NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 153, 29 June 1940, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Mails for the South. Owing to the loss of trained staff to the Armed Forces, the Post and Telegraph Department is experiencing great difficulty in maintaining its present services. In order to relieve the pressure in the mail room between the hours of 5 and 6 p.m., it has been decided to close at 5 p.m. instead of 5.15 p.m. the mails for southern offices forwarded by the Limited express from Sunday to Friday, inclusive. The alteration will take effect as from Monday next. Examinations To-day. Twelve ambulance cadets from the : St. John Ambulance Division on Waiheke Island, including children who are to sit for the junior first aid certificate and more advanced cadets, arrived in Auckland by launch this morning for examinations and inspection. The party, which is in charge of Mr. C. S. Butler, cadet officer on Waiheke, was shown the ambulances and various departments of the ambulance station nt Wellesley Street before its return this afternoon. Supplies of Molybdenite. The possibility of supplies of molybdenite from Mount Radiant, Karaniea, being useful to British steel producers in the future was mentioned in a letter to the Duller County Council (West Const), from Sir Harry Lindsay, director of the Imperial Institute, London. Sir Harry asked for certain information about the field. It was decided by the council to communicate direct with the institute on the possibilities of having the field developed. Molybdenite is a flaky lead-like element of the chromium family. ' Exciting Pig Hunt. Several escapes from serious injury were experienced by two of six men in an exciting pig hunt on Thursday near the main road about a mile from Whaugamata, near Waihi. The boar, which weighed 2781b, kept to the short fern and tea-tree and evaded both men and dogs for several hours. It was finally bailed up and was killed by two of the party, Messrs. F. Durrant and A. Watt, who were armed only with a fern slasher and a knife. Two of the dogs were severely ripped, one having to be destroyed. The hunt commenced in the Went worth Valley about 10 a.m.; and ended about 7.30 p.m., after covering a distance of approximately 15 miles.

Front Door Milk Delivery. A question raised recently by Mr. A. Blake, the consolidation officer of the Auckland Metropolitan Milk Council, dealt with the introduction of front door or front gate delivery. Vendors have stated that they could distribute five to ten gallons more a'day if front door delivery was enforced, the representative of a large firm said that the system would *ave one hour daily on his round. "On the Casey Estate, where the State houses are provided with a receptacle at the front door," said Mr. Blake, "a roundsman delivered three gallons in seven and a half minutes, some of it being loose milk." The matter brought up by Mr. Blake has not yet been dealt with by the council. Non-givers as Marked Men. The South Invercargill Borough Council decided at a meeting this week that in the event of the number of men employed In the borough under scheme 13 being reduced, it be an instruction to the foreman that those who had refused to contribute Id in the £ of their wages to the Patriotic Fund be the first to be put off. It was reported that the men employed under the scheme, whereby a refund of wages paid to the men is made by the Government to the council, had been asked to contribute. The majority had offered to do so, but several men had refused: A member said that it was a small contribution to make, and the fact that the Government was paying the wages of the men, amounting to £4 12/6 a week, was a factor which should influence them. Buried Forest? What is considered to be possible evidence of an ancient forest buried below several hundred feet of volcanic ash has been found in the course of the oil exploratory drilling at Midhirst, Taranaki. The evidence is of considerable geological interest. After the top and subsoil had been penetrated the bore entered volcanic ash and boulder strata, and at a depth of about 500 ft wood was encountered. The timber is in a state of perfect preservation. It shows no signs of having been burned, and the assumption is that a forest was smothered by ash and boulders erupted from Mount Egmont before the forest could burn. While it is known that the • area for some miles around Egmont was ~ Ul ''" "P" by the deposits from eruptions I the Midhirst discovery may lead to more , accurate knowledge on the subject of eruptions of Egmont. Tuberculosis of Joints. \ The society, felt that more public interest should be aroused to the position in New Zealand of tuberculosis ofj the bones and joints, as it was regarded j as a preventable crippling disease, stated the report presented to the annual meeting of the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Crippled Children Society. The branch would make a special effort in the future to contact all such cases, as they found, by past experience, that there was so much assistance of a vital nature within their power to give. The branch hoped that better provision would be made in the treatment of these cases to provide the necessary fresh air, sunshine, rest, nourishing foods and happily occupied minds. This clearly indicated the need for an orthopaedic centre in the country. It must be kept in mind that the permanent disability suffered depended so much on the length of the time of treatment till the disease became dormant. Butter Gift for England Mooted. A suggestion that Xew Zealand might send 45,000 boxes of butter instead of money to Great Britain to help in the present crisis was made by Mr. A. J. Canning at a meeting of the Joint Council of the Bed Cross and St. John Ambulance Association at Whakatane. Mr. Canning said that at the ruling price of £3 10/ a box approximately £1.50,000 would be needed. If primary producers Mere willing to sponsor the suggestion, the shipping authorities could be approached with a view to carrying: the cargo free, as could the waterside workers for free handling and the harbour boards for the cancellation of their dues, Mr. Canning said. Several persons had declared their willingness to donate a box of butter toward the shipment, and a section of the farming community had proposed that a cargo be subscribed entirely by dairy farmers. The suggestion was adopted by, the meeting in the form of a resolution, which will be forwarded to the Prime I Minister, the Hon. P. Fraser. I