NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 21, 24 July 1940, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

Australia's Interior. The centre of Australia had been spoken of as a waste land, said Mr. L. J. Greenberg at the Travel Club yesterday afternoon. It is true that it was the home of the salt bush, blue bush, and the sapless mallee, but it had been discovered that stock could be kept on the salt bush and blue bush. The small leaves of these trees were able to keep the dew, because at night they formed themselves into cup-like shapes and held the dew for stock. Mountain Victim. Injuries received while tobogganing on Mount Ruapehu on Sunday afternoon led to the death in the Taumarunui Hospital on Monday morning of Thomas Brian Conlan, aged 18, son of Mr. Thomas Conlan, farmer, of Tunakotekote, states a Taumarunui correspondent. While the youth was coasting on a slope his toboggan struck a rock and overturned into a gully. He was taken to the hospital suffering from a fractured thigh and other injuries. An operation was performed, but his condition became weaker and j he died on Monday morning. Free Milk Service, In his annual report to Parliament the Director-General of Health (Dr. M. H. Watt) says that the value and popularity of the milk-in-schools service continues to be stressed by medical officers and head teachers. Last year milk was made available to 223,694 pupils, representing 79.3 per cent, of the school population, in comparison with 67 per cent, for the previous year. Bottled pasteurised milk was available to 214,665 of these attending 1202 schools; malted-milk powder to 5351 attending 117 schools; and milk for cocoa-making purposes to 3678 attending 23 schools. Causes of Accidents. Road faults which led to accidents were quoted as follows in the accident summary for the year ended March 31, which was presented to the Christchurch- City Council on Monday by .the Traffic Department:—Pedestrians: Crossing road heedless of traffic, emerging from behind another vehicle, children running out on the roadway, and intoxication. Cyclists: Riding negligently, failing to signal, bailing to keep to left, cutting corner, and intoxication. Motor-cyclists: Failing to give way, speed and skidding, failing to keep to left, overtaking on intersection, under-inflated tyre, and following another vehicle too closely. The report, which disclosed an improvement of 19 per cent, in the accident tally, stated that the most prolific accident I thoroughfares were those of an open I nature and two chains wide (Moorhouse Avenue and Fitzgerald Avenue). Colombo Street south from Moorhouse Avenue to Milton Street continued to account for an unenviable number of accidents, there being twenty-two in each of the last two periods. Power Board's Problem. Three matters in connection with! the business of the country clashed during a meeting of the Horowhenua Power Board at Levin, states "The , Post's" representative. These were defence, import restrictions, and in- j creased production. A farmer who re- j cently took up 300 acres of land which j had previously been neglected, applied j to the board for power, but the land happens to be 1000 yards from the nearest power lines. If he gets power, he claims that his production of cheese j will increase considerably. Owing to the import restrictions, however, material is in short supply, the boar,d having only sufficient surplus for maintenance purposes. Also owing to the! establishment of the Air Training School at Weraroa, much material has i been used, and is still being used, to equip the school. Again, the board is engaged in moving power lines from the Beach Road at Paraparaumu so as a landing ground there will be safe for air operations. One speaker said during the discussion that something would have to suffer, defence, restrictions, or production, and it looked as though, as usual, the primary producer was to be the sufferer. It was decided that if material could be obtained when the Paraparaumu job was completed, the farmer's needs be attended to.

Health Camps. "This year considerable progress has been made with the establishment of both permanent and secondary health camps," states the annual report of the Director-General of Health (Dr. M. H. Watf). "At March 31, 1939, the King George V Memorial Fund amounted to a sum of £181,936 4s Bd, and from this sum payments amounting to £16,020 14s Id have been made. Further expenditure amounting to £75,683 4s has been authorised for the erection of buildings or the purchase of land, while additional proposals amounting to £19,600 are awaiting the consideration of the trustees. The finance of the camps for maintenance purposes benefited to the extent of some £2000 by the sale of health stamps and a grant of £10,393 from the Christmas art union proceeds- The Wellington camp at Otaki and the Wanganui camp are in full working order. A suitable pro-

perty has been purchased at Christchurch, and plans have been prepared fcr the Dunedin camp at Roxburgh. Approval has been granted for the establishment of secondary camps at Gisborne and Nelson." Market Gardeners. During discussion of the Estimates of the Department of Agriculture in the House of Representatives yesterday, Mr. H. E. Combs (Government, Wellington Suburbs) asked whether the Horticultural Division of the Department would be extending its operations this year so as to give some assistance to the commercial gardeners. Mr. Combs said the commercial gardeners had formed a federation, which had appealed to the Minister to allow the industry to be organised by the Horticultural Division. Replying for the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Lands (the Hon. F. Langstone) said the Department had the matter in hand. He was not in a position to make a statement as to what would be done, but as the result of the conference and discussions that had taken place it was hoped, possibly by regulation, to do something that would be of advantage to market gardeners. When thVßadio Stutters. -In the section devoted to radio research, the annual report of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research has some observations to make on the distribution of atmospherics on different wave-lengths. In this connection, it says, a single receiver and recorder has been employed, relative determinations of the intensities of various wave-lengths being made by observations of different bursts of static. The static burst was recorded on a rotating drum, provision being made automatically for the wavelength of reception to be altered through a range of values for one com plete rotation of the drum. The period of rotation was thirty minutes, for which twenty-five bursts per minute could be dealt with satisfactorily. The following conclusions relate to records taken on 15,000 metres:—(l) There is in general greater activity by night than by day; (2) frequently the activity diminishes just before sunset and increases again during the night; and (3) during a quiet period of the day the activity consists of about ten bursts per minute, and during the night twentyfive bursts per minute. ,

If We Could See Minds. The importance of ensuring healthy minds as well as healthy bodies in children was stressed by Mrs. P. Fraser, speaking at the annual meeting of the Wellington branch of the Plunket Society yesterday afternoon. "I sometimes think that if we could see minds as we see bodies we would be horrorstruck at the twistings, distortions, and stunted dwarfs that would be revealed to us," she said. Australian Training Camps. Having travelled to every military camp in Australia during four months, said Mr. L. J. Greenberg at the Travel Club yesterday afternoon, he was greatly impressed by the way in which the men worked enthusiastically in heat in places reaching 110 degrees, to perfect themselves for the great adventure overseas. He had also seen them being trained to fly and had had the opportunity of visiting the naval base, j It was amazing to see the keen inter- j est taken in all these branches of de-1 fence by young fellows who had been , merely loungers while in the cities. "Cobber" Kain Commemorated. The name of New Zealand's air ace. the late Squadron Leader E. J. < Cobber") Kain, will be commemorated in the naming of a new street in a Gov ernment housing subdivision off Wai; rarapa Road, states the "Star-Sun. The Christchurch City Council on Monday evening-approved a bylaws committed VSSmmendation that the street be named "Kain Avenue." It was felt that as "Cobber" Kain spent part of his life in Christchurch as a pupil of Christ's College, the naming of a street after him would be a tribute to his memory. Sunshine and Fog. Residents in the Hutt Valley woke up this morning to the whitest frost of the present winter, and, after 7 o clock or thereabouts, to brilliant sunshine. This was in marked contrast to what was encountered when the city was reached by those coming in to work here. Over the harbour and city was a thick and damp fog, and it was not until about 9 o'clock that the sun broke through and dispersed it. Coursing Hares Poisoned. , When a group of members of the Dunedin Coursing Club went out to | Forbury Park on Saturday morning to do some work on the baulk, they found 15 dead hares on the ground out of a total of 35 in the enclosure. An examination revealed that the hares had been poisoned. Six of the dead hares were in their homes, one had struggled back, to the entrance, and eight were lying out on the plumpton. Linseed Trials. Some 45 varieties and selections of linseed are under trial in the Dominion, according to the annual report of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. One outstanding introduction, Rio by name, has proved so far highly resistant to wilt, immune from rust, and practically immune from browning. Seed yield is high and the iodine -number fair, but it has the fault of being rather short in thej straw. The production of linseed oil in New Zealand has lapsed in recent; years, but the possibility of re-estab-lishing the industry is under consideration, and for this reason steps are being taken to determine varieties more suitable than those grown in the past. Government lAte Office.

A greater vote than £3000 for advertising for the Government Life Insurance Department was advocated by Mr. A. S. Richards (Government, Roskill) during discussion on the Estimates in the House of Representatives yesterday. He asked the Minister in Charge of the Department (the Hon. W. Nash) seriously to consider doubling the vote at the earliest possible moment. Mr. Richards said he did not think there was an insurance office in the Southern Hemisphere, and perhaps in any part of the world, that gave a better service to the public thiin the Government Life Insurance Department. In the hurly-burly of recent times it seemed to have been overlooked, and in his opinion it was not getting the results it could get if more modern advertising methods were adopted. Mr. Richards also suggested that provision should be made for the payment to the Department's fields staff of a premium renewal commission, claiming that if this were done the number of policies surrendered would be reduced. Mr. Nash said he would be glad to look into both points.