OUT AND ABOUT

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14569, 13 January 1948, Page 2

OUT AND ABOUT

Cargo For Tauranga The coastal vessel Kapiti arrived at Tauranga at 8 o’clock yesterday morning with 84 tons of general cargo. She returned to Auckland at 3.30 p.m. the same day with 23 outgoing tons. Shortage Of Eggs

“While we have not said there is a shortage of shipping, the fact is that there is a shortage of shipping at this time of the year, and that is why there is an egg shortage in Wellington now,” said Mr D. J. Matthews, general manager of Farm Products, Ltd., egg distributors, in reply to a statement by the secretary of the Ship-owners’ Federation (Mr G. H. Norman) recently.

Army Consciences? Uneasy consciences have benefited various Government Departments to the extent of £6B 5s Id. Sums ranging from £2O to 2s 6d sent by “persons unknown” as conscience money, are acknowledged in the N.Z. Gazette. Two amounts of £lO and one of. £8 to the Land and Income Tax Department are readily understandable, but two consciences, worth £1 5s and £2 5s respectively, have actually returned something to the Army Department.

England’s Production Some of the leading English manufacturer's of cars, trucks and tractors are now spending great sums on bringing their factories up to date, according to Mr D. H. Todd, chairman of the Todd Motor group, who has returned to Wellington after a visit overseas. Mr Todd said that the principal basic shortage seemed to be steel. This was also affecting petroleum supplies, as new drilling and refining plant could not be made in required quantities. The whole basis of the manufacturing deficiency in England was coal. Truck Passengers “A most dangerous practice” was the comment of an official of the Wellington Automobile Association cn the extent to which passengers are riding on the trays of trucks. The official advised that if people had to ride on the tray of a truck they should see that they had a good hold in case the truck swerved or was suddenly pulled up. He said that the prevalence of children among truck passengers was particularly noticeable. They were riding under insufficient conditions of safety. The association was concerned over the increasing number of accidents in this 'class which were all avoidable. Dominion Museum “I intend to do all in my power to co-operate with the museum board and the staff in making the Dominion Museum and its services available td the public at the earliest possible date, and fairly rapid developments may be expected'in the near future,” the director of the museum (Dr R. A. Falla) said recently. Although Dr Falla has been director of the museum since November 1, he began active duties only a short time ago because of the special leave which was granted to allow him to accompany a research expedition to the Snares, the West Coast sounds, and other parts of the South Island. Engineer Shortage

New Zealand’s limited facilities for training professional engineers, and salaries which would not keen them in the country once trained, have been criticised by the president of the Professional Engineers’ Association (Mr R. S. Maunder). A number of engineers in New Zealand have recently received questionnaires from the British Ministry of Labour and National Service, which is conducting a survey of technological and scientific manpower. Mr Maunder thought the questionnaire to be a result of a report to the British Government that by 1950 there would be a shortage of 10,000 scientific workers in Britain, and by 1955 the figure would be 25,000.