General News

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23302, 12 April 1941, Page 8

General News

“Still Think We are Soft?”. Mr Harold Nicolson, Parliamentary secretary to the Ministry for Information, told an audience at Leicester recently; “I had a great friend called Colonel Lindbergh. Before the war he said to me; ‘You are a fine people but are getting soft.’ After every raid now I have the great pleasure of sending him a postcaid, saying: ‘Do you still think wg nrc soft? He doesn’t answer these postcards, but I like sending them.” Mr Nicolson was Lindbergh’s landlord when the American flyer lived, some years ago, in the ancient, timbered house known as Long Barn at Sevenoaks, Kent. Apples for Child Patients The Internal Marketing Division is now send- i ing three cases of apples a week to the Auckland Hospital for child patients, and a similar issue is being made to the Wilson Home. The acting-medical superintendent .(Dr. H. L. Gould) reported to the Hospital Board that the idea was to give each child an apple a day, and this was being done where practicable. Any surplus was distributed elsewhere in the hospital. Change in Telephone Ringing Telephone users in the city area will have noticed that a call is now indicated by a series of double rings, instead of a series of single rings, as formerly. It was stated at the district telegraph engineer’s office, where inquiries were made, that this system of ringing has already been in use for some months in the St. Albans, Mount Pleasant, and New Brighton exchange areas. The object in introducing it in the city area was to standardise the ringing l in the Christchurch metropolitan area and to adopt the ringing features of the most modern type of automatic exchange equipment recently installed in the area. English Love of Old Things “Looking back to the earlier stages of our sojourn in England, the first thing that impressed itself on my mind is the of things and the reverence in which all things old are held by the English people,” said Corporal R. McL. Boyd, of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, in a letter to his wife in Stratford. “There is more fuss when a bomb knocks down an old church than when a block of flats is destroyed and several people killed. While I was on a visit to Canterbury Cathedral, ‘Jerry’ came over and had a shot at it. He narrowly missed the cathedral, but hit the vicarage in which there were several people. Luckily nobody was hurt, but when they were pulled from the wreckage their remarks were not on the narrowness of their escape, but were expressions of pleasure that the church had not been damaged.” Shortage of Glasses Because of a scarcity of drinking glasses, the Government has decided to grant additional licences for the importation this year of glasses from Britain or Australia, at the discretion of the importer, to the extent of 50 per cent, of the applicant’s present allocation for imports of such goods from the United Kingdom or “other British countries.” Licences are to be available only for glasses suited for ordinary everyday use. There was a marked shortage of glasses in hotels last October, and to overcome this extra licences to import glasses in the fourth period were issued. It was then a condition that the value of such licences would be deducted from the importer’s fifth period allocation. This condition would have intensified the scarcity this year which the decision to issue additional licences will help to overcome. “An Act of God” Full inquiry has failed to determine any fault in the power lines which could have caused recent power stoppages at Westport, and the Westport Borough Council at its meeting this week agreed that the trouble was due to an act of God. The engineer to the Electric Department (Mr T. J. Weekes) said that although a fuse had blown out on high tension wires no fault could be found on the line between Denniston and the Fairdown station or between Fairdown and Westport, in spite of strict patrols by the council's employees. He said that two similar stoppages had occurred on the previous Thursday and there, too, the fault had not been discovered and might never be. The Mayor (Mr J. M, Robertson) said that the power failure was evidently unavoidable, and no fault was to be found with the engineer's efforts to restore the supply. Danger of Low Flying Low flying is regarded very seriously by Air Headquarters. Immediate action is invariably taken against offenders responsible for breaches of this kind. Proof of this is contained in the recent dismissal of a flying officer from the Royal New Zealand Air Force in accordance with the sentence of a general courtmartial which found him guilty of flying an aircraft on January 25 near Lake Taupo at a height lower than that prescribed by the regulations.—Press Association, Wellington. Gfcrl Motor-cyclist Girl motor-cyclists are a. comparative rarity in Auckland, ami a young woman riding a small machine in Queen street one afternoon this week attracted more than ordinary attention, as she had a young man as pillion passenger. The rider handled the machine with skill and showed confidence in the heavy rush-hour traffic. Chinese Generosity A voluntary contribution of £lB 10a to the board’s funds was accepted by the Auckland Hospital Board last week from the Kwong Chew Club, Hobson street. In forwarding the cheque Mr T. W. Doo, jun., wrote: “This small sum is the total amount of the annual subscription donated by the members, who wish to express their gratitude toward your board, doctors, and nurses, for the kindness they have always given to their countrymen. I am only too pleased to ask you to- accept this small donation.” _____________