NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 44, 21 February 1942, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Emergency Reserve Corps.

An amendment to the Emergency Reserve Corps Enrolment Order, 1942, was issued last night, exempting from enrolment Judges of the Supreme Court, the Court of Arbitration, the Compensation Court, or the Native Land Court, Stipendiary Magistrates, members of the Police Force, and men serving in merchant ships. Drain on Doctors. "I do not feel satisfied with the direction in which we are heading," remarked Mr. W. E. Bate, chairman of the Hawke's Bay Hospital Board, at a meeting of the board, in commenting upon the army drain on medical practitioners in the Dominion. The board decided to make representations to the Inspector-General of Hospitals. Hospital Extensions. "This extension is a very necessary and very urgent work," said the chairman of the Hutt County Council (Mr. R. L. Button) yesterday, when the council approved the Wellington Hospital Board's proposal to raise a loan of £ 165,000 for the purpose of erecting a block of 210 beds with urolpgical and tuberculosis outpatient provision at the Wellington Hospital. The board advised that the block would be erected on the area previously excavated. The lower storey would be constructed, in reinforced concrete columns and beams carrying a reinforced concrete first floor and a framed timber structure above. Legislation was being prepared so that temporary diversions of centenary loan money would become permanent. Spreading of Rumours. The dangerous possibilities of passing on rumours in these days was stressed in the Magistrate's Court yesterday by Mr. A. M. Goulding, S.M., when a man and a woman were charged with passing on, in a manner likely to prejudice the efficient prosecution of naval operations, what purported to be information concerning the condition of a merchant vessel. The man had heard the rumourr—which had no foundation in fact—that a ship had been sunk, and repeated it to the woman, who mentioned it in a letter she was writing to her son overseas with the Forces. In actual fact, the ship came into port the following day. The normal censorship of outward letters disclosed the breach of the regulation's. The Magistrate said the public should firmly understand that such matters were serious and must be treated seriously. In the present case the information had not been correct, but it would be very dangerous if correct information in a letter fell into the enemy's hands. Had the circumstances been different he would have been tempted to impose a term of imprisonment. "She Is Not Here Today." His regret at the loss of H.M.S. Neptune through running into a minefield in the Mediterranean towards the end of last year is expressed by LieutenantColonel F. Waite, overseas commissioner for the National Patriotic Fund Board, in a report to the board. The ship's personnel included a considerable number of New Zealanders. Colonel Waite had arranged to install a second cinema projector in the ship, and had supplies of Christmas parcels waiting for her personnel. "The men in her appreciated the work of the' National Patriotic Fund Board," states Colonel Waite. "When in Alexandria, I went down to the Navy Office with a view to visiting the ship, and Admiral Sir James Cunningham said: 'I'm sorry, Waite, she is not here today.' Little did either of us know that that day she had run into the, minefield." Colonel Waite had sent the Patriotic Fund Board a copy of the last letter he received from H.M.S. Neptune's commander, Captain Rory O'Connor, R.N. In this, Captain O'Connor stated that he was happy to know that his ship was closely linked with the generous organisation with which Colonel Waite was associated.