NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 73, 23 September 1938, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

Omniscient? "Parliament is omniscient always; it knows everything—although we are not always able to see how it does," remarked Mr. Justice Callan in the Court of Appeal yesterday when counsel was questioning the clarity of the wording of certain sections of the Motor Vehicles (Third Party Risks) Act. Satisfactory Rate Collection. A satisfactory rate collection to the last discount day (August 30) was reported to the meeting of the Eastbourne Borough Council last evening by the Town Clerk and General Manager (Mr. C. L. Bishop). The rate collection amounted to £8055, as compared with £7543 for the corresponding period of last year. The collection represented 66 per cent, of the total struck for this financial year. A good deal of the balance would be received before the penalty date (February 14). Fish Still Short. Butterfish, blue cod, terakihi, groper, and hake are all in short supply on the Wellington fish market, and catches by Wellington boats continue to be disappointing. This is attributed to the unsettled weather, resulting in heavy seas, although the improvement that has taken place during the past three days, if it is maintained, should make fishing conditions much more favourable. Small supplies of fish are being obtained from Auckland, Napier, and French Pass, but they are not sufficient to restore the supply to normal. Greater "living Room." On his visit to a German labour camp, stated Mr. G. R. Ashbridge in an address to the Australasian Institute of Secretaries last night, he saw a large map of Europe on the wall, and by the position of the small Nazi flags one gathered that a return of colonies was not the immediate object, but an expansion of Germany in Europe. Indeed, in "Mem Kampf," Herr Hitler speaks of the need for "enlargement of the living room of our people in Europe," and "it is not to colonial acquisition that we must look for a solution of this question, but exclusively to the acquisition of territory for settlement which will increase the area of the motherland. .. ." A Centennial Suggestion. A Centennial suggestion which may have a wide sentimental appeal since it would so directly recall the years when Wellington was very young, has been made by an old resident who signs himself "Descendant of 1838 and 1840 Pioneers." There is an old signal gun on Mount Victoria (he writes) which was hauled to its present resting place in the seventies by the Armed Constabulary Force and the Volunteers. All hands would haul it up a certain distance and anchor it for the night, and the performance was continued until the gun was in the position it now occupies. It was fired each day at 12 o'clock as a time signal. What more fitting tribute as a link with the past than to fire it again on the day of the opening and each day at noon during the Exhibition period as a kindly thought in remembrance of the early pioneers of this wonderful country of ours? Why Eastbourne? The reading of a letter last evening from a resident of Eastbourne, England, seeking information about the borough and asking how the name came to be given revealed that the members of the Eastbourne Borough Council did not know why the borough was given its name. The Mayor (Mr. E. W. Wise) said that when the borough was formed! it was given the name of Eastbourne. Prior to this it was known as Rona Bay and was part of the Hutt County. The councillors generally expressed ignorance of how the borough got its name. The English correspondent pointed out that there was an extraordinary geographic resemblance between the New Zealand and English Eastbournes and possibly this was the reason why the name was given. Councillors smiled when the correspondent asked for details about the town's history. The Town Clerk (Mr. C. L. Bishop) is to send all information possible.

German Labour Service.

"It was denied in Germany that the labour service (arbeitsdienst) was a disguised form of military service, but after inspecting a camp just outside of Hamburg I came to the conclusion that the drill was at least a very suspicious kindergarten to military service," stated Mr. G. S. Ashbridge, secretary of the New Zealand Educational Institute, in an address to the Australasian Institute of Secretaries last night on impressions on his trip abroad. "Nor," he proceeded, "is the German labour service considered to be an economic remedy for unemployment. Unlike the American Civilian Conservation Corps, the German labour service is considered to be a duty and an honour for German youth—a service which has to be rendered to the German nation. As in wartime it is considered the duty of every German to serve his country with his weapons, so also in peace time is it his duty to serve his country with his spade. From an economic point of view the German Labour Service is doing work of considerable value. There are about a thousand camps each containing about a hundred and fifty men working on the moors, the seashore, marshes, and bogs for the purpose of winning back for the German people enough arable and fertile land to enable sufficient food to be produced from their soil." When he was in Germany the Labour Service was compulsory only for men, but he was informed that in the near future a similar service for women would also be made compulsory. With his wife he visited a labour camp for girls and found them occupied on domestic duties and gardening. Attached to the camp was a kindergarten so that the girls would receive first-hand training in the rearing of children.