General News

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27444, 2 September 1954, Page 10

General News

Power Cut The power cut in the Municipal Electricity Department’s district this evening will be in area A —St. Albans, Merivale. and part of Shirley. Tribute to Duke "He is % amazing—knows something about everything," said the captain of the New Zealand women’s cricket team, Rona McKenzie, giving her impressions of the Duke of Edinburgh to the “Daily Express." “At a Palace garden party he asked us about our cricket—but he seemed to know plenty about it already. And he also said, he was very anxious to know how we had been behaving ouirselves.”—London, September 1. f Women Police on the Beat Policewomen in, Christchurch a're now on beats around the city, as the result of instructions by the Commissioner of Police (Mr E. H. Compton) that women police are no longer to be used for clerical work in police stations. With the same powers of arrest as policemen they are patrolling main streets, school grounds, parks and railway stations. Christchurch has three women police. Two are on beat duty and the other, because of injuries; is still doing clerical work and light duties. Worthy Causes The promotion of the health of women and children is a worthy object but not a worthy motoring object. This statement was made during a discussion on an appeal from the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of the Women and Children (the Plunket Society) by the council of the Automobile Association (Canterbury) last evening. The society asked the association for a grant towards its Violet Day appeal, but the council decided “with reluctance” that its rules did not permit it to make a donation. An appeal on behalf of the combined children’s homes was similarly treated. Lamb Dressed as Beaver Mr G. W. Clinkard, of the Board of Trade, which is holding an inquiry into import duties on fur goods, in Wellington this week, asked Mr P. Braham, an Auckland furrier, if beaver lamb was beaver, or lamb, or neither. Mr Braham: “Beaver lamb is lamb, cut and dyed to look like beaver." Mr Clinkard: “It's actually lamb, then." Mr Braham: “Definitely.” Gobbledegook The Parliamentary Secretary to the Health Ministry, Miss Pat HornsbySmith, has been lightheartedly criticised in the press for adopting “civil service jargon.” In a recent speech she said: “It is not always easy to persuade a fully ambulant patient that the health service should provide transport to the hospital when the patient is fit and able to proceed by public transport." It was the phrase “fully ambulant” which aroused most comment. “This seems an extraordinary way of saying whether you can walk to a tram or a bus,” says the “Yorkshire Post.” “Miss HornsbySmith must watch her officials with their needless jargon. Soon they will be defending themselves on the ground that their extremely technical work necessitates their being omnivocabulationary. What would Sir Winston Churchill write in the margin if he came on ‘fully ambulanf in a memorandum on his desk! Miss HornsbySmith should accept as a model the Prime Minister’s English rather than the pompous, inflated officialese of Whitehall.”—London, September 1. Tame Muttonbird Titi, the Dominion Museum’s tame muttonbird, is to be offered his freedom soon. Dr. R. A. Falla, director of the museum, said that the bird had become completely domesticated, and it -was doubtful whether it could readjust itself to natural surroundings and the company of other birds. However, Titi will be released in Wellington Harbour or one of the coastal bays. If he -pppars to be at home he will be allowe-l to go free, if not he will be transferred to the Wellington Zoo. Titi missed the last muttonbird migration; falling exhausted on the deck of the freighter Tarsian. two days out from Wellington, on May 16. Since then the bird has made himself thoroughly at home at the museum.— (PA.) Promise of Good Bananas

Excellent supplies of bananas of first quality were expected in the season beginning about November, Mr H. E. Radley told the Canterbury Progess League yesterday. Hurricanes last year had stunted growth and necessitated many hew plantings. Both classes of plants had come away welL Mr Radley mentioned efforts to spread the plantations so that more would escape the hurricanes. CORSO Clothing in Bombay “The poor and needy people of Bombay are very grateful to you and to the people of New Zealand for the gifts of used clothing which has literally clothed hundreds of needy men, women and children in this big city of Bombay,” says a letter to CORSO from the Acting Director of the Nagpada Neighbourhood House, Bombay. “Each day 70 children from very poor families are given a mug of milk, vitamin tablets and a very necessary bath. The powdered milk provides daily nourishment for these undernourished children.” CORSO will hold a clothes drive in Christchurch on September 11. 8029 Radio Stations in N.Z. “There are 29 broadcasting stations in New Zealand. These are well known because they can be received on normal household receivers. But it is not generally known that in New Zealand there are just on 8000 other radio stations providing utility and safety services, ” says the annual report of the Post and Telegraph Department tabled in. the House of Representatives. “For example, there are close on 1000 small ships around our coasts fitted for radio-telephone operating. There are many stations used by taxi and freight companies to improve the services they give to the public and at the same time reduce operating costs. Radio is used by ambulances and Are brigades, in forestry work, with hydro-electric work, and in many other fields where radio communication is helping towards greater efficiency in our industry and primary production. The continuing demand for these services poses problems for the Post Office in finding sufficient frequencies on which -they can operate. ’ ’ (—F.O.P.R.) Church and Television Because it held the potential evils of sponsored television could be detrimental to the moral and spiritual welfare of the country, the Wellington District Methodist Synod yesterday decided to recommend that the annual conference request the Government to draw up strict regulations governing the use of television before it is introduced into New Zealand. The synod also decided to recommend that the Government be asked to declare a policy of strict and impartial control of all religious television.—(P.A.) Grateful Motorist A man driving a large truck in the Woodend district in a recent weekend noticed there was something wrong with the vehicle and, while he was thinking about the trouble, was stopped by an officer of the Automobile Association (Canterbury) who was on patrol.. The officer told the motorist that the truck’s front wheels were out of alignment, and, after an inspection, showed him that the tie rod was bent. The driver was given the names of several garages in the district which would carry out repairs on a Saturday. Informing the association of the action of the officer

—“which undoubtedly saved me a pair of tyres”—the writer expressed his thanks and concluded by applying for membership. Herald of Spring

A fresh south-south-west wind blew throughout the day in Christchurch yesterday and between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. it was gusting at 60 miles an hour. It settled down to a steady 3540 miles an hour until 5.30 p.m. when it began to decrease rapidly. Air temperatures dropped and although some sunshine was seen at intervals many shivered as they looked towards the Port hills and saw patches of snowwhitened tussock. .