General News

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27564, 22 January 1955, Page 6

General News

Telephone Waiting List

The waiting list for telephones in Christchurch has been reduced to about 45000 according to figures given this week by the Acting Chief Post-

master, Mr C. T. McAloon. About a year ago the number was up to about 10,000. In the Shirley and Beckenham areas, where new exchanges were opened in December, additional connexions are gradually being made as new cabling is completed and further connexions are being made every day where there is already cable. New

subscribers are also coming in through the Islington exchange at Christchurch rates. Checking of the waiting list has also caused the removal of about 2000 names. In the metropolitan area there are now about 26.000 telephone subscribers. Dispute with Landowner Ended

The Tasman Pulp and Paper Company has reached a “verbal agreement” with Mr J. H. Fox, a Maori landowner, who last Monday closed the road to the Kawerau geothermal drilling site Where it crossed his property. A company spokesman said in Auckland yesterday that Mr R. C. Adams, executive assistant to the company’s general manager, had spoken to Mr Fox, and drilling had now been resumed.—(P.A.) Sticky Problem Solved In the Auckland Town Hall this week, the city’s best brains were engaged on a sticky problem. They could not solve it. In desperation, the Town Clerk (Mr T. W. M. Ashby) telephoned a chewing-gum factory. “How,” he asked, “do we remove gum from the town hall carpet?” The answer was quickly forthcoming: barbon tetrachloride or oil of eucalyptus. Canadian Lumberjacks Fifty-nine Canadian lumberjacks, selected from 3000 applicants, arrived at Auckland yesterday aboard the Orient liner Orcades. They will work for the Kaingaroa Logging Company at Murupara. Some of them were accompanied by their families, and the party totalled. 114. The men were welcomed by Mr F. J. Perham, Conservator of Forests, at Auckland. The lumberjacks were picked from men who answered advertisements, which offered free passages for those who would remain in New Zealand for three years, cheaper living, and comfortable houses. Most of the families questioned welcomed the cheaper living standard, but the happiest man of all, Mr Ken Gaw, of Noranda, Quebec, had a different reason for his pleasure. He was born and reared in Christchurch. He went to Canada 27 years ago, and for the last 20 years has wished to return to New Zealand. But it would have cost him the equivalent of £BOO to bring his wife and four children.—(P.A.) Wheat in Early

A flour mifi at Waikari was the first mill in Canterbury to receive a line of new season’s wheat. The wheat was received at the mill on December 27. The general manager of the Wheat Committee, Mr R. McPherson, said this week that this was the earliest he could remember a mill receiving new season’s wheat in Canterbury in the last 25 or 26 years. Crops harvested early had given yields below the averSf®. of 1116 , last few years, said Mr McPherson, but yields of later crops were reported to be much better than the earlier ones. Harvesting was now m fuU swing, he said. “Age of the Refugee” “There are more refugees in the world now than when the war ended 10 years ago,” said Mr Edgar Chand!1 e A. dlr « to r j Refugee Service of the World Council of Churches, in an interview at Bonn, says the Associated Press. He said that since 1945 more than 8.000,000 people have been returned to their home countries from Germany, while 1,000,000 had emigrated to Australia and North and South America. “However, there are today more than 30,000,000 refugees in Bulgaria. Pakistan. India, Hong Kong, Arabia, Korea, and Vietnam. They are m the same condition as 10,000,000 German refugees from Eastern areas m Europe. Our age is the age of the refugee. he said.—London. January

Hydrangeas Anu’ze Anericans A Hamilton resident who was wakened by a knock on his front door Ini. — a Z”" 1 . ??? d a woman taking Photographs of his hydrangea bushes! The visitors said they were from a cr • I ? ad Only an hour t 0 spend in Hamilton. "We have never seen such wonderful blooms,” said the woman, busily using her camera bloom “ le " Ca they cost us a dollar a Publicity for Milford Sound "Milford Sound has already had considerable publicity overseas, and even mo " e ® xt ®nsive publicity is planned” 2w e J£ nlater “ char ® e of Tourist an d Health Resorts (Mr E. H. Halstead) m Wellington yesterday A passenger in the cruise liner Orsova had claimed recently that Milford S°“P d as iyst unknown outside New Zealand. Mr Halstead said Milford oound was not being neglected, and “?“ e ha . d *^ en an influx of Australian visitorsto the Milford Hotel this sumThe hotel had been booked up to the end of the season before the summer began, he said.—(P.A.) Fruit Marketing Stone fruit and cherries are now ke L ng S 2 ld m the Christchurch fruit marketa by the container church ct by tb®,P°und. The Christchurch Stone Fruit and Tomato Growers Association has’been advised that this is to reduce demands made "packets' office staffs at this time of the year.

Fashions for TV Announcers „,^ e ™ kers National Federation of Merchant Tailors, who disapprove of the dress , worn by the 8.8.C.’s lour g l ®} l televMion announcers, are to meet 8.8. C. officials to discuss an improvement, according to the “Daily Telegraph. “Members of the federation fear that men who should know better are appearing in front of-millions of people in the wrong clothes for the time of day and with white waistcoats two and a half inches too long for their evening tails, to mention a few criticisms,” states the paper. The federation has recommended that an advisory committee consisting of men’s clothing trade organisations should be set up to guide the 8.8. C. on matters of dress. One of the 8.8.C.’s representatives will be Mr Clive Rawes, the television presentation editor, who has admitted that the “pays more attention to women’s clothing than men’s.” —London. January 21. Australian Grapes New Zealand should make some effort to import grapes from Australia instead of importing them, at considerable expense, from Spain and California, according to Mr Neil Edgar, a New' Zealander who now owns a hotel in Adelaide. Mr Edgar said in Wellington this week that he had noticed grapes imported from Spain selling at 4s 4d a pound. Yet across the Tasman vineyard proprietors were having great difficulty disposing of their yields. Under those conditions grapes could probably be purchased for import to New, Zealand cheaply. Fishing Rivers According to advice received by the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, the condition of the fishing rivers at noon yesterday was:—Hurunui, Selwyn, Ashley, Waimakariri and Waiau,. clear and fishable; lower Rakaia and Halswell, slightly discoloured; Upper Rakaia, normal and slightly discoloured. The weather at Lake Coleridge was. south-east and rain, and at Highbank it was calm with rain.