General News

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22768, 21 July 1939, Page 10

General News

Night Road Sign A big neon sign in red and green is to be erected by the Automobile Association (Canterbury) at Church corner, Riccarton, where the main roads to the west and south meet. The sign will bear the words south and west, which will stand out boldly_ at night and will eliminate the difficulty visiting motorists have in determining which is the right road to take when they are travelling south or west. Ice Skating Championships After an inspection of the ice at Alexandra yesterday morning the Winter Sports Club decided to proceed with the New Zealand ice skating championships on Saturday provided the weather remains as at present, it was brilliantly fine yesterday with indications of a hard frost last night. The upper dam has one and three-quarter inches of ice, and a good frost last night should add a further inch.

Not Enough Lifts Work light enough for men with heart weakness to do has figured frequently in Arbitration Court evidence in the city this week, and on a number of occasions medical men have referred to taking care of a lift as a suitable occupation. When the same suggestion cropped up in a case yesterday, Mr C. S. Thomas, counsel for one of the parties, raised a smile by expressing the opinion that there woula have to be many more lifts installed in the Dominion to meet the demand. One member of the Court suggested that a lift in compensation might have a similar effect, but Mr Justice Callan ended the discussion by asking Doesn t every new Social Security building put up in the country require a lift or two?” A Watersider’s Wages in Wool “To illustrate my point,” said Mr H. D. Acland, in his presidential address to the New Zealand Sheepowners’ and Farmers’ Federation in Wellington yesterday when explaining the effects of a rise in internal costs and a fall in external values, “take the export value of wool for nstance, say, at 9d per lb for last season’s average. It was given in evidence in Wellington recently that the average weekly wage of a waterside worker had been £9 12s 6d. This put into terms of wool value would equal 2561b of wool a week, and it would require the gross wool product of 1664 sheep to pay the yearly wage paid to this worker, a’, lowing for an average clip of alb a sheep. I mention this as showing that the money wage paid to many classes of workers within New Zealand is greater than that which is justified by receipts for export. “Magic Eye” Controls Street Lights The street lights of Lyttelton are now switched on at dusk and switched off in the mornings by a ‘ magic eye, a small apparatus operated by a photo-elec-tric cell. As the daylight begins to fade, the cell puts into operation a series of relays which close the circuit to light the lamps, the procedure being reversed in the mornings as soon as the daylight is sufficiently strong. Once adjusted, the apparatus is quite independent of the human element and will, for instance, turn the lights on earner when the afternoon is dull and heavily overcast than when the sky is clear. It is believed to be the first of its kind in New Zealand.

Daylight Baking Suggested A system of daylight baking for New Zealand was advocated by Mr J. O’Brien (Government, Westland) in a question to the Minister for Industries and Commerce (the Hon. D G. Sullivan), of which he gave notice in the House of Representatives yesterday. Mr O’Brien will ask the Minister if he will investigate the system of daylight baking, with a view to putting it into operation. In a note to his question he said that it had been reported that properly inaugurated daylight baking would reduce the price of bread by 2d a loaf, and supply consumers with better and more nutritious bread. —Parliamentary Reporter. Freak Lamb Born A lamb with six legs and two tails was born at Pukahu, Hawke’s Bay, on Wednesday, and lived until late on Wednesday night. The mother, a fully normal Southdown ewe, was destroyed later.- Freaks are not uncommon but it is extremely rare to find a combination of six legs and two tails.—Press Association. Importation of Onions To meet a local shortage a few hundred tons of Japanese onions will arrive at Auckland early next week by the Naniwa Maru, this being the first shipment made by the Government this year. A quantity 9! New Zealand onions was exported some time ago and _ a further consignment will be shipped by the Awatea to-morrow. It was stated that if they would keep there would be sufficient New Zealand onions to fulfil requirements, but they went bad if kept too long. Some New Zealand onions retained their quality for a long period but there were not sufficient of these to. avoid occasional importation. For that reason it was netessary to obtain them from another hemisphere during the winter season to meet the demands of the housewife. No further shipments from Japan ar© contemplated at pres-

ent. New Artillery Unit A Gazette notice announces that formation in the Regiment of New Zealand Artillery of the Twenty-third Battery, with headquarters at Christchurch, as a unit in the territorial force has been approved.—Press Association. A Judicial Run The Arbitration Court spent a fourth successive day in Christchurch yesterday discussing heart ailments, the basis of workers’ compensation claims. After several medical witnesses had discussed at length the importance of breathlessness as a symptom of heart weakness, Mr Justice Callan, to illustrate the medical evidence, discussed his own experience on the occasion when he had to run for a tram in Auckland. Actually, an obliging conductor held the tram up when he saw him coming down the hill, said his Honour, but he felt that in the circumstances the graceful thing to do was run. There was a certain amount of breathlessness at the end of that, his Honour added, and the medical witness in the dock agreed that there would be. Later in the evidence, his Honour added thoughtfully that after all he had heard he would probably not be doing so much running in the future. Fish With Three Eyes A deep-water sole with three eyes has been received by the Auckland War Memorial Museum. It is the only example of a fish with a third eye known by the assistant-director and conchologist (Mr A. W. B. Powell), who said that all three eyes were fully developed The fish was caught, in the Bay of Pleftty by the fishing vessel Coastguard when trawling. Reserve Company Formed More than 600 returned soldiers and former regulars who have enlisted in the New Zealand National Military Reserve assembled in the Wellington Drill Hall last night, and after being drafted into platoons formed the Wellington Company of Class II of the reserve. The men enlisted in direct response to the appeal of the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) for volunteers. Men of varied experience and service during the Great War have enlisted in the reserve. They were thanked on behalf of the Prime Minister by Mr J. A. Lee, M.P., .a member of the recruiting committee, and were addressed also by Major, F. L. Hunt, area staff officer, and Major E. H. Whiting, publicity officer, Central Military District. —Press Association.

A Busy Aerodrome Already the busiest aerodrome in New Zealand, and said to rank fifth in the British Empire, Rongotai (Wellington) is expected to cope with more than 30,000 air travellers this year. Commercial air lines using the aerodrome are planning additional services to cope with the extra volume of traffic expected to follow the opening of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition in November. Last year' a record number of passengers—27,ooo—passed through Rongotai, and during the Christmas and New Year holiday period the aerodrome was busier than ever before in its history. Indicating that Rongotai is growing rapidly in importance, the figures for last Easter showed a further substantial rise in the number of passengers. „ -