General News

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25447, 19 March 1948, Page 6

General News

Death from Infantile Paralysis The ninth death from infantile paralysis in the Central Auckland health district since the present outbreak began has occurred at the Auckland Hospital. The patient was a woman admitted from Waiuku on Monday suffering from respiratory paralysis. A boy from the city who was also admitted to hospital on Monday has been diagnosed as a positive case.—,(P.A.)

Prefabricated Houses Prefabricated houses were not popular with Americans, who wanted individuality in their homes, said Mr R. G. Bailey, an American • structural engineer. in an interview with “The Press.” He explained that the demand for such houses had been insufficient to enable cheap mass production. Moreover, the locations for them were strictly limited, "as no adequate means of insulating them against extremes of weather had been developed. They might be used in California or Lower Florida, but in mote rigorous climates they would not be suitable. Lumber costs had increased greatly in the United States, and this tended to impel home builders to seek alternative materials. Suburban architecture in America was very similar to 'that in New Zealand. In Maiami, Florida, builders could use only concrete blocks for construction because of the hurricane danger.

Business Petrol Rations A proposal that all applications for special allocations of petrol for business purposes should be dealt with by Ipcal advisory committees, as during the war, was made by Mr C. W. Browne, president of the Automobile Association (South Canterbury), at the half yearly meeting of the South Island Motor Union at Dunedin yesterday. The suggestion was unanimously adopted and it was decided to approach the Oil Fuel Controller (Mr G. L. Laurenson).—(P. A.)

“Moa” a Generic Term It seemed that among the Polynesians, the word “moa” had been a generic term applied to almost any kind of bird that strutted around and spent most of its time on the ground, said Dr. R. A. Falla, director of the Dominion Museum, Wellington, in an address to the Friends of the Canterbury Museum last evening. Possibly the Polynesians had called even domestic poultry moaS. Dr. Falla said that the Canterbury Museum did not possess a reconstructed model of a moa, although it was possibly in the best position to have a good model. He suggested the matter for future consideration by the authorities. Stamps for Royal Visit A special set of four postage stamps will be issued next year to mark the visit to New Zealand of the King and Queen and Princess Margaret. The denominations will be 2d, 3d, sd, ana Bd. (P.A.)

Pleasure Cruiser at Lyttelton % The Fairmile motor-vessel La Reta arrived at Lyttelton yesterday from Timaru. La Reta has been fitted out for pleasure cruising and is making a coastal voyage. Her next port of call will be Wellington. She is owned by Mr A. Rope and Captain H. L. Daveney is the navigator. Public Bus Service “It doesn’t matter what work the management does behind the scenes, the thing that matters to the public is what individual drivers do,” said Mr J. J. B. Connor, in an address on the operation of public transport systems at a luncheon meeting of the Canterbury Junior Chamber of Commerce yesterday. Mr Connor explained the technique necessary for giving the public an efficient bus service. Every applicant for a ‘ busdriver’s job was subject to a complete check before engagement, he said. In his own company, only about 5 per cent, of applicants were considered likely to receive appointments,' and only 2 to 3 per cent, were likely to remain, permanently in the service. Disciplihe could not be harsh; it had to be friendly but firm and persistent. Mr Connor emphasised the growing importance of the Charter system of hiring buses to ensure the full utilisation of companies’ fleets.

Food Parcels Delayed About 72,000 food parcels are contained in 12,000 bags of parcels that have accumulated at the Chief Post Office, Auckland, awaiting dispatch to Britain. The accumulation follows delays arising from the dispute on the Auckland waterfront.—(P.A.) National Savings

The weekly national savings quota was exceeded in every one of the 352 quota centres in New Zealand last week for the first time since the introduction of the quota scheme in October, 1941. Quotas are based on the saving of 4s a household each week and serve as targets for the purpose of encouraging local pride in tneir regular weekly attainment —(P.S.S.) Visitors to New Zealand New Zealand is slowly recovering her tourist traffic, which dwindled during the war, according to latest returns on persons arriving in New Zealand. In 1938 there were 13,054 tourists: but by. 1943 the total had dropped to 630. Since 1945 there has been a gradual improvement, and last year 4840 tourists entered the Dominion. Business visits at 1696 are almost back to the 1938 level of 1805. Theatrical, entertaining, and sporting visitors, who totalled 730 in 1938, dropped to three in 1944 and rose again to 233 last year. Na Players Reported to Union The 1947 Rugby season in South Canterbury was notably free from offences, no players having been reported to the union, according to the annual report of the South Canterbury Rugby Union. .“Great credit is due to all players for their conduct on the field and to all team coaches and to the referees for their tactful and expert control of matches,” says the statement.

Infant Mortality Declining A sharp decline in infant mortality has been recorded in New Zealand during the last 10 years. For every thousand live births in 1938 there were 153.26 deaths of Maori infants and 35.63 non-Maori. Last year the figures improved to 73.11 and 24.98 respectively. There were 1164 illegitimate births in 1938 and 1722 in 1947, not including statistics for Maoris, which are not available. Total births in both races rose from 30,942 in 1938 to 49.766 last year

Two Applicants for Farm Block There were only tws applicants in Canterbury to take . over the Fighting Hill block, recently acquired by the Crown for the settlement of former servicemen, said Mr G. Watt, senior lands development officer of the Lands and Survey Department, at a meeting of the Christchurch and Ashburton lands committees and sub-branches of the Returned Services’ Association held at Rakaia on Wednesday evening. Mr Watt added that thdre were 544 former servicemen graded A waiting for farms in Canterbury. The meeting was held to discuss speedier land settlement in the Canterbury and MidCanterbury areas. The Fighting Hill block was suitable for Subdivision into two blocks. The land was in good order. Members of the Rakaia Returned Services’ Association stated that tbe block was an ideal, one, with rich black soil, and suitable for both sheep and cropping. The block was an ideal one and eminently suitable for former servicemen farmers, according to those who familiar with the block.