General News

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29099, 11 January 1960, Page 8

General News

Mr Nash At Ardmore

Victory laurels in the New Zealand Zealand Grand Prix were placed on J. Brabham and] B. McLaren by the Prime Minister (Mr Nash) at Ardmore on, Saturday. Mr Nash was attend-. «ng his first Grand Prix. He arrived at the course with the; Minister of Transport (Mr Mathison) after flying to' Mangere in a DC3. He visited the pits before the big race, met the drivers and spoke to officials and members of the public. After the Grand Prix, which he watched from the timekeepers’ stand, the Prime Minister presented trophies and congratulated the drivers on a magnificent race. “I have had had a most enjoyable day,” he told officials. —(P.A.) Gisborne Earthquakes Two sharp earthquakes wakened most Gisborne people from their sleep early yesterday morning. A heavy rumbling preceded the first shock at 1.14 a.m. It was followed a few minutes later by an upthrust jolt of force four. No damage was reported. —(P.A.) Triplet Calves A pedigree Jersey cow, owned by Mr John Hellyer, of Macandrew Bay, Dunedin, gave birth to triplets last week. Common enough in sheep, multiple births are extraordinarily rare in cows, and Mr G. Holmes, superintendent of the Invermay research station, said he had heard of extremely few cases when a cow had given birth safely to healthy triplet calves. Sired by a Jersey bull, the three calves —all bulls — are doing well. —(P.A.) Ambition Realised When on Bougainville and in the New Herbides during the war, Sergeant (in civilian life Judge) Fred C. Root, of the United States Army Air Force, had one ambition —to spend a leave in New Zealand. Three times his name was on top of the list, and three times his unit either moved, or the leave was cancelled. He went back to the United States disappointed. Last week, nearly 15 years after the war. Judge Root, of North Tonawanda, New York State, explored the thermal area at Rotorua and the Waitomo Caves. “It’s like Shangri-la to me,” he said, on the eve of his departure for Australia with his wife and 13-year-old daughter. “I like everything about New Zealand.” Planetarium Popular Expanded by school children on holiday, crowds of several hundred a day have been visiting the planetarium at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Between late October, when the planetarium was opened, and the- end of December, the attendance has been 13,453. The lecturer-demon-strator, Mr R. A. Mclntosh, said that 3745 people attended showings during the 10 days of the holiday period. There are now six demonstrations a day during the week and three on Sundays. Attendances are fluctuating between 30 and 40 during morning sessions, but they are in the 80’s during the afternoon. Mr McIntosh said there were no signs of either the attendances dropping off, or of interest flagging among audiences N.A.C. Building The National Airways Corporation expected to call tenders for I its new centre building in | Crawford street early next month, the Dunedin manager, Mr I. H. Driscoll, said recently. With the existing building in Vogel street already containing' the freight, reserves and accounts section and the adjoining public! service garage, the new building I will enable the corporation to concentrate its entire activities in one area. The new building, plans for ivhich are still on the drawing boards of the architects, will provide a reception depot with the drive-through from Crawford street to Vogel street. Only the reception depot and its ancillary services remain at the former centre building in Manse street. Civil Defence With three weeks to go, recruiting for the Auckland civil defence and disaster scheme has drawn about 700 volunteers, including many women. “This is very satisfactory,” said the director, Colonel W. Murphy. The appeal for recruits for police, traffic, warden, fire, welfare and communications services began on December 1. The target is for almost 5000 volunteers. Organisations as well as individuals have offered their services. Colonel Murphy said they included the St. John Ambulance (1600 people): Red Cross (800); Netherlands Legion (80); Amateur Radio Corps (80); Motor Scooter Club (60), Civilian Maimed Association (200); and Legion of Frontiersmen (60). N.Z. Milk Powder Dr. C. P. McMeekan, superin-1 tendent of the Ruakura Animal' Research Station, has returned from India, where he attended an eight-day conference on milk production in South-east Asia. The conference, held in New Delhi, was arranged by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Dr. McMeekan submitted three papers dealing with dairy problems in the Far East. Dr. McMeekan said an interest which New Zealand had in the conference was the extent to which its skim milk powder could be produced to supplement the milk production in the South-east Asian countries.