General News

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27169, 13 October 1953, Page 8

General News

“Green and Verdant Land” The Vice-President of the United States (Mr Richard Nixon) is impressed by the greenness of New Zealand. He said yesterday at Wellington that it was very refreshing to come to a green and verdant land like New Zealand after travelling through the central and southern United States, where a severe drought had been experienced for some time.—(P.A.) Vandalism at Hospital Vandals caused hundreds of pounds’ worth of damage at the new Wakari Public Hospital, Dunedin, during the week-end. They rolled a 44-gallon drum of dieseline round the roof of the building, and then tipped its contents down 30 sq ft of the finished concrete wall, making an unsightly'smear. They distributed lime mixed for a plaster finish coating on the floor of a fourbed ward, and threw it on the walls and out the windows. The plaster veneer was ruined.—(P.A.) Payment for Milk on Quality The Christchurch Metropolitan Milk Board would support any scheme to improve the quality of milk supplied to consumers, said the chairman (Mr J. Mathison, M.P.) yesterday. He was commenting on a letter from the Canterbury Milk Vendors’ Association urging a system of payment for milk on quality. The board decided to inform the two producer associations and the Christchuurch Milk Company of its attitude. Bananas for New Zealand . New Zealand will receive more bananas from Fiji* this year than ever before More than 250,000 cases of bananas already have been shipped this year, the 16.083 cases for the South Island that left Fiji in the Katui on October 3 for Lyttelton bringing this year’s total to 264,060 cases. A record for a full year’s shipments to New Zea-, land was established in 1925, when 283,237 cases were shipped. This record should be broken easily this month. Fiji still has a long way to go to equal its banana exports before 1921. when the Australian market was still open. In 1914, 857,883 cases were shipped to Australia and New Zealand. The largest shipment ever made to New Zealand was 20,572 cases, which was carried in the Matua lafct February.— (F.0.0.R.) Meaning of Christmas The New Zealand Inter-church Council on Public Affairs has established a central committee to co-ordinate work on a nation-wide scale towards restoring the real significance of the Christmas festival. The council, which consists of 10 churches, has called upon “all people with Christian leanings” to support the scheme in their own districts. “Slowly but surely Christmas Day has turned from a holy day into a holiday,” says the council. “Its approach is a time for the planning of amusement, of jollifications amounting almost to licence. To children it is a time of getting.” This was not to say, however, that there was not a widespread spirit of giving and a desire to make others happy; and it should be a time of joy, for that day celebrated the birth of the Saviour of the world. —(P.A.) Milk Tests Improved Deficiencies in milk of solids other than fat were decreasing, which showed that the trouble was purely seasonal. Mr J. W. Huggins told the Christchurch Metropolitan Milk Board yesterday afternoon. Some of the low samples were only .01 per cent, under standard. It was reported that to counteract the winter drop, tests were made of a herd fed with concentrate. More extensive trials would be needed before definite conclusions could be reached.

Maori Sails for N.Z. The Maori, the new passenger ship for the Wellington-Lyttelton service, sailed on Sunday afternoon from New-castle-on-Tyne for Wellington, according to the owners of the ship, the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Ltd. The Maori will travel through the Panama Canal, and is due at Wellington on November 15. She will enter the Wellington-Lyttelton service with the sailing from Wellington on November 27. The company said yesterday that the Maori had successfully completed her trials and wai taken over from the builders on Saturday.—(P.A.) Flaw in Health Stamp A flaw- in a threepenny health stamp has been discovered by an airman at Weedons who is a keen philatelist. The airman, who bought a whole sheet of the stamps, found that the sixth from thb left in the bottom row had a distinct break in the bottom of the letter “D” in the postage value of the stamp—2d. The value appears in white on a green background, but in the defective stamp the green branches in the design appear to extend into the bottom of the “D.” The stamp was held up to a light and closely inspected, but no evidence of the ink having run or having been smudged could be found. Centennial Pool Opens Twelve children were waiting on the doorstep for the opening of the Centennial Pool yesterday. Between 7 ajn. and 8.30 p.m. more than 300 persons took advantage of warm weather to have their first open-air swim of the season. The pool was particularly well patronised midday and 2 p.m. Heating of the wafer from 56 degrees began last Wednesday and yesterday the temperature was 72 degrees. Ofi Sundays the pool will be open between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. and from Monday to Saturday the hours will be 7 wn. to 8.30 p.m. Trams to Buses The Christchurch Transport Board hopes that it will have no more trams running on its routes after next May or June. This information was given by the chairman (Mr F. L. Brandt) to a meeting of the board yesterday. Mr Brandt said that from the second week in next January completed buses would be coming off the assembly line at the rate of three a week and it was hoped to have enough to carry out the final conversion before the middle of the year. Notice of Bans on Raw Milk The Canterbury Milk Vendors’ AsaslSed yesterday to be “taken confidence of the Metropolitan Milk , Board and the Health Departm,any future emergency in which a ban on raw milk was proposed. The ban this year had caused many problems, the letter said. The s he board (Mr J. Mathison, M.P.) said he had made a statement m the newspapers as the quick: * wa Y- °f announcing the immediate instruction to all concerned. In any future emergency every effort would be made to give notice to vendors. “If you have pasteurised milk you won't have any more emergencies,” said Dr. D. P. Kennedy, amid laughter.