General News

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24187, 21 February 1944, Page 4

General News

Miners’ “Go-Slow” Policy ! Members of the Denniston Miners’ Union met last week to hear details of the “go-slow” policy adopted by State miners in the .Greymouth district. Mr J. Devlin, the national president, attended the meeting, and explained what were the claims of the State miners. He expressed the opinion that, judging by the wages earned by the men. their demands were unjust, and no Government could accede to such requests. Mr A. McArthur, national delegate for Duller, supported Mr Devlin’s remarks, and said he hoped that the Denniston Miners’ Union would support the National Council. Those present decided to express their support for the council. Oil Boring Operations To further the preparatory work in the No Town district, where New Zealand Petroleum, Ltd., proposes to sink a test bore for oil, additional consignments of heavy machinery were expected to arrive last week from New Plymouth via Westport. However, the vessel carrying the machinery has been delayed, and the equipment will probably arrive this week, to be railed from Westport to Kamaka. Saving Electricity “I am afraid that the metering of water heaters is not going to be conducive to improving the quality of cream supplied to factories,” said Mr E. F. Peacocke at a meeting of the Central Waikato Electric-Power Board. The engineer, Mr J. R. Ellis, said the charge was so low for water heaters that there was no reason to suppose there would be an increase in the cost of the current used with the meters attached. The secretary, Mr H. J. Beeche, said water heaters accounted for 50 per cent, of the power distributed by the board, and it was essential that all waste should be eliminated. For this reason meters and thermostats were being installed. Otira Gorge Highway The Kumara-Otira highway, which was blocked by a slip at Rocky Point early on Friday morning, was open for traffic again on Saturday morning. However, the Public Works Department issued a warning on Saturday that if further rain occurred, the road would probably be blocked again. The weather was fine at Aickens on Saturday. On Friday, the railway line at Jackson's and the station yard at Rapahoe were under water for a time, but traffic was not affected. Replacing Grade I Men The South Canterbury Returned Services’ Association, at a meeting which was not open to the newspapers, decided to support the Dunedin Returned Services’ Association in advocating the training of men to replace those who are medically graded 1. Sheep Worrying A statement that one man in the Cleyedon district had lost 150 sheep which had been worried by dogs was made by Mr N. P. Adams at a meeting of the Auckland branch of the Sheepownors’ Federation in Hamilton. Mr Adams said that some local bodies said they were unable to obtain dog collars, but he felt this was a wrong assumption and that an insufficient effort had been made to get them. Other members said chains were more difficult to obtain than collars, and were more necessary to keep dogs under control. Fears were expressed that there would be a great increase in sheep worrying if steps wore not taken to register and chain dogs. Rat Poison A grant of £25 has been made by the Wellington City Council to Victoria University College toward the cost of research work to improve the method of poisoning rats. At a meeting of the council recently, Cr. B. Todd said there were many disappointed would-be ratcatchers in Wellington. Generally speaking the poison which had boon supplied by the council was completely useless. In the first place the rats would not take it and in the second, if they did, they throve on it. The reason why it had been issued in the past was that it was non-poison-ous to dogs, cals, and infants—but it was also non-poisonous to rats. Cr. R. H. Nimmo said that the poison barium, become ineffective when used with meat, as it had been in the past. The experiments ' were to investigate the possibility of making it up in an effective biscuit form. Meantime a substantial quantity of ratnip had been imported from the United States on special licence and was now on issue to the public. It was absolutely "death on rats.”

Censorship Breach A breach of the censorship regulations was admitted by a woman who appeared in the Auckland Magistrate’s Court last week. Detective-Sergeant Trethewey said the offence was about the worst to come before the Court. Counsel said defendant was writing to a son in the Pacific. She told him about a ship which her daughter-in-law had dreamt had come to Auckland and which in fact had come to Auckland. She was a respectable woman and was very contrite over the offence. A fine of £2O was imposed. Blind Servicemen “My aim is to establish a miniature St. Dunstan’s,” said Mr F. Hackctt, chairman of the Auckland Rehabilitation Committee, at a meeting of returned ■mviccmcn recently called to discuss housing and rehabilitation. “We have 29 partially blinS and eight totally blinded men now to be trained; one has not only lost his sight, but both arms also. If anyone knows of a suitable property which could be given or purchased for this purpose, I shall be glad of his aid.” He added that the Evelyn Firth Home would be given to the returned men when they required it. Mr E. L. Thwaites, Dominion president of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. Association, said that his organisation would assist the object with a gift of £IOO, “from the pockets of pensioners who were not so unlucky as were their blinded comrades.” Buying a Ram The possibility of purchasing a ram simply through scratching one’s nose is on the cards at a ram fair. At the Masterlon fair on Friday a harassed auctioneer announced to an embarrassed parent that “If the little boy in the first row doesn't stop raising his finger he will find he has bought a ram,” The auctioneer added that the boy's linger was continually catching his eye. The parent joined in the laughter. Leaned on Shovel Stated by the prosecution to have reported for wort but then to have leaned on his shovel and refused to do anything, a labourer was fined £5 by Mr W. F. Stilwell, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court, Wellington, for behaving in a manner embarrassing to his employers with the intention of procuring his discharge. He was convicted and ordered to pay costs for leaving his employment with the Wellington City Corporation tram track repair section without permission. Record Sheep Shearing A blade shearer, Mr E. McStay, of Tua, shore 172 long-woolled sheep one day recently at Mr W. H. Campbell’s shed, Woodlands. This is a record for the shed in Ihc last 17 years. Mr McSlay breaking his own record of 147 sheep established two years ago. His actual shearing time on this occasion was 8 hours 40 minutes. The average daily number for a blade shearer is 120 sheep, and about an additional 40 could be allowed in machine shearing. Waste Paper Salvage A statement by the Salvation Army sets out that it is the main agency for the collection of waste paper in the four main centres. It works in close conjunction with the National Council of Waste Reclamation, and, under the control of a sub-committee in each centre, constantly gathers waste for baling and transport to the mills at Mataura and Whakatane, The amount of paper dealt with last year at the main centres was: Auckland, 1822 tons; Wellington, 1859 Ions; Christchurch, 844 Ions; Dunedin, 409 tons. The men’s industrial homes in these centres are the places where the work is carried out.