NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 42, 18 August 1941, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Fewer Earthquakes,

Only 120 earthquakes were felt in New Zealand last year, the lowest figure for some years. Of these 90 were felt only in parts of the North Island and 40 only in the South Island, 10 being common to both islands. The great majority of these shocks were slight ones, unnoticed by most people. The Hawke's bay-Bay of Plenty region provided much of the seismic activity during February and March. The Bight Time. Of the 362 radio time signals sent out last year from ZLW, in 351 the error did not exceed one-quarter of a second. In ten the error was between one-quarter and half a second, and in one only was the error more than half a second, but that was less than one second. The maximum errors of •the Government Buildings clock during 1940 was 40 seconds fast and 65 seconds slow. The latter error, however, was due to a faulty setting of th clock, and no error exceeding 56 seconds was normally observed. The General Post Office clock kept even better time than that, its maximum errors being seven seconds fast and seven seconds slow. City's Good Milk Supply. The number of samples of mills taken in Wellington city and suburbs last year for analysis by the Dominion Laboratory was 1631, of which seven were low in fat content, two were stale, and one only contained added water. "These figures," cojnments the laboratory's annual report, "show a further improvement, and Wellington City is to be congratulated on the highj standard of its milk supply. These! figures are in marked contrast to those! prevailing before the present system was in operation. Of 1621 samples received from other parts of Wellington Province. Hawke's Bay, Gisborne, Taranaki, Nelson, and Marlborough, 17 were low in fat and 38 contained added water. This somewhat high proportion of adulterated samples cannot be regarded as satisfactory.. Numerous samples from milk supplied to schools were examined, and of these only six were insufficiently pasteurised." Sunny Napier. "Worth it for the weather alone," was how the excursionists who made the trip to Napier by rail at the weekend summed up their trip when they re-, turned last night. The rain which lashed the carriage windows almost all the way up did nothing to relieve the doubts of those who had become pessimistic during Friday's rainstorms in Wellington, but clear sky was seen on the eastern horizon as dawn broke over Hawke's Bay. The travellers had not been long in Napier before the clouds disappeared and Saturday afternoon was warm and sunny, as also was yesterday. Wellington seemed a long way away to those who strolled along the promenade in the sunshine. Teachers in the Army. A protest at the employment of male schoolteachers on the temporary staff of the Army in New Zealand' was voiced at an executive meeting of the Whangarei Returned Soldiers' Association, states a Whangarei correspondent The association is to bring this question before the Auckland Education Board. The association was of the opinion that, as male teachers were becoming -increasingly scarce, they should not be given leave of absence by the Education Board to join the temporary staff of the Army for service in New Zealand, and all schoolteachers now on the temporary staff,should be transferred back to teaching. New Insurance Building. Approximately £25,000 has been paid by the New Zealand Insurance Company for an area of land in Hereford Street, Christchurch, on which it is proposed to erect after the war a new j building to house the company's offices in Christchurch and provide other space. The block is almost exactly opposite the new Post Office building and runs from Barlow's Building to the Yorkshire Insurance Company building. The building at present on the site, which has a frontage of 111 ft to Hereford Street and a depth of 100 ft, is a fairly modern one, but was not designed to accommodate offices of an insurance company. The new building will be designed specially for the requirements of a modern insurance office. The block was previously owned by, the Shand syndicate.

Anniversary of Gold Find

Seventy-nine years- ago on Friday two men named Hartley and Simmons, said to be old Californian prospectors, arrived in Dunedin and deposited a bag of gold weighing 871b in the local Treasury. The men refused to reveal the locality in which they had found the gold, but it was believed at the time that the new diggings were situated at Mount Watkin, near Waikouaiti. It was revealed two days later, however, that the gold had come from the Molyneux River, and had been discovered by Messrs. Hartley and R^iley. They made an agreement with the Government to reveal the location of the new diggings for a reward of £2000 if more than 16,000 ounces of gold were taken from the claims within three months. The x-elease of the news that they had obtained their 871b in the short period" of only ten weeks caused an immediate rush to the new diggings, in which about! 10,000 men participated on the first day. Stuka Raids in Greece and Crete. "The worst aeroplane used against us was the Junkers 878 or the Stuka—• a single-engmed dive-bomber. Althdugh it is not as accurate as a! medium-level bomber it will score more near misses, with the consequent moral effect, than any other aeroplane," states Gunner H. N. Baxter, in a letter written after the recent campaigns in Greece and Crete. "Stuka raids used to fascinate me. Twenty or 30 at a! time would come in at different angles! right at the top of the anti-aircraft barrage, would apparently take no notice of the shells bursting round them, and would then dive vertically at an angle of nearly 90 degrees. It must take a great deal of courage on the pilot's part to go through such a barrage to dive at such an angle, and I believe that in normal aerial battle conditions (such as in Great Britain) these aeroplanes are easy targets for our fighters." Work at Sutherland Road. The completion of Sutherland Road, Lyall Bay, where tain washed away a slice of the hillside above Queen's Drive and destroyed a dwelling 18 months ago, has been long delayed, first to allow the deep fill to settle firmly and later by unusually wet weather which has caused further slipping. A few weeks ago a recommencement was made, but the bulldozer put on to give the batter its finished slope, dug in so deeply that more heavy plant had to be taken along to haul it out. Wall-building above the main fill is well ahead, but otherwise the work is at a standstill. Instead of the onetime steps and steep pathway, a longer path with a sealed surface will be cut across the bank on a uniform grade and planting and grassing will hold the face. A raised "island" left by the for- ! mation work at the junction of Sutherland Road and Carlton Street is to be surfaced and provided with seats as a look-out over Lyall Bay and Rongotai Aerodrome. .