NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 238, 8 October 1942, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Woman A.A. Patrol Officer

At the meeting of the council of the Automobile Association, Wellington, this week, it was decided to appoint Mrs. Porter, of Levin, as temporary service officer in place of her husband, Mr. J. A. Porter, who has Joined the armed forces. It was stated that this was believed to be the first appointment of a woman to such a position in the Dominion. Giant Moth A magnificent specimen of the giant swift moth (puriri, or ghost moth) has been found by a PalmerKton North resident in his garden, the insect having a remarkable wingspread and beautiful markings, including pale green and yellow. A peculiarity of this moth is that it does not feed; It subsists on nutriment accumulated during the caterpiller stage, which lasts from three to five years. Soldiers' Addresses "I cannot emphasise too strongly,"; said an English war correspondent recently, "the need for getting soldiers' addresses absolutely right and up-to-date. More letters arc lost through wrong addressing than through enemy action. Write fully and often, giving all the news and gossip and local happenings you can. That is what the men want to hear —they want to feel they are still keeping abreast of what is going on at home, that they are not really so completely cut off, that when they Ket back they won't feel strangers. There is nothing very much that !. e /„.5 a . n tc " - vou f rom the desert.! j-'Ut their whole home life is in your hands, and letters from and about home are infinitely precious." The Teachers' Journal Literary ability to express phases of New Zeal an;! life in an attractive tabloid form is a feature of the October number of National Education, the journal of the New Zealand Educational Institute, which has tust been issued. Reduced bv the paper shortage to 21 pages, the journal has been compressor! so ably that it retains in newsy paragraphs all the essential news of the teaching profession's major institute activities, as well as the customarv special article features. "Retrospect In Pictures," "Old Coach Road" and "Advances on the Sea Front" are well written and informative word pictures of New Zealand life. in "Shocking Education Svstem." Mr E. M. Blaiklock. M.A.. reveals "the blackest page in the Nazi book of crimes" to show the organised attack upon the mind of youth: and a study of the schools of Svria by a New Zealand soldier now in the Middle East is of intense interest to the general reader as well as to the teaching profession.

Life in Prison

"Confinement in dark dungeons did not accomplish much. Under the old system men were actually being destroyed, not reformed," said Major T. Holmes, of the Salvation Army, in an address to the Palmerston North Rotary Club. Nowadays it was very different, he said. There was plenty of recreation, trades to learn, and very little sickness. In addition there were thousands of men in New Zealand who did not get as good a dinner as the men in gaol. The stigma was the worst part of prison life.

Guarding the Grand Organ In order to preserve as far as possible the grand organ in the Wellington Town Hall from the inroads of grit and dust during the repair operations about to begin in the interior of the big hall, steps are being taken to encase the organ structure in building board. By the end of the present week the organ pipes and console will have disappeared altogether from view behind this barricade of white board. Not till this work is completed will the workmen start their attack on the damaged parts oi the structure. Thinking in Several Languages "Just as in English we associate certain words with particular objects or actions, so can the student learn to think in Esperanto," said Miss J. Wilson, speaking at the meeting of the. Karori Esperanto Society this week. "This assimilation and imparting of ideas entirely in Esperanto is the aim of every true Esperantist. Members of the society find that, after conversing freely in the language during the evening, the reversion to the use of English requires a readjustment of the mind from one language to the other." Miss Wilson pointed out that linguists were capable of thinking in several different languages, though generally only one at a time.

Preserving Tyres Information on the preservation of motor-car tyres is contained in a bulletin issued by a well-known rubber company. Tyres will deteriorate from oxidisation if a car is put in a garage and left as it stands for, say, The best Precaution is > bT the tyres removed from the i e , tubes should be '!3 .1! casings, inflated slightly and the tyres wrapped with strips of brown paper or hessian. If the car is to be kept ready for use in an emergency, however, the best precaution is to keep sunlight avvav by covering the wheels with material that will exclude light A coming of glycerine will help to protect the cover. When leaving tyres on a vehicle which is not to be used the weight of the car should be supported on blocks and enough air pumped into the tube to retain the shape of the tyre.