General News

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27435, 23 August 1954, Page 10

General News

Power Cuts Today There will be two areas in' the •Municipal Electricity Department’s district without power between 6 pjtn. and 7 p.m. today. They are area B Upper Riccarton, Bryndwr, Fendalton, and Papanui—and area C—Halswell, Spreydon, Beckenham, and Sydenham. For the week up till yesterday morning consumption in the Municipal Electricty Department’s district had exceeded the allocation by only .6 per cent.j said, the department’s engineer tMr G. H.BattersbyL Eggs Cheaper Today Eggs will cost less in Christchurch and on the West Coast today. Retail prices have been reduced Is a dozen by a price order by the Price Tribunal and gazetted on Friday evening. The new prices will be the basic summer prices. In Christchurch retail prices fixed for hen and duck eggs are 3s 5d a dozen for large grade, 2s 7d for small, and 3s 3d for mixed. On the West Coast the new prices will be 3s 9d for large hen and duck eggs; 2s lid for small grade, ,and 3s 7d for mixed. All That Was Left Although a motor-car, three motorcycles, and a motor-scooter unlawfully removed in Christchurch during Saturday afternoon and evening were all recovered by last evening, one of the motor-cycles, found in Curletts road, was far from roadworthy. It had been stripped of everything apart from its frame and'engine. . A Player of Parts , South Canterbury’s brass band provided the only music at Lancaster Park on Saturday. When the band led the two teams on the field six of the bandsmen were in civilian clothes, and one man carried two instruments. Immediately the teams started on the march one of the South Canterbury wing three-quarters, L. Jack, joined the band, took the spare instrument, and helped to play Canterbury and his own team to the middle of the ground, where the National Anthem was played. He then handed back the instrument and played his game of football. Price Contois Opposed A resolution expressing “deep regret at the decision of the Price Tribunal, announced recently, to continue price control indefinitely when the special circumstances of war and immediate post-war conditions have long since passed,” was carried at the annual meeting of the Auckland Provincial Private Hotel Proprietors’ Association in Hamilton. Speakers said that the Price Tribunal, as newly constituted, was no more appreciative than had been its predecessor of the fact that the time for controls had long, since passed. These controls, it was claimed, sapped the incentive to improve private hotel standards and to build new hotels.—(PA.) Railway Excursions There are few better ways of seeing Canterbury than by taking part in the New Zealand Railways tramping excursions, and the support given to the Sunday trips suggests that many hundreds are anxious to learn as much as they can. Yesterday, 800 persons left Christchurch for Whitecliffs, arriving after two hours at the Glentunnel station. After a short walk the trampers reached Whitecliffs, which was named by Lady Barker, author of “Station Life in New Zealand.” From a ridge trampers saw the Selwyn river and the Bluff range. As they came down the ridge Mount Misery could be seen. The mountain was given its name because nothing grows on it. From other positions the plains, the Port Hills, and the sea stretched before them. The trampers covered five and a half miles. Drill Pierces Power Cable

An explosion and a flash of flame tore the trousers and burnt one knee of a young electricity worker -when his pneumatic drill struck a 40Q-volt cable in Lambton quay, Wellington, just before noon on Saturday. The youth, Donald Brow, of Barker street, was taken k to the Wellington Hospital, treated, and discharged. The incident occurred in. front of the Trocadero Hotel where workers were laying new electrical cables.. The workmen knew the 400-volt cable was there and its location, but the youth inadvertently drilled into the cable. The short circuit was more spectacular than serious, as the youth did not receive an electric shock The lead covering the cable isj, well earthed, and the electricity ran straight from the drill to the ground.—(P.A.) Children’s Reading

“All children will read books of doubtful pedigree, and indeed would be insufferable intellectual prigs if they didn’t,” said Catherine Bishop, librarian at the Dunedin Teachers’ Training College, in a national broadcast on Children’s Book Week last evening. “But the lesser books will be discarded and forgotten if good books, old and new, are available to give children a solid foundation of real literature, and of sound ’'Values in a confused world. If Children’s Book Week has significance beyond mere ■advertisement it is in the opportunity it affords to parents and teachers, librarians and booksellers to pool their ideas and organise their campaign for better books. To carry it out will take the rest of the 51 weeks in the year.” Constables Resign Three 'constables at Auckland have resigned from the Police Force in the last 10 days. Other resignations are believed to be pending. Superintend’ent J. Southworth, in charge of the uniform branch at Auckland, said that the men had not resigned because of dissatisfaction with conditions in the force. Two .men had left because their

wives were ill and they could not work at night, and the third was going into business. Earlier this year, the Auckland police lost 17 men in four months through resignations. So short is the force of experienced staff in Auckland that new recruits are being used on office duty before they pass through the' training depot at Lyttelton. * Coal Production Increase

Coal production in the Grey district was increased by more than 11 per cent, in the first half of 1954.

Most of the output was shipped to the North Island. A total of 97,650 tons was shipped through the port, compared with 87,970 tons last year. There was also a slight increase in the quantity of coal railed overland to Canterbury and other South Island districts. The increased shipments are thought to be attributable to the new light-draught colliers now in use and to the bar depths, which have been exceptionally good for the majority of the year.—(F.O.O.R.) Cricketer to Transfer The Central Districts and New Zealand cricket representative, L. S. M. Miller, is expected to transfer soon from New Plymouth to Wellington, and may play for the Karori club. Miller’s batting in Plunket Shield games in the 1952-53 season won him a place in the New Zealand team that toured South Africa. He struck a lean patch in South Africa, scoring only 47 runs in eight innings in the tests, but he regained form in Australia, scoring 142 against South Australia, and 60 against Victoria.