General News

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27369, 7 June 1954, Page 8

General News

Governor-General’s Hula During their two-day visit to Rarotonga, Sir Willoughby Norrie, Lady Norrie, and Miss Rosemary Norrie have foimcj the island’s hula dances irresistible. This afternoon the ViceRegal interest reached its peak when Sir Willoughby Norrie amazed his wife, amused the rest of the party, and delighted the Rarctongans when he danced the hula himself. Sir Willoughby Norrie did his hula after a midday feast put on in his honour at Avarua by tlie six Arikis—the chief tribal leaders—of the Cook Islands. The party was sitting outside the feasting room watching youngsters from the Avarua School swing into a hula when Sir Willoughby Norrie joined in. Having unbuckled the belt of his lieutenant-general’s uniform, he left the rest of the party, strode on to the marae, and swung into the rhythm of the young hula dancers. When she had overcome her surprise, Lady Norrie took out her movie camera apd. took shots of her husband.—Rarotonga, June 5. Risks Taken by Stowaways

A Magistrate told two stowaways today that they ran a risk of being thrown overboard on the way td> the United States. In finin? the two youths found in a freighter bound for New York, the Magistrate said that since the United States adopted the McCarran Immigration Act, several stowaways haa disappeared He said this was because, under the McCarran Act, ship captains are fined in the United States if they have any stowaways aboard. —Kingston (Jamaica), June 6. New Trees at Elizabeth Park

About 2700 trees were planted in Elizabeth Park, on the Port Hills, on Saturday morning. Representatives from many organisations helped in what may have become an annual project of tree-planting. Last year, after the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth, more than 2000 trees were planted when the park was opened. This year, members of the Canterbury Horticultural Society, the Summit Road Scenic Improvement Society, the Papanui Beautifying Society and the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture had the trees, both native and exotic, planted in about one hour. Workmen of the City Council Reserves Department prepared the holes last week. Uniform Criticised Criticism of the men’s Red Cross uniform as having too many “geegaws” attached to it, thereby making it “a laughing stock among other organisations,” was made at the annual meeting in Wellington on Saturday of the Dominion council of the men’s detachments of the Red Cross Society. Mr D. H. Peat, commandant-in-chief, said he had been “made to feel very small” at the Tangiwai disaster, when he overheard an Army officer pointedly ask the Prime Minister (Mr Holland), “What Army does that chap belong to?” An example of one superfluous attachment to the uniform was the Sam Browne belt, Mr Peat said. It was

unnecessary, because the men did not . wear swords.—(P.A.) N.Z. Meat for Russia This year’s first consignment of New Zealand meat for Russia will shortly be 1 loaded at Napier by the liner Waipawa. : The vessel will take 2600 tons of ewe r mutton to Odessa by way of Suez. The • shipment is the most recent development under an agreement permitting New Zealand to sell meat and other products to Russia ofi a trader-to-trader basis. Previously there have been two shipments of New Zealand butter and one of meat to Russia.— ; (P.A.) New Type of Bandage A new type of bandage which can be applied, with the aid of special i frames, in a quarter of the time taken with an ordinary bandage, was demonstrated in Wellington yesterday before 1 the Dominion council of the men’s ; detachments of the New Zealand Red . Cross Society. The bandage, which is - of tubular gauze, is being used by the casualty of the Wellington < Public Hospital and in all departments 'of the Palmerston North Hospital. I Most hospitals in the South Island are : also using the bandage. The gauze eliminates the use of spiral and other 1 forms of conventional bandaging on > fingers, hands, arms, legs, and feet. , In the demonstration, a finger bandage ’ was unhurriedly and efficiently ‘ap- . plied in 15 seconds, and a head bandage in 25 seconds. The bandage is a British development of an American idea. An ordinary hand bandage costs . Bd, and the gauze only 2|d. —(P.A.) Tear Gas in the Beer > •’ n a bar at Bismark (North Dakota) were crying in their ■ beer last night. A tear gas bomb kept in the safe of the Blacktone Club as a precaution against safecrackers broke , when a bartender closed the safe door. Firemen arrived with smoke ejectors and found patrons continuing to drink i their beer, but with tears rolling down . their cheeks.—Bismark, June 6. Free Geiger Counters , Uranium fever has been running so 1 high m Salt Lake City that an enter- . prising real estate agent advertised this week as follows: “Free geiger • counters with each home sold by us • during this next week. Appraise your own land for uranium or have us ap1 praise it for you.”—Salt Lake City, > sine 6. Mobile First-aid Post * Commendation of a member’s work in the New Zealand Red Cross Society was expressed at the annual meeting in Wellington on Saturday of the Dominion council of the men’s detachments. It was disclosed that Mr T Casson, a cadet officer at Timaru, had spent £lOOO of his own money in converting a motor-truck into a mobile first-aid post for the use of the society. , The commandant-in-chief (Mr D. H. Peat)' said the truck contained every imaginable article needed for first-aid. , Mr Casson had so reconstructed the vehicle that the body was high above the ground, so that it could traverse ; M r Casson had also shot 2400 feet of film of the activities of the t y m Timaru, said Mr Peat.— Testing Intoxicated Drivers ’ The campaign against intoxicated drivers in Auckland has been stepped up by the formation of a panel of eight doctors, who are on call around the clock for examinations. Because a • member of the panel will always be i available, delayed examinations should be eliminated, and the panel plans to standardise the tests used. Blood tests wiy not be employed. “The sort of evidence in these cases has to be expert evidence,” said a spokesman for the panel. “Ours is much more likely to be worth while if we become specialists in this field.”