General News

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22800, 28 August 1939, Page 8

General News

Sawmills Idle on Fridays The decision made by the West Coast Sawmillers’ Association on Wednesday, that all rimu mills on the West Coast should be closed on Fridays until further notice, took effect last week, none of the mills affected being worked. The decision was made because of a falling off in ttie demand for ordinary lines of rimu timber. Tbe loss OX wages on Friday amounted to about £IOOO. 1 Trentham Camp Activity Satisfaction with the standard of efficiency of trainees at Trentham was expressed by the Chief of the General Staff (Major-General J. E. Duigan) after he had visited the camp. Besides recruits for the Territorial Force and Territorial Special Reservists there were a large number of recruits for the Regular Force and for the Permanent Staff undergoing training at Trentham at the present time, said General Duigan. Great improvements were being made at the camp. Good progress was being made with the construction of the ordnance buildings and one wing was almost finished. No ordnance stores had existed before, and on their completion a large amount of mobilise-' tion equipment which had been stored in hutments could be transferred to proper buildings. Tongue-twister for 8.8.C. Announcer “Ao-tea-roa” was nearly too much for the announcer reading the Empire news Bulletin over the Daventry short-wave stations yesterday afternoon, and there must have been thousands of listeners who found amusement in his candid admission of the fact. He was referring to the message saying that the New Zealand Minister for Defence (the Hon. F. Jones) would not go to Auckland “to meet the British flying-boat—(a very long pause)—Oh dear, I’m afraid I must admit my defeat. . . .” Then, cautiously, he enunciated “Ao-tea-roa.” He had no reason to be ashamed of his attempt. Use for Reflecting Pools The four reflecting pools, with a total water capacity of 320,000 gallons, at the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition, have a definite Titility value as well as being the main decorative feature in the grounds. These .vast sheets of water, which will reflect the lavish lighting of the exhibition buildings, are only nin ® inches deep, but in one corner of each pool there has been built a sump about four feet deep. This has been designed so that in case of fire, the pumping apparatus of the exhibition fire engine may be lowered into the sump, and the whole sheet of water pumped on to the buildings. This unusual precaution is but one measure in the extensive .fire protection, precautions planned at the exhibition.

Fishing Vessel Models To the order of the Fisheries branch of the Marine Department, Mr E. P. Wild, of Mission Bay, Auckland, has completed models of two typical New Zealand fishing vessels, the steam trawler James Cosgrove and the Diesel-engined Seine boat Margaret, both of Auckland. The models are intended to be shown in the_ Centennial exhibition at Wellington, and will be retained thereafter for purposes of record. Mr Wild has also been asked to make a model of a 40ft Wellington line-fishing boat to complete the series.—Press Association. Royal Photograph Wanted Wellington South African war veterans want a photograph of Queen Victoria, and they cannot get one. It was reported at the annual meeting of the association recently that inquiries had been made throughout New Zealand for a photograph of the Queen, to be hung in the association’s rooms, but although the help of auctioneers and others had been enlisted, so far no photograph had been obtainable. Inquiries were now being made for a photograph from England. Queen Victoria was the Sovereign when the Boer War broke out, and although their club-room contains many historic photographs of personalities connected with the campaign, there is none of Queen Victoria. , Hole-in-one at Russley Playing in a friendly match at the Russley golf links during the week-end Mrs H. A. Penn holed her tee shot at the third hole—a distance of 121 yards. This is the Second occasion on which Mrs Penn has holed-in-one.

International “Incident” An amusing international “incident” at the New York world’s Fair was noticed by an Aucklander, Mr J. T. D. Lloyd, who visited the fair recently. The fine pavilion of Soviet Russia was surmounted by a gigantic figure of . a man holding aloft a red star. When'this work of art was completed thousands of “100 per cent,” Americans were annoyed to find that it rose to a much greater height than anything in .the neighbourhood. They regarded the.figure as a political gesture, in more than doubtful taste. There were conferences, and before long a very tall flagstaff was erected on a nearby building, so that "Old Glory” could fly higher than the Soviet star. This satisfied everybody, and the Russians politely made no comment. 1 Shortage of Poultry in Taranaki An acute shortage of table poultry in Taranaki is being accentuated by the completion of a new and unusual market in Wellington. There dealers are buying poultry over a wide area for killing and placing in cold storage until the time of the Centennial Exhibition when the demand, especially by hotels, is certain to. be very heavy. University Senate “It is anomalous that for the last six years no member of the Auckland Professorial Board has sat on the University Senate,” commented Professor W. A. Sewell,- formerly chairman of the board, in his annual report to the University College Council. Professor Sewell said it had been suggested that the chairman of the Professorial Board should be ex officio a member of the Senate. It would seem fitting that the academic head,, for the time being, of the college should be a member of the supreme governing body of the university. It was obviously unfortunate, Professor Sewell added, that the academic point of view in Auckland University College should have no voice for so long a time in the deliberations of an assembly which very often considered matters of serious academic importance. Animals on the Walk.' Gaily painted Vvalls, with pictures of birds} animals, and nursery rhyme characters, are a feature of the exhibition creche, which will be operated and controlled by the New Zealand Red Cross Society at the Centennial Exhibition. The creche will be open from 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. each day at the exhibition, and every facility for the care of young visitors up to the age of four years has been planned, A Red Cross nurse and Red Cross V.A.D.'s, who will have special training in mothercraft, will supervise the nursery. There will be playrooms and dormitories with small cribs, and the building will have its own kitchen, containing a stove, a steriliser, and a refrigerator. Ranging the World by Short-wave The short-wave radio stations of the New Zealand Post Office—Awarua and Wellington—range the whole world. They find no difficulty in communicating regularly not only with the liners on the run between New Zealand and the United Kingdom, via Panama, but also include in their daily logs exchanges of calls with Australian liners making the journey via the Suez Canal, ship-to-shore messages for delivery by post the following morning being thus transmitted to New Zealand. There is a 1 daily contact between the Queen Mary and Awarua when the great liner is at sea, and at 6.46 o’clock on a recent evening the New Zealand operator ,morsed to the Queen Mary, “What ship uses the call letters GTTM?” The answer was given, but it also came from GTTM direct four minutes later. Operators onthe new Mauretania had heard their call letters oh the air, and, making contact with Awarua, explained that this was their designation, and that the new liner was a day out from New York on her maiden voyage. The Dominion Monarch, which takes the longest route from New Zealand to England by calling at Cape Town, is always in touch with the Awarua radio station. _