NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 126, 30 May 1944, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Not a Fixed Figure

"Any children?" asked the chairman of the Wellington Metropolitan Licensing Authority of an applicant for a taxi license. "Just on nine," was the reply, which amused all those present. Beer Not Allowed Prior to the counting of votes in the local elections at one of the polling booths in the city area on Saturday, three scrutineers came into the hall, each carrying a parcel under his arm. The eagle eye of the deputy returning officer marked the parcels. • and inquiry revealed that they were, as suspected, bottles of beer. One of the conditions of letting the hall was that no liquor was to be conr sumed on the premises, and consequently the anticipated aid to the dry work of counting votes had to be dispensed with. Saturday Closing At a recent meeting of the furniture group of the Otago Retailers' Association it was unanimously decided to close all furniture retail shops on Saturdays. It is pointed out by the association that factories work a 40-hour week, while those engaged in the retail trade at present work 44 hours. It has also been found that, generally speaking, the business done in the furniture trade on a Saturday morning is very limited. The retailers also emphasise that the stock position is such that a reduction in the selling hours will be an advantage to the trade. Alexander Pope Anniversary To-day marks the 200 th anniversary of Alexander Pope, the great English poet and satirist and contemporary of Addison, Steele and other famous writers of the brilliant 1 early 18th century. Pope was born ! •in 1688 in Lombard, London, and was the son of a linen draper of the ' same name. In his early years Pope ! suffered in health and this caused 1 a deformity of body which coloured 1 his outlook on life. He was a pre- ! cocious youth and early showed the j wit and poetic graces which were 1 destined to make him famous. 1 Among his celebrated works are 1 translations of Homer's "Iliad" and ' "Odyssey," the "Rape of the Lock" and the "Dunciad." Pope died on May 30, 1744, and was buried in the parish church of Twickenham. Public Servants' Holidays The Government's decision that it i is prepared to give favourable con- ' sideration, after the war, to the i association's request that the General . Division of the Public Service should j have three weeks' annual holiday, is ; reported in the May issue of the i Public Service Journal. The journal 3 says that the Prime Minister, Mr. i Fraser, during a discussion, said that the General Division should have : the same leave as the rest of the ' service, but that he could not see, i in view of the acute manpower situation, how it would he po >sible ; tp grant an increase during the war 1 period. ',

Mayors

"He ought to be a Mayor," said a small Auckland girl as she appraised one of a number of photographers ■ of successful municipal candidates ! published yesterday. When asked < why she took that view, her reply 1 was: "Proper Mayors are bald, aren't they?" Her idea of a Mayor was summed up in the appearance of Mr. C. H. K. Mountain, unopposed choice for Newmarket. . Long Service Record Forty-one years' service on the Wellington Colleges Board of Governors will have been completed next month by Mr. W. H. Field. It was mentioned at a meeting of the board that Mr. Field was appointed Government member on the board on June 16, 1903, and had been reappointed evex-y five years since that time. This period constitutes a record for the board and is probably a record for any secondary education board in the Dominion. Action in Economic Crisis If anything approaching the economic storm of the late twenties and early thirties should be encountered in the future it would be necessary, as in the past, to shorten sail, for to attempt to run on under full sail would be inviting trouble, said Mr. L. Lefeaux, former governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, in an address to the Optimists' Club, Wellington. No amount of monetary manipulation could ensure prosperity in such conditions; the utmost that could be done by that means would be to spread the burden differently. Selfishness "The gap between town and country is definitely widening," said Mr. R. G. Gerard, M.P., in an address at the annual meeting of the Ashburton branch of the National party. He added: "We are developing into a very selfish community. I do not except farmers. Each section is too busy trying to do more for itself to consider the general welfare." It appeared to be the Government's policy to widen the gap, he said. Country people were inclined to say that they were the producers, and that town peciple only serviced and consumed goods. They forgot that towns, to a very large degree, provided their principal markets.A Profitable Loss "We never had such a profitable , loss as those five mobiles," said Commissioner W. R. Dalziel, of the Australian Salvation Army, when telling < Wellington Rotarians about the loss ] in Greece and Crete of the Salvation i Army's five cars which had been < given them to replace a mule. "For 1 as soon as our loss became known < in Melbourne," continued the com- •> missioner, "we were given 15 new ] ones." The Salvation Army now had 1 126 mobiles with the troops over- 1 seas, each of which cost over £800. 1 The public had been very generous 1 in their support and the money had J just rolled in, almost without any 1 appeal being made, with the result ( that they had been able to balance £ their £93,000 war budget.