NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 235, 5 October 1942, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY

Children's War Effort

Meritorious enterprise on the part of eight pupils, boys and girls, of the Orakel Primary School, resulted in nearly £16 being raised on Saturday afternoon for the Red Cross Society. The children, the eldest of whom was 13, and the youngest 10, organised a bring-and-buy bazaar. A varied assortment of articles were collected, others more difficult to procure being purchased, and a garage was converted into a stall for their disposal. In less than two hours the stall was sold out, with gross takings of £21 0/11. After deducting £5 5/2 for expenses, the children were able to hand over £15 15/9 to the Red Cross Society. A Gardeners' Week-end October's gift of real spring to Auckland brought a busy week-end in the garden for many thousands of people in the city and suburbs. Following stormy and wet conditions in September, there was an accumulation of work in the cultivation of ground and planting, and the spell of sunshine which began last Thursday gave enthusiasts just the opportunity they wanted on Saturday and Sunday. Where young crops had been struggling for weeks there were at last signs of vigorous growth beginning, and, of course, the weeds were equally revelling in the warmth. Most conspicuous in all gardens at present are potatoes, but there is also a good showing of onions, peas, broad beans, cabbage, cauliflowers and lettuce. Confectioners' Troubles "I am told that, the ordinary confectioner, except, perhaps, for one or two, will be cut out of business by next Christmas," said Mr. C. S. Thomas, counsel for a defendant in the Magistrate's Court in Christchurch. He was making a plea for leniency in a case in which a confectioner was charged with selling chocolates at a price in excess of that fixed under a price order, and he said that, quite apart from the unfavourable prospects for this class of business, some of the prices fixed were such as to make it hardly worth while stocking the lines. The wholesale price of the chocolates which were the subject of the charge was 1/4 a half-pound box. To this had to be added about 3id sales tax, and possibly another Id for paper and wrapping. The Price Tribunal fixed the retail price at 1/104, allowfectioner's business at a profit on the box. His information was that It was not possible to conduct a confectioner's busines sat a profit on turnover of less than 33 1-3 per cent* The profit on this particular line was less than 15 per cent. He added that the line for years had bean Bold at 2/ a hulf pound, but ♦ja authorities had seen fit to reduce to 1/101.

Fine for Filling Teeth

As her husband, who is a dentist, was in the army at the time, and she had had 25 years' experience as a dental assistant, Martha Karney Cowper filled three teeth for a member of the W.A.A.F. As a result she was charged in Magistrate's Court, Christchurch, with practising dentistry without being a registered dentist or holding a provisional practising certificate. She was fined £2. There was no suggestion that the work had not been done well, said Mr. A. W. Brown, who prosecuted for the Health Department. Fourteen Tons of Greenstone Approximately 14 tons of greenstone stored in Kumara represents the accumulation of about 30 years' spasmodic collecting by a Greymouth resident, who lived for many years in Kumara, states the Christchurch Star-Sun. The greater part of the stone has been collected by this man and his brother, but some of it has been bought in the hope of finding a remunerative market. Some of the blocks weigh up to 15cwt. One block, weighing more than three tons, was bought eight or ten years ago for £205. This block has since been "shot" into smaller pieces. The difficulty in finding buyers at present is that the stone cannot now be cut in New Zealand and was cut only on a small scale when the operation was carried out in the Dominion. The greater part of the cutting and polishing of the greenstone has been done in Germany. Airfield at Buin The opinion that the Japanese air base at Buin, in the Solomons, which American bombers are reported to have hammered recently, is on the site of his old mission station is expressed by the Rev. A. H. Voyce, I who spent 16 years in that area and who is now in Christchurch. The area was already cleared and planted and would not take much work to prepare it as an airfield, he said. The bay on which it faces is sheltered and suitable for landing of stores and aircraft. In addition, there are plenty of native foods available in the cleared area, and buildings are more numerous than in any other area. Only seven miles away to the east lies Tonolei Harbour, one of the finest in New Guinea and the Solomons. This harbour runs inland for five miles and is sheltered on both sides by high hills ranging from 1500 ft to 1760 ft. Anti-aircraft batteries situated on these hills would provide admirable protection for any shipping lying in the harbour. From Bum Bay for 60 miles up the west coast of Bougainville there are thousands of square miles of flat and undulating country where airfields could be built. In addition there are about 20,000 natives in that area who could be easily impressed for labour in building the fields.