NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 227, 22 June 1944, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF

Heavy Tax Demand “Governments ordinarily turn to the licensed trade as a medium from which they derive substantial portions of their financial requirements," said Mr. D. W. Madden, chairman of New Zealand Breweries Ltd., at the annual meeting yestejdav “but iu wartime extremely heavy demands are made on our industry. During the year just closed the company will have collected and paid, or become liable to pay, to- the Treasury the sum of £3,477,000, ' or more than twice the jimount ot the ’company’s paid-up capital.”

Body in River. The body of Herbert L. Nixon, an elderly retired watchmaker at Cambridge, was found in the Waikato River oq Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Nixon, a widower, lived alone in flats owned by himself.—P.A. New Guinea Fighting. A set of photographs, on loan from the Australian High Commissioner, illustratin'' fighting conditions in New Guinea, is on display in the. main hall upstairs in the Wellington Central Library. They will be changed from time to time. Remund On Murder Charge. Charged with the murder of Richard Townsend Chorley on May 4, a married woman, Mary Stuart Walker, aged 37, apneared on remand in the Magistrates Court, Wellington, yesterday, before Mr. Stout, S.M. She was further remanded to appear on July 5. Tram Conductor Injured. When he. fell off a tram m lower Cuba Street shortly before 8 a.m. yesterday, the conductor Mr. H. Hellberg, 1 Burwah Street, Berhampore, received a scalp wound and slight concussion. He was taken to hospital by the Free Ambulance,

Shortage of Sleeping Cars. Only three sleeping cars were provided on the limited express which left Auckland for Wellington on a recent night, and a number of people who paid for berths had to travel in first-class carriages. The total number ot people on the waiting list when the train departed was 18.

Blackbird With White Head. A blackbird with a pure white head and a few specks of white about its otherwise jet-black body has been conspicuous about the Supreme Court grounds, Auckland, recently. The bird is comparatively tame and allows curious people to approach close to it, but like other unusual birds it does not seem to consort with its fellows,

School Journal. , After criticizing bad grammar and the use of slang words occasionally in the School Journal, the Auckland Education Board carried a resolution disapproving ot the so-called "character”' passages yesterday The Education Department stated in a letter that while it was at times difficult for the younger children to appreciate “character” passages, they were appreciated by the older children. However, steps would be taken to maintain a high and appropriate standard.—P.A. Service Voting. „ , rT The Select Committee of the House ot Representatives appointed to inquire into service voting at the last general election resumed its sittings at Parliament House yesterday. Proceedings opened in April and were then adjourned. The committee lias been directed by the House to inquire into and report on the organization set up, aud the methods employed for recording and dealing with votes of servicemen in the general election held in September of last year. * Women as Footballers. A request that the Canterbury Rugby Union should consider a proposal tor a Rugby match between two teams or women basketball players as a curtainraiser to a fixture at Lancaster Park, Christchurch, wa§ received recently by the management committee from Miss Mnrv Callanan. Miss Callanan suggested that there should be two 20-minute spells for the game, and said the teams would be composed of senior players. The committee referred the proposal to the competitions committee.

A "Push me-Come,” An amusing illustration ot th* use of pidgeon English by natives in the Solomons is recounted by Lieutenant-Colonel F. Seaward, who recently returned from Vella Lavella to Auckland. Some people, he said, found it easy to understand, but candidly he did not. “We wanted a crosscut saw, and asked an islander named Silas, well known to missionaries, if he knew what we meant. He knew all right. ’You want a pulla-me-go pusha-me-come all the same the axe,” he grinned. I found it hard."

Soldiers’ Voting Inquiry. "Why shouldn’t you know what evidence is given?” asked the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Holland, when he told a meeting in Christchurch recently that the efforts of the National Party to have the inquiry into service voting held in public had failed. "They are your soldiers, he went on. “Why the secrecy? It is not a question of military security. How manv things have been done in the name of security!” Mr. Holland said he had been able to supply proof of instances where National Party election information had not reached troops.

Vivisection. The secretary of the Canterbury Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals wrote to the Otago society regarding th alleged practice of vivisection at the Otago Medical School, stating that the Animal Protection Society had urged cooperation to stop the practice.. It was stated in reply that past inquiries by the Otago societv had shown that experiments with animals at the Medical School had been carried out in a satisfactory manner. It was decided to ask the society’s honorary veterinarian to furnish a report on the present position.—P.A.

Swan Far From Home. On the opening day of the shooting season Mr. H. Knapp,. Featherston, shot on a Ruamahunga River lagoon a swan with a ring on a leg. The ring he sent to the Wellington Acclimatization Society, which has learned that blue rings on swans recovered from Lake Wairarapa were those used by the North Canterbury Acclimatization Society in 1940. In recent years the nugatory habits of black swans ringed on Lake Ellesmere, Canterbury, have been traced to quite distant parts of both the North Island and the South Island

Juries Defended. "I don’t agree with that,” replied the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers), in the Court of Appeal yesterday when counsel suggested that no one knew better than the Chief Justice how capricious juries were. "That is not my experience,” the Chief Justice continued. "I have had very few cases where I thought there had been a miscarriage of justice, and even then, on thinking it over, I was not so sure I was right.” Counsel mentioned abortion, bookmaking and claims by poor persons against insurance companies as instances of what he had in mind.

Recognition of Tito Government. A meeting of immigrants from Yugoslavia, convened by the Wellington Yugoslav Club in Wellington this week, unanimously approved the following resolution : "That this meeting lias confidence in and approves of the work of the AU-Slav Union for the People’s Liberation Movement in Yugoslavia ; that this meeting authorizes the central committee of the AllSlav Union, Auckland, to represent our people in New Zealand, also to represent the provisional Government, the People’s Army of Liberation in Yugoslavia, and their representatives abroad; and that this meeting resnectfully asks the Government of New Zealand to recognize the provisional Government of Yugoslavia led by Marshal Tito.”

Protection of Property. The extent of damage to public property at times alarmed him, said the mayor. Mr. Appleton, to the Wellington Beautifying Society last night. Here the society could add to its already good record of public service by initiating a campaign among children in the respect that was due to public property which, after all, represented the expenditure of funds collected from the whole community. It was not children who did the damage —rather youths at the "loose-end” stage—but the time to implant teaching was in childhood. When in the United States he had been amazed at the respect shown for public property. In many places I here were no fences between houses, but the occupiers could beautify their sections—the collective effect in a town being wonderful —without fear of vandalism.