NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 180, 1 August 1941, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Naval Dock Trespassers

By amendment to the Naval Dockyard Emergency Regulations gazetted last night it is provided that any police officer may arrest without warrant any person guilty of a breach of these regulations or any person whom he reasonably believes to be so guilty or whom he reasonably believes to be without lawful justification or excuse within the premises of a naval dockyard, naval armament depot, or any area for the time being declared under the regulations to be a prohibited area. Driving Test Postponed Provision was made in regulations gazetted last year that drivers of motor vehicles who allowed their licenses to lapse for three months would be required to undergo a driving test before being issued with another license. It is now unlikely that this provision will be enforced, at least until the end of the war. Owing to a shortage of traffic inspectors occasioned by war conditions, the obligation to undergo a test in such cases was waived for 12 months following the introduction of the relevant regulations. By the Motor Drivers Emergency Regulations. 1941, gazetted last night, the application of driving tests in cases where licepses have lapsed for three months is now postponed indefinitely. Difference in Pay The difference in pay between officers of the New Zealand Temporary Staff and the Royal New Zealand Air Force is referred to by a correspondent, who claims that it is time that the two branches of the fighting forces were placed on an equal footing. A .squadron-leader in the first subdivision of the general duties branch of the air force receives a salary of £685, whereas the only officer of the army temporary staff to exceed that figure is a colonel, and to do so he must have live dependent children. A major, the opposite to a squadron-leader, is paid £565 15/ if he has five children, and is therefore more than £2 a week worse off. The margin is still greater if the salary of a wingcommander is compared with the pay of a lieutenant-colonel of the temporary staff. The former ruceives in the first subdivision £Sso ' while the army man draws £62(J 10/ —a difference of over £1 a week. The income of men of both Services is free of national security and social security taxes. Officers of the ternporary staff do not pay income tax. but this is payable by an air force officer unless he is fWnrr n-uijtVir • service b> virtue o. Jie IWU ' '

The Battle of the Nile To-day is the 143 rd anniversary of the Battle of the Niie, one of the decisive battles of the Napoleonic J War. In July of 1798 Bonaparte, with an army of 35,000, had captured Egypt and had left his fleet anchored in Aboukir Bay. Lord Nelson, heedless of the risk he was running, took some of his ships between the French and the land. Before the action was over 11 out of Napoleon's fleet of 17 ships had either been sunk or captured. The encounter was of great importance because it shattered Napoleon's hopes of attaching a great eastern empire to France. Thus did England gain possession of Malta ana Minorca a move which was instrumental in the establishment of British control In the Mediterranean. Cool Store Building Referring to the adverse report in connection with an application for a permit to erect an additional storey on the emergency cool store being built on the waterfront for the Auckland Farmers' Freezing Company, the Minister of Marketing, the Hon. J. G. Barclay, in a letter to the Auckland City Council last night, said that in view of the urgency of the case the Government was prepared to assume responsibility for damage which might result from an earthquake consequent on the bylaws being waived in this instance. In view of the Ministers assurance, the council adopted the recommendation of the works committee that no objection be raised provided the building was strengthened to carrv the static load.

Attendances at Zoo

In a comprehensive report to the Auckland City Council last night covering the position at the zoological park during the year 1940-41, the curator, Lieutenant-Colonel E. K. Sawer. state"d that 115,139 visitors had paid for admission to the park. Covering the first complete twelve months of wartime conditions, this attendance might be compared with 116,961 in 1938-39 and 118,286 in 1939-40. As, however, the Easter holidays fell twice during the previous financial year and not at all during that under review, current figures reflected an actual increase in normal attendance, as represented by returns for all months not coinciding with these holidays. Such a result should be read in'the light of reports from similar institutions in Australia and elsewhere, which all recorded the depressing effects of a loss of tourist traffic, the dispatch overseas of considerable forces, transport restrictions, and demands for patriotic purposes on the time fl.o! t nr.fi redrood spending capacitv Ui I'm yeneiul pub.ic.