NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 170, 21 July 1941, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Appeal to Workers An appeal to industrial workers k v to return to the positions to which ; they are best suited is being made by the placement office at Auckland in order to fill vacancies in essential war trades. Many trained men have drifted off into other positions and therefore their special knowledge is being wasted.

Drum for Home Guard Practical interest in the Home Guard was shown by the Mount Albert Business Men's Association when the chairman, Mr. J. Sheppard, presented the A Company of the 6th Battalion (Mount Albert) with a side drum at its parade yesterday. Some months ago the Sandringham business men donated a similar drum to B Company. Such gifts are greatly encouraging to the men, drums in particular assisting to smarten the drill movements.

Photographs Transposed Yet another case has occurred of photographs, enclosed with letters to soldiers overseas, being transposed during censorship. A portrait was sent to Private C. Malone, who is serving in the Middle East, by his mother, of Auckland, but the actual photograph which he received was a group of five persons, apparently a family of a man, a woman, two girls and a boy. He has sent the print to his mother, and another mystery waits to be clarified. Voting by Soldiers The provisions of the Electoral (Members of the Forces) Regulations gazetted last year were utilised for the second time in the Waitemata by-election on Saturday. All New Zealand soldiers in the Dominion or overseas with residential qualifications in the electorate will have redded their votes. Now that the poll has been held returning officers 1 * fo , rw ard the results to the I i j .Sectoral officer in New Zealand by cablegram or other expeditv? us nieans. Soldiers' votes under ' HJ® regulations were first cast t in the Waipawa by-election last j November, 108 votes being recorded.

Married Territorials Notices advising them to report for medical examination have been sent by Auckland area headquarters to married men with up to three children who enlisted for service with the territorial force following the announcement earlier in the year that their services would be accepted on a voluntary basis. It is understood that the response by married men throughout the Northern Military District was poorer • a Ji was anticipated. Enlistments m the metropolitan area are said to be under 30.

Record of Trout Ova According to Mr. A. Kean, conservator of fish and game at Rotorua, a record in stripping for trout ova was set up at the Tokaanu hatchery last week. In two days' stripping the men collected 1,250,000 eggs, while the total number for the season was 4,500,000, a figure 1,500,000 in excess of the ova collected in the same period last season. Liberation of trout fry raised at the Tokaanu hatchery, which was enlarged last summer, will start in the Taupo district next week, said Mr. Kean, and planting of fry in the Rotorua district will commence the following week. Liberations will continue two or three times weekly for the rest of the season.

Lucky Airman ' A Christchurch young man in! training for the Royal New Zealand Air Force has begun his career with the reputation for being lucky. This is how it happened. A party of naval and air force trainees were travelling from Auckland to Wellington by train. Nearing the journey s end, it was discovered that one of them was missing. His pals assumed he had missed the train at the last station. They collected his gear and took it to the inter-island steamer. Hours later the missing turned up and coolly announced that he had fallen off the train. Nothing serious," he declared; "just fell off. Fortunately he suffered only a few bruises. He had picked himself up, walked seven miles to the nearest station, and caught a train to Wellington. His new nickname is "Laackx"