General News

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25298, 25 September 1947, Page 6

General News

National Day of Prayer , In response to a request from the Governor-General to the Presbyterian Church to co-operate in a special national day of prayer on Sunday, the Moderator of the General Assembly • the Rt. Rev. Herbert Davies) has made a request "to ministers and congregations throughout the Dominion to join in public and private prayer for the wellare of the British nation in its present crisis. Similar action has been taken -by Mr B. Williams, president of the Baptist Union of New Zealand. —(P.A.) Short Display of Aurora The Aurora Australis was visible in the south-west sky for a short time last evening. A Riccarton resident telephoned “The Press” office at 11.45 o’clock to report that he had first seen the display five minutes before, and that as he was speaking it was fading. He said that it took the form of a dull red haze of fixed intensity, shot through with occasional shafts of white: light. The moon was shining at the time, although there were some clouds in the sky. The glow was low in the sky and extended about 40 degrees along the horizon. “It Seems Very High” Taxation on larger incomes in Sweden is possibly higher than in New Zealand, but lower on incomes below £l5OO. This reply was given by the Swedish Consul in New Zealand (Mr E. W. Kleen) to members of the Christchurch branch of the Economic Society of Australia and New Zealand last evening, when he was asked if taxation in Sweden was lower than in New Zealand. “Professor Tocker told me that general taxation here was 8s in the £,” said Mr Kleen. “That is 40 per cent. It seems to me to be very high.” A voice: It seems very high to us, too (Laughter). Grain Targets “Unattainable” No representative of United Wheatgrowers, or, so far as he knew, of the Barley Advisory Committee, had present at the recent aid to Britain conference in Wellington, when graingrowing targets were set for farmers, said Mr G. C. Warren at a meeting of the North Canterbury executive of Federated Farmers yesterday. Farmers had been set targets which were quite unattainable; there was no hope of growing 200,000 acres of* wheat, as had been proposed. Militant unions ha.. said they would throw their full weight into the aid campaign, provided the farmers co-operated fully. Farmers were being laid open to a charge that they had fallen down on the job. because of the unattainable targets proposed. Mr K. W. J. Hall, who attended the Wellington conference, said that the targets had been drawn up by the Department of. Agriculture. but even when they were prepared, it was too late to increase sowings of wheat. £650 From Street Appeal

The sum of £650 was raised yesterday by the annual Daffodil Day street appeal of the Christchurch Free Kindergarten Association. The stalls were supulied with gifts from parents of kindergarten pupils and from city florists. From one stall in Sydenham £9O was collected. Support for Air Race

Representatives of two South Island aero clubs were given details of the 1000-mile air race yesterday by the president of the race committee (Mr H. D. Christie), who made a flight from Harewood to Westport and Nelson with the secretary .of the Canterbury Aero Club (Mr A. B. W. George) and the chief instructor (Mr L. F. Poore). Officials of the Westport branch of the West Coast United and Nelson Aero Clubs who were met m informal discussions, said they were in favour of the proposed race, and promised their support. Many Mice in Fields Farmers in North Canterbury report having seen many more mice than usual in paddocks now being cultivated. A farm contractor whose work this spring has taken him to many farms about Rangiora said it was many years since he had seen so many mice in the fields at this season. Bank of N.Z. Assets in Australia “The Commonwealth Government has made no approaches to the New Zealand Government with a view to purchasing the assets of the Bank of New Zealand in Australia,” said the Minister of Finance (Mr W. Nash) in reply to Mr M. H. Oram (Opposition, Manawatu) in thg House of Representatives yesterday.—(P.A.) Dominion Day To-morrow, September 26, is the an; niversary of New Zealand’s change of status in 1907 from a Colony to a Dominion. Dominion Day has been observed every year on the Monday preceding Septemoer 26, or on September 2b when it falls on a Monday, t lags were flown in Christchurch on Monday to commemorate the day. The news that New Zealand wtrs to be officially styied a Dominion was Drought bauK irom England by Sir Joseph Ward, who was then prime Minister. The Order-in-Council issued by King Edward VII was dated September 9, 190/, and took .effect from September 26 of the same year. Preparation of Wool Clips A warning to farmers that anyone who prepared his wool clip badly would be penalised by valuers for the Joint Organisation, and that fleeces should be skirted properly, was given by the chairman (Mr I. L. M. Coop) at a meeting yesterday of the meat and wool executive of the North Canterbury district of Federated Farmers. Mr Coop added that there was a possibility that war-time profits earned by wool exports might be returned to producers in New Zealand, as had bee i done in' Australia. Fire-Engines and Traffic Lights

A traffic officer recently prevented an Auckland fire-engine from driving through traffic lights, and delayed the engine two minutes. This incident was mentioned at a neeting of the Auckland Metropolitan Fire Board yesterday. The regulation under which the driver of the fire-engine commits a breach if he proceeds against the traffic .lights was described as “too ridiculous for words.” The board will ask the Minister of Transport (Mr J. O’Brien) to amend the regulations.— (PA.) Swedish Prefabricated House

One of the Swedish prefabricated wooden houses now being manufactured for export to Britain has been ordered by the New Zealand Government. Building experts hope to learn from it advances in construction methods. Several thousand of these houses have been erected in Britain, 6000 have been ordered by Argentina, and 1000 by South Africa. The houses are made in five designs, and range in size from 728 square feet to 1480 squarb feet The house on order is 826 square feet in area and contains two bedrooms. a living room, kitchen, washhouse storage room, pantry, and bathroom. The equivalent type of State house is about 1000 square feet in area. It is unlikely that New Zealand will order more than one house because of the expense, which is 10s a square foot more than the Ne* v Zealand-made house. Training of Shearers Details of the Wool Board's scheme for the subsidised training of shearers were given by Mr L. C. Gardiner at a meeting yesterday of the meat and wool executive of the North Canterbury district of Federated Farmers. Mr Gardiner said £lBOO had been allocated for subsidising the scheme, and the money would be equally divided between the North and South Islands. A subsidy of £3 a week was payable for each trainee during his three-weeks course. Trainees were sought in the following numbers: Christchurch district. 15; Ashburton. 12; Timaru, 17; Oamaru. 17; and Blenheim, 8. The scheme would help in overcoming the shortage of shearers, added Mr Gardir :r, but it did not go far enough. There would be no difficulty in the Christchurch district in absorbing 30 learners. Expensive Monkeys Monkeys which cosf from 10s to £1 in 1939, to-day cost from £3O to £5O, said Mr A. Sole, the manager of Sole's Circus, on his arrival at Wellington from Sydney by the Wahine. Animals of all sorts. Jie said, were in extremely short supply. They were difficult to obtain from India and Africa, and those that could be bought cost an exorbitant sum compared with prewar prices.