General News

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23916, 7 April 1943, Page 2

General News

Tracks Derailed The second derailment in the Northland in five days occurred yesterday morning, two heavy trucks on a special goods train leaving the track near Taipuha. 30 miles south of Whangaiei, from where the train had set out. Passengers and luggage on the north and south-bound expresses were transhipped yesterday afternoon and the respective expresses returned to their starting points. It was expected that the derailed trucks would be restored to the line without the help of the special breakdown train, which returned to Auckland on Sunday after clearing the derailment at Ruatangata. —(P.A.) Dustmen's Drive The recent dustmen’s drive in Christchurch and suburbs realised £1961. and this sum will be paid in to the Canterbury Patriotic Fund. The various districts responded as follows: Central area, £402; Linwood, £221; St. Albans, £340; Sydenham, £206; Spreydon, £203; Woolston, £l2; New Brighton, £59; Sumner-Redcliffs, £36; Heathcote-Cashmere-Mount Pleasant, £53; Waimairi. £222; Riccarton, £134; Lyttelton, £6B. Shortage of Release Forms

Some disappointment is felt in at least one military camp in the South Island because of the lack of application forms for the release from camp of youths in the 18-19 years group. Inquiries made from the military authorities yesterday showed that though there had been a shortage of forms a few days ago, the position had now been rectified. A message was sent to headquarters in Wellington, and forms received yesterday were distributed to the camps. Pilots’ Passing-out Ceremony

The firs.t formal passing-out ceremony since the outbreak of the war of Royal New Zealand Air Force pupils who have completed their training and gained their pilots’ wings will be held at a Canterbury air station to-morrow afternoon. In the past the ceremony has been a local one and confined to the station, but to-morrow's ceremony will be on the lines of those held in Canada and other countries in the Empire air training scheme. The Deputy-Chief of the Air Staff (Air Commodore L. M. Isitt) will present each pilot with his wings badge, and there will be a parade of the passingout course and the junior courses. Eggs for Children ,

Commenting on the egg shortage, the Minister of Marketing (the Hon. J. G. Barclay) said yesterday that the Plunket Society, which had helped to distribute oranges when supplies were short, had also co-operated with the Marketing Division in authorising, by means of chits, supplies of eggs to nursing ,mothers and children under five years. This had applied only to Wellington and Auckland, but now that there were shortages in other centres the Marketing Division would be glad to receive the co-operation of the Plunket Society in arranging priorities for eggs and oranges when they were available, but Insufficient for normal civil needs—(P.A.) Heavy Pull Over Hill

The Army came to the rescue yesterday when the Public Works Department was faced with the problem of transporting two 25-ton pieces of electrical equipment for the new power station at Highbank from Lyttelton to Mid-Canterbury. The equipment was too large to be taken through the Lyttelton tunnel, and it was decided to haul it over the Lyttel-ton-Sumner road. The Army authorities made available a powerful hauling unit, a six-wheeled Diesel vehicle for drawing guns over rough country. The width of the loads which were distributed between two of the department’s tractors made it necessary to close the Sumncr-Lyttelton road to traffic while two trips were made at walking pace. The hardest section of etch was the initial haul up from the wharf to where the main road was joined at Lyttelton itself, and to make certain the load would not slip back a Public Works Department bulldozer came up the hill behind it. The two trips were made without incident and the hauler had plenty of power to spare in the steepest places, A Canadian’s Pilgrimage While in New Zealand a distinguished Canadian proposes to pay a pilgrimage to a spot in the North Island intimately associated with the sister Dominion. Mr L. W. Brockinglon, K.C.. who was in Christchurch yesterday. is interested in the story of the Nova Scotian settlement at Waipu, North Auckland, though strangely enough, he commented to "The Press,’’ it Is but little known in Canada. A party of Highlanders from Sutherlandshlre settled in Nova Scotia in 1817. In 1847 some of them decided to make a new home in Australia, and built two ships for that purpose. Eventually, after many difficulties, they arrived m New Zealand, where the Government in 1856 provided them with 47,000 acres of land at Waipu. Others joined them four years later under the leadership of the Rev. Norman McLeod. Many of the descendants of these Scots-Canad-ians still reside in the north. A portion of the land which was made available to them had been purchased before the Treaty of Waitangi by James Busby, then British Resident. This claim was not recognised by Sir George Grey, and it was not until 1868 that Busby received compensation for the land on which the Presbyterians had settled. Mr Brockington hopes, while he is in Auckland, to visit Waipu. Loss From Wheat “Weathering”

The question had been raised whether losses occurred in ripe wheat crops waiting for the header if they were exposed to repeated wetting and drying, said the report of the Wheat Research Institute to the committee yesterday. A trial was conducted at Lincoln to test the influence on yield of exceptionally heavy weathering and alternate drying under field conditions. The trial extended over nearly three weeks, and no significant loss in grain weight occurred. Maintenance of Exotic Forests

Twenty-one undertakings are listed in the twenty-eighth schedule of essen. tial declarations (received yesterday by the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association) in respect of the maintenance and protection of exotic forests, except for workers whose wages are subsidised wholly or in part from Government funds under scheme 13. Among the undertakings are the Christchurch City Council, Ashburton County Council, Mackenzie County Council, Nelson Pine Forests, Ltd., Sclwyn Plantation Board, and Tasman Forests. Ltd. Included also in the new list of declarations are Don Agencies, Ltd., at Christchurch; Bradley Bros., Ltd., at Christchurch (sand-blasting, metalspraying, and metal window department only); Thomas Waddell and Sons, Ltd., at Christchurch; H. Rainey, at Ashburton. Vitamin in Bread

Tests of wheats, flours and breads for the amount of vitamin they now contribute, and the possibilities of raising the contributions, are to be undertaken by the Wheat Research Institute. A report to the committee yesterday said that Dr. Muriel Bell’s team had made preliminary surveys of the average vitamin B1 intake in New Zealand. The institute had hoped to carry out a comprehensive study of vitamin B1 contents of New Zealand wheat products, but was unable to secure a piece of necessary equipment until recently, and the apparatus now seemed to be working well. K.C.’s New Zealand Badge When the All Blacks visited Canada in 1925 Mr L. W. Brockington. K.C., now the Canadian adviser on Empire affairs to the British Ministry of Information, arranged a reception tor them at Calgary. The New Zealanders not only taueht him their famous war haka cry, "Kamate kamate kia ora, kia ora!” but they initiated him into honorary membership, and invested him with the silver fern badge of the team. When in Dunedin recently Mr Brockington happened to mention that he had long since lost the badge, but he intended to procure another before he left New Zealand. Next morning an identical badge was brought to his hotel. The visitor has also extended his Maori vocabulary. He now uses the customary toast ‘‘Kia ora.”