General News

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29776, 20 March 1962, Page 12

General News

The First Rung

New Zealand manufacturers must be “made export conscious. They must get enthusiastic about exports,” said the president of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association (Mr R. H. Stewart) when addressing the council of the association last evening on the recently-formed Trade Promotion Council. “It is amazing what can be exported from New Zealand. I have heard of a man in New Zealand exporting aluminium ladders to Hong Kong—and selling them. You don't know what can be done until you try.” Apple Palp For U.K. The season’s first shipment of apple pulp from the New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board's new processing plant at Stoke left Port Nelson yesterday aboard the freighter Paparoa for the United Kingdom. The shipment was 12,000 611 b cans in 2000 cartons, the board’s acting manager (Mr G. G. Robertson) said. A further 30,000 cans left Piston yesterday in the New Zealand Star. Also on the Paparoa were 127,000 cases of apples.— (F.0.0K). Traffic Control Christchurch could learn some useful lessons from traffic control in Vancouver, a Canadian visitor said yesterday, "Creeping” left-hand turns should be allowed at light-contirolled corners, so that a motorist could make a turn on the red light so long as the crossroad was clear, he said. A prohibition on parking in Colombo street at the peak traffic times would be a big help—in Vancouver similar streets had a parking ban from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Other valuable changes would be to give pedestrians complete right of way on crossings where there were lights, white centre lines in the main streets and one-way traffic in the busiest streets. Stamp Error A report of the sale in Australia of a valuable stamp of Hjestem Samoa had brought many inquiries to city stamp dealers, one of the dealers, Mr R. Savill, said yesterday. The stamp, a German colonal issue overprinted in 1914 when New Zealand took over the territory, only had an especially high value if it had an error in the overprint, as apparently the specimen sold in Australia had, said Mr Savill, The normal stamp corresponding to that involved in the sale had the overprint “1 Shillings,” whereas the overprint in the case of the error was “1 Shilling” All the stamps, with error or not. of a value of more than Is in this particular issue, however, were now catalogued at £75 or over, he added. Bridge Repairs A hole in the decking of the Opawa road bridge over the Heathcote river is being repaired by the City Council. The bridge’s deterioration has been noted by the council for some time, and it is next on the list for replacement. At present the Manchester street bridge is top priority, and work on it is in hand. The Opawa road bridge will probably be done in the coming financial year. Tree Tomatoes Kumeras and the first of this season’s tree tomatoes, both from the North Island, are now on sale in Christchurch fruit and produce markets. Yesterday kumeras sold at 41s a sugar bag and tree tomatoes at up to 23s a case. Although the supplies of fruit are decreasing most produce is plentiful and prices are on a par with those of last week. Blazer Change A proposal to replace the well-known maroon blazer of students at the University of Canterbury with a navy blue or black one will be put before the annual meeting of the Students’ Association this week by the incoming president (Mr B. Ulrich) It is considered that the plainer blazer would be smarter and more generally acceptable. Students’ Union To accelerate students' contribution of funds for the new students’ union building at Ilam, it has been suggested that half the capping collection be given to this cause (the other half to charity) and that the Students’ Association fee be increased from £5 to £6, the extra £1 to go to the building fund. These proposals will be considered by the annual meeting of the association this week. Students have pledged themselves to find £60,000 more (in addition to money already raised) toward the £280,000 building.