General News

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23943, 10 May 1943, Page 4

General News

Back Saturday Work In Mines

As from next Saturday, May 15, it ; is anticipated that all the Grey district coal mines will work the back Satur- ! day in conformity with the desire to i increase production considerably for j the winter months. { Road Accidents In April The Transport Department, states a ; Press Association message from Welj lington yesterday, has reported that I there were 15 road accidents in April involving the deaths of 15 persons. Five were passengers, four pedestrians, three cyclists, two drivers, and one was a motor-cyclist. Ten of the accidents were in daylight hours. In April last year there were 13 deaths. White Heron at Geraldine One of New Zealand’s rare white herons was seen in Hae-Hae-Temoana riverbed, near Geraldine, by Messrs Linton Mann and John Campbell when they were out looking for ducks in the early hours of Friday morning. Mr Mann said that the bird was comparatively tame and they were able to get quite close to it. Mrs Andrew Lysaght, of Pleasant Valley, also reported having seen a white heron in a creek near her home on Friday. Help for Russia “If the question of help for Russia is not within our sphere of action, surely should take up the matter,” said Sir Ernest Davis, chairman of the Auckland Provincial Joint Council of the Order of St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross Society at its annual meeting. “A suggestion is a shipment of 50,000 sheepskins, as well as clothing, to distribute among the soldiers in Russia for the next winter. This would be only a drop in the bucket, but it would mean much to 50,000 men. It would be another token of our desire to help our Allies in their magnificent stand." Appeal for Tin “In spite of the urgent need for tin, the response to the appeal for used tooth-paste and shaving-soap tubes has been very disappointing,” said the chairman of the Otago Reclamation of Waste Board (Mr J. L. Passmore) recently. Consumers had been asked to return used tubes when they are purchasing new tubes, and if the position did not improve it was possible that regulations would be introduced requiring members of the public to hand in used tubes before obtaining new supplies. Temuka Wants Trailer Pump Following a decision to remove the public works from Temuka, renewed application will be made by the Temuka E.P.S. for a trailer pump for fire fighting purposes to be stationed at I Temuka. The trailer pump now stationed at the public works at Arowhenua, and available to Temuka for any emergency, is the property of the Public Works Department, and will, no doußt, be removed to Christchurch with the rest of the plant. Basic American Books A short list of books which, he said, told a great deal about America as it really was. and gave an insight into the American spirit, was recommended by Major Merrill Moore in an address at the Auckland University College graduation ceremony. They were: "The Autobiography of Benjainin Franklin,'’ the “Uncle Remus” stories by Joel Chandler Harris, the novels of Mark Twain, “The Winning of the West,” by Theodore Roosevelt, and Carl Sandburg’s life of Abraham Lincoln. “These are some of the real source books of American life.” said Major Moore, “and when you get through reading them you will come to the conclusion—as I do after reading ‘Erewhon,’ by Samuel Butler, or the short stories of Katherine Mansfield—that the differences between us are more apparent than real.” Casting Votes An interesting and little-known fact about the voting rights of chairmen at meetings was brought out at the annual meeting ol* the Auckland Provincial Joint Council of the Order of St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross Society. At an earlier meeting the chairman (SiriErnest Davis) exercised a casting vote, and as there was a difference of opinion as to his right to do so, a legal opinion was obtained. “The rule covering the question of the chairman's casting vole,” states the opinion, “is that, unless the constitution expressly provides for a chairman to have a casting as well as a deliberative vote, he has no casting vote. The rules in matters of this kind are based on the proceedings of the House of Lords, and this particular rule is in accordance v ith that procedure.” "I would probably be right in venturing the opinion,” said Sir Ernest, commenting on the report, “that 90 out of every 100 chairmen in this Dominion are unaware of the ruling, and, candidly, I was one of the 90.” Coal Deliveries in Wellington “The position is due to a rush of panic orders,” said the secretary of the Wellington Coal Dealers and Merchants’ Association (Mr W. J. Mountjoy) when he w’as asked if there was any explanation of the delay in coal deliveries, said to be as much as a month in the case of some dealers. “Following the publication in a section of the press of an ill-judged statement that there was likely to be a shortage in Wellington this winter, dealers have been inundated with orders. With the present facilities it is impossible to keep up with such a rush, and some dealers have found it necessary even to impose voluntarily a form of rationing, specially since it was obvious some people were intending to hoard stocks. There is plenty of coal in Wellington; the trouble is to get it delivered. In hilly districts .the men have had to give up taking deliveries beyond the gates of customers. It is very heavy work carrying hundredweight, bags up long flights of steps, and takes up too much time, apart from the ill-effect on the man.” Federation of Producers “We ar. getting trimmed every da>y, and unless we can form a concrete body, embracing all the producers, we will never be able to stand up to what is coming to us, and it will be coming soon,” said Mr C. C, Jackson at the annual meeting of the Mastcrton branch I of the Farmers’ Union, in advocating a federation of all producers. The meeting passed a recommendation to the Wairarapa executive that delegates be appointed to meet delegates from the Sheepowners’ Federation, with a view (to amalgamating the two bodies. Bible in Schools "Education Boards have recently issued statistical information conccrnI ing religious activities in the public I (primary) schools,” states “Ihe OutI look.” “The last complete returns 1 were made five years ago and applied Ito 1937. Through a consolidation pro--1 cess there are 272 fewer schools in the Dominion than there were five years 'ago. In spite of this, the number of j schools with religious instruction has 1 increased by 15 per cent, from 905 to ‘ 1012. while those with daily religious I observances have increased by more than 33 1-3 per cent, frem 354 to close ion 500. Whereas in 1937 there were 1 1320 schools without any religious acj tivity of this kind, the has I now been reduced to 807.” I Moisture in Wheat Crops 1 From 35 to 40 per cent: of the Southland wheat crop so far submitted to the local millers has been rejected for ' milling quality, mainly because of excessive moisture content. This was rei ported to a recent meeting of the i Southland Council of Primary ProducI tion. The meeting decided to urge that milling wheat and oats should be lifti ed from the farms immediately after I threshing, and that better grading j facilities be provided. The fear was I expressed that if some more satisfactory arrangements could not be made 1 next year’s acreage of wheat would decline. Paralysis Restrictions Lifted All restrictions imposed in Southland because of the epidemic of infantile paralysis will be lilted to-day. During the last fortnight the epidemic has waned substantially and few. if anv eases have occurred during that period. The city of Invercargill has j been free from new cases for almost [four weeks.