NEWS OF THE DAY '

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 164, 13 July 1945, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY '

National Day Of France The National Day of France this; year falls to-morrow. It will be ob-j served locally on Monday, owing to j the fact that Saturday is a half-holi-day and that many offices are closed all day. On Monday, the French Consular-Agent, Mr. David Sparks, will receive official calls. Food For Pheasants Owing to success in the Waikato . district, where 21 farmers sowed maize with turnip seed to provide extra feed for pheasants, the council of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society has decided to ask its clubs to request local farmers to do likewise. The' proportion of seed required is one bushel of maize to three acres of turnips. Fast Mail A thirteen-day transit period for air mail 'from Auckland to London, first reported early this year, has now become a commonplace, but a particularly rapid "round trip" gratified an Auckland businessman this week. He posted a letter on June 19 and the addressee received it and wrote his reply on June 27, commenting, "Not bad, eh?" The reply was delivered in Auckland on July 9, the elapsed time from the Auckland posting to the receipt of the London reply being thus only 20 days. Fruit On Walnut TreesFruits can be made to grow on walnut trees. In a luncheon address to the Auckland Y.M.C.A. Optimists' . Club yesterday, Major N. Bicknell, who served with the Eighth Army, said that in parts of Syria fruit trees were difficult to grow, but walnut trees flourished. Mountain peasants were so expert at grafting that they had succeeded in growing various fruits in this way. He had tasted excellent pears from branches grafted on walnut trees and the Mgh, flavour was in no way affected. Kb "Without a very close inspection," H he said, "you could not tell where ■ the graft had been made."

Assistance To Build Three houses had been completed under the City Council's scheme of guaranteeing portions of loans by lending institutions, said the chairman of the council's housing committee, Mr. H. P. Burton, yesterday. A further three houses were nearly completed and six were in various stages of construction, he added. So far the council had guaranteed 24 loans, the total capital value of loan securities being £41,840. The total on approved loans was £34,845. of which the guaranteed portion was £6895. Informal Court An informal atmosphere, in which every attempt has been made to put applicants at their ease, has prevailed at the sittings of the No. 1 Revision Authority, Mr. A. H. Johnstone, K.C., in Auckland. Applicants have been allowed to sit and Mr. Johnstone has emphasised that they should speak' fully and frankly of their beliefs and not feel any sense of strain in talking to him. It was the applicants' duty, he said, to establish a conscientious objection to war, so deep-rooted that it would outrage their whole beings to take part in war. Only if they did this could he, as the authority, judge their cases properly. Public interest in the cases has continued, although the number of spectators has not been as large this week as in the first few days of the sittingSharing Homes Indication that there, were limits to such a scheme as that proposed by the New Plymouth branch of the Returned Services' Association, which is appealing to citizens owning houses not fully, occupied to i share them with returned servicemen, was given this morning by the Mayor, Mr. Allum. A big percentage of the cases relating to housing troubles that came under his notice were of people in distress as a result of discord which had arisen between them and the people with whom they were sharing a home, said Mr. Allum. A scheme similar to the New Plymouth one had been suggested for Auckland, but his opinion was : that it would not be feasible. "If i- ; works," he said, "it will be a gooc idea, but I can't go against my exper'r-'fe."