NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 16, 19 January 1940, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Back to School for Pilots.

A numlicr of candidates for the Royal Vow Zealand Air Force and the Royal Air Force who are not up to the required educational standard but who are otherwise eminently suitable will go back to school early this year to continue their studio* in Tnathematics and elementary science. The Air Department lias made the necessary arrangements with tin , technical and high .schools. Mysterious Message. During a dramatic part of a film showing in a country district, there suddenly appeared on the screen the words, "'Toots, the |>ie is toady." The audience was so Hirpriserf that at first they thought those were the words uttered I>y the heroine, and when they realised it was :i message for someone, a wave of laughter swept the theatre, and curious eyes ghinccd about to watch "Toots" go and claim the pie. Taranaki's Anniversary. The anniversary of the Taranaki province will be observed this year on Monday, January 22, which, in actual fact, is the date of the anniversary of the Wellington province, whereas that of Taranaki falls on March 31. The Taranaki Employers' Association lias recommended that the date should be porniantMft.lv fixed for the s"eond Monday in March for future yeais, but this has not yet been fully discussed with the representatives of the employee*. Men Enlist Twice. That some young ?nen had enlisted a second time if their first application for service with the Special Military Force was not attended to immediately was mentioned by Captain S. H. Could, assistant area officer at Wangaiiui. Captain Oould said that the practice of enlisting twice made extra work for the staff of the army office, and did not result in a man being sent to camp any earlier; rather it delayed his admisflion to camp. Captain Gould explained that when a man was not sent to camp immediately there was a reason; it might be the nature of his work or his medical standard, for instance. "An Umbrella of Greatness.** A facetious note was. struck at a surprise party held to honour the Mayor of Wangaiiui, Mr. W. J. Rogers, at his home on his o.'lrd birthday. Mr. S. J. Harriet, after Mr. Rogers had received a presentation of an umbrella, said that the Mayor in possession of the jrift reminded Mr. Harris of two people. Mr. Neville Chamberlain and the Hon. Adam Hamilton. "But I just can't make up my mind which one you look most like," he said, amid general laughter from more than 30 guests, most, if not all. of whom subscribed to the same political thoughts as both Mr. Rogers and Mr. Harris—those of the Labour party. Methodist Men and War. Kxprexsing complete disagreement with the attitude of the Methodist Young Men's Bible Class Convention held in Wellington recently, which recoinmended members to refuse military -ervice in any form, a motion was passed at n special meeting of the Cambridge Methodist Young Men's Bible Class. The motion stated that the resolution passed by the convention was creating a wrong impression regarding the Methodist Church and the Kingdom of God, and concluded: '"Also, we feel that the struggle in which our nation is now engaged was thrust upon it, it being the only way in which we could help our neighbour, who was left naked and wounded by the wayside." School Broken Into. One of the mysteries of the week is the identity of an overnight visitor to the Maungawhau School on Wednesday. The caretaker found yesterday morning that someone had entered the building and had ransacked the headmaster's room in evident search for something which may have been Cash, for at least one piece of jewellery which was in plain sight had not been touched, possibly because it was identifiable. Maybe for the same reason silver sports trophies kept in the room were ignored. Damage was done to some window panes in the course of entry, and to several cabinet drawers in the course of the unauthorised search. Married Nurses. According to advice received by the Auckland Hospital Hoard from' the Director-General of Health, Dr. M. H. Watt, the practice of not employing married women as nurses in public hospitals is to be waived as a war measure. It is considered that the shortage of nurses will be increased by military requirements, and it has been suggested that if members of registered iiursinjy staffs married, they should be allowed to retain their positions, and if necessary granted living-out allowances when not on duty. In the caße of pupil nurses who married before termination of training, it was considered that if their husbands went on active service they should be encouraged to return to hospitals to complete their training. Haast Pass Memorial. A print of the architect's perspective sketch of the memorial cairn to be erected on the summit of the Haast Pass to commemorate the linking of Otago and Westland by road was received at a meeting of the Automobile Association (Southland). A circular letter from the Vincent County Council stated that the proposal to erect the memorial was first suggested by the Westland County Council, and had received the enthusiastic snpport of local bodies and various public bodies. With the idea of keeping the cost of the project within reasonable limits, local materials, such as stone, totara logs and shingle, were being used as far as possible. The. chief cost was the labour of erection by skilled masons. The estimated cost of the memorial and an adjoining shelter for tourists was £350. Wellington's New Wharf Shed.

In from four to six weeks' time the new wharf shed being erected by the Wellington Harbour Board at Aotea quay will lie ready for the reception of goods. Portion of the shed ia already practically finished, and can be used for the storage of cargo. Six of the ten inside cranes have been installed, and tlie others are on the way from England. The wharfsidc craue< were expeeied in Oi-tobi-r. but their ship n< line been delayed, and it is not expected that the first of these cranes will leave Kngland until the end of next month. They will be electrie. instead of hydraulic, and will be similar in type to the latest cranes installed on the QueenV wharf. The new shed will have a stacking capacity of 1,150.000 cubic feet, compared with the 961.000 cubic feet in the Pipitea shed, which, although it has a greater Hour area, has not the height of the new ehed.

Six Cows Electrocuted. Six cowe were electrocuted when a power pole was broken by the force of the wind on Mr. L. Robertson's farm, Te Matai Road, near Te Puke. The cows were being driven in for the morning milking when the pole broke, and in the dim light the drovers could not see that the wires were on the ground. Only their prompt action prevented more cows from being electrocuted. Stolen Potatoes. The unpleasant experience of waking up in the morning and finding that 17 100-ft potato drills had been turned over in one of his paddocks and the potatoes stolen befell a Taieri (Otago) farmer one day last week. His only clue was that a lorry had been seen near the paddock on the previous evening'', and on such slim evidence it is unlikely that the culprit could be discovered. Meanwhile the justifiably irate farmer has written down a very considerable quantity of new potatoes as "gone with the wind." Fishermen's Luck. Fish would constitute the main item in the evening meal of many Dunedin families la«t Monday if the success of the- amateur iishermen on the Birch Street wharf could be taken as a criterion. There was a run of trevalli in the upper harbour, and there were many people who were quick to take advantage of it. Nearly 100 lines were down a', stage of the proceedings, but catches were large, three or four fish often taking the hooks on one line at a time. The trevalli were in excellent condition, and were mostly of a fair size. Bather's Lucky Escape. ( A narrow escape from drowning occurred at New Brighton beach recently, when a young girl probably saved her life by her own resourcefulness. Swept off her feet and carried out of her depth by a strong undertow, sho was carried helplessly towards the pier, where a number of fishermen, not realism? her predicament immediately, called to her to keep clear of the fishing lines. Instead of doing so the girl grabbed one, and hung on like grim death until help was forthcoming, and she was brought ashore, little the worse for her experience. Remittances to Soldiers. Inquiries are being made by the headquarters of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association about remittances to men on active service overseas. A letter from headquarters, in reply to a query made from ChristchurchJ said: "As members of the first echelon were only allowed to take £2 with them, it would appear that there will be some stipulation with regard to remittances from their next-of-kin. Of course, there is the question of whether or not men overseas cannot draw on their deferred pay. However, we are going into this matter, and will forward the result of our inquiries at the earliest opportunity." Our Autograph Book. New Zealand is to have a national autograph book, which will be kept in the Dominion Museum, Wellington. It is the visitors" l>ook at the current Centennial Kxhiliition. All distinguished visitors have signed the book, which is called the Centennial roll, headed by the signatures of Lord and Lady (Jalwav. On the morning of his departure with the. first echelon from Wellington, the commander of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Major-Oeneral B. C. I'reyberg. Y.C.. C.8., D.5.0., signed the book, and another signature is that of the commander of H.M.S. Ramillies, Captain H. T. Baillie-Grohman. The roll, instituted to commemorate New Zealand's first 100 years of progress, already contains many thousands of signatures. On signing, each person is issued with a numbered Centennial certificate, specially designed to show New Zealand's century of progress from 1840 to 1940. Hemp for Hay Baling.

An appeal to fanners who may have more than sufficient hay-baling wire for this season's requirements to assist their less fortunate neighbours was made by the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. W. Lee Martin. He said that considerable difficulty was being experienced bv farmers in obtaining supplies. The position had been made more critical by the extra demand this season on account of the heavy hay crops in many districts. "Officers of my Department carried out tests with a lightgauge tinned wire, and arranged for a considerable quantity to be released for hay baling, but this has been completely disposed of," said Mr. Lee Martin. "Tests have also been carried out at Ruakura farm of a special three-ply lashing made from Xew Zealand hemp. This has proved quite satisfactory for use with tho ordinary hay baler, and it has been found in practice that lewt of this lashing will tie approximately 19 tons of hay in bales of the ordinary size. Any farmer requiring a supply of this should get m touch with his merchant for further particulars."