NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 199, 24 August 1942, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY

Dunedin Going "Dry" Wine and spirit dealers and hotelkeepers in Dunedin have revealed that unless something is done to augment their supplies in the near future the city will become "bone dry," says the Otago Daily Times. Chemists in Dunedin have been known to go from hotel to hotel in vain search of brandy to meet urgent doctor's orders. One hotelkeeper said that he limits his bar sales of whisky to one bottle a day, whereas in normal times he sold about 60 bottles a week. He said that when the alcoholic content of beer was lowered there was a switch-over to wines and spirits which had helped to aggravate an already serious shortage.

Thunderstorm at Papahara A vivid flash of lightning preceded exceptionally heavy and prolonged thunder in the Papakura district about 10 o'clock yesterday morning. The electric systems supplying Takanini, Ardmore, Clevedon and Manurewa were affected, and it was not until after S p.m. that light and power were restored In most of these areas. At Takaninl a number of places were still without light this morning. Along the Wairoa Road the storm badly affected farm and milking plants, and in one place the Eeter was blown out. Tne Aucknd Electric Power Board's trouble men had a strenuous day in meeting urgent demands for restoration of power. Horticultural Rarity A small potato has a place of honour in a city horticultural shop window. Alone in its glory in the ceitre of the window. It is labelled "Solanum Tuberosum—a rare plant," and underneath is added: "We regret we cannot supply." The same shop a few days ago had on exhibit, as a loan from a customer, a freak potato which, by a combination of several constituent tubers, was shaped very much like a man. So many people wanted to buy It, with a view presumably to cutting it up for planting, that it became necessary to withdraw It from exhibition; it became tedious repeating that they were sorry, but it was not for sale.

Nor tit and Travel - Nurses on leave may obtain permits to travel more than 100 miles by rail only if they wish to go to their homes. This has been made clear as a result of representations by the Taranakl Hospital Board to the Health Department. A modification of the restrictions in the case of nurses could not be authorised by the General Manager of Railways, Mr. E. Casey, the deputy DirectorGeneral of Health, Dr. R. A. Shore, Informed the board. Nurses were peing treated similarly to other JfOung people In employment, said t/lr. Casey. He added that if nurses were permitted to travel without a restriction it would be impossible to ?fr ÜBe similar applications from other sections. Tomatoes Instead of Roteis yhere roses and i?i u 2 bloomed in peace time fetish flower farmers hope to prolTh2e" 00 ton® of tom£ toes. They are alao grow in a great quantities of outdoor food crops. One KI? ® l o one - the output of which ™ . wa f entirely of cut flowers, produced last year 950 tons of tomatoes, 125,00(5 lettuces, 320 tons of sugar beet, 100 tons of onions, and 75 tons of carrots, all from glasshouses or from land previously planted with flower crops. This year 82 per cent of the nursery's total glass area is planted with tomatoes, and 80 P**" ® ent its outdoor ground is grow rip food crops. Since the war 'n" flower industry has been . trolled by horticultural cropping iS* a ts employees are reserved I iS«! i^ e « only if they sre I engaged on food production.

A Question of Capacity . "What's the capacity of the camp?" asked Mr. D. W. Russell of a hotelkeeper, an appellant at the Armed Forces Appeal Board in Christchurch, when the appellant said that he supplied all the liquid refreshment for a military camp. When members of the board greeted his question with laughter, Mr. Russell explained that he meant the size of the camp, not the drinking capacity of the men. "That would be about fair tank capacity, I expect," said Mr. G. T. Thurston, a member of the board.

Damaged Chimneys The repairing of chimneys damaged in Wellington by the recent earthquake is being delayed. At one time about 150 bricklayers were available for this work, including the emergency drafts from other places, but the number has dropped away considerably. "The position is pretty hopeless at present, said an official. "We have been losing a lot of bricklayers lately through- the Government wanting them back. On top of that, contractors have big repair jobs in hand all over the city, and naturally they want the bricklayers who customarily wor v for them. From the present outlook it may be six months before all the chimneys are repaired in Wellington." Definition of School Districts The opinion that school boundaries should be clearly defined and that pupils should be made to attend the school of their respective districts was advanced in a resolution which came before the Wellington Education Board from the Wellington School Committees and Educational Association, which pointed out that this would permit of more equitable distribution of pupils and ease accommodation difficulties. The beard decided to reply that it had no power to direct that children should attend certain schools, but would be pleased to receive specific representations concerning cases which should be investigated. Combating Drift to North

The drift from the South Island to the North Island of an increasingly large proportion of the Dominion's industries and the headquarters of commercial undertakings was deplored at recent meetings of the council of the Canterbury Manufacturers' Association, and at the last meeting a sub-committee was appointed to consider ways and means of arresting this drift. The secretary to the association, Mr. R. T. Alston, announced at a recent meeting that the sub-committee had held its first meeting and had decided to recommend to the council as the most urgent step the calling of a meeting of representative industrial and commercial organisations and other interested bodies.

CofKn Fall of Bread Fifty mourners fled in a panic when challenged by a police constable (says an Egyptian newspaper). They left behind them three disconsolate coffin-bearers and a coffin full of fresh loaves. Three black marketeers were arrested and marched with their paradoxical load to the nearest police station. The incident, which took place in the streets of Shubra, while entertaining enough in itself, is the sequel to a tragic story of a dearth of deaths in a collection of little villages in Caliuba Province, and the lengths to which tne local gravediggers had to go to make both ends meet. Necessity being tne mother of invention, they thought deeply, deciding finally to set up a bread-smuggling concern. By buying bread in Cairo and selling it in the make enormous profits, the difference between Cairo Tillage prices being approximately 60 per cent. t