NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 2, 28 September 1942, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF

Tea Ration

The coupon numbers available for redemption during October for the purchase of tea were announced on Saturday by the Rationing Controller, Mr. J. E. Thomas. They are 16 to 19 inclusive, each with a surrender value of 2oz. of tea. This means that Boz. of tea is available to each consumer during October.

Akatarawa Road Block. The Akatarawa Road is blocked aoout halfway in from the main road and will not be open for traffic until some time this week. Child's Leg Broken. Falling while playing yesterday afternoon. Alec Reid, a child living , at 62 Otaki Street, Miramar, fractured his right leg. He was taken to hospital by the Free Ambulance. £lOOO for Cancer Research. The New Zealand branch of the British Empire Cancer Campaign has received a bequest £lOOO from the estate of the late Mr. I-lowaM Spooner, Martinborough, which is to be devoted to cancer research in New Zealand.

Tennis Flayer Fractures Skull. Miss C. Simon, of 25 Tamo Street, Lower Hutt, .fell heavily while playing tennis at Hutt Central School on Saturday afternoon, and fractured her skuil. She was taken to hospital by the Free Ambulance. Her condition • last night was reported to be satisfactory.

Commissions for Students. To bring the number of officers in medical units up to strength, 56 fifthyear medical students serving with the Ota’go University Medical Corps .are to be commissioned immediately, with the rank of second-lieutenant. They will be posted to Air Force and Army units throughout the Dominion at the end of this year.

Growing Pumpkins for Seed. A question was placed, before the executive of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture by Mr.. C. W. Corner, Napier, as to variation when varieties of pumpkins are grown together. A reply from the director of the horticulture division to the executive states that when pumpkin gourds are grown for seed purposes, half a mile or more should intervene between varieties. Smoking and Morale. One reason for the importance of maintaining the production of tobacco was that “in wartime, smoking kept up the morale of the people,” said the managingdirector of a tobacco company, who was appealed for in Christchurch on the ground of public interest. Since the Battle of Britain, he added, the sale of tobacco in England had increased considerably. Mr. J. S. Barnett (chairman of the appeal board): “I would (like a doctor’s ruling on that.” Surgical Probe Device. . A radio-like device which- locates, immediately and without guesswork, bullets, shrapnel, and metal fragments lodged in a human body, is being produced -in quantity in America, and will be used in hospitals and sent with American soldiers all over the world. The device eliminates the surgical probing that has always been the horror of military operating stations. It was invented by Mr. S. Berman, an employee of the New York city subway system. The original purpose was to locate steel splinters in workmen’s arms. Vandalism Rampant. . A plea to make the Auckland Society of Arts a more virile body, and the community’s spearhead in combating the vandalism which “is rampant in every walk of life” was made at the sixty-first annual meeting by the president, Mr. R. O. Gross. “We are living too much to ourselves, but we must consider future years,” Mr. Gross said. “We should not be a society of platitudinarians, but should set about taking the lead in all things covered by the idea of beauty. >v e should make it a full-time job—being active propagandists for the preservation of worth-while things.”

Drinking By Young Men. “That drinking habit seems to be much too common among young men nowadays,” said Mr. Justice Fair in the Supreme Court, Auckland. It had been pleaded on -behalf of a man of 20 who had broken into a shop and stolen that he had been consuming liquor that afternoon. “There seems an impression abroad,” continued his Honour, "that it is a manly way of spending their time, and a way of showing that they think they are manly. It is a foolish and mistaken point of view. There are many better ways in which young .men can enjoy themselves than by drinking in hotels and elsewhere.”

Price Level for Fur Coats. Professor Copland, Australian Prices Commissioner, has fixed a price level to bring fur coats within the range of a large section of the population; J-he coats are to sell retail at £lO. The ban on fur coats is removed. Under a Gazette order unspecified furs must not be distributed or. sold and, except for defence purposes, their manufacture is forbidden. Unspecified furs are the skins of any animal except cattle, goats, sheep, lambs, or rabbits. The order gives inspectors authority to inspect the books of fur manufacturers or dealers, to demand returns of stocks, and to inspect premises.

Forces Beer Bar Closed. The club management has decided to close the beer bar of the New Zealand Forces Chib in Cairo,- reports Lieut.Colonel F. Waite to the National Patriotic Fund Board. This step has been taken so as to reduce military staffs m nil base units, and also for other reasons. The troops will still be able to get beer at the camp canteens from 6 p.m. to J p.m. daily. Colonel Waite says that the club also acts as a supply agent to unit canteens. “The units run these canteens themselves, get an average of 10 per cent, profit on all they sell, and use the profits for the welfare of the men. The units get (New Zealand tobacco and other goods from the club.

Wood of Steel Strength. A new process by which wood may oe made as strong as mild steel was uescnbed by Mr. J. F. Field, conservator of torests for Southland, in a talk to the.lnvereargill Rotary Club. It ordinary wood was soaked in a solution ot urea (an inexpensive chemical) and was heated to a temperature of 210 degrees hahrenheit, it could be bent, twisted; coinpressed and moulded. When it was again bone-<lrv and thoroughly cooled it was as strong ‘as mild steel. This discovery, said Mr. Field, would allow a wider use of low-grade timber. For instance, urentreated wood might conceivably be used instead of aluminium for aeroplane struts and ribs.