NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 253, 25 October 1941, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Rotoraa Retrenchment A policy of rigid retrenchment has )cen imposed on the Rotorua 3orough Council by the disclosure hat in the first six months of the inancial year the estimates of expenditure had been exceeded by £2525. u a meeting this week the council started its retrenchment by the dismissal of four members of the outside staff arid adjustments of the .vork with other members. Trams Held Up A line of 16 trams, extending aver he whole of the Symonds Street shopping area, was held up for about .5 nnnutes shortly after eight o'clock ast night, as the result of a fault in he point connection of the line turning off into Mount Eden Road. Trams crowded with passengers vcre blocked from proceeding to Mount Eden, Mount Roskill, Balmoral, Avondale, Mount Albert and Owairaka. Motormen and conductors assisted to correct the fault, and he line was cleared after a short delay. Payment of Costs An argument arose before Mr. S. L. Pater son, S.M., in the Hamilton Magistrate's Court about whether a debtor, a married woman, should pay costs of a summons in a case that had been settled in respect to payment on a washing machine and an ironer sold Qn time-payment for £101 15/, and off which £72 10/ had been paid. The settlement had entailed the return of the ironer. The magistrate said that if a firm liked to sell expensive goods to people who were not in a sound financial position they must take the consequences. The application for costs was refused. Tai as a Talker

On the subject of a tui as a mimic a correspondent, J.M.M., writes: "The mimicry of the New Zealand tui recalls to memory the time when as a lad I attended the East Taieri school during the years 1867-8. I was living with relatives who were great lovers of animals and birds on a farm at the edge»of a clump of native bush, which was a sanctuary for native birds. Nearby was a roadside village, ten miles on the main south road from Dunedin. comprising the hotel, store and post office, blacksmith and carpenter's shop, Cobb and Company's stables and a bootmaker's shop, this last being conducted by a Mr. Comes. The bootmaker's shop was a great attraction to me, as Mr. Comes nad taught two tuis to utter several words of our language more distinctly and melodiously than I have heard from any *»s»rrot."

NJZ* Airmen for Overseas A Government review of the New Zealand war effort records that since the outbreak of war 33,000 men had applied to join the air force. More than 4300 have gone overseas? including the 500 who were in the Royal Air Force when war broke' out. Among the duties outlined is the maintenance of flights of aircraft in the Pacific Islands. The country's output under the Empire air training scheme is described as being at full flood and will provide 5000 airmen annually. The Habits of the Kotuku "The kotuku is the native name for the white heron—a bird known to nest only in the swampy forest north of Okarito." stated Dr. R. A. Falla, director of the Canterbui'y Museum, in answer to an inquiry from a Hokitika reader of the Press. "In the winter solitary birds wander to all parts of New Zealand, and remain near ponds or estuaries until ; the following spring," Dr. Falla explained. "It is not actually a rare bird, but the Maoris may have considered it so because of its habit of solitary travelling. There is a Maori proverb, 'He kotuku rerenga tahi,' which may be translated as 'the white heron of a single flight.'" Full Labour Effort "The Labour movement o£ New Zealand win do everything that is humanly possible to help Soviet Russia and Great Britain and the sister Dominions to win the fight against Hitlerism," says* a statement issued in a joint declaration by the Labour party and the Federation of Labour. "We have always espoused the cause of democracy and collective security against aggression. We have never deviated from our belief that Naziism and Fascism must be overthrown. Now that the struggle against these evil forces is entering upon an even more critical stage we call upon our people to redouble their efforts in field, factory and workshop."

Rations for the Troops On the subject of rations for the troops in the Middle East, MajorGeneral B. C. Freyberg. Officer Commanding the N.Z.E.F., has written to the Government that the New Zealand standard is high. "At base camps Australians are supplied with New Zealand butter, just as the N.Z.E.F. base at Maadi has an issue of butter,", says General Freyberg. "In all theatres of operations Australians and New Zealanders draw the British ration, including margarine. No margarine, of course, compares with butter, but the margarine issued is not below standard and is palatable. The standard of messing of the N.Z.E.F. is second to none in the Middle East. The ration scale in the Western Desert is more generoup than at the base, and rightly so. J