NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 144, 14 December 1940, Page 10

NEWS OF THE DAY

King's Birthday. His Majesty King George VI is 45 years old today. The event is being marked again by the flying of flags on all public buildings. Loyal greetings have been conveyed to his Majesty from the people of New Zealand. Motor Vehicles Registered. The motor vehicles licensed in New Zealand at September 30, this year, were 7227 fewer than at September 30 Last year. According to official statistics the 1939 figure was 285,586, and the total this year was 278,359. Of these the cars numbered 196,229, as apart from hire and rental cars and dealers' cars. Public Works Employees. The number of men engaged in fulltime subsidised employment in New Zealand (public works) on Novei " r 16—the latest date available on the published statistics —was 1 °-,395, compared With the peak number of 16,265 at the same time last year. The statistics show that the figure oscillated during the year, the lowest return being 12,408 on June 29. Comforts from Rarotonga. Advice has been received by the National Patriotic Fund Board of the dispatch of another parcel of knitted comforts from the Cook Islands, the people of which, in money and in goods, are making a notable contribution to the Dominion's patriotic effort. The latest parcel contains 56 pullovers, ten pairs of mittens, and a scarf, all of which, according to the advice received, were knitted by the Maori children of Rarotonga. The woollen goods which have arrived previously from the Cook Islands have earned high praise from skilled knitters. Christmas Greeting Cables. The head office of Cable and Wireless, Ltd., drawing attention to the exceptional conditions, says it will be in the interests of users of the service, and of the service, if greeting telegrams for overseas are handed in as early as possible before Christmas and New Year. Greetings and social messages, including messages to and from members of his Majesty's forces, may be handed in now and will be delivered as far as possible at a time before the day to which they refer. Messages for delivery by Christmas should be handed in by December 20 at the latest. Swindle Suspected. A recrudescence of a form of swindling which flourished during the last war apparently is indicated by an incident which gave the parents of a Gisborne soldier now serving in Egypt an uncomfortable 48 hours, states a Gisborne correspondent. The mother of the soldier received from Egypt a cabled appeal for the urgent dispatch of £25, the cablegram bearing the name of her soldier son. The amount asked for aroused her suspicions, as the woman was aware that her son knew enough of the family circumstances not to make such an- appeal without some extraordinary cause. In consequence she cabled to her son stating that she was puzzled by his request and naming the amount stated in the cablegram received by her. Promptly came the reply from her son: "Do not send money." The Egyptian address from which this message was dispatched' did not coincide with the dispatch point of the first message and it seems obvious that an unauthorised person has used the Gisborne soldier's name in'an effort to swindle his parents. Bird Sanctuary. The declaration of the Whangarei harbour as a sanctuary is held by bird lovers of the Dominion to be a forward move by the Government for the preservation of various species of waterfowl. Some fine specimens of the blue penguin, diving and mottled petrel, red-billed gull, kingfisher, and the blue heron abound in the harbour and on its islands. A number of these birds has suffered from time to time by gunfire and pests. The official action taken for the making of the waters of the harbour a sanctuary is the outcome of a recent visit to Whangarei by the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr. Parry), and a conference between the Minister, the local harbour board, and the acclimatisation society. "All are agreed that the official steps taken," remarked Mr. Parry yesterday, "will result in the protection of the birds which form an added attraction to the bird lover visiting the picturesque Whangarei harbour and«its islands." Crops and Lambs. "Stock are in good condition and the feed supply is very satisfactory, pastures and crops showing good growth. ... No diseases of a serious nature have been reported in any class of stock/ That is the eminently gratifying official comment made on the i Dominion's producing prospects and quoted by the Government Statistician. Further, the same authority remarks: "Predictions for a successful lambing season have been fully justified. The average rate of lambing is estimated at 90.21 per cent., and, with 19,727,657 breeding ewes in the Dominion as at April 30 last, the number of lambs for the current year should be in the vicinity of 17,800,000. The estimated percentage for the previous year was 85.26, and the actual number of lambs tailed during the year was 17,229,569. The record number of lambs tailed in any one season was in 1938, when the figure was 17,340,914. Direction Table. Although the design of the direction table which it is proposed to erect as part of th* Achilles Point memorial has been completed, it is doubtful whether the table, which is to be of porcelain, can be obtained until after i the war. In the meantime its place at the point will be taken by a bronze , plate commemorating the Battle of th i j River Plate. The design of the. table shows a disc about 4ft in diameter i with the points of the compass marked I on. the outer edge. In a large circle in the centre is a chart of Auckland Harbour and the Hauraki Gulf, surrounded by the names of places near and far in New Zealand. Each of the names is placed on its correct compass, point and the distance from Auckland given. In an outer circle are the names of important overseas points, notable among them being Montevideo and the River Plate. "Lonely Soldiers." With a view to ascertaining if there are genuine cases of "lonely soldiers" with the Second N.Z.E.F., and, if there are, to take the necessary steps to see that letters and personal parcels, which a number of people are prepared to send, are directed to them, the secretary of the National Patriotic Fund Board has asked the board's representatives overseas with the New Zealand troops to compile a list of names of such men. The subject is mentioned by Mr- F, E. S. Long, the board's representative in Egypt, in a letter the board received from him recently. "Large numbers of letters and papers are still arriving addressed to 'Lonely Soldi«rs,'" states Mr. Long. "These in most cases have been handed by the postmaster to the V.M.C.A. and have been distributed by them to chaplains and company commanders. Upon receipt, of your letter, however, I asked chaplains and others to advise me of the names of people entitled to receive letters and parcels under this heading, but so far no names have come to hand. If it is possible to compile a list, I will do so, and let you have it immediately." j