NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 250, 21 July 1942, Page 5

NEWS IN BRIEF

National Party The annual Dominion conference of tb< National Party will be held in Welling ton tomorrow and Thursday. Delegates will be present from every electorate ir New Zealand. The Dominion president Mr. Alex. Gordon, of Hamilton, will pre side. Shipshed Windows. A plate glass window of a shop in Willis Street, Wellington, was broken last night. It is believed to have been an act of larrikinism, a tap with a hottie by a passer-by. A similar breakage occurred in Cuba Street, Wellington, on Sunday night. Visitor’s Death at Station. While collecting left luggage at the Wellington railway station, a visitor from Dunedin, Mr. William Baker,, collapsed and died at 7.50 yesterday morning. He was 51 years of age and was a clerk employed at the Dunedin railway station. At the time of his death he was returning south after a holiday. Motion to Rescind.

The mayor, Mr. Hislop, has given notice that at the next meeting of the Wellington City Council,he will move: “That the resolution passed by the council on June 19, 1942, determining Mr. A. C. Kellett’s tenancy of. corporation premises, No. 64 Taranaki Street, be rescinded.”

Railway Hut Extension. The Railway Hut for servicemen in Waterloo Quay, ' Wellington, adjoining the railway station, has been considerably extended, and more men may now be attended to at rush periods. It was reported to the Metropolitan Patriotic Committee yesterday that the addition had been built by the Army Department at a cost of £950. For Polish Troops. \ A recent pianoforte recital by Ignaz Friedmann, eminent Polish pianist, in the Wellington Town Hall, realized £214 for the comfort of Polish troops in Libya. This sum earned a Government subsidy which brought the total up to £5OO. This amount was forwarded to Egypt, where it was handed over to General Kopanksi, of the Polish Armv. The New, Zealand £5OO worked out to £390 in Egyptian sterling. Permanent Dormitory.

Earlier in the war period the gymnasium dormitory at the Wellington Y.M.C.A. was used as such only at weekends, but with the growing demand for further accommodation right through the week for servicemen, the place has been made a permanent dormitory with 140-bed capacity. The Metropolitan Patriotic Committee had contributed £3OO toward furnishing this dormitory, and £75 for an extra 20 beds there.

Deserter From Ship. Murray Cosway Fyfe, a. seaman, was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment with hard labour by Mr. Stout, S.M., in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday, on a charge of having deserted his ship, after having signed on to complete the voyage to Britain. Fyfe said he was an Australian, and wished to return to Ins own country, but the magistrate told him that was no excuse.

Steamroller For £5O. Surprise was expressed at the Petone Borough Council meeting last night that a steamroller could be bought secondhand for £5O. The engineer, Mr. C. L. Jackson, reported that one of the council s rollers required repairs that would cost £5O, and remarked that it had to be decided whether the work was worth doing, because he had been informed that a similar second-hand roller could be bought for £5O. The works committee is to consider the question. Cycle Tyres. , “It’s nothing more than a racket, said Mr. H. M. Christie, North Island transport zoning officer, to a gathering of business men in. Petone. “It will have to be stopped at once.” He had told them that when some men in the Christchurch area had tried to buy tyres for their bicycles the dealers had said they could not supply them, but had offered to sell new bicycles—with two new tyres on each, Air. Christie pointed out —and to take the old bicycles in part exchange.

Baths for Soldiers. . It often happens that services rendered to members of the Armed Forces do not receive the public notice or the general ■acclamation which they deserve. Recentlj, many householders in the Wairarapa district have offered the use of their baths to men in local camps, specially in those camps which lack adequate facilities tor bathing. Very gratefully has this otter been accepted, as the men have cause to realize that the “bemson of hot water is not truly appreciated till they have to do without it.

Extension of Day Nursery. An extension of the citizens day nursery is required. This matter, accompanied by a request for assistance, came before the Wellington Metropolitan Patriotic Committee yesterday, when it W mentioned that the nursery was being largely used by the children of men in uniform. The mayor Mr. Hislop, who presided, said that at present the committee had no money for expenditure outside the immediate needs of the soldier, but if funds were made available later, further consideration might be given this project.

Negligent Driver Fined £5O. “The very fact that the piry has convicted shows that it has fully allowed for the necessity of protecting users of the road in the present blackout or restricted lighting,” said the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers), in the Supreme Court, Wellington, yesterday, in sentencing James Herlihy, aged 33, driver, whom the jury last week found guilty of negligent driving causing death. “There were none of the grosser elements which Otten accompany events of this kind. It was more of an error of judgment, perhaps, than negligence, though in law it was negligence.” After imposing a fine ot £5O, with £l4/1/- costs, his Honour said that considering existing conditions he would make no order regarding Herlihy s licence.

Serious Offonee. “This offence is a very serious one indeed. Any interference with either young boys or young girls is a very serious matter and is to be treated accordingly, said the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers) when Robert Turnbull Walton, aged 3i, malthouse hand, appeared before him in the Supreme Court, Wellington, yesterday for sentence on a charge of indecently assaulting an 11-year-old boy. Walton was found guilty of the offence by a jury last week. Ills Honour remarked that M niton did not have any previous convictions, but it was quite impossible to let him go unpunished. A sentence of two years reformative detention was imposed. Mr. J. A. Scott appeared for accused.

Unauthorized Collections. Mention was made at yesterday’s meeting of the Wellington Patriotic Committee by Mr. E. W. Wise that collections of money and kind had been made at Eastbourne for the Poles, and that clothes collected had been dispatched direct to Russia by vessels which ' had called at Wellington. He said that such collections hampered other appeals, and in his opinion it was against the regulations for “Tom, Dick and Harry” to make them. He had protested to the woman responsible, and read a letter from her in response to what she termed his “grim threats.” The meeting referred the matter to the National Patriotic Board, but it was announced that no one was entitled to make collections of clothes, money, or kind, without authority. Welcomed in Khartoum. Private Brian Louisson, writing to his mother in Palmerston North, describes a trip by three other New Zealand soldiers and himself when, on leave, they went from Cairo to Khartoum. The presence of New Zealanders seemed Io be a novelty in Khartoum, and an elderly man, recognizing their peaked hats, pulled up his car and insisted on taking them to call on someone who, he said, would be interested in them. Shortly after this they were ushered into the manager s room in Barclay’s Bank and were welcomed bv Mr. E. A. Turner, the manager. Here, in Khartoum, was a New Zealander from Ashburton, who had served in the war of 1914-18. Mr. Turner is the son-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Tulloch. now of Wellington, and his wife was horn in Ronmhapa. She was not in Khartoum at the time of the incident described l.y Private Louisson, being in England with two sons. Her mother, who was Miss Hay. was a member of a Dunedin family.