NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 133, 8 June 1942, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Parliamentary Broadcasts.

Tho following motion was carried py the Hastings branch ot the Labour Party at its monthly meeting: "The Hastings branch of the New Zealand Labour Party, having in mind the fact that at ell times our people have the right to know the exact statements made by their representatives to Par. liament, we most strongly disapprove! of any suggestion to discontinue Parliamentary broadcasts." Albino Native Duck. An albino native duck among large flocks Oi Other birds of the grey species has been 6«en for the past three or four years in the Hamurana sanctuary. Rotorua. ' The albino was On the near shore of the sanctuary when the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr. Parry) was there recently. The Conservator Of Fish pnd Game (Mr. A. Kean) said it was not known where the bird came from. The albino appeared in the sanctuary annually, usually during the Easter period. It had been seen arriving as leader of a large flock of grey ducks. When disturbed the albino tOOk to the wing first and the other birds followed it Battle of JVJessines. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Messines, which was the preliminary operation in the Ypres offensive and in which New Zealand soldiers took a prominent part, fsll yesterday. The objective of the battle was to force the Germans from the. eastern wing of the Ypres salient, Messines, a strongly fortified village, was captured by the New Zealanders, while the Australian and Irish troops concentrated on flank objectives. At 3,10 a.m. the attack opened, Mine explosions wrecked large portions of the German front line, and behind a heavy barrage the infantry advanced. In a few hours the advance was com» pleted, the result of a model attack on a stror/jly-entrenched enemy. Unique "Christening." A unique christening, of a war emergency kind, was performed at the Chief Post Office, Auckland, on Friday. A man in the queue at the rationing office applied for the extra book of 26 clpthing coupons which has been authorised for expectant mothers. These special books, however, are not yet to hand, and when the applicant was told so he displayed not unreasonable annoyance and demanded Uqw he wag to be expected to clothe twins without coupons, At the mention of twins, the clerk realised that there was more to tho situation than met the eye, and a question elicited the fact that the applicant's wife was not an expectant mother-—she had become the mother of a boy and a girl the previous night, The clerk called in one of the rationing supervisors, who pointed out to the man that, as his twins were born, they were entitled ta a man-sized ration book each. And toe books were duly issued, As the twine1 had not yet been named, the rationing of' fice performed a christening that wag both unofficial and official, giving the malt twin his father's Christian name with the addition of "junior" and the female twin, the mother's name simi* larly tagged. When the births of the children are recorded with the regis* trar of births, marriages, and deaths, their rationing books will need to be! amended in the siYga aames. I