General News

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25129, 10 March 1947, Page 6

General News

Heavy Sea Fog Visitors to Stunner and New Brighton yesterday found conditions rather different to from those they had been led to expect by the bright sunshine prevailing in the city. Early in the day the beaches were enveloped in a heavy sea fog which at Sumner practically shut out the hills beyond the beach. The fog hung very low but it did not keep out the warmth of the sun to any great extent. Later in the afternoon the fog extended further inland, but conditions at Lyttelton throughout the day were bright and clear. Milk Delivered as Usual With their demands for a tribunal to hear their claims for double-time pay on Sundays satisfied by a message on Saturday afternoon from the Minister of Labour (Mr A. McLagan), Auckland milk roundsmen made the usual retail deliveries to households this morning. Roundsmen who had been threatening to make no Sunday deliveries unless the tribunal was set up, decided at a meetjng on Saturday afternoon to give an uninterrupted service. The Auckland Milk Roundsmen’s Union has been working under an award issued by the Arbitration Court on July 19, 1946. The president of the union, Mr Green, said the union had askecK for double time pay for Sundays for the last three years and had made a special effort to obtain that .provision when .-its representatives last appeared before the Court in June, 1946.—(P.A.)

Peace Through Education “The soundest basis for permanent peace is to be found in education,” said Dr. W. R. B. Oliver, Director of the Dominion Museum, Wellington, in a.broadcast address last evening. “The first sentence in the declaration adopted at the time UNESCO was established reads: ‘Since wars begin in the minds of man, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.’ The truth of this statement cannot be refuted. If the people ‘ were adequately informed about their own country, its racial elements, and its economic and political systems, and similarly about other countries and their inhabitants, they would better understand each other. Then there would be better feeling between different sections of the pqpple, between different races, ana between different nations. Museums, by helping to raise the general level of education, cap make a definite contribution to the foundations of world peace.” •

. Service With J-Force An opportunity to volunteer for a further complete period service with the Occupation Forces is being given to personnel at preset serving with J-Force according to an announcement to-day by the Minister of Defence (Mr F. Jones). The volunteers accepted will remain the full period with the new replacement draft. Certain key personnel whom the Brigade Commander may wish to retain pending the handing over of functions to incoming personnel may volunteer to remain for shorter periods. The Minister emphasised that shorter term re-engagements will be restricted soley to key personnel recommended by the Brigade Commander. Others will enlist for the full period. It would probably be at least a week, concluded the Minister, before any indication could be obtained from Japan of the number who were prepared to remain with the formation. — (P.A.) Aero Club’s Rooms The first official meeting to be held in the Canterbury Aero Club’s buildings since they were removed from Wigram to Harewood early in the war will be held on Wednesday evening. Members will meet to elect a social committee. Birth on Naval Launch For the first time since the Royal New Zealand Navy was formed a baby was born in one of its vessels late on Saturday afternoon. The boy was delivered while the harbour defence motor launch was dashing from H.M.N.Z.S. Tamaki at Motuihi . Island to Auckland to bring his mother, Mrs Thorpe, wife of Warrant Officer J. M. Thorpe, R.N.Z.N., to a maternity hospital. The naval surgeon at H.M.N.Z.S. Tamaki was in attendance on the launch.

Museum’s Share in Education “The museums of New Zealand are taking a definite share in the education services of the Dominion because they- are the only institutions capable of supplying the vast amount and variety of material that is necessary to satisfy one of the important demands of education in our present-day world,” said Dr. W. R. B. Oliver, Director of the Dominion-Museum, Wellington, in a broadcast address last evening. “The education of school children is only one of the functions of museums. The adult population is reached through exhibits, film evenings. and publications. When the Dominion Museum is again open to the public visitors will find on sale pamphlets and books on the Maori and on the plants and animals of New Zealand, almost all written by past or present members of the staff. The list of publications will increase when the museum is running smoothly again.”

Radio Licence Fines “We are advised by all dealers of their sales of new radio sets and we send out warning notices from these lists,” said an inspector of the Post and Telegraph Department wlfen asked by Mr J. Morling, S.M., in the Auckland Magistrate’s Court, how the department managed to find offenders so quickly. About 20 householders who omitted to pay licence fees received penalties ranging from payment of costs to a fine of £1 and costs.

Describing, in a broadcast address last evening, the Dominion Museum as it was more than 26 years ago, Dr. W. R. B. Oliver, Director of the museum, said that the architecture, both inside and outside, with its many ornamental frills was typically Victorian. The crowded exhibits, in every imaginable kind of showcase, and with no particular method of arrangement, gave the museum characteristics of its own. Specimens were placed in rows on the shelves, labelled, but with little to show for what reason they were there and what lessons they could teach. It was that- kind of mus-

eum that gave the people the idea of a museum as a place for seeing stuffed monkeys and birds and curious things. Although museums have changed in their outlook and their display methods and have added extensively to their functions and activities, the old idea unfortunately persisted. As in most other things, technical advances had outdistanced peoples’ habits pf mind. However, the growing desire for knowledge which had come about as a result of the war, must' more and more make people realise what an important part a museum could take in the life of the community. Apricots 34s a Case A case of apricots offered at Wellington city markets fetched the record price of 345. Since the ceiling price of 14s for apricots was lifted recently by the Price Tribunal, the cost of the fruit has soared to more than double, the average price now being between 30s and 32s a case. The recent season has been the worst in memory for Hawke’s Bay growers, it was stated at the markets, and the possibility of cheaper stone fruit for jammaking was very remote. The fruit is simply not available, and what small consignments are coming forward are being sold at a loss to the growers. Tiger Cab for Zoo The Auckland Zoo will receive a female tiger cub from the Wellington Zoo within the next few months. The cub, Ngaire. is one of four born in August last year. One has died and the other two, Boris and Rangi, will be sent to Sydney. The Wellington Zoo has ordered an elephant from the Calcutta Zoo. At present Jamuna, veteran of the Auckland Zoo, is the only elephant in New Zealand. Liquor in Coart An assortment of whisky, brandy, gin, and other spirits produced in a liquor prosecution in the Magistrate’s Court in Auckland dh Friday drew envious glahces from members of the public m the Court. A row of a dozen bottles displayed on a table included well-known imported brands which have not been on sale in New Zealand since before the war, and several full cases were stacked near by.