General News

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24624, 21 July 1945, Page 6

General News

Steamer Express Service The Wahine will arrive from Wellington this morning and will sail again this evening on the arrival of the 7.10 p.m. train from Christchurch. The Wahine will make a daylight sailing from Wellington on Sunday, and will sail again on Sunday evening on the arrival of the 7.10 p.m. train from Christchurch. Until further notice the Wahine will maintain the ordinary sailings on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Outdoor Sports Postponed All Rugby, League, and Association football matches set down for to-day have been postponed because of the bad state of the grounds, and the only outdoor sports will be the representative hockey match between Wellington and Canterbury, which will be played at Sumner, and which will be preceded by a Canterbury colts’ match against a sele.cted team; the Canterbury Cash Cycle Club’s race of 20 miles, and cross-country running. Children Evacuated from England The High Commissioner for the United Kingdom (Sir Harry Batterbee) stated yesterday that now that hostilities in Europe had ended, arrangements were being made for the return to the United Kingdom of girls and boys who were evacuated to New Zealand in 1940. It was expected that the first party would leave shortly, and others as shipping became available. The High Commissioner expressed-ap-preciation of the kindnesses shown to children in New Zealand, especially by those who took them into their homes. —(P.A.) Veterinary School Proposal A substantial majority was against a remit put forward at the New Zealand Farmers’ Union’s annual conference yesterday to set up a veterinary school in New Zealand to be financed by the sheep and dairy industries, subsidised by the Government, and established and administered by the University of New Zealand. Mr A. P. O'Shea, Dominion secretary, giving the views of the Dominion executive, said that such a scheme would be uneconomic. It would cost £SOOO a year to operate, against-£IOOO now expended on sending students to Sydney. When the full New Zealand requirements were met, the estimated annual replacement rate would be eight, making the overhead out of all proportion.—(P. A.) “Linesman’s the Toughest "Job” "I am not detracting in the least from the splendid work done by the employees of other public services during the snowstorm when I say that the electrical staff of the Public Works Department had the toughest job it is possible to imagine,” said Mr ?. G. MacGibbon, district electrical engineer of the department, in reviewing yesterday the damage to the power system. "The men were working all the time in snow up to their thighs, sometimes, at river crossings, in water up to their waists, and they had to handle long spans of wire, which necessitated working for hours at a time, in extreme cold, on the tops of 55ft poles and 50ft towers. Mr Mac Gibbon expressed appreciation also of the work of the engineer of the Selwyn County Council and his staff in clearing the roads along the transmission lines and thus facilitating the earliest possible repairs to the lines. Incomes and Taxation The suggestion that the time had come to remove the national security tax from incomes up to £2OO was made by the Hon. W. H. Mclntyre in the Legislative Council yesterday. He claimed that those on higher incomes needed no relief from taxation, and that if the Government needed additional revenue, an extra 5 per cent, tax should be placed on the totalisator and that racing clubs could be allowed another 50 racing days in the year. The Hon. T. F. Doyle said that it was not the time for taxation reduction, because war commitments and the rehabilitation of servicemen did not permit it.—(P.A.) Translating at Conference Unsung heroes of the San Francisco Conference were the translators. The Charter represented a translation of 3,000,000 words into Russian. Chinese, French, Spanish, and English. A staff of 135 translators worked round the clock, seven days a week. No meeting of a committee or commission reported a delay for want of translations. American typists, using special recording machines, produced up to 360 words a minute, while Chinese experts, painting in each letter with small brushes, produced up to 500 words an hour. During one day the translating section turned out 1,700,000 pages of documents on 20 electrically-operated mimeograph machines. Farmers Favour Capital Punishment A remit requesting the Government to amend the law to provide for the restoration of capital punishment was adopted at the annual conference of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union in Wellington yesterday. Mr T. C. Brash, delegate from the New Zealand Fruitgrowers’ Federation, who is Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly, was the only one to record dissent.—(P.A.) Closing of Schools Doubt was expressed by Mr J. J. Hurley at yesterday’s meeting of the Canterbury Education Board on the wisdom of closing the Christchurch schools for a week after the snowstorm. Mr Hurley said the children were going to picture theatres instead of to school, but the chairman (Mr C. S. Thompson) pointed out that that was a matter lor parents. “We would have had endless accidents if we had not closed the schools,” he said, mentioning the dangers of fallen wires, icecovered roads and footpaths, slippery playgrounds, and the possibility that children would be throwing ice along with their snowballs. “One is our risk; the other is the parents’ risk agreed Mr F. L. Turley. The board decided to reopen Christchurch schools on Monday and to leave to the discretion of' school committees the reopening of schools still seriously affected by snow. Synthetic Textile Fabrics The conference of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union in Wellington yesterday decided to protest against the Government encouraging the setting up of a factory to make synthetic textile fabrics in New Zealand. The Dominion Executive will be asked to investigate the importation of rayon and synthetic fibre, as certain classes of those materials, because of cheap manufacture and low duty, might be a serious menace in competition with woollen goods. The executive was also asked to investigate the price to the consumer of the finished woollen article in relation to the cost of raw material. —(P.A.) Standard of Church Music An improvement in the standard of Church music throughout the diocese wss urged by the Bishop of Wellington (the Rt. Rev. H. St. Barbe Holland) in his address to the Anglican Synod. “We don’t care enough about it,” he declared. “We are content with a very indifferent standard, in spite of the glorious treasures of chu.ch music inherited by our people.” While he was aware of the many difficulties in that connexion in the Dominion, he believed that a change could be effected. His experience in England, when in charge of a suburban church, a cathedral, and a village church, had convinced him what a great part music could play in present-day Christian worship. Control of Westport Harbour Present conditions at Westport were one of the best arguments against State control, said the Hon. W. H. Mclntyre in the Legislative Council yesterday. When the Westport Harbour Board had control, he said, vessels up to 6000 or 7000 tons could enter the port, but because dredging had not been kept up sufficiently under State management, a boat of 1000 tons could not get in at present. He suggested that landing craft used in the invasion of Normandy Should be secured lor the transport of coal. The Union Shipping Company was partly to blame, he said, because it had concentrated on colliers tg bring coal from Newcastle, and did not have suitable boats for coastal work. In the past, there had been sufficient boats to enable consumers to build up a reserve, but now if a boat was held up for a week a shortage was felt. Westport had been the third port in New Zealand, and although the bar was not always passable in heavy seas, only 30 days a year were lost. At present 90 days were lost, making all the difference.—(P. A.)