General News

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31760, 17 August 1968, Page 12

General News

Rare Quality Praising the work of th< staff of the National Council of Churches, the chairman o: the council’s executive com mittee (the Rev A. H. Me Leod) said yesterday that the assistant general secretary (the Rev. R. M. O’Grady) hac the quality that very few had “He changed Government pol icy in one speech,” Mr Me Leod said. Mr McLeod was referring to the Government’s decision to contribute tc United Nations scheme for aid to refugees after Mr O’Grady had criticised the decision to withdraw aid. Train Derailed The South Island Main Trunk railway line was closed from 10 a.m to about 5.30 p.m. yesterday after a southbound goods train was derailed 10 miles north of Kaikoura. The axle on a truck broke and several waggons left the line. The line was damaged. Rail-car passengers travelling between Picton and Christchurch were taken to Kaikoura by bus, and the railcars returned instead of continuing to their destinations. A goods train was only slightly delayed later in the day. Emergency Radio The Army had been asked to supply a surplus ZCI radio transmitter • receiver for country civil defence purposes, the County Clerk (Mr C. O. Spiller) told a meeting of the Mount Herbert County Council yesterday. He said the set would help to overcome communication problems such as were met in the April floods. Election Delayed The election of parents’ representatives for the manage ment committee of Inangahua College has been postponed for 12 months. The chairman of the Nelson Education Board (Mr B. C. Spiers) said the electio - was to have been held on June 19, but because of difficulties caused by the Inangahua earthquake it had been decided to postpone it until June next year. Sudden Ending A performance of “Sunday Costs Five Pesos’ by the Rangiora Dramatic Society ended suddenly when a member of the cast, Jillian Platt, dislocated a leg. Miss Platt was admitted to hospital The play was the first on a programme of three one-act plays. Miss Platt was injured during a scuffle with a competitor for a man’s love. Pitt Island Circle For the first time a circle of the New Zealand Junior Red Cross has been formed on Pitt Island, in the Chatham Islands, by the North Canterbury centre of the Red Cross Society. The circle includes the 16 schoolchildren on the island. The secretary of the North Canterbury centre (Mr R. J. Upscombe) said yesterday that information on the society had been sent to the children and several interesting letters had been received. $409 Raised The Christchurch Diabetes Society raised $409.80 at its stall in Cathedral Square yesterday, an amount described by the society's president (Mr E. Blaine) as very satisfying. The money, about the same amount as was raised by last year’s stall, will be used for research into diabetes. World Weather . Temperatures and weather conaitions throughout the world yesterday, as compiled in London by the Associated Press and Reuters were: London, 52 degrees minimum. 66 degrees maximum, variable; Paris, 54, 67, partly cloudy; Rome, 63, 81, sunny; Berlin, 52, 62, cloudy; Amsterdam, 59, 64, cloudy; Brussels, 55, 67, overcast; Madrid, 69, 86. sunny; Moscow, 54. 70 overcast; Stockholm, 59, 70 cloudy; New York, 69, 85 cloudy; San Francisco, 59, 68 cloudy; Tokyo, 75, 88, clear; Mexico City, 54, 76, clear Buenos Aires, 45. 61, clear: Johannesburg, 48, 72, fine: Singapore. 77. 86, fine; Hong Kong, 78, 91, fine.