NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 237, 7 October 1942, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY

Welcome New» from Home

An extract from a letter written by a soldier in the Middle East tells how glad they are to receive mail from New Zealand. He says, "Letters always have been the most welcome things reaching us over here, but now that the mails are so spasmodic they are especially welcome when they do arrive. Now and then there is quite an accumulation of them, and we take the earliest possible opportunity to sit back and gorge' them, as one chap said." Fighter Pilots' Dress Fighter pilots operating the Royal New Zealand Air Force Kittyhawk fighter planes in New Zealand conform with the Royal Air Force practice of leaving the top button of their tunics undone. This habit was adopted by fighter squadrons in England in order to denote the fighter pilot as distinct from the pilots of bombers and other types of aircraft. Many of New Zealand s fighter pilots find greater comfort in the air force battledress, the top buttons of which are left undone in any case. Not Fair to Men "1 do not think it is fair to such men as this, especially a man such as Wise, who has been a prominent athlete and very much in the public eye, to bring them out of uniform and to subject them to severe public criticism." said Captain S. Bowroh during the hearing of an appeal by the National Mortgage and Agency Co., Ltd., in Christchurch, for the release from camp of G. D. Wise,- a second-lieutenant. Captain Bowron added that Wise was a volunteer and an excellent soldier, and had already been recommended for promotion. It was stated that Wise was a wool appraiser and that the company could not do without his services during the wool season. The appeal was dismissed. Winter Habits Die Hard

Despite tho summery weather over the last few days, there are always people to whom a change of temperature means little or nothing and whose winter habits die hard. Point to this was given in a city building yesterday. In one office an electric fan was creating a cool breeze and all doors and windows were wide open, while in a neighbouring ofTice the electric heater was on! Aucklanders, many of whom have memories or bitterly cold conditions as late as December, are notoriously' tardy in changing into lighter clothing. Among males dress reform has often been urged in vain. But the strength of the sun's rays this week is beginning to tell. Summit frocks have appeared in all their pristine glory; waacs, waafs, airmen and soldiers are starting to drill, and dad has at last discarded that much-darned cardigan he bought for the Exhibition.

Valuable Discovery

When a Hawera soldier found in the North African desert a rusty tin with about a quart of water in it he made the most of it. "I had not had a bath for weeks," he wrote in a letter to his parents, "and with the water I had a bath, washed my clpthes and towel and finished up by washing out my boots." Tuts in Wellington Moving from gully to gully in search of nectar from trees which are bursting into the full bloom of spring flowering, tuis are reported to have come quite close into the city in Wellington this year. They are always fairly plentiful in the bush on the east side of the harbour, but profuse flowering by nectarbearing plants has attracted these honey-eating birds into public and private gardens. They are now much less shy. Heavy Timber Demands

Preference had now to be given in West Coast mills to rimu Sap and white pine for butter boxes, said Mr. J. S. Robertson, representing the West Coast Sawmillers' Association, at a sitting of the Armed Forces Appeal Board at Greymouth. Orders had been received, he said, for a minimum of a million and a quarter feet a month of this class of timber for the North Island, the largest order the mills had ever had to supply, and the demand would continue until after the end of the year. Missionary Society Jubilee

Fifty years ago, in October, 1892, the New Zealand Church Missionary Society was founded. The parent body of the New Zealand organisation, the Church Missionary Society of London, pioneered missionary enterprise in New Zealand in 1814, with the founding of the Bay of Islands Mission, and from its work among the Maoris, in which it took a leading part for 70 years, arose the desire within New Zealand to embark on missionary endeavour overseas. For that purpose the New Zealand off-shoot of the society, first named the New Zealand Church Missionary Association, came into existence 50 years ago. Gift to Russian General Admiring the splendid stand made by the Russian armies against the Nazi invaders, about five months ago Miss F. E. Manuel, of Christchurch, dispatched a parcel containing a scarf and socks which she had knitted to Marshal Timoshenko, whose army is now playing an important role in the defence of Stalingrad. Miss Manuel has received an acknowledgment of the gift from Marshal Timoshenko's private secretary. The writer said that Marshal Timoshenko had received the gift and expressed grateful thanks to Miss Manuel for knitting them. He added that the gift wis c eatly anpreciated and that Marshal Timcsiienko would write a 1 peisonaf letter later.