NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 72, 26 March 1941, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand War Loan

The directors of Rotary International, the central body of the Rotary movement, which has 25 clubs in New Zealand, has invested £2000 of its accumulated funds in the New Zealand Government War Loan, free of interest, until October, 1943.

Canada's Part.

"Canada is today spending more than half her total income on her war effort," declared Dr. W. A. Riddell, Canadian High Commissioner in New Zealand, v-r.-m speaking at the V.M.C.A. convent ur. dinner last evening. Altogether, h? said, the expenditure amounted to £700,000.000, "which shows," Dr. Riddell said, "that we are trying to do our bit to stand with Great Britain in this terrific struggle."

Fertiliser Supplies.

Fair reserves of fertilisers were held in the Dominion and the Government was not rationing supplies, stated the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Barclay) yesterday. "We are watching the fertiliser position very closely and we are checking up on reserves all the lime," the Minister said. "The Government is going on with the development of the serpentine deposits in the Auckland Province for conversion into silico phosphate. That work is being tackled, and we are going ahead with the development at the maximum rate, no matter what is happening."

A Copper Haul

Buried treasure consisting entirely of pennies, and worth nearly £5 was unearthed by two Maoris near Whakatane recently. How or where they stumbled over these thousand coins no one knows, because the bank teller at Rotorua who counted them as they were poured out of a sack was too surprised at the size of the haul and the labour in computing their worth to ask. All the teller knew, states an exchange, was that the combined efforts of two Maoris were needed to carry the sack into the bank, and that after he had counted the thousand coins he needed a nail-brush to remove the soil collected from the pennies, which had been certainly buried. v

From the Depths,

During recent weeks the Wellington Harbour Board's dredge Kerimoana has been at work deepening the berths at King's and Glasgow Wharves, arid the operations have brought up some interesting articles from the harbour bottom. Apart from the many waterlogged rope fenders, cargo slings, and bottles (some of which are reported to be full after many years submersion), there was a propeller blade of a long obsolete type, long and narrow, which was found between Glasgow and King's Wharves. It must have been a mishap of some importance to the ship when it was lost, but the incident has long been forgotten. This morning, while working near the King's Wharf boat-landing, the dredge brought up two push-cycles, neither of which could have been in the water long, as the tyres had not rotted. One was a racing cycle. Both machines were damaged by the grab as they were picked up.

Organisation of Camp Drafts

"The best thing headquarters has sent out for a long time," said Mr. J. S. Chisholm at the meeting of the executive of the Christchurch Returned Soldiers' Association when a circular from the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association, suggesting the organisation of groups of men from the smaller towns preparatory to their going into camp, was read, states the "Press." It was suggested the local branches of the association should find means of getting into touch with men under orders to travel, to arrange for them to meet either ati the railway station or some suitable rendezvous with their relatives and friends, to arrange for introductions among them, and to obtain a list of the men's names and home addresses. It was also suggested that the military transport officer should be assisted in taking over the draft. "This is the spadework," went on Mr. Chisholm. "We should start with these boys; not when they come back."