General News

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23415, 23 August 1941, Page 8

General News

Belfast School Fire

The Canterbury Education Board has expressed appreciation of effective steps taken by the headmaster, teachers, pupils, and others who assisted .in extinguishing an outbreak of fire in the Belfast School on August 1 and in safeguarding the contents of the building. At the meeting of the board yesterday, Mr W. P. Spencer praised, in particular, the unhesitating action of the headmaster (Mr R. A. Blick), who, he said, had really been responsible for saving the new building.

Lake Ellesmere Outlet

By working the plant continuously from Wednesday morning until Thursday evening, the Ellesmere Lands Drainage Board’s staff succeeded in cutting an outlet from the lake to the sea at Taumutu. Water started to run through the cutting about 7 o’clock. The gauge at Taumutu showed the level of the lake as sft 3in, the highest for many years.

Health of Watersiders

“That statement is not correct,” said MrP. N. Warren, secretary of the Wellington Watersiders’ Union, yesterday, referring to the reply made in the House of Representatives on Wednesday by the Acting-Prime Minister (the Hon. W. Nash) to a question by Mr J. A. Lee as to the provision which had been made for the protection of the health of watersiders engaged in working guano. Mr Nash was repoited as saying: “It is understood that sample respirators were procured, but the men preferred to use butter-muslin.” Respirators were not offered to the men, Mr Warren said. One man procured a respirator at his own expense.— P.A.

Early Porting Wanted

An appeal to the public for the early posting of trans-Pacific airmail was made by the Post-master-General (the Hon. P. C. Webb). He said that he had ,been informed by the Controller of the Censorship that recently the postings of correspondence from the principal centres in New Zealand for connexion with the trans-Pacific air service hgd become so heavy, during the hour or two preceding the closing of mail, that difficulty was being experienced in handling it by the censorship slaff. The Minister added that if the present state of affairs continued, it would mean that _ a proportion of the correspondence would miss connexion with the Clipper.—P.A.

New Island Industry

'A new industry to supply the New Zealand Market has been started on the Pacific island of Manihiki, according to the annual report of the Cook Islands Administration. In December a start was made on the manufacture of hats, shopping baskets, table mats, and other native handicrafts. The inhabitants of Manihiki grow breadfruit and bananas wherever possible, and attempts to grow kumeras and other island foodstuffs have been ipade. There has been a serious decrease in the production of copra, and during the year only 67 tons were shipped, which is a quarter of the normal figure.

Teachers as Objectors

On the motion of the chairman (Mr S. Rice) the following resolution was carried at a meeting of the Southland Education Board yesterday: “That it be a recommendation to the Minister for Education that no person who refuses to take his part in the defence of the Empire should be employed as a teacher in any public school in the Dominion, and that education boards should be given power to dismiss any teacher who refuses to comply with the defence regulations of New Zealand, or who, on the grounds of conscientious objection, claims exemption from service.” —P.A.

Fire Hazards

A request that the Minister for Defence (the Hon. F. Jones) should, in view of the recent serious fire at John Burns and Company, Ltd., Auckland, investigate the fire risk at the Base Records Office, Wellington, was made in a question of which Mr C. L. Carr (Government, Timaru) gave notice in the House of Representatives yesterday. Mr Carr said that 300 men and women were employed in the three-storey Base Records buildings, where only one staircase was available, and there was no fire escape. There was a second stairway, but in the event of an outbreak it would be shut off by a fireproof door. —P.R.

High Prices of Eggs

“I have never seen so many small eggs sold at so high a price,” said Mr W. J. Broadfoot (Opposition, Waitomo), during the discussion on the Internal Marketing Department vote in the Estimates in the House of Representatives yesterday. The Acting-Prime Minister, the Hon. W. Nash: “I would get after the hens if I were you.” Referring to an item of £7500 for new plant and machinery, to be installed by the department, Mr Broadfoot said he could not understand the need for new and expensive equipment for the department. The food needs of the public had been supplied at cheaper cost and in better quality by private'enterprise before the department was inaugurated. “We have never had scarcer food, of such poor quality, and at such high prices,” said Mr Broadfoot. The Government’s handling .of eggs was also referred to- by Mr E. B. Gordon (Opposition, Rangitikei), who said he had received a complaint from a poultry farmer who wanted to know why the department charged 7£ per cent, for the distribution of eggs when the rate in Australia for the same service was 2i per cent. The Minister for Marketing (the Hon. J. G. Barclay) replied that 7J per cent, was a low percentage for the handling of eggs. He would like authentic information about the rate charged in Australia, he said.—P.R. Honoured by the King

Mr William Bacon, of Wellington, who is a freeman of the City of London, has been advised that his father, Mr Frederick George Bacon, of London, has been awarded the British Empire Medal in recognition of the courage and endurance he displayed during a London blitz. Mrs Bacon, 70 years of age, conveyed the news to her son in the following terms: ‘‘We have had a bit of excitement in our home. On Saturday at lunch time a large envelope came by post. It was to say that the King was to present dad with the British Empire Medal. We are to go to Buckingham Palace to receive the medal. ... I did not know much about it, but I found out afterwards that it was a wonder dad is alive. He rescued seven people, and after that went down under the street where the gas main had burst, and that at a time when bombs were dropping all round. When a doctor arrived on the scene he wanted to know where dad was. They brought him up unconscious, and had to give him oxygen to restore him. Then when he came to, he went off to do rescue work again, and kept at it for 12 hours. After that I had him ill as the result of that awful night."