General News

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29990, 27 November 1962, Page 12

General News

Rather Late Reporting on a list of new members at the Christchurch Returned Services’ Association executive meeting last evening, the secretary, Mr F. Barron, said that one man, a member of the Ist N.Z.EF. was joining an R.S.A. group for the first time, and had also applied for his war medals. “He’s rather late,” said Mr Barron, amid laughter.

The Ombudsman The Ombudsman (Sir Guy Powles), besides having an unusual title, has employed unusual printing in his preliminary report to Parliament. The title page and the title signature are both in old English. This type is not normally used in Government reports. Air To Air When the Christchurch manager of Tasman Empire Airways. Ltd. (Mr A. T. Gilmore) left on a fortnight's South Island tourist promotion trip abroad yesterday, he carried with him a dozen “cans of Mt. Cook air.” He will give the first to the New Zealand High Commissioner in London (Mr T. L. Macdonald) for demonstration purposes and leave others at Pari*, Rome, Beirut, Singapore, and Sydney on his way home. In Zurich “Mount Cook air will be mixed with Swiss air to show their comparable purity.”

Record Flight A United States Navy Hercules piloted by Lieutenant R. Carlson, has beaten all previous records for flights between Christchurch and McMurdo Sound. Yesterday it made the 2316-mile flight in six hours 28 minutes. The previous record was six hours 45 minutes—a record for a flight in either direction. The Hercules left Christchurch at 952 a.m. and landed at McMurdo Sound at 4.20 p.m. Guard Of Honour Twenty-five senior members and N.C.O.’s of the Boys’ Brigade will provide a guard of honour in the foyer of the Civic Theatre this evening when the Governor-Gen-eral (Sir Bernard Fergusson) and Lady Fergusson arrive for the civic reception. The guard will be commanded by Messrs M. J. Gray and D. L. Aitken. The Governor-Gen-eral is patron of the brigade in New Zealand and also vice-president of the worldwide organisation. Sun Dial Damaged The sun dial in Central Park, Whangarei, no longer gives the correct time. Some tame in the last two or three days vandals have wrenched the bronze pointer, completely removed two small sections and broken an upright. The sun dial was given to Whangarei by the New Zealand Newspaper Proprietors’ Association in 1956, when the association held its conference in the town. —(P.A.) Flying Times "The dastardly northeasterly season is in full swing once more and pilots should take advantage of early mornings and late evenings when flying conditions are usually more suitable for practice,” states an article in the "Planesman,” the official organ of the Canterbury Aero Club It adds that instructors’ duty hours are staggered to cover these periods and members are asked to use them. Eel Bait Jimmy Foster, a 13-year-old angler from Matai, was sitting by a small lagoon beside the Grey River, not far from his home, casually splashing the water with his left hand. Suddenly a dark shape loomed up and something took a firm grip on his index finger. It was a big eel, and Jimmy began to pull his hand in. He almost had toe eel out of the water when it let go, leaving several deep marks in his finger. The eel was about 3ft 6in long and weighed about 81b. —(F.O.OJi.)

“Pretty Good” Members of the Christchurch Returned Services’ Association executive found it well worth while to delay the start of their meeting urjtil 738 p.m. last evening, their reward being the great news of P. G. Snell’s win in the Empire Games half mile race. Members heard the commentary from a transistor radio in the centre of the table—with a burst of relief as the announcer made it clear that Snell was the winner. “He must be pretty good to hold up an R.SA meeting," said a member. The meeting later heard M G. Halberg win another gold medal for New Zealand. Polio Campaign Poliomyelitis vaccine was given to 2343 persons yesterday at public or private clinics in Christchurch, bringing the total for the second stage of the campaign to 111,344. Today there will be public clinics in the waitingroom in Cathedral square and at the mass X-ray rooms in Manchester street. Aides-de-Camp Three aides-de-camp have been appointed to attend the Governor-General (Sir Bernard Fergusson) during his visit to Christchurch. They are: Major C. Fanselow, of the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps; Wing Commander M. S. Gunton, officer commanding the Central Flying School at the R.N.Z.AF. station. Wigram; and Lieu-tenant-Commander R. F. Sanderson, Canterbury division of the Royal New Zealand Navy Volunteer Reserve. Local Fruits Locally grown cherries and strawberries on sal* in city fruit shops yesterday met a keen demand. Strawberries, which were in good supply, ■old from 3s to 4* 6d a punnet, and cherries were 4s 6d per lb.