NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 138, 8 March 1945, Page 8

NEWS IN BRIEF

Heavy Rainfall

Wellington received another drenching yesterday. From the earliest hours rain fell almost continuously throughout t.ne day, and water channels were hard di' iv ” en to it to take the load of water that streamed into them. At times on Lambton Quay the water rose to the level ot the footpaths, before the sumps could do their duty. Such rain slows down the work of tramway track-renewal. in the centre of the city. The excavations ofl each side of the rails became miniature canals, and remained so throughout the day. The rainfall to 11 o clock last night was about 170 points. Transfer of Judges. After the conclusion of the present sitting of the Court of Appeal in Wellington, Mr. Justice Fair, who for several years has been resident in Auckland, will transfer to Wellington, and Mr. Justice Cornish will take his place as one of the resident judges in Auckland. Large Wild Boar Shot. A wild boar weighing more than 3oolb. was shot by a party from Aramoho at Paparungi last weekend. It was not possible to bring the carcase out of the bush, but the head was taken to Wanganui and shown to the curator of the Alexander Museum, Mr. G. Shepherd, who said it was one of the best specimens he had ever seen. New A.S.R.S. Chairman. A poll for thi chairmanship of the Auckland branch of the A.S.R.S. resulted in the defeat by 10 votes of Mr. W. Donovan, who was chairman of the strike committee in the stoppage of work that recently disrupted the northern section of the railways for about a week. The successful candidate was Mr. A. Walker.—P.A.

Slips on Railway Line. The heavy rain yesterday caused two slips, one of them big, to come down on the railway line on the hillside near Paekakariki, at about 7 o’clock last night. The 5.47 p.m. train from Wellington to Palmerston North was held up and had to go back to Pukerua Bay where passengers were taken by bus to Paekakariki, and by rail the rest of the journey, arriving more than an hour late. The line was cleared by 9.10 p.m. Dead End To Inquiry. “I have been unable to investigate the cases referred to by Mr. C. McEachran, since none of the persons concerned was willing to have his or her name used for inquiries from the manpower authorities or the employer concerned,” said Professor J. A. Allan, chairman of the public questions committee, at a meeting of the Dunedin Presbytery. The reference was to the question of alleged “woman hunting” charged by Mr. McEachran against the manpower officials in Dunedin at the last meeting of the Presbytery.—P.A. Karori West School. Advice that Cabinet has a grant for ground improvements at the Karori West School has been received by Mr. Bowden, M.P. for Wellington West, from the Minister of Education, Mr. Masou. The grounds have been subject to flooding from a creek through the property, and this nuisance is to be overcome by running the creek through concrete pipes, and filling, levelling, and grassing the area. It is understood that the work will be put in hand by the Public Works Department as soon as labour is available.

February Road Fatalities. During February there were six fatalities in which motor vehicles were involved, ‘ the Transport Department reported yesterday. Three lives were lost following collisions with telegraph poles and another in a collision with a railway train. A bus collided with and killed a pedestrian, and ‘■he rider of a motor-cycle was killed when he collided with a lorry at an intersection. The railway crossing accident occurred in Canterbury, but all the other accidents occurred in the North Island. The lowest death roll in any previous February was 10. . This was the figure for both 1943 and 1944. Hospital In No-Man’s Land. “This is an extraordinary position and I assure you that the committee will take up the matter with a view to having it rectified,” stated the chairman, Mr. R. McKeen, when the fact that doctors and nurses at Auckland Hospital were unable to exercise a vote in municipal elections was raised at a sitting in Auckland of the Parliamentary committee on local government. It was explained that the hospital was neither in the city council s area nor in the zone of any borough council. It was situated in a sort of “no-man’s-land” which was a fragment of the old Eden council. —Press Association.

Employment Card I’lan. , „ . Surprise that the National Service Department had not seen fit to introduce a registration and employment card tor each person directed to work was expressed by Mr. Levien. S.M., in the Magistrates’ ’Court, Auckland, during the hearing of a manpower prosecution. Stating that he had mentioned the card, system some time ago, Mr. Levien pointed out that a person seeking employment could produce the card, which would show his discharge or availability for .work, and the card would be in possession ot the worker continuously. The representative of the manpower officer said an endeavour had been made to get the card system adopted. Clothing Coupons. According to advice received from London by the Air Department been several cases recently of R.N.Z.A.I . personnel receiving from relatives and friends in New Zealand Armed Services clothing coupons, accompanied by statements that the coupons are negotiable in the United Kingdom. It was pointed out yesterday that New Zealand ration coupons are not valid outside the Dominion. The Rationing Controller and others who were consulted stated that they had not heard previously of Armed Service, other clothing coupons, or ration coupons of any kind being sent overseas in the belief that they were negotiable. University Book Scramble. A further indication of the acute shortage of textbooks was provided at the Auckland University College, when the Students’ Association held a sale ol used books. A notice displayed in the main oflice indicated that the sale ot books would begin at noon. A queue, predominantly of “freshmen, formed three-quarters of an hour before the sale began. As soon as the door opened, there was a rush of anxious students for the various counters. AU the books in heaviest demand were disposed of within a few minutes. Very few textbooks required by students in the larger classes, such as English I, were offering, probably indicating that most of last year s students had already been approached by their successors.

Jnrrah Blocks. In the process of laying new tramway tracks in Willis Street, a good many of the original jarrah wood blocks, such as were used to pave Wellington’s principal streets 40 years ago, have had to be disturbed. Where these blocks have been well tarred from time *o time —it used to be an annual process during the first 10 years they were down —the wood has proved to be quite sound. So solid is this wood that the blocks which have been split i umaking the excavations on each side of the lines look as tiiougnrftney were good for another 40 years. 'I he first period of unavoidable neglect was during the war of 1914 to 1918. when it was difficult to procure good quality tar and almost as difficult to get labour to apply it to the wooden pavement, so that as time went on water penetrated to the concrete floor on which the blocks stood and so deterioration commenced. There are still engineers who protest that, when jiroperly looked utter, there is nothing like a wood-blocked street.