NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 197, 20 August 1943, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY

Refresher for Doctors A post-graduate course for doctors is being held at the Wellington Hospital. It began on Monday, and will continue for a fortnight. Some 70 medical officers from the Services, and practitioners from country areas, are attending the course, which is the first of its kind to be held in Wellington. It is in the nature of a refresher and covers the general field of medical, surgical and orthopaedic work. Ragwort Control The opinion that counties administering the Noxious Weeds Act should have the sole right of distributing sodium-chlorate was expressed at a meeting of the Piako County Council. There was, it was stated, a possibility of the eradicator, being hoarded by farmers who really did not need it if it was distributed commercially. The noxious weeds inspectors should have the right to apportion it. A letter on these lines is being forwarded to the Minister of Lands. Triplets ■ Younger members of a Hamilton family which keeps a goat both for its milk and to. control noxious weeds recently had their sex education carried forward a long step when the animal produced triplet females —two brunettes and one blonde. Twenty minutes after the first arrival got shakily to its feet the eight-year-old son of the family reported 100 per cent increase m the goat's progeny. Hardly had the enthusiasm died down when the 14-year-old daughter discovered a third baby goat. Explanations were demanded all round, and, in the "Swords of the children's father: I -think all the children have passed Hi. milestone in what some books are •pleased to call 'the facts of life.. Restaurateur's Complaint It is not uncommon for a restaurant to have six or eight girls on the staff one week, and be left with two the week following, said a cafe proprietor in Wellington. Some of the big restaurants have had to close down altogether on account of staff troubles; others are battling on as best they can. One of the disturbing things in connection with girl labour, in the opinion of one manager, is that the State has made it only too easy for them ,to get into uniform, though many are wondering what they will find to do. Girls see that they can look as though they are doing a war job, be supplied with clothing .from head to foot, and at the same time get reasonable pay and sometimes quarters, so why, he asked, "should they worry about other kinds of work?" Girls could help, of course, but they could do so in their own clothes by simply wearing a sleeve band to denote that they were in this or that service. Some women were of the opinion that life for the girl in uniform was being made too easy at the taxpayers' expense. School Holidays Problem One of the problems constantly faced by parents of young children is the occupation of leisure time during school holidays. For some time the Remuera School Parents' Association has made an effort to tackle the problem, but has encountered much apathy among parents. One scheme mooted was the organisation of games and recreation by parents volunteering to take charge on a roster basis, but so few were the replies from parents approached that it had to be abandoned. However, considerable progress has been xnade in the formation of boys' and girls clubs, which hold .regular meetings. ■The girls concentrate on public speaking, housewifery and mothercraft, and the lads, who have been taken under the wing .of the Y M C A., have been occupied witn organised team games and hobbies. Recently parents had an opportunity of hearing representatives from the clubs give talks about their activities and both the subject matter of the speeches and the manner of delivery evoked enthusiastic comment and gave high promise for still ' further development in the future.

Spirit of the People "In my opinion, and in the opinion of many others, the greatest of all dangers to a proper rehabilitation policy after the present war is that of viewing life generally in a spirit of irresponsibility and carelessness," said Mr. J. Thorn, M.P., in an address to the Te Aroha Returned Soldiers' Association. He went on: "During a war people are tensed up to great effort and great sacrifices, but immediately it is over the release from tension often takes the form of all sorts of irresponsibility, both personal and social. If that course is followed no great problem is able to be solved properly. The solution depends on public-spiritedneSs and a feeling' of responsibility throughout the whole community." Unwilling Workers Attacking the calibre of men released from the army for work in the factory, Mr. J. W. Snowden, chairman of the Riversdale Co-opera-tive Dairy Factory Co., Ltd. (Southland), declared at the annual meeting of suppliers at Inaha that unless the Government could solve the labour problem New Zealand could not meet the demands made on her for increased production. Mr. Snowden said the season was the most difficult the company had experienced, with the possible exception of 1918, when the influenza epidemic occurred. "Our permanent staff is second to none," he added, "but the men we had released from the army not only did not know anything about cheese, but .also were determined not to learn. All Timber for Defence An almost complete swing-over of timber consumption from housing to defence construction works is noted in the annual report submitted to the 26th annual meeting of the Dominion Federated Sawmillers' Association in Wellington. The extent to which prefabrication has advanced is also commented on. In the provision of army hutments, defence stores and • emergency buildings generally by prefabrication, the report states, the usage of timber per building operative employed has multiplied several times. The demand for timber during the year was so insistent that not only was the maximum production absorbed} but the already low stocks held by sawmillers were reduced almost to vanishing point. War Prisoners' "Parliament" The setting up of a properly constituted "Parliament" and "Chamber of Commerce" were among the diversions at the camp in Italy where he was a prisoner of- war, said Captain N. G. Crossman, a repatriated officer, when addressing a meeting in New Plymouth. Parliament aroused great enthusiasm. It was properly constituted, and there was a change-over of "members" every six weeks. "While the Parliament was in power I was Minister of Health," he said. Apart from 239 New Zealanders, the men were South Africans, who spent much time discussing their country s problems, with a view to post-war reconstruction. First-class plays were produced, and were so popular that producers sometimes had to wait three months before their masterpieces could be staged. Legal War Problems Problems caused judges by the war were referred to by his Honor Mr. Justice Johnston in an address to members of the Taranaki Justices of the Peace Association at New Plymouth. At Wellington, he said, there were 100 probates coming in each week, and in regard to soldier estates they had to make fresh rules by which probates could be proved, different from those in peacetime. In divorce cases, too, they had to provide new rules for the service, of proceedings. In the past it had been necessary to give personal service, but if a man was in the Middle East this was not easy, and they had to make new rules with the military authorities. There were also difficulties in regard to prisoners in prisoner-of-war camps, and all this involved extra work and delay. People sometimes attributed these delays to the delay of the law, but his Honor said--this was- not the-case.