General News

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22167, 10 August 1937, Page 8

General News

The Singapore Garrison “The garrison at Singapore has recently been strengthened by the addition of a third battalion of infantry; and the other branches, includingthe air force, have also been increased in strength,” Mr H. N. C. Gudgeon, an infantry officer at Singapore, who is at present visiting New Zealand, told a reporter last evening. He said that a few years ago there had been only one battalion, but another had been added in April, 1936, and another last April. Work on the naval base was progressing steadily. The new barracks which had been built was thoroughly modern, he added, and would include a swimming bath for each unit and a cinema. It was often called “Buckingham Palace,” and was considered the best barracks in the world. Mr Gudgeon said that a test attack had been carried out at the garrison last February with troops brought from Hong Kong. Prosperity in Australia June in New South Wales brought the highest weekly average of car registrations ever known to the state, said Mr R. T. Vanderfield, a Sydney timber merchant, who arrived at Auckland on the Aorangi on his way to the Pacific coast. He quoted that fact as a teliable index of Australian prosperity. A general statement to indicate the upward trend in the Commonwealth was also made by Mr E. G. Theodore, for many years prominent in Australian politics as Federal Treasurer, who arrived by the same ship as a passenger for Suva. He said that the unemployment figures were the lowest since 1929. Prices for meat, wool, and industrial products were very heartening to Australians, said Mr Vanderfield, and justified the belief that the coming two years would be good ones for the country generally.—“ The Press” Special Service. Pilot-training at Wigram Pleasure at the progress made with the establishment of the Royal New Zealand Air Force station at Wigram was expressed by the Minister for Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, in- an interview last evening. Mr Jones spent a good deal of time yesterday inspecting the Wigram station, including the new hangars, the new staff quarters, and additions made to the training facilities. “I am exceptionally well pleased with the progress made at Wigram,” he said, “and also with the type of trainee now doing instructional work out there. From time to time I receive reports of the progress made, and these are always particularly encouraging.” Duck Sanctuaries on Farms Whether a landowner would be wise to have ponds on his property declared sanctuaries was discussed at the monthly meeting of the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. The question arose from a letter from Mr L. B. James, a former member of the council, who wrote stating that a Kingsdown farmer desired that the ducks on his ponds be protected. Members said that before landowners desired their ponds to become sanctuaries it would be as well for them to acquaint themselves with the restrictions that would be imposed. The declaration of private ponds as sanctuaries might entail the continuance of the sanctuary when the land changed hands. Passenger Steamer Withdrawn Once one of the most flourishing coastal passenger runs in New Zealand, and now one of the oldest services conducted by the Northern Steamship Company, the Auckland-Thames passenger trade has suffered an almost final blow. Unable to meet fast road competition, the company is withdrawing the steamer Kawau, and replacing her by the Paroto, which will take only cargo. Only one passenger trip will now be made weekly, that taken by the Hauiti every Monday. It is probable that the passenger trade will eventually lapse altogether.—Press Association. Historic Album A historic autograph album containing the signatures of all the Antarctic explorers who have made Dunedin their last port of call before sailing for the Ross Sea was produced by Dr. A. R. Falconer at the jubilee celebrations of the Otago branch of the British Sailors’ Society. Included are the names of Scott, Wilson, and Oates, Amundsen, Shackleton, Mawson, Byrd, and Ellsworth. An interesting souvenir is an. unused Victoria Land stamp, such as was used by the members of Scott’s expedition in 1910.

Increase in Salaries Increases in salaries involving an extra £3170 a year are made necessary by the application of the Local Bodies’ Officers’ Union award to employees of the Auckland Electric Power Board, according to a report received from the grading committee at a meeting of the board. Other salary increases recommended by the committee, and approved by the board, by way of adjustments to officers who had lost seniority provided under the board’s grading scheme, brought the total- increase to £5050. Ffess Association. Aeroplanes as Clocks In addition to the efficient service provided by the Auckland-Wellington monoplanes they serve as time signals to workers out of doors to whom clocks and watches are not available. On a farm near Auckland the workers depart for lunch when the southbound air liner flies overhead about midday; and the passing of the inward machine about 3 o’clock is a signal to start rounding up the cows for milking. The farmer considers that all that is now required is that the cows should be trained to come in of their own accord when they hear the aeroplane go by. Magistrate on Self Defence “If a man assaulted me, I would try, in a minimum of time, to put him clean out,” said Mr F. H. Levien, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court at Auckland, when counsel submitted that a police constable should never strike a man about to be arrested. The Magistrate added that if he were provoked, he would retaliate by fair means, if possible, but by foul means if he had no alternative. “We are all human, you know,” he concluded, with a smile. Steamer's Narrow Escape A narrow escape by the Marama was recalled by Dr. P. R. Cook at a gathering on board the former hospital ship when she was about to leave Wellington on her last trip. Dr. Cook related how on one trip to Malta from England, when opposite Valetta, they received urgent signals from the shore. They obeyed the signals and stood off- Later it was discovered that the entrance to the port of Valetta had been mined * and only 1 a short time before two British vessels, one of which was H.M.S. Russell, had been sunk. On another occasion, when in the Bristol Channel, they had a similar experience, apparently being dangerously close to either mines or a submarine. Dr. Cook paid a tribute to the magnificent work of the Rev. F. T. Read, who died recently in Christchurch, when the Marama was crossing the English Channel with men who had been wounded on the Somme. Desecration of War Memorial Alleged

The alleged desecration of a South African war memorial in New Plymouth was referred to by Mr A. H. Joseph at the reunion of the Third (Rough Riders) Contingent last night. The memorial, Mr Joseph said, was erected to Trooper C. Wiggins by his fellow-members of the bank on the staff of which he was employed. The body controlling the reserve on which the column was erected dismantled it, and the stones were commandeered by a stonemason. Friends and relatives of Trooper Wiggins had placed the facts before Canon A. H. Norris, and the matter had been mentioned at the most recent conference of the New Zealand Veterans’ Association. Mr Joseph considered that the Third Contingent should take some action in the matter, and he moved that Mr T. McWhirter, immediate past president of the Veterans' Association, who lives in New Plymouth, be written to and asked to supply the facts and to suggest what redress was possible. Mr R. McDonald seconded the motion, and Mr E. Eggleston, speaking in support of it, said that he had been closely associated with the brother of Trooper Wiggins, Mr H. L. Wiggins of Sumner, formerly of the Valuation Department in Christchurch. Trooper Wiggins had served his country faithfully, and the treatment accorded his memorial was not just. The motion was agreed tp. .