General News

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23662, 12 June 1942, Page 4

General News

E.P.S. Men and Home Guard, A promise that, on his return to Wellington, he would discuss the question of the calling up of key E.P.S. men for service in the Home Guard with the Ministers for Defence and National Service was made yesterday by. the Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer, M.P. for Oamaru. The Minister stated he would approach his colleagues with a view to determining whether a better system could not be evolved to meet the position in Oamaru, where key E.P.S. men were being taken by the Home Guard. National Savings The chairman of the New Zealand National Savings Committee, Mr T. N. Smallwood, reviewing the war savings campaign, commented on the steady progress being made through the development of the habit of regular savings. The Liberty Loan of £15,000,000 placed a heavy strain on the resources of the investing public, which not only met the greatest financial call ever made on it, but actually over-sub-scribed the loan. Receipts from national savings had also been well maintained throughout, t£e total contributed to the Dominion’s war finances through national savings since the movement was inaugurated in October, 1940, being: To March 31. 1941, £1,321,000; year. 1941-42, £5,087,000; April, 1942, £1,132,000; total, £7,540,000. Deposits in national savings accounts, whether made individually or through savings groups, average about £200,000 a month, and have been practically unaffected by the war loan. Uses of Camouflage “One very interesting study in desert warfare is camouflage,” writes Major J. A. Bretherton from the Middle East to his father, Mr A. C. Bretherton, of Christchurch. "The Army has produced some first-class pamphlets on the subject, with really good photographs. Concealment has to be studied from two viewpoints—the ground observer and the air observer. The first is comparatively easy, being mainly a question of keeping off skylines, taking advantage of folds in the ground, and. of course, camouflage painting. But to the airman, the thing that gives one away is the shadow. In air photographs, shadows are the blackest thing visible. So we are trained to have camouflage nets to conceal shadow, to make use of broken ground or desert shrubs (if any), and digging in. Most aerial reconnaissance takes plate in the early morning, or just before dusk, when shadows are long. Things like circular gunpits, trenches, etc., when photographed, just hit you in the eye if they are not camouflaged " Police Resignations Barred Members of the Police Force will in future not be allowed to resign from the force without the consent of the Minister in charge of Police. Previously, it was an offence to resign from the force without the ■ Minister’s permission. but if a man was prepared to accept the penalty he could still sever his connexion with the force. Now he is unable to do this.—(P.A.) Sheep Killed by Train Comment on a report yesterday, der scribing how a train near the Addington saleyards on Wednesday had “ploughed into” the leading section of a mob of sheep, killing 15, was made by the district railway traffic, manager (Mr G. H. McLean). "There was," he emphasised, “no one in attendance to keep the sheep off the track. The sheep ran from the vicinity of the saleyards on to the railway line as the engine of the train passed over. A dog sent to head off the sheep scattered them still further. In the circumstances, it was impossible for the engine-driver to stop the train and avoid colliding with the sheep," Saveloys for the Army "The production of saveloys for the Army may not seem important to the committee, but I assure you it is—saveloys can often be taken where other goods can’t,” Mr F. D. Sargent, counsel for an appellant firm, said in supp.rt of an appeal to the Christchurch Manpower Committee y :terday for the release from service of a boner employed by a factory with large Army contracts for savejoys. A representative of the firm said goods for civilian sales had been because of Army contracts severely rationed. Last month about 80,000 saveloys, amounting to 10 tons, had been sent to the Army, and this month even greater quantities had been asked for. The staff had been reduced from 12 workers to nine, and production had been maintained only through much overtime and loyal co-operation. After Captain S, Bowron (the military representative) 1 had stated the reservist was particularly valuable to the Army, the appeal was dismissed. Greek Flag Wanted The possibility that a returned soldier who went through the campaign in Greece might have a Greek flag in his possession was mentioned yesterday by the assistant Town Clerk (Mr C. S. Bowie), who has had the task of collecting flags of the United Nations which will be flown in Cathedral square to-morrow, Mr Bowie said that it had not been possible to secure the flags of all the allied nations, and it was intended to fly flags on only 17 standards. Sixteen flags had so far been obtained, but no Greek flag had been received, and in view of the splendid resistance offered by the Greek nation to the Axis aggressors, tnis was an omission that would be regretted. There was still time for the omission to be repaired. Nations represented in the flag collection so far are:—Great Britain, United States, China, Russia, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India, Norway, Poland, Ethiopia, Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Free France, and New Zealand. Saving Waste bn Battlefields According to a letter received from the Middle East by Mr A. C. Bretherton from his son, Major J. A. Bretherton, of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, as careful attention is being paid in the war area to the saving of waste ls it is at home. “One great achievement (among many) of the authorities in the Middle East,” he writes, “is to make everyone salvageconscious. Extremely clever propaganda introduced us all, by posters, newspaper cartoons, and -orders, to ‘General Waste,’ pictured as a potbellied old has-been. He is the chief of the people who over-drive their vehicles, don’t care for their equipment, lose things, throw away petrol tins, drive cars when they could walk, waste good food, and so on. The decoration on his chest is simply B.F. Lately we have been introduced to his able second in command, dubbed by some genius ‘Major Neglect.’ By this qlever campaign, the British Army has completely equipped several divisions. When I tell you that a division consists of as many men as our whole Expeditionary Force, with thousands of vehicles, and countless thousands of items of ail sorts, fronwguns to split pins, from water tanks to grease guns and blankets, you will begin to gather what that means.” Group Travel Trips The need for conserving omnibus tyre supplies and petrol in New Zealand has caused the suspension of group travel trips in the South Island. The Minister for Internal Affairs (the Hon. W. E. Parry) expressed regret yesterday that a number of .trips already planned, in which buses were to be used, had had to be postponed, in the meantime. Efforts were now being made to find other suitable means of transport to enable group travel trips to be renewed. —(P.A.) Portraits of City Officials Completing the Christchurch City Council’s “portrait gallery” of the city’s former mayors and town clerks, a framed photograph of Mr F. T, Haskins, town clerk from 1875 to 1901, was received by post from Australia yesterday. Some months ago the present town clerk (Mr H. S. Feast) was surprised to find that one of his visitors was the partner of a son of Mr Haskins, who is now practising as a civil engineer in Sydney. Remembering that the council had no photograph of Mr Haskins, Mr Feast asked the visitor if he would endeavour to secure a photograph, and the visitor promised he would do so. Mr Haskins was the city’s second town clerk, the first being Mr George Gordon (186275), the third Mr H. R. Smith (190124), the fourth Mr J. S. Neville (192440), and the fifth Mr Feast.