LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 24, 8 November 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Ashburton County and Borough have been free from infectious diseases during the past week stated a Report by Mr ,T. G. Kirk (Health Inspector) today.

“I dto not know why it is but chemists are not coming forward,” said Mr H. T. King, a member of the New Zealand Pharmacy Boaa’d, when commenting upon the dearth of qualified chemists in evidence -before the Auckland Area. Manpower Committee last night. “The position is causing the Pharmacy Board a. lot of trouble and we are wondering haw' to keep the School of Pharmacy going.”

Aiv illustration of how the people of Britain are working long hours to bring about victory is givein, in a, letter from a New Zealand woman living in London, whose husband is engaged m work for the Air Ministry. “The hours- of work are from 8 to 7.30 pan. Monday to Thursday, 8 to 5.30 pan. Friday and Saturday, 9 to 5.30 p.m. on Sunday, and one day off in eight if you are'lucky,” she says, adding tb? comment. “A 03-hour week —enough to make the New Zealanders sit up, isn’t it 3”

The attitude of some of the people of Eure pc to Britain and Germany, as expressed by a: Dutchman, was recalled bv Mr F. A. Garry (headmaster of the Northcote District High School) in an address to the Auckland Rotary Club. Mr Garry mentioned that in reply to a question, the Dutchman had said : “We like the Germans but wa do not trust them. We do not like the British, but we trust them.” This, Mir Garry added, seemed to summarise the attitude of many foreigners.

An amendment to the Public Safety Emergency Regulations published with last night’s Gazette gives tho police power to arrest persons found distributing or in possession of subversive literature or documents,- pending the approval of the Attorney-General to further proceedings. In such eases hitherto the police wtqjre able to arrest such offenders only after the AttorneyGeneral’s sanction had been received; but they are now ‘authorised to make immediate arrests in such cases.

The claim that the troops sent by New Zealand to South Africa should be known as the Ist N.Z.E.F., those who wont to the Great War as the- 2nd N.Z.E.F., and the present overseas troops as the 3rd N.Z.E.F., was advanced by Captain J. J. Clark at a gathering of the Wellington South African War Veterans’ Association recently. “I think there is every justification for that,” he said, “because Ave were the first men wlw> went away for ihe defence of the Empire. When the Great War came the South African men were the backbone of tKe main body of the N.Z.E.F.”

“I believe that as citizens all iof us will have to pool our resources in a combined effort to help thS Mother Country in this mighty struggle to overcome thia forces iof totalitarianism and one of the most unscrupulous enemies of all times,” said Mr C. Sivlersen (president of the Dominion Federation Boot Trades Association) in the association’s October journal. “'Everyone will have to do more than just keep the wheels of commerce rotating. We have got to do something extra, and that something extra is going to make just that difference which is required to win the Avar,” lie said.

To inspect and consider suitability of buildings j,u and around Ashburton for conversion into an emergency hospital Dr. M. H. ' Watt (DirectorGeneral of Hjaalth), Dr. T. Fletcher Telford (Medical Officer of Health' for Canterbury) and Mr F. J. F'enton (Inspecting House Manager for the Health Department, Wellington) visits ed Ashburton this Aveck. The Radiant Hall, Orange Hall and Racecourse buildings Avert- inspected and Avei'?: considered to bo quite satisfactory for the purpose. A note Avas taken of any alterations AA’hieh might he necessary should they have to be occupied. The visitors 'were accompanied by thcHealth, Inspector (Mr J. G. Kirk) They later visited the Ashburton Public Hospital.

Some 60 men are at present engaged on the construction of the Haast Pass road, which will eventually link Central Otago with the West Coast, and the full width of the road is now completed to within a mile and a-half of the site of the bridge which will have to he built over the Haast River at the “Gates of the Haast.” Work lias been eased considerably on the Lower Hollyford road, which will run from the Te Anau-Milford Sound route toward the West Coast. This has resulted from the necessity 'of transferring some of the men to the western end of the Homer tunnel, where they are engaged on the road between the tunnel and Milford Sound. They camp during the week on the western side of the tunnel, and return to their ‘permanent camp in the Hollyford Valley at the week-ends.

In a pricp older gazetted last night the Price Tribunal sets out the maxi mum pn'ices which may be charged for various types of boot and shoe repair work, and this will enable unauthorised increases in prices to be dealt with expeditiously. The prices stated in the order arc in some cases below the present prices ruling in certain districts. The order is issued so that the price of repairs throughout New Zealand may be at a figure which will allow the repairer a reasonable return for his labour and at the same time protect the public against exploitation. With, authorised tjrices before them the public will know if an undue charge is being made. It is hoped that should any overcharges be detected they will be brought to the notice of the tribunal.

“Wo wont over Berlin, and, boy, am I proud! That was the first time Berlin had been raided, and although the R.A.F. has been over since, I am able to say that I went on the first raid,” So wrote Sergeant-gunner J. Bracegirdle, of Auckland, .in a letter to his father on August 30. But before it reached its destination word was received that Sergeant Bracegirdle had been killed in air operations. The Berlin “trip,” as lie calls it, was the last in which he took part up to the time of writing. The description given is a laconic one. “When we found out where wo were going, we could quite easily have sold our seats to any of the hoys who were not flying,” ho wrote. “One chap had been over Germany the previous night, and he asked me to give him the trip, hut I believe it is unlucky to change- jobs, so I held my own seat. We liad a good trip there and back, and although it was cloudy j, wc were able to see our ‘eggs’ go off.”

The fallings at. the gate at the Ashburton Show yesterday amounted to £386 10s Od. a record' figure. The total last year was £321) 8s Cd.

The Home Guard movement in Napier has benefited by the action of the staffs of three firms—the 'Shell Oil Company, the Acetone Illuminating and Welding Company, and the Vacuum Oil Company—in joining the movement en masse. . The area commander (Lieutenant J. TV. Snaddon) said recently that this patriotic action was most encouraging, and it ‘was to be hoped that other firms would follow suit. Members of the. St. John. Ambulance Association had also; enlisted in a body, and there was no sign of any slackening ini the numlJer of recruits being enrolled.

While all New Zealanders are expressing sympathy with the people of Britain in. th/eir trials, there is at. least one Englishwoman who feels the sympathy should be with those who are not experiencing the thrill of assisting directly in the defeat of Germany. Writing as enemy aeroplanes were overhead and a call on duty was lexpectled, she thus exhorts a male relative in Auckland: “Keep a cheerful heajrt, old lad. ; It must be horribly being so far n,w'ay and much harder to realise liow well wo are doing really. I’m proud to be even that very humble thing, am A.R.iP. warden, and only hope that I shall not fail.”

When 12 mysterious cases were sold at auction for £so' in an Auckland mart recently, all the purchasers found themselves in possession of goods which they were, able to dispose of at a .substantial profit. The. cases were unclaimed luggage, and their contents were unknown, both to vendors and. 1 uiehaper.s. But the curious thrill of “buying a pig in a. poles” attracted keen competition, bringing the- prices foir the packages to an average of £4 each. One case was found to contain valuable cosmetics, now unobtainable in the Dominion, which wore sold bv the lucky purchaser for £l7. Another contained crystal ware, which also returned a hands nne margin to the buyer, while others were found to contain large quantities of' stationery, fancy soaps, perfumes and cutlery.

“It has been pointed out, in a recent issue of the British Chamber of Commerce Journal,” said the president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce (Mr W. S. Mac Gibbon) addressing the annual conference at New Plymouth, “that there is some danger of an assumption, that it. is in itself a good thing at the present time to destroy any industry not contributing directly to the war effort. There are only three good reasons for suppressing or limiting any industry,” he continued. “First, it may bte using a- raw material in, short supply, thte importation.of which by some reason or another presents insuperable difficulties: secondly, the land, machinery, and other capital equipment of the industry may be better employed in war production; and, thirdly, its labour may be needed elsewhere. For any or all of these reasons, the Government might decide to tak-e the serious step of putting that industry out -of business. But only such an \imavoidable necessity should' be allowed to justify tiro action.”