General News

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23625, 30 April 1942, Page 4

General News

Failure to Hear Alarm As has happened with previous black-out trials, residents of several suburbs last evening telephoned “The Press” after the sounding of the allclear signal to say they had not been able to hear the alarm, and, consequently, had not acted in accordance with instructions. One resident m Elmwood said, the first indication he had that the black-out had started was when he telephoned a friend; and another person (in St. Martins) reported that a visit from a warden made him realise he was committing a breach. In each case, neighbours had the same difficulty. It was suggested that it would be of help if tne start of trial was announced immediately over the radio. Mr Scrimgeour’s Petrol Licence A reference to the petrol licence granted to the Director of Commercial Broadcasting (Mr C. G. Scnmgeour) was made by Mr F. W. Doidge (Opposition, Tauranga) in a question to the Minister for Supply (the Hon..U. G Sullivan) in the House of Representatives last night. “Why, during time of national emergency, when all sections of the community are subject to drastic rationing of . petrol. Mi Doidge asked, “is Mr Scnmgeour in a position to tour the country with a licence entitling him an allowance of 100 gallons a month? Mr Doidge gave tne number of Mr Scnmgeour s licence for March.—P.R. Giving or Taking? The suggestion that “We can it should be adopted as a D °^‘ nl^' a '^ r e! slogan for patriotic councils was re ccivcd by the Canterbury Provincial Patriotic Council from a -well anittee at its meeting y. es^^p y ' an cer ! I don’t know about giving, we can cer tainly take p Mr HThe chairman (Mr E. H. pointed out that the p„ ast sa j(jslogan—"Win the war. ’ Mr Feast sain. “Yes, we’ve got our slogan; but have we got our quota?" No Homework Set With the sounding of. the f 1 ??" the black-out last l eveningat the un pvnprtedlv early hour ol 6.32 o ciock. maw persons, including personnel of ppc suffered some personal in of those report.^ beenffiterripted'in, or had' go f„nit ty io P r"the Ur pSiod^’rfVSlASer electric driers without any lighting m Se room Kuse of-the of 4U& nrecautions taken, ho * teachers had to leave the c J assea rfedly for their posts without a ll2 P next tunity to set homework for the next lesson. Whale Ashore at Westport A dead bottlenose whale was found on the North beach Westport early on Tuesday morning. The wha e, which was between 16 and 20 feet long appeared to have been fighting, as there was blood about the bead. The type is common to Naw Z ea .J an 'f waters, and many are reported to have been washed up from time to time on the New Zealand coasts. Hospital Wage Increases The recent increase in wages of 5 per cent, up to £5 a week will cost the North Canterbury Hospital Board about £6200 in the coming year. This was reported to the annual meeting of the board yesterday. The board has a number of employees not covered by awards, and it has decided on the following policy. The increase will be applied to all employees covered by awards, whether they are paid above award rates or not, to all nursing aids, nurses, sisters, and matrons receiving £2OO a year or less, and to all other employees not covered by awards (males paid £350 or less and females £2OO or less). Granting of Mufti Allowances Quoting the case of at least one survivor of a naval accident m New Zealand waters last year who had been discharged from the Navy without a mufti allowance, and who under the new regulations remained ineligible for one Mr J. A. Lee (Democratic Labour, Grey Lynn), m conjunction with Mr W. E. Barnard (Democratic Labour, Napier), asked the Minister for Defence (the Hon. F. J°^ es ) House of Representatives last night if sympathetic consideration would be given to exceptional cases for which no provision appeared to be made in the recent regulations.—P.R. Homs on Fire Engines Christchurch residents had a good opportunity last evening of becoming used to the sound of the klaxon horns which have been fitted to the fire engines in place of sirens because of the possibility of confusion with the alarm signal. Even those people who did not know of the change could have had little doubt about the meaning of the warning blared by the horns as the engines raced to answer E.P.S. ttial calls. Nurses’ War Effort “There is every reason- for satisfaction with the way in which nurses throughout the Dominion have responded to the requirements of war states the “New Zealand Nursing Journal.” “More than 400 nurses are on active service overseas, and the applications for enlistment continue to pour in daily. Four thousand nurses, retired or married, have come forward to undertake, emergency work, Tnd many have returned to nursing. Emergency and first-aid posts and hospitals arc staffed by former nurses, who have volunteered for service regardless of the inconvenience. The training of hundreds of voluntary nursing aids has been undertaken as a contribution to the war effort by registered nurses without whose co-operation the voluntary scheme could not have been put into effect. The number of nurses who have sought employment in other spheres is very small, and in most cases justified by health or domestic reasons. Not Necessary Among the messages received at the EP.S. central reporting point during the black-out last evening was one from a lighting warden seeking instructions. He had found a light in a house, but no one was at home. He wanted to know if he should break into the house and put it out The Lighting Controller (Mr E. Hitchcock) replied that it would not be necessary in a trial. Health of Quartz Miners Speaking of the unhealthy nature of the quartz mining industry before the Arbitration Court at Auckland, Mr F. Cornwell, for the union, pointed out that mining was the only industry specially singled out for pensions. At the end of March, 1941, the total union membership of gold miners was 938, and there were 931 pensioners, he said A year previously there were 988 miners and an exactly equal number of pensioners. The amount paid out in miners’ pensions for the year 1940-41 was £BB 656, and in the previous year it was £92,653. Mr Cornwell suggested that in view of the cost in life and suffering some other method should be found of extracting quartz from the bowels of the earth. Supply of Pilchards The extent of the supply of pilchards in New Zealand waters was in dispute in an appeal against a decision of the Bureau of Industries, heard before Sir Francis Frazer, sitting as an appellate tribunal under the Industrial Efficiency Act. Decision now rests with the Minister for Industries and Commerce, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan. A company in process of formation, Herring Products. Ltd., appealed against the refusal of the bureau to grant a licence to operate. It was contended that, contrary to the decision of the Bureau of Industries, there was both a sufficient market and an adequate supply. A company recently licensed to undertake this work denied this, and claimed that competition for the short supplies of tin was undesirable at present. The New Zealand pilchard was better than the Norwegian and the Swedish, said Leopold Bluman, a Pole, with experience in fish-canning in Europe. The company hoped to use about 75 tons of fish a year, compared with 1,600.0001b of herrings and sardines imported into the Dominion annually.