NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 78, 28 September 1940, Page 10

NEWS OF THE DAY

Soldier Anglers. Soldier anglers taking out licences for the season opening on Tuesday will receive the concession granted by the Wellington Acclimatisation Society last season; they will be granted a refund proportionate to the portion of the season they may miss through their departure overseas. "It All Depends on Me." In a recent broadcast address, the Dean of St. Paul's used the term, "It all depends on me," when stressing the need for each individual to work for victory. This saying has been used for posters in Great Britain, and two of these have reached New Zealand. The posters are printed on white paper in blue ink and bear the legend: "It all Depends on Me! If we each and all of us think this, and each and all of us do out utmost, our very utmost, on whatever work we are on and do it with determination and cheerfulness then We Shall Win This War." Camera Conscious. Eighty-nine Scottish children were looking over the rail of the ship that had brought them to New Zealand, a tall bearded sailor towering behind them. The children were singing songs interspersed with bursts of cheering for the New Zealanders who were waiting for them below. Suddenly every child vanished and there was a sound of stampeding feet along the deck. "Whatever has happened now?" said someone on the deck, and the question was answered by the sudden reappearance of the children at the other end of the ship. They had discovered a number of cameramen on a crane, and were not going to miss being in the picture. Jack-in-the-box Pilots. A number of the German fighter air-! craft are believed to be now fitted with a spring under the pilot's seat to assist parachute escapes, states "The Post's" London correspondent. The spring is apparently released by a button or lever at the side of the pilot's compartment, and is so strong that it hurls the pilot straight out of the cockpit like a jack-in-the-box, throwing him clear of the plane. A Hurricane pilot who attacked a Messerschmitt 109 watched his bullets entering the fuselage, and was surprised to see the pilot spring into the air like a man standing at attention, and then make a parachute landing. Encumbered by their heavy parachutes, many of the German pilots have experienced great difficulty in climbing out of the cockpit before their smitten machines have lost too much height to make a parachute landing possible.

Off the Dock Temporarily. The Armadale, heavily damaged in the bow by collision with the Norwegian tanker Ole Jacob in Cook Strait on Ji^ly 31, is temporarily off the floating dock again, giving place to an overseas liner which is to have a quick overhaul and hull cleaning here. Repairs to the Armadale are well ahead, the smashed hull members having now been mostly replaced—with steel members reclaimed from the Port Bowen — almost ready for the closing of the huge collision hole with hull-plating. The Armadale is lying for a few days only at the Aotea Quay breastwork ballasted down at the stern and high by the bow. Widening of Hutt Road. The running surface of the Hutt Road from Thorndon to Ngahauranga is being widened by surface sealing treatment over the full width, cycle track to the water table on the hill side, so bringing this heavily-trafficked section more into pattern with the outer section from Ngahauranga to Petone. The widening was decided upon some time ago, but the sealing had to wait upon good weather. Two, and probably three, sealing treatments will be given, for Hutt Road traffic is both fast and heavy, and consequently is doubly punishing. When the sealing is done this inner length will have three types of surface —the original bituminous hot-mix pavement put down nearly twenty years ago, eightfoot strips of bitumen on concrete foundations on either side, and, now. the double or triple sealing of the second widening. The carrying of the motorway to the edge of the cycle track will increase risk of collision with telephone and lighting poles on the road edge, but the roadway is now admirably lighted and the poles will probably be painted white for a few feet above ground level. Work on Homer Tunnel. Good progress is being made on the Homer Tunnel, which will give road access to Milford Sound, but the work of enlarging it to the full size is being delayed by a shortage of drilling steel, states an Invercargill correspondent. Since last week, when drilling was stopped, the 20 men who have been at work in the tunnel have been engaged in the alteration of the direction of the passage from a point about three chains from the western outlet. Enough drilling has been done here for the sides to be chipped and the spoil taken out. A mechanical shovel, the motive power for which was supplied by oompressed air, was taken down the tunnel during last weekend to be used in clearing away spoil. Trucks drawn by winch are being used in conjunction with the shovel, but it is expected that these will be replaced by Diesel dump wagons. When completed the tunnel will be 24 feet high and 17 feet wide, with concrete portals extending as far as the scree and ground shift at both ends. The concreting has been completed at the eastern entrance,. from which for about 700 feet the tunnel is now the full size. For the remaining 3300 feet it is 14 feet high and 10 feet wide. The water from springs and faults in the rock which caused so much trouble when the passage was being driven through now flows freely out the western end. From the eastern to the western side there is a fall of about six chains, there being a uniform grade of 1 in 10. About 1500 gallons of water an hour flows out from a number of rock faults,- but chiefly from one, from which there is a flow of 1200 gallons an hour. The faults will later be concreted in, but except for these and for the entrances, concreting will not be necessary.

"Best in the World." The view that some seedling daffodils grown in Christchurch rank with the best in the world was expressed by several authorities at the Canterbury Horticultural Society's show, states the "Press." It was stated that the hybridising by New Zealand growers had produced outstanding bulbs which had succeeded in open competition with varieties from all over the world. Glasgow Tram Fares. ! Recollection of half-penny tram fares in Glasgow during the last war prompted one New Zealander to ask a Glasgow boy who arrived here with the first official party of British children to New Zealand if the half-penny fare still operated. "No," the boy replied, "it stopped at the beginning of the war. It is a penny now. The workers were very annoyed about it and they walk to work now. Those who could get them ride bicycles, but bicycles are not easy to buy now." The independent Scottish spirit is apparently as strong as ever. Glare from Following Lights. A common driving fault, born of thoughtlessness rather than deliberate discourtesy, is that of interfering with the vision of the driver in front by projecting the full glare of headlights in his rear window panel, says the latest road safety message of the Automobile Association (Wellington). Some drivers seek protection from headlights following by using the rear panel blind, but motorists are expected to have rear-view mirrors which give an effective view of traffic following, and the use of a blind negatives the effective use of the mirror. The following driver can spare the driver in front inconvenience by keeping well back, by dipping his lights, or by overtaking and passing. It is wrong to trail another car close up and subject the driver ahead to full headlights. Reporter Taken Prisoner. Prisoners of war taken by the Ist Battalion, Wellington Regiment during their action against an "enemy" force near Wanganui early yesterday morning included a "Post" representative. He was walking across the battalion front when a private emerged with his rifle from the lupins. When the reporter confessed his ignorance of the password the soldier said apologetically, "I'm afraid I will have to take you prisoner, sir," After a friendly conference with the section commander the prisoner obtained his release on parole. Crack National Reserve Unit. The Class II National Reservists at Wanganui, who are organised into the. 11th Company of the Reserve, have already earned a high reputation for efficiency and keenness. Commanded by Lieutenant D. W. Curham, M.C., they have carried out their training with enthusiasm and when they took part in the mock battle near Wanganui in the early hours of yesterday morning they showed they have forgotten little about the war game. The Reservists turned out for this job shortly after 1 a.m. in spite of the fact that they had to carry on their usual civil occupations yesterday. It was interesting to note the good relationship between the young Territorials of the Ist Battalion, Wellington Regiment, and the soldiers of a previous war who have once again donned khaki to take part in the defence of their country. Deerskins for Export. A consignment of more than 5000 deerskins, taken by Government and other cullers from the North Canterbury back country, was recently sold to a New Zealand buyer for export overseas, states the "Press." And already the Government storehouse in Christchurch houses several hundred new skins taken by private parties in the Cass, Mount Cook, and Haast regions. Next month large Government parties will work in the Makarora and Haast regions, where men are now at work making a rough survey and plotting out the ground so that the shooting parties can be properly organised. In the meantime men in search of a strenuous and profitable holiday are from time to time sliding in skins which bring from 2s to 2s 3d a pound, according to quality. The average skin weighs 41b; the length of the skins varies from 2ft or 3ft for small ones to sft or 6ft for the biggest. The colours range from palest fawn with cream flanks to dark brown with tan flanks. Some of the Mount Cook fallow deerskins are most pleasing in colouring and texture, being fine and short in the hair and of a pale mole colour along the back and fawn and cream towards the edges. These skins can be cured to be used as floor rugs, and are sometimes found to be more satisfactory than the red deerskins. Thar and chamois skins are accepted from cullers as well as the skins of the fallow and red deer.