General News

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29892, 4 August 1962, Page 10

General News

High Ranks Several high-ranking officers will be in toe official suite accompanying toe King and Queen of Thailand on their New Zealand visit this month. The chief aide-de-camp is a general, the King's physician is a colonel, the police officer attached to the Court is a police majorgeneral. and the aides are a group captain and a lieutenant. The Thailand Army photographer is also a lieutenant. Major-General Sir Stephen Weir, the New Zealand Ambassador to Thailand, •will accompany the party, and among the New Zealand officials are a major and a squadron leader. Magnetic Truck The National Road Board’s magnetic truck travelled 7886 miles through New Zealand in the year ending March 31 and collected 54481 b of metal, for .691 b per mile. While on hire to the Railways Department, municipalities, etc., it collected a further 17.8991 b of metal on off-road areas.— (P.A.) First Ship The flow of this season’s seaborne Antarctic supplies will begin at Lyttelton this month with the arrival of the freighter Pioneer Isle, due about August 13, and the Pioneer Gem. due about September 11. Both these vessels. coming from the United States, will go to Brisbane from Lyttelton. A handful! of United States servicemen are now making preparations for the cargo at Lyttelton. | Blood Unit Sixteen new donors were enrolled by the North Canterbury Blood Transfusion Service when its mobile unit visited Kaiapoi It was the eleventh time that the unit had visited Kaiapoi and in that time it has enrolled 277 new donors and received 808 donations of blood. The mobile unit will visit Ran.giora on August 16.

War Anniversary Today is the forty-eighth anniversary of Great Britain's declaration of war on Germany on August 4, 1914.) Early in the morning' the British Government sent an ultimatum to Germany seeking an assurance that the neutrality of Belgium would be respected, and demanded an answer before midnight At 12.5 a.m on August 5 a statement was issued from the Foreign Office that because of the summary rejection by the German Government of the request for assurances. a state of war 'existed between the two countries as from 11 pm. on August 4 In New Zealand the announcement that war had been declared was made by the Governor-General (Lord Liverpool) from the steps of the old Parliament buildings on the afternoon of August 5 Timely Epidemic Something like 100 pupils of Christchurch West High School were away from school last Friday with influenza. the headmaster (Mr T Richards) told members of the board of governors last evening. This had affected the second term examinations which, regardless of the absence of pupils, had to be held. There were some girls who turned up for the examinations who really should have been home, he said. A board member suggested it was a timely epidemic. Heavy Lifts A triangular derrick with a lifting capacity of 120 tons is one of the unusual features of the Japanese freighter Dainanoh Maru, which visited Lyttelton this week. The ! freighter was designed I specifically for unloading heavy goods in the JapanSouth America trade. The heaviest lifts she has undertaken were 40-ton railway coaches on her first trip to Buenos Aires. Pheasant Food To provide winter feed for pheasants, the Ngaruawahia sub-society of toe Auckland Acclimatisation Society will plant 5000 oak trees in toe Crown Reserve on the Hakarimata Ranges this winter Acorns from these trees will later provide teed for toe birds The society planted apple trees during the last three years, also to provide pheasant food Some were destroyed by goats. but others bore fruit S.M.D. Headquarters The renovated Southern Military District headquarters in Cambridge terrace will be occupied and open for business again on Monday. Yesterday files, office equipment and “easy to carry” items were transferred from the temporary Oxford terrace premises until, by early last evening, only the furniture remained This will be moved by vehicles today It is 18 months since the headquarters were last occupied. The former temporary premises are to be taken over by toe Public Service Accommodation Board. Record Attendance The third New Zealand •shoe and leather fair, held Itn toe Winter Garden this I week, attracted a record ati tendance. During toe three days. 53.500 visited the fair compared with the previous highest total. 50.000 during four days of a fair at Auckland. To Span Rivers Aluminium alloy walkways designed by Forest Service engineers are to be erected over some rivers in State forest areas. Reaching a maximum span of 100 feet, the bridges take two days to erect after the approaches have been prepared. They will replace existing structures in forest areas. Reports on the prototype in the Nelson area indicate that their performance and versatility .exceeded expectations.