NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 22, 27 January 1942, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Art Union Drawing.

The drawing of the "Happy NewYear" Art Union will take place at the Masonic Hall, The Terrace, tomorrow, commencing at 9.30 a.m. Remarkable Return. A letter received by a Wellington man from a relative in the Shetland Islands states that in a war weapons week the amount aimed at was £60,000. When the returns were all in, the astonishing total of £280,000 was found. This is more than £14 a head of the population. E.P.S. Enrolment. The enrolment of men for E.P.S. duty, which is to be completed by February 5, has raised doubts in the minds of men who are 66 years of age as to whether or not they should enrol. It is authoritatively stated that men who have reached 66 are not required to enrol, but are at liberty to do so if they wish to serve and are fit for E.P.S. duties. { Where the Sun Shone. j Wellington is never in the running for championship honours as far as annual sunshine is concerned, but this last year instead of being about twelfth on the list it descended to twenty-ninth. In place of its usual 2000 or so hours of bright sunshine, it had only 1900.5. Napier came top in 1941 with 2492 hours, Blenheim being next with 2477 hours, and Nelson third with 2390.3 hours. Gisborne, Auckland, Tauranga, Masterton, and New Plymouth each had over 2200 hours. Rotorua and Christchurch each just exceeded the 2000 mark. Wellington's mere 1900 hours, however, compared more than favourably with Palmerston North's 1689.8 and Dunedin's 1648.4 hours. "The Grandfather Stakes." "I feel that I should tell you something about myself," said Mr. D. C. Davie, Independent Monetary Reform candidate for Temuka, at his opening meeting at Temuka on Saturday evening, "in view of the fact that my opponent, Mr. J. Acland, is a popular young man, and it is well known in the district that he has come from fine pioneering stock. In the range of snowcapped ranges which overlook the Canterbury plains there is a Mount Davie. That was named after my father's father, Cyrus Davie. Then in the northern part of this electorate there is a district called Greenstreet. It is named after Charles Hawkins Greenstreet, who was my mother's father. Because of that I can say that I am running neck-and-neck with my opponent in 'the grandfather stakes.'" No Petrol. Ramifications of the petrol restrictions were instanced at the meeting of the Wellington Metropolitan Patriotic Committee yesterday. The secretary, Mr. Vincent Ward, remarked that he knew where he stood, as the Oil Fuel Controller had declined to renew his licence for petrol to be used for patriotic purposes. It was also stated that private car owners, since they had no petrol, could no longer transport organised parties of entertainers to places where the troops were, so it was now necessary to charter special conveyances. Another aspect was mentioned by the Mayor of Lower Hutt (Mr. J. W. Andrews), who said that it was now difficult to transport into Wellington the vegetables given to the combined servicemen's hostel in Wellington. As long as he had petrol he had helped with his own car, but now even the Mayor was denied petrol for patriotic purposes. "