General News

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26877, 1 November 1952, Page 6

General News

Cost of Wives in New Guinea Some natives in the mountain regions of New Guinea Still follow the practices of their ancestors, including cannibalism, according to Pastor C. E. Mitchel), a Seventh-day Adventist missionary how on a lecture tour of New Zealand. Polygamy in pfinfciilar is an aspect of the native way of life which is slow in dying, and some meh have as many as six wives.. But marriage is a business arrangemeht, and the man without capital resources stays single. The•cost of.livifig has hit the marriage market badly, and a £2OO W '* e to<36y is priced at up to “Charlotte Jane” To Be Scrapped. The hulk Darri, which came iflto brief prominence for'the re-enactment of the arrival of the First Four Ships in the Canterbury centennial'celebrations at Lyttelton, When she represented the Charlotte Jane, will shortly be towed from the inner harbour at Lyttelton and either sunk or beached on Quail Island. Recently the Darra was dry-docked for inspection, and as aresult it was decided to scrap her. The Darra was formerly a threemasted barque, and had a good sailing record. For about 40 years, the Darra was a coal hulk, first for the West* R or /. C ? al . C ' om P'l n v and latterly for the State Mmes Department.

Dunedin City Loan When the Dunedin City Council was given authority to Call for loan investments at 4 per cent, interest for a terin of 15 years, it had the sum of £268,100 pencilled in by applicants for debentures when the official campaign was launched on October 1. Subscriptions now total £503.900. The total amountrequired is £822,000. Two days after the opening of the campaign. £291.000 had been subscribed. In the Succeeding weeks, the additions to the total were respectively £76,400, £57,100, £39,250, and £39,350. Investments to date represent more than 60 per cent, of the total required by the council for its loan projects up to March 31, 1952. (P.A.) A Cheque from Prince Farouk The former King Farouk, who includes the collection of matchbox labels among his hobbies, has sent a cheque for 12s 6d to the British Matchbox Label Society for his subscription, which became due on July 26—the day T T e A ef J S gypt - According to a British United Press report, in a note accompanying the cheque, he said: “I regret the delay, but I was rather busy at the time.”—London, October 31. * Monaco Claims Damages

The tiny principality of Monaco—mostly made up of Monte Carlo—is claiming £238.000 from Britain for war damage, says the Paris correspondent of the “News Chronicle.” Allied planes bombed a blockhouse which the Germans used as a monitoring station in 1944. Several buildings were hit. alleges that the planes were British.—London, October 31. Land for State Housing More land for State housing has been bought in Christchurch for development by the Housing Construction Division of the Ministry of Works T he/ and . ls in Spreydon.-and Consists °J I'. sections in the Roker street subdivision. International Airport Passengers who arrived by air from Melbourne at Harewood yesterday morning, and friends who were there to meet them, made the Christchurch international airport truly “international.” Seven countries were represented—Switzerland, Jar>an. Holland, Australia, Britain, the United States, and New Zealand. A Japanese woolbuyer from Osaka was met by a Swiss buyer, and a Dutch buyer also ar* rived. There were several Australian shearers., an English immigrant, an American racehorse owner and the director of a museum, and a number of New Zealanders travelling between Christchurch and Melbourne. Sale of Factory Site A block of land in Blenheim road acquired nearly five years ago as a site for a knitting wool factory has been sold to the Government. The block of 11$ acres is next to the Ministry of Works store. It was bought originally by the well-known English firm of Paton and Baldwin, Ltd.

Airways Staff Uniforms Members of the traffic staff of the National Airways Corporation at the Christchurch international airport now wear uniforms. They have jackets of black barathea cloth with the corporation’s badge in red and gold on the breast pocket, grey flannel trousers. and black ties. In Dunedin the uniform is the same except that the ties are powder blue. Borough Status for Kaikoura A petition asking that the township of Kaikoura should be constituted a borough will be considered by the Local Government Commission at a public inquiry which will be held in the Magistrate’s Court at Kaikoura on December 2. It is suggested that the borough should include the whole of the Peninsula riding of the Kaikoura County, portion of the suburban riding bounded by the sea, Mill road, and Lyell creek, and such other area or areas in the county adjoining the proposed borough area as the commission may consider should be reviewed.

Devon Aircraft for Wigram Another of the de Havilland Devon aircraft ordered by the Royal New Zealand Air Force for navigation, signals, and all-weather instrument flying training at Wigram is expected to be delivered from England about the middle of this month. The Devon, which is being flown by Flying Officers I. G. Tilson and C. L. Mitchell, has reached Malta, and is due at Auckland on November 17. Ten Devons were ordered by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and seven have been delivered and are in service. Fowls Disappear Yesterday morning a resident of Russley road found that, instead of there being 24 fowls in the run, there were only 12. No noise was heard during the night to indicate that anyone was prowling about the property. Mining Engineers From India Two mining engineers from India, Messrs A. N. Bannerjee and J. C. Jetli, are visiting Reefton on a tour of New Zealand's coalfields. Both young men. they are here under the Colombo Plan. After a week in Reefton they will inspect the Buller fields (F.0.0.R.) Worked Way Round World A 21-year-old farm worker, Mr Norman Kean, of Winton, left New Zealand 18 months ago to see something of the world. Since then he has visited England, Scotland, Ireland, France. Italy, Germany, and Switzerland. For part of the time he worked, mainly as a labourer, and for the rest of the time he travelled, sometimes hitch-hiking. When he arrived at Harewood by Skymaster yesterday he said he was quite glad to be back home again. It had been a novelty moving round overseas for a while, he said, but standards *of living were generally not so good as in New Zealand.

Rain Floods Gore Streets Vefy heavy rain made some streets in the business area of Gore impassable yesterday. The downpour began about 4 p.m. - , and by 8 p.m. 1.30 inches had fallen. Some footpaths were covered with water, and cars were axle-deep. In Invercargill, .23 inches of ram fell between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Heavy rain was still falling in the citv late last night.— (P.A.) The Fishing; Rivers According to advice received by the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, the condition of the fishing rivers at noon yesterday was: Selwyn Rakaia and WaiaU. clear and fishable; Waimakariri. slightly discoloured but fishable; Htirunui, slightly discoloured but clearing; Halswell, clear and fishable subject to Catchment Board operations: Ashley, dirty and unfishable; Upper Rakaia, clear;' ’At Lake Coleridge it was cloudy and there was a north-west wind. At Highbank it was calm and clear.