General News

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24798, 12 February 1946, Page 4

General News

Saturday Morning Trams A tally of passengers travelling on the trams on Saturday mornings is now being taken by the Christchurch Tramway Board with a view to reducing the morning time-tables. The chairman (Mr H. Kitson) explained at the board meeting yesterday that it had not been so easy to reconcile the time-tables as the result of Saturday closing, and it was felt that the ordinary time-table would not meet the case. The only way to find what facilities were necessary for the public was to run the ordinary service so that an adequate service could be run on the Saturday holiday. Postage on Food Parcels A suggestion that the Dominion council of CORSO in Wellington should be asked to advocate a reduction in the postage rate on food parcels sent to the United Kingdom and to other countries where there was distress as a result of the war, was adopted at a meeting held in Invercargill last week for the purposes of constituting a body to represent CORSO in the city. It was suggested that the postage rate should be reduced to that charged for parcels sent to members of the armed forces overseas. Few Holidays in Washington Army and Navy and other administrative offices in Washington w’orked from 8.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on six days of the week and the only holiday celebrated was Christmas Day, said Mr D. S. Dodds, who recently returned to New Zealand after serving with the New Zealand Supply Mission in the United States, at a luncheon of the Christchurch Businessmen’s Club yesterday. All the offices and business houses had remained open on VE-Day in response to a request from President Truman, said Mr Dodds, but the staff of the New Zealand Mission remained at their jobs only until lunch time. Material for Butter Boxes “Arrangements have been made for the importation of a very good quality solid fibre-board from Canada for the manufacture of boxes in New Zealand during the 1945-46 season,” says the annual report of the New Zealand Dairy Board. It is hoped to have improved machinery available at Penrose, which will result in a firmer corrugated board being available for the boxes made there. In co-operation with the Forestry Department, the Dairy Division, the Ministry of Supply, and various commercial organisations, arrangements are also being made to secure samples and test various types of boxes, so that the industry may be in a position to have its butter transported in the most satisfactory containers available. Pipes from France The Customs Department advises that some supplies of tobacco pipes are now obtainable from France. Consideration will be given to applications from regular importers of such goods for licences to import supplies from that source on production of evidence that an offer of a definite quantity at a stated price has been received.

Colour Problem in America Washington was more tolerant to negroes than other parts of the United States, but there were still many problems to be overcome, said Mr D. S. Dodds at a luncheon held by the Christchurch Businessmen’s Club yesterday. Mr Dodds served more than two years with the New Zealand Supply Mission in Washington. It was easier to see the problem than the solution, Mr Dodds said. In some of the southern states negroes were not allowed to sit in the same compartments as white persons on buses, and even in Washington negroes were not permitted to attend the same cinemas as the whites. An Agency Town ‘‘lnvercargill is more or less an agency town and so long as it remains an agency town it will not progress,” declared a member of the Southland Progress League at a meeting of the league recently. Outside interests set up industries in the city and the money went to other cities, he added. Another member expressed the opinion that if the town was going to progress Southlanders would have to subscribe the money for new industries in the lt was mentioned during the discussion that Southlanders were investing thousands of pounds in the North Island. New Bus Service An application for a bus service to run from Fendalton to the city by way of Ham road. Creyke road, and Kahu road has .been made by the Christchurch Tramway Board to the Metropolitan Licensing Authority. At the board’s meeting yesterday the general manager (Mr H. E. Jarman) said the terminal of the route had not yet been fixed. The chairman (Mr H. Kitson) was asked by Mr R. A. Young if an application had been made for the Spreydon service, and replied that the question of the number of buses needed, and the time-tables, was now being investigated. The Legislative Council

“Recent appointments to the Legislative Council serve to emphasise that the retention of this practically moribund body is a sheer waste of public money,” said Mr F. M. Earle, Dominion secretary of the Democratic Labour Party, in a statement last evening. “The present Government, which once rightly pledged itself to abolish the Legislative Council, has found, like previous Governments, that it is convenient for the bestowal of political awards to elderly stalwarts at the public’s expense. This bill, seeing that Legislative Councillors are appointed for a period of seven years at a salary of £3BO a year, plus privileges, is not inconsiderable. The Democratic Labour Party feels that the majority of responsible citizens would commend the abolition of the Legislative Council as at present constituted, and looks forward to seeing its infrequent, slum-. berous deliberations summarily terminated.”—(P. A.)