General News

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24051, 13 September 1943, Page 4

General News

Election Meetings Coincide For the first time in the present election campaign, the leaders of the two principal parties contesting the election will deliver political addresses tonight in the same centre. This evening, the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) will address citizens of Christchurch in the Civic Theatre. The leaden of the National Party (Mr S. G. Holland) is scheduled to address electors of his own'constituency (Christchurch North), at St. Matthew’s Hall,’ Colombo street, this evening.

Butter Rationing

A "questioner at a meeting addressed by the Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. J. G. Barclay), at Kaiwaka, wanted to know if the proposal for rationing butter would be given effect to. “I think it will,” replied the Minister. The question was being considered at the present time, he said, but New Zealand was a most difficult country to handle as far as butter rationing was concerned. It was not possible to ration farmers themselves or to * prevent them from supplying friends.

Council of Sport

“Considerable interest has been shown in the recently-formed Canterbury Council of Amateur Sport, whose activities to date have been somewhat limited, owing to war conditions, says the annual report of the Christchurch Suburban Cricket Association. One pleasing feature the council has already achieved is the bringing together of representatives of the many classes of sport, which has resulted in a closer po-operation. As a result of this members understand the difficulties obtaining in any particular sport, and through the council’s deliberations it is felt that sports bodies will in due course appreciate the value of being affiliated to such an organisation.”

Camps Mark Anniversary To mark the fourth anniversary of the war, a national day of prayer was celebrated throughout New Zealand base camps in the Middle East. Suitable early-morning services held at various centres were largely attended, after which training and other work preceded according to schedule.— (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) Affected by Half-Holiday

Drawing attention to the fact that election day is a statutory half-holiday, the officer in charge of the Labour Department, Dunedin (Mr W. H. Cadwallader) said recently that employers of labour in fruit shops, restaurants, confectionery shops, hotels, and other places which normally remained open on half-holidays, must give their em-. ployees a half-day on Saturday, September 25. Many country districts in the South Island which observe their half-holidays on week-days will also be affected. In a total of six such districts those in Otago include the boroughs of Arrowtown and Queenstown, and the counties of Waikouaiti, Clutha, Taieri, and Waihemo. N.Z. Films in Egypt

Current pictorial news films screening at all leading theatres in Cairo and Alexandria include shots, which are popular with foreigners whose interest in the Dominion has been awakened by the deeds of the New Zealand Division, One shows fighter aeroplanes on patrol over both islands with mountain scenery in the background, while other shots unfold the pictorial story of woolgrowing on a typical New Zealand sheep run.—(N.Z.E.F. Official News Service). Cricket Finances “The expenditure for the season exceeded the income by £59 16s 3d,‘’ says the Canterbury Cricket Association’s report on the 1942-43 season, “bUt the committee considers the position satisfactory, in view of the assistance given to the clubs for the purpose of maintaining the grounds. To the clubs must go the real credit for carrying on the organisation of practices in increasingly difficult circumstances, for in the club practice nets the future of cricket will be determined.

Uniform Barred

“I am wearing a civilian jacket, not because I am ashamed of my uniform —I am proud of it—but because I want to fight this campaign without any interference from anyone.” said Gunner L. M. A Harbord, Democratic Soldier Labour candidate for Invercargill, in his address at the North Invercargill Hall. Before he went on the platform Gunner Harbord removed his military tunic and put on a sports jacket. He explained that he had been approached by an Army officer in Invercargill who complained that he (Gunnep Harbord) had rinade a speech in the street in uniform. This was an offence against the Army regulations, .and if he repeated it he would be liable to military arrest. He did not know why a uniform, which was good enough to fight in on the battlefield, was not good enough to fight in on the political field. Tinned Pears At Tripoli

A good story of the New Zealand soldier’s recognised ability to make the best of his circumstances is beiqg told by the Hon. Walter Nash, says the "New Zealand Herald.” When Tripoli Harbour was blocked by the Germans supplies wore landed from barges on the beach and a Scottish regiment was first given the task of unloading. Later the New Zealanders took over and they pushed up the daily tally of cargo handled from 500 tons to 2000 tons with a corresponding increase in fhe loss by pilfering. Inquiry became necessary and a British colonel was sent down with a New Zealand warrant officer. Their initial discovery was a Maori sitting on the beach busily eating the remains of a can of pears. With true native hospitality the Maori .invited the colonel to partake with the injunction that he might as well as he would get some of the blame anyway. The colonel, however, refused, but was a very surprised officer when he found, on his return to the New Zealanders’ camp some 17 miles away, a case of 42 tins of pears strapped to the back of his car. Road Safety Measures The fact that 11 additional schools had adopted the A.A. school safety patrol system of protecting young children when crossing busy streets and highways adjacent to schools was stated in the touring manager’s annual report of child safety activities, presented to the council of the Automobile Association (Auckland). More than 400 school children were now acting as safety patrols. Association officers during the year had delivered 927 road safety lectures to 58,650 schoolchildren. Some 500 safety notices warning bus passengers of the danger of walking in front of a stationary vehicle and warning them to wait until the bus moved off before attempting to cross the road had been distributed in passengercarrying vehicles in the Auckland Province. Vegetable Seeds Several varieties of vegetable seeds are being grown in various parts of Southland in order to overcome the shortage in imported supplies. They include peas, carrots, and cabbages. Since the beginning of the war a substantial proportion of the requirements of turnip and swede seed for farmers has been grown in Southland and the remainder in Otago. The results have been highly successful, and the quality has been excellent although the industry had to be started without normal preliminary preparations. Another crop which is being tried in Southland this season is culinary mustard. An attempt was made to grow mustard at Drummond last year, but the area sown in the crop was subsequently flooded arid the attempt was a failure. Ticket Punch Substitute Considerable difficulty was experienced by a woman conductor on an. Auckland tramcar one afternoon, when she had apparently lost or broken her ticket punch. In place of the punch she was piercing the tickets with a semi-sharp implement like a nail file. While she found difficulty in piercing the cardboard .concession cards, she had to exercise even greater care not to tear the smaller paper tickets when cancelling them. An official of the Auckland Transport Boar.', said that, although the punches were hard to replace at present, the board had not so far had to resort to other methods of cancelling tickets.