General News

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23362, 23 June 1941, Page 4

General News

/ Unusual Frost- at Gore Twenty-one degrees of frost were recorded at Gore on Saturday, the highest this winter, and the heaviest for several yegrs. Yesterday 1° degrees of frost were registered. Degrees ox frost at Gore for the last five mornings have been: .Sunday 18, Saturday 21, Friday 19, Thursday 15, Wednesday 11.— P.A. Shot at Blue Herons A report of persons firing at protected birds, including blue herons, is cited in a .pamphlet issued by the Forest and Bird Protection Society. “In a letter to a member of the executive of the society,’’ the pamphlet states, a resident of Takaka, Nelson province, complains that pot-hunters continue to kill native pigeons. ‘lf I didn’t shoot them some one else would, one of the culprits remarked to the writer. The same correspondent states that visitors who arrive in yachts and launches fire at protected sea-birds and do not even spare blue herons. Dangerous Speed of Cyclists The dangerous speed at which some young cyclists coast down Dyers Pass road and Hackthorne road, on the Cashmere Hills, was commented on by Mr A. J, Tait, traffic inspector for the Heathcote County Council, on Saturday. Mr Tait said he had just come down Hackthorne road on his motor-cycle, and had timed some cyclists on the way down. His speedometer showed they were travelling at 30 miles an hour. “What chance have they of avoiding a serious mishap if something breaks, •or if they are called upon to meet an emergency by finding other traffic in their path?” he asked. National Savings Total The latest figures released by the National Savings Office show that receipts total £1,776,230. Of this, £739,625 has been received from the sale of national savings bonds, and £ 1,036,605 represents deposits in national savings accounts. . The number of national savings accounts is now 143,880, the increase in the last week being 11,225, the largest since the scheme was inaugurated.—(P.A.) Control of Erosion “The first need in an intelligent tackling of the erosion problem must be the demarcation of the whole country according to the correct purposes for which the many and varied classes of land must be used,” stated Captain E. V. Sanderson, president of the Forest and Bird Protection Society, in a pamphlet issued by the society. Expressing the hope that the Government’s inquiry into control of erosion "will be as far-reaching as the urgent needs of the country demand,” Captain add?; “In a proper national policy for the safeguarding of the soil from which the people draw their living, the rights of the nation must prevail over individual interests, especially where individual misuse of national assets is clearly apparent.” Appeals from Service The quarterly executive meeting of the Hororata-Malvern Returned Soldiers Sub-As-sociation unanimously decided to forward the following remit to Dominion headquarters: “That a strong protest be made as to the number of appeals against military service being upheld at the present time, and that statements made by appellants to the Appeal Board be more thoroughly investigated.’ Celebration in Bombing Aeroplane

A New Zealander who had the unusual experience of celebrating his coming-of-age in a bombing aeroplane 16,000 feet above Germany, is Sergeant Pilot J. Joll, of New Plymouth. In a letter to his father written in April, he records the event as one he will always remember. He wrote: "We took off oh the evening of the 9th on our ninth raid. At midnight we were well over Germany when I was suddenly startled by the whole crew singing In chorus over the inter-communication system, ‘Happy birthday to Jack, etc.’ A small bottle of champagne was produced from somewhere and-the crew drank my health. Shortly afterwards we dropped some lovely Easter eggs on the big cityT I think this is one of the most Unusual t,wenty-flrst birthday parties that I’ve heard of, and as a souvenir I have the champagne bottle suitably inscribed and autographed This typifies the* spirit of our boys, as at the time our position was none too comfortable, yet they didn’t forget my birthday and found time to give me a cheer and a handshake.” Compulsory Service Advocated A decision to recommend to the Minister for National Service (the Hon. R, Semple) that conscription be extended to cover all the emergency services was made at a meeting of the Emergency Precautions general committee at Timaru. It was stated that the term "emergency services” was interpreted to Include the Home Guard, Emergency Precautions Scheme, Women’s War Service Auxiliary and allied organisations. * "If it is good enough to conscript our men who are giving their lives fighting for our country and the British Empire in foreign lands, surely it is good enough to coni script those who remain to look after our land In comparative safety,” said Mr H. G. Naylor In seconding the proposal, which was moved by Dr. J. C. McKenzie, Synthetic Products "What the future has in store we do not know, for the inventiveness of the human brain appears to have no limits, and synthetic products, in increasing range, are being produced from non-agricultural materials,” states the president of the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand, Mr L. J. Wild in his address to be delivered at the society’s conference this month. "For example, we now have silk produced from coal-tar products. On the other hand, primary products are being used increasingly as raw for manufactured articles; e.g., paper from straw, motor-spirit from potatoes, building-board from maize. On balance, therefore, and because of the natural human preference for natural products, we ate not likely to see in our time a collapse of demand for any of our staple agricultural products; but our ingenuity may be taxed to keep the margin between costs of production and selling price ” , Potatoes in Jackets Potato-peeling will soon vanish from the army in Australia following an order just issued by the army authorities that in future all potatoes shall be cooked in their jackets because of the valuable properties which lie just under the skins. An investigation showed that there was considerable wastage owing to thick peeling by amateurs in the fatigue squads. ,