NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 262, 4 November 1944, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Trolley Bus Proposal In pursuance of a decision reached by the Wellington City Council following a debate initiated by Mr. W. H. Stevens, supported by Mr. R. A. Wright, the general manager of the city corporation tramways and electricity department, Mr. B. L. Hutton, is now in Australia to inquire into modern transport developments, in particular trolley buses. Mr. Hutton will confer with the Australian transport authority, Sir William Goodman, Adelaide, in the course of his investigations. Anniversary of Revolution Next Tuesday, November 7, will be the 27th anniversary of the Russian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Czarist Russia and the birth of the Soviet Union. Under the leadership first of Lenin and then of Stalin, the Socialist State has developed so that it now rates as a major world Power. The anniversary will be marked in Auckland tomorrow evening by a meeting organised by the Auckland Trades Council and the Society for Closer Relations with Russia. Speeches will be made by representatives of the political parties and the Mayor, Mr. Allum, will preside. Mail from Germany Quick transit of mail from Germany is revealed in a letter received by Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Wheatley, of 15, Eden Vale Road, Mount Eden, yesterday morning from their son, Private Frank Wheatley, who is a prisoner of war in Stalag XVIIA. The letter was written on October 1 and bears a German postmark of October 9. In the letter Private Wheatley says that, at his end, mails have been slow, but the food parcels ;sent through the Red Cross have -teen very good. This will be good 'news to the next-of-kin of prisoners 'of war as there has been some concern on account of the disruption of ' transport. "Sky-doodling' '* ' ' Taktrifc advantage of favourable conditions for making vapour trails in ' the sky. as couple of airmen yesterday morning provided watchers in the city "with a "fine aerial spectacle. Flitting 'from cloudbank to cloudbank across '.breaks of clear blue sky, they left long vapour trails, which later they embellished with more intricate evolutions that left on the vaulted blue background geometric designs. Revelling in the unusual conditions, they "skedaddled"' from cloud to cloud to pick tip moisture with which -they, "doodled" their patterns on the "clear"intermediate spaces—they wei-e, In fact, "sky-doodling," a novel form cf skylark. The aeroplanes themselves were invisible during the perform nnce. •

Road Resurfaced

A leading topic of conversation for Takapuna, Milford and East Coast Bays residents this week has been the resurfacing of the tar-sealed road between the two post offices at Takapuna. For many years this strip of road has been the subject of adverse criticism by dus and car passengers who have been jolted over it. Set between two long runs of concreted road, it was especially noticeable, and on a dark night bus passengers could "picx up their bearings" by the jolting as it was traversed. To the thousands of visitors who will soon be resuming their excursions to the beaches, the resurfacing of this road will be a welcome surprise. Overcrowded Schools Most school teachers would agree that the greatest need in school today was for more room to enable children to move about informally as they were required to do in following' the more modern educational methods, said Dr. F. G. Spurdle in an address to the Invercargill Rotary Club. Few people realised how school children were skimped and begrudged the necessary room for their activities. In schools of the older type children had about 4ft by 2ft of space. This might have sufficed when schoolrooms were used as auditoriums and children were expected to remain still and do tasks that could be done in little space. The older type of education was mass production of young minds and teachers with large classes had little opportunity of giving attention to individual pupils. Slowly the school system had changed and would change more if they had enough room.

Disliked Her V/age "It is not the work that I dislike, but the wage." a young woman charged with leaving her employment in a food canning factory wrote in a letter read in the Magistrate's Court yesterday. She pointed out that out of her wage of 38/6 weekly she had to pay board of 25/, and as she could not live on the balance another position was found at a wage of £2 10/. Indicating her independence. the Avoman stated that she had no intention of "asking her people to assist her financially and it was not her desire to incur debts. The woman expressed the hope that she would be allowed to remain in her new employment. The manpower officer referred to the effect that the defendant's action might have on other employees in the factory. "There is something in her contention." observed Mr. J. Morling, S.M.. who added that she had apparently just ' ause for complaint. In view of the fact that the defendant had referred to ■ ill-health, the magistrate adjourned the hearing for four weeks so that she could be examined by the medical board.