know whether the Minister would set a good minimum subsistence standard as a prelude to such transfers. War Library Service. The collection of books from members of the public to augment the stock of the War Library Service has been continued, states the annual report of the City Librarian. In response to an appeal from the director of the service over 1000 general books withdrawn from the central and branch libraries were also sent forward. This service, now incorporated in the Army Education and Welfare Service, will probably be continued after the war as an organisation for adult education, a work in which* libraries are vitally interested, stated Mr. Norrie. In the meantime it is proposed that the service will supply all branches of the Armed Forces with material for discussion groups and correspondence courses, as well as for individual reading. Interested in New Zealand. "In the United States there is tremendous interest in New Zealand and Australia, and no people are more popular here," said Mr. Harry N. Holmes, formerly of Wellington, who is now in New York as associate secretary of the World Alliance for International Friendship Through the Churches, in a letter to Mr. A. Leigh Hunt, chairman of the executive of the British-American Co-operation Movement. Mr. Holmes said he had just returned from a strenuous fourweeks' speaking trip in Florida, and everywhere there they wanted him to speak on New Zealand, Australia, and Americans in the South Pacific. There was nothing more important, said Mr. Holmes, than to preserve the closest kind of collaboration and confidence between the peoples of the British Empire and of the United States. Vast Book Losses in Blitz. In his annual report to the City Council, the Chief Librarian, Mr. J. Norrie, quotes the statement of Mr. Frederick Cowles, a British librarian, upon the destruction of vast numbers of books in England" during the blitz, books that can never be replaced. "We know," he said, "that the demand for books is greater than it has ever been, but we are faced with the nightmare of insufficient supplies. Millions of books were destroyed during air attacks on London, and it is impossible to make good those losses. The production of books in 1941 sank to' half of what it was in 1939, and there is an official tendency to look upon new books as a luxury which might be abandoned in wartime; Standard books are being allowed to fall out of print, and booksellers' supplies are so severely rationed that it is impossible to obtain sufficient copies ■of popular works. Readers who may feel that they have cause to complain because books they specially require are not immediately available must remember that neither the librarian, the publisher, nor the bookseller is to blame for the delay." House Building. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Holland) and his party had continuously opposed the building of houses by the State, said the Minister of Works (Mr. Semple) on Tuesday, when referring to statements made by Mr. Holland at Lower Hutt on Monday night. "Mr. Holland's inference that these houses had been proceeded with to the detriment of private enterprise is not borne out by the facts," added Mr. Semple, "and if Mr. Holland will peruse the statistics of house building by private enterprise from 1935 to 1939, when State building was at its peak, he will find that building by private enterprise was in no way affected. 'So far as the training of men coming back from the war is concerned, Mr. Holland can rest assured that the Government has already given this the fullest consideration. A commencement has been made, and so far has been productive of excellent results in regard to the training of men in schools and specially erected workshops. This system will be proceeded with and enlarged. In Great Britain arrangements are being made for the retention of men in military camps pending training. It is possible that this system, or a modification of it, might be utilised to augment the training facilities for the large number of men required ,in connection with the post-war construction programme."