General News

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27125, 22 August 1953, Page 6

General News

Gift of Historic Bat The “Daily Express” says the bat Denis Compton used to hit the winning runs to regain the Ashes for England has been given to Billy Evans, the 16-year-old son of an Australian jockey. Last Tuesday the boy wrote from his Newmarket home and asked Compton for an old bat he could play with. Compton sent the bat he had used on the last day of the test, signed: “To Billy, from Denis Compton.’’ Billy, thrilled with the gift, has one worry—he says: “I still haven’t got a bat to play with. I couldn’t use this—it’s too precious.’’—London, August 20. Drama Becomes Reality

During the most tense moment of the drama “Miracle at Blaise’’ at the northern section of the North Island elimination festival of the British Drama League in Rotorua, one woman stabs another in the back with a kitchen knife. It was realistically done, and members of the audience were on the edge of their seats when the victim sagged to the floor. What they did not know was that the player, Elwyn Davies, of the Napier Drama Students’ Club, had in fact been stabbed in the shoulder. She was admitted to the Rotorua Hospital, but the wound is not serious, and she will soon be discharged.—(P.A.) More Planes for N.A.C.

The National Airways Corporation will start its expanded summer services in December with six more aircraft. These five Douglas D.C.3 aircraft and one De Havilland Heron are valued at nearly £200,000. The Douglas D.C.3 aircraft were taken over from the Royal New Zealand Air Force and are being reconverted at the corporation’s workshops at Palmerston North. Early in January two Herons will go to Rotorua from where the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will be taken to Gisborne. One plane will be used for the flight, and the other will stand by.—(P.A.) Set of Teeth Back in Sea A set of artificial teeth brought up from the sunken Niagara during gold salvage operations a few weeks ago was claimed yesterday by Mrs C. M. Abernethy, of Takapuna. When she went to the British salvage ship Foremost 17, however, the member of the crew who held the set after its recovery told her that because nobody seemed to be interested, he threw the set overboard. Although the teeth were perfectly white, the plate was black after 13 years in the wreck. A description of the set made Mrs Abernethy feel “pretty sure” it was hers. She was given a souvenir of her Niagara voyage—two spoons brought up in the salvage ship’s grab.—(P.A.). Reception to Test Captain England’s victorious test captain, Len Hutton, said today: “I would rather face Lindwall’’ when told the details of the public reception which will be accorded him tomorrow at his home town, Pudsey, Yorkshire. A mass meeting will be held in Pudsey’s market square, and there is talk of conferring the freedom of the borough on him.—London, August 20. Grant For Air Race Funds A further grant of £3OO to the funds for the London-Christchurch air race was approved by the Dunedin City Council at its meeting this week. The council’s original contribution was £2OO. Both the Auckland and Wellington City Councils have contributed £5OO to the race funds. Rash'from Wedding Ring If a woman’s plain gold wedding ring causes an irritant rash, the cause may be psychological. But if it’s not, says the “Lancet,’’ there is only one remedy—to try other metalS until she finds one to which her skin is not sensitive. “She will probably be able to wear a platinum ring without trouble,’’ the journal says. Reporting the case of a young woman who developed an itchy rash under her wedding ring, the “Lancet’’ said sensitivity to gold was not very common, but did sometimes occur. An experiment with a second gold ring should quickly prove whether the allergy was to the gold or to one of the alloys used in the first ring.—London, August Copyright Breach by Council The Ashburton County Council has breached copyright by printing maps of the Ashburton County. The council was advised of this by the SurveyorGeneral’s office yesterday. A royalty of . a copy was payable on the map which had been printed showing roads and rural mail routes, and names of land occupiers from a tracing supplied by the Ashburton Electric Power Board. No hint of any action has yet' been received by the council. Portable Radio Transmitters Two “Gibson Girl” portable radio transmitters have been bought by the Banks Peninsula Cruising Club for the use of any member of the club contemplating a long-distance cruise, says the club ■ commodore (Mr A. C. Lambert) in his annual report. School Terms Next Year The Canterbury Education Board yesterday morning approved the following terms and vacations for 1954. and fixed the opening day for 1955 as Tuesday, February I:—First term, Monday, February 1. to Friday, May 7; second term, Monday, May 24, to Friday, August 20; third term. Monday, September 6. to Friday, December 17. N.Z.-Japan Shipping Service Regular passenger and freight services between Japan, New Zealand and Australia have been resumed after a lapse of 12 years. The first ship to renew the setfvice, the Osaka Mercantile Steamship Company’s vessel, Osaka Maru, arrived at Auckland yesterday from Tokyo. She carried seven passengers en route to Melbourne and a cargo of timber for discharge at Auckland. Captain J. Nihei, master of the Osaka Maru, said that the line would run a vessel between Japan, New Zealand and Australia every two months. Later in the wool season and if the passenger demand warranted, the service would be placed on a monthly schedule.— (P.A.) Woolpack Prices A new price order, which came into effect yesterday, reduces the maximum retail price for 42in woolpacks by 4s each. The maximum retail price for packs sold by a retailer whose business is at Auckland. Wellington. Lyttelton, or Dunedin, is now 12s 6d each. Other retailers may now charge up to 12s 6d a pack, plus an appropriate proportion of the freight charge incucred in securing the delivery of the pack from the most convenient of the four main ports. The prices are fixed as for delivery, f.o.r or f.o.b.