NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 143, 19 June 1941, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Another Grant for Malta

Earlier this year the National Patriotic Fund Board made a grant of £2000 for the Malta Relief Fund. At yesterday's meeting of the board, over which his Excellency the GovernorGeneral, Sir Cyril Newall, presided, another grant of a similar sum for relief purposes on the island was approved. The meeting also approved of the further contribution of £100,000 towards relief in Britain recommended at the recent conference of the patriotic bodies. Snow on Rimutakas. Snow conditions on the Rimutaka road are still bad, the Automobile Association states, and motorists are advised not to use the hill road if they can avoid it, and in any case not to attempt to go over the summit without chains. Heavy service cars and lorries came through this, morning, but all had to use chains; light cars, even with chains, would find the going very difficult, said the association. Yesterday afternoon the snow was 15 inches deep at the hilltop. Books for the Forces. Returns submitted at the meeting of the National Patriotic Fund Board yesterday • showed that the War Library Service has supplied to date 94,121 books and 96,728 periodicals for the training camps, Air Force and fortress stations in New Zealand, naval units, transports, and also for use by the New Zealand troops at the base camps overseas. The War Library Service is under the direction of Mr, G. T. Alley, officer in charge of the Country Library Service. Mr. Alley's statement for May showed that last month the War Library Service made available for the forces 3224 books and 5117 periodicals. Collection of Waste. Approval was given by the Wellington Eucation Board yesterday to a re- { quest by the Wellington executive committee for the' salvage of waste that the co-operation at present given in the collection of non-ferrous metals and other waste by children be extended to include glass containers of all kinds. Mr. D. McCaskill, the board's representative on the committee, said that the children had done wonderful work and had collected over 90 per cent, of the non-ferrous metals made available. Every care would be taken to see that the collections did not interfere with school work. Vanished Street Sellers. Londoners are missing nearly all the street venders whom they used to meet during their daily walks —the pathetic women selling single sprays of white heather, the so often convenient matchsellers, the cripple who sat on the ground near an entrance selling tqy furniture to children long ago evacuated. The white heather women are probably in the country with their children and meeting many others from London kerbs and corners. Many of the old men have been engaged as fire watchers. Most of the unofficial car park attendants are said now to be fire-watching. Wages are £4 to £5 a week. The job suits old people, since most of the time they are simply hanging about waiting for something to happen. Women have a more difficult time. Most of the flower sellers cannot afford to buy flowers at present high prices. , Old Newtown School. The possibility of the old Newtown School, which is now in use as a tern- j porary hospital, being vacated within the next three or four months was mentioned by the chairman (Mr, W. V. Dyer) at yesterday's meeting of the Wellington Education Board. Reporting on an interview he and the city members of the board had had with the Minister. of Education and the Minister of Health, Mr. Dyer said that! Mr. Mason had been particularly sympathetic and had readily fallen in with the board's viewpoint.' Mr. Nordmeyer was probably just as sympathetic, but he had his difficulties so far as getting the building vacated was concerned. There was a long discussion, said Mr. Dyer, and. he thought that they were given some promise of having the building vacated if some action were taken to give the hospital alternative relief. Obstruction on Line. Striking an obstruction on the Christchurch side of Springfield about 3.30 o'clock on Tuesday morning, one of the new railcars was damaged and was unable to continue to the West Coast, states a Greymouth correspondent. The obstruction, the nature of .which has not been revealed, was covered by several inches of snow. The railcar struck it heavily and the passengers received a jolt. The obstruction was dragged along by the railcar for some distance. An engine was sent to the scene and the line had to be cleared before the passengers could be, taken to Springfield. The heating system in the railcar was out of commission and the passengers had a long, cold wait before going on. A carriage was attached to the engine, but further delay ensued before a driver and fireman could be secured to bring on the steam train to the West Coast. It finally left Springfield about 7 a.m. Strange Meeting-. One of the strangest meetings of the war occurred during the campaign in Greece, when the New Zealanders, though in retreat, were keeping the Germans fully engaged. A Wellington n.c.0., whose company suddenly came in for concentrated dive-bombing, made no bones about seeking the nearest shelter, a shellhole, without delay, but he had been there only a few minutes when another New Zealander, also in a hurry, landed on top of him and almost knocked him out. When the two had sorted themselves out the n.c.o. was amazed to find that the newcomer was a boyhood friend who had sat next to him at Wellington College and whom he had not seen for some years before he left New Zealand. The reunion, on this occasion, was not "a moving one"; the two- simply "stayed put" until things quietened down a little and allowed them to rejoin their comrades. ' New Taupo Outlet. Erosion from the new course into which the Waikato River has been diverted at the outlet from Lake Taupo is not expected seriously to affect the spawning trout or the feeding grounds, stated the conservator of fish and game, Mr. A. Kean. The possibility of this had been discussed by officers of the Internal Affairs and Public Works Departments, and it appeared that every effort was being made to reduce erosion to a minimum. Mr. Kean considered that had the cut been opened from the end nearest the lake and the full force of the river diverted through before it was filled with water, [the erosion would have been considerable. He stressed, however, that river discoloration did not have the adverse effects on fish life generally supposed. The chief damage would have been to the feeding grounds between the lake and the Aratiatia Rapids, which provide one of the best dry-fly grounds in the district. Any discoloration would not affect the spawning, which had started during last month. It had not been necessary to construct a fish ladder, as the flow of water would never be completely interrupted. He added j that the rise in the level of Lake Taupo during the summer was likely to have important and unpredictable results on the fishing close to the

shore,