General News

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25682, 20 December 1948, Page 6

General News

Notice to Subscribers Subscribers to "The Press” are advised that it will be necessary for those intending to be away from their, homes during the Christmas and New Year holidays to notify ‘‘The Press” office as soon as possible of any alterations they require in the delivery of their newspaper. Instructions about deliveries will not be received by telephone during the holiday period, when the main office of ‘‘The Press” will be closed. Mr Fraser in Eire The New Zealand Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) has arrived in Dublin on a visit at the invitation of the Government of Eire. On Monday he will receive an honorary degree of the National University of Ireland. He will leave for Belfast on Tuesday.— Dublin, December 18. Danger from Grass Fires A warning against the danger from grass fires during the present dry weather was issued last evening by an officer of the Christchurch Fire Brigade. Householders would have to be careful that rubbish fires did not spread, and that they were extinguished before they were left. Motorists throwing cigarette butts out of their cars were liable to cause fires, and trampers who left lighted matches and butts on dry grass were also common causes of grass fires. Picnickers in the holidays should make sure that fires lit in the open were extinguished before moving on, he said. Archbishop’s Son Married

Mr Henry Arthur Pears Fisher, the 30-year-old son of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. G. F. Fisher) was married to Miss Felicity Sutton, a 26-year-old Chelsea artist, at a Roman Catholic Church in Chelsea by the Rev. Father Zuluetta, the parish priest, on Saturday. The Superintendent Registrar for Chelsea performed the legal part of the ceremony in the presbytery. The bridegroom’s mother and his five brothers were present, but his father did not attend.—London, December 18. The Mayor’s Ancestors

"It was my father who refused the chance of buying land at Cashmere, not my grandfather,” said the Mayor (Mr E. H. Andrews), commenting on a paragraph in “The Press” on Saturday which said that Mr Andrews’s grandfather was offered the land at 10s an acre. His grandfather came direct to Nelson from England, and his father, a youth of 18. was one of the family of five boys who came in the ship, which arrived in Nelson on February 1, 1841, said Mr Andrews. "So far as I know, my grandfather was never in Christchurch. My father worked on the base stonework of the Cathedral, before taking up land in Ashburton in the early seventies. My grandfather was never in Australia. It was my grand uncle Robert who went to Australia. That branch of the family, too, were stone masons, for he founded the big monumental works in Sydney. Tom Andrews, the Australian cricketer (named after my father) was one of that family,” he said. Freak Storm in Sydney

After a day when the temperature reached 94.6, which caused many collapses and one death, Sydney experienced a violent freak storm late on Saturday. Police rescued 51 persons from overturned small craft in the harbour, eight ships dragged their anchors and signalled for help, and many roofs were stripped from houses in outlying suburbs. A fierce westerly wind suddenly changed to a southerly gale which kicked up 10foot waves in the harbour. Earlier, heat buckled 45 feet of railway track at the North Sydney Station and halted traffic. Bushfires raged throughout thte day, but most of them were under control before the gale started. —Sydney, December 19. Airways Control

A suggestion that the Government be asked to find out by referendum whether the people favoured public enterprise or private enterprise in airways control was made by the airways committee to the council of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. It was made in view of the Government proposal for a publicly-owned landplane service between Christchurch and Melbourne. The council adopted the report, which suggested that the question of' a referendum should be referred to the Associated Chambers of Commerce. In presenting the report Sir Keith Park advocated support of the British aircraft industry when the time came to replace American aircraft on existing air routes. He said Britain had aircraft Which were suitable for New Zealand’s requirements. Large Income Discussing the effects of the food shortage in Britain, Dr. R. J. T. Bell, former Professor of Mathematics at the University of Otago, said on his return to New Zealand that there was a great demand for fish. Some deckhands on trawlers were making £lOOO a year, and masters three and four times that amount. —(P.S.S.) y Lamp Attracts Youth When a youth who had been stationed on a lighthouse appeared before Mr J. H. Luxford, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, Auckland, charged with stealing a hurricane lamp from a street works in Customs street East last July, - his counsel said the youth was apparently attracted to the lamp by reason of his occupation. To a question from the Magistrate as to his behaviour since the offence was committed, Senior-Sergeant J. Southworth said that, as the youth was now employed on another lighthouse, his opportunities for misbehaving were slight. The Magistrate said he considered that working on a lighthouse was sufficient penalty, and dismissed the charge under the Offenders’ Probation Act. Mobile Radio feuilt in N.Z, The first commercial installation of a mobile radio designed and built in New Zealand was opened at Onehunga on Saturday by the PostmasterGeneral (Mr F. Hackett). Mobile units are installed in three cars of an Onehunga taxi service, and they keep in constant communication with a central station in the dispatcher’s office. It is estimated that by the use of radio the three cars are able to do the work of four, through cutting down dead running. The company serves a wide and sparsely settled area in the Onehunga and Mangere districts. The flat ground and the need to make long runs make it an ideal place for radio installation.—(P.A.)