General News

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31061, 17 May 1966, Page 16

General News

Mirthless Society

The uninhibited Polynesian living in New Zealand may soon become as “mirthless as the rest of us,” the Secretary of Maori Affairs and Island Territories (Mr J. M. McEwen) told the eighteenth convention of the New Zealand Institute of Public Administration. The Maori and island immigrants were apt to become unpopular with their pakeha neighbours because of the way they enjoyed themselves, he said, but people who were used to open spaces and had not lost the capacity to enjoy themselves did not really adapt their ways to staid suburbia. “I suppose in time they will become as mirthless and as tuneless as the rest of us,” he concluded. Auckland Visit Four Christchurch city councillors will go to Auckland to see developments there. “This would not be a costly project and it is believed that the money would be well spent,” the finance committee said last evening, recommending that the chairman of the city development committee and the towm planning committee and two Labour Party councillors should comprise the visiting team. Mr P. G. Scoular, the city engineer, was authorised to accompany the visitors. Cloudy Day The weather in Christchurch yesterday was cloudy, the maximum temperature recorded at Hare wood being 58 degrees at 2 p.m. At 6 a.m. the temperature at Harewood was 49 degrees, at 9 a.m. it was 53 degrees and at noon it was 56 degrees. The temperature dropped to 57 degrees at 3 p.m. at Harewood and at 4 p.m. it was 56 degrees. In the Botanic Gardens at 3 p.m. the temperature was 57 degrees. Throughout the day the winds were moderate to fresh southerlies or south-westerlies, and skies were overcast. At 4.30 p.m. the temperature gauge on the Government Life building registered 60 degrees. There was heavy rain in the early evening. Not Excessive The loss of 243 United States aircraft in Vietnam since February, 1965, was not excessive considering the conditions under which the aircraft were flying and fighting, the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air) for the United States Naw (ViceAdmiral Paul H. Ramsey) said in Christchurch yesterday. The number of aircraft lost was about in line with the number of losses predicted, he said. Line Blocked About 150 rail passengers from Rangiora to Christchurch were brought into the city by bus yesterday morning after an LC waggon, derailed during shunting, had blocked the main line at the north end of the Belfast railway station. The incident occurred about 5 a.m. and the waggon was removed and the line repaired by 8 a.m. The two Rangiora to Christchurch services affected were the 6.57 a.m. rail-car and the 7.25 a.m. train. 50-ton Catch Fifty tons of fish, believed to be the largest single haul by a New Zealand fishing boat, was caught by the Tau-ranga-based purse seine fishing boat Valkyre. The fish, mostly trevalli. were caught in one set between 10.30 a.m. and 8.30 p.m.