BANK OF N.Z. GAS FATALITY SITUATION IN INDIA KOREAN REQUEST FOR MEDIATION THE RAIDS ON MAINZ

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 40, 15 August 1942, Page 6

BANK OF N.Z.

GAS FATALITY

SITUATION IN INDIA

KOREAN REQUEST FOR MEDIATION

THE RAIDS ON MAINZ

NEW CHIEF AUDITOR • —: —i MR. D. F. RElb APPOINTED The resignation of Mr. A. L. Hempton from the position of chief auditor of the Bank of New Zealand and the appointment by his Excellency the Governor-General of Mr. David Firth Reid as Mr. Hempton's successor for a term of five years from September 1 next were announced today by the Acting Minister of Finance (Mr. Fraser). Mr. Hempton's resignation is to take effect from the end of the present month, < ' • Mr. Reid is a banker of wide experience, and till recently was manager of the Bank of New Zealand in London. His first experience of banking was when he joined the Colonial Bank at its Queenstown branch in 1894, and when the Colonial Bank was taken over by the Bank of New Zealand in 1895 Mr. Reid and others of its staff went wifh it. He remained at the Queenstown branch of the Bank of New Zealand until 1901,, when he was transferred to the head office in Wellington. He was appointed manager

at the Dargaville branch of the bank in 1914, then manager at Feilding, next Palmerston' North, and later at Wellington, v and subsequently, on January 18, 1933, he succeeded Mr. Robert Mill, the retiring manager of the London branch; Mr. Reid retired on July 5, 1941. But: in December, 1937, he; revisited New Zealand on leave of absence and returned to London by way of the United States » and Canada, where he established valuable personal contacts with the agents and correspondents of the Bank of New Zealand in .North America. .While in London Mr. Reid was in close touch with leaders in the financial world there. He was also appointed chairman of the ■ Associated Australasian Banks in London. He was actively interested, too, in the New Zealand Forces Club, in London. Mr. Reid comes of Orkney Island stock, His family came from Stronsay and settled sin the Southern Lakes Country .in 1864 when gold'mining was flourishing there. Mr. Reid was born in the mining centre of Arrowtown, and he was one :of a family of eight. His interests apart from his profession include fishing and golf, and he is partial to billiards. Perhaps the most thrilling incident in his career was when the Bank ■; of New Zealand was "blitzed" in the great German raid on the city of London. The bank, was saved on that, occasion by the fore-

sight of having an auxiliary water tank on the roof. The need for it came when the raid .burst the water mains and lowered the pressure. Buildings riot having this additional tank supply >of 'water were destroyed. The raid was at 1J o'clock -on a Sunday morning, -but although fires raged1 all around the bank arid the building itself was alight, it was: out of danger by 4 o'clock inythe afternoon and .the structural damage was slight. Mr. A. L. Hempton was assistant general manager of the Bank of New Zealand before his appointment by the Govermrierit as chief auditor. He is the son of the late Captain Thomas Hempton, an early settler of New Plymouth, who arrived there from Londonderry in 1855 and saw service in the Maori War. Mr. A. L. Hempton was born in 1872 and was educated in New Plymouth and in Londonderry. He joined the Bank of New Zealand service in January, 1889, and spent a large part of his time at branches of that bank in the lesser centres of the Dominion. He was manager at Whangarei, Palmerston North, Gisborne, and other branches, arid was manager also at Levuka, Fiji. Then he became assistant manager at Auckland. He spent two years as assistant manager of the bank at the London branch, and in 1923 returned to Wellington as manager of this branch. He succeeded the late Mr. T. E. Corkill as assistant gen-, eral manager and later became chiei auditor. ' ■

The loose-leaf touring itineraries of automobile associations are considered by the organisation for national security to be in the same category as road maps, and as such maps or itineraries* might be of value to the enemy, it is desired s that their publication should cease., Motor organisations have been notified.

—— •"♦ : ~:''■ ■■ QUARTERLY COUPONS AVAILABLE THIS MONTH . The fifteen clothing coupons issued quarterly to next-of-kin for prisoners ■ of war, to be used exclusively, for per--1 sonal parcels, should be in their hands :by the last week of this month. They are being issued to all next-of-kin at the one time, irrespective of when individual parcel labels are due. and this will allow recipients many weeks to ! procure- wool and other clothing ' before their parcels are due to be sent from New Zealand. 1 The Prisoners of War Inquiry Office in Wellington stated today that the Censoring Department had found in one parcel this week a cardboard box with a personal message .written on ■ the inside and also a message enclosed in a pair of boots. Next-of-kin . are warned that if they attempt to hide messages in this way, and the messages are not discovered by the local censor, parcels are liable to be confiscated in Germany or Italy. Many relatives are still sending in parcels without the contents slip filled in or supplied, and with the back of the address label not filled in. Such » negligence might easily mean delay in the forwarding of a parcel. Those next-of-kin who wish to send an extra amount of chocolate, to prisoners of war will be given the opportunity ,in their next parcels. Full details' wil^ be sent out with the Red Cross labels; INVALID COMFORTS. A cable received this week in reply to an inquiry from Wellington (regarding invalid comforts for men in prison camps said that the British Red Cross supplies the senior British medical officer in every camp with the necessary stocks of drugs, disinfectants, and invalid foods. This system has been found preferable to sending similar articles to individual prisoners. The cable also said thatit is unnecessary and undesirable that prisoners should write either to New Zealand or to London for invalid comfort parcels. Invalid food comforts and medicaments are available in all camps and hospitals in Germany and Italy, to be issued at the discretion of British medical offi-i cers or British camp captains. Consignments are dispatched weekly on the basis of 50 sick men in every 1000, and reserve supplies are also held by the International Red Cross, Geneva, to meet epidemic emergency. Officially reported prisoners now number 6144, and there are 12 unofficial cases. , . ;

♦ : , LEAK AFTER EARTHQUAKE Accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from coal gas escaping as a. re- ; suit of the earthquake of August 2 was ■ found by the Coroner (Mr. W. G. L. Mellish), at an inquest yesterday afternoon, to have been the cause of the death of Alfred Ernest Le Cornte, aged 53, an ironmonger. The evidence was that Le Comte lived alone in a house in Myrtle Crescent. Immediately after the earthquake Gas Company men went to Myrtle Crescent in response to a call -from the E.P.S. to investigate a smell of gas, and they called on the occupants of a row of houses, one of which was Le Comte's. He called out to' them from inside the house: "There's nothing wrong. Get out," and they left. On August 5 a leak was located approximately 20 feet from the house, and when efforts to attract the attention of the occupant of the house failed the police were called and an entry was forced. Le Comte was found dead in bed, clad in pyjamas, in a bedroom the door of which was fastened by a chain from the inside. The window was closed and the electric light was burning. There was a smell of gas in the house, although none was escaping from fittings in the house. The gas was- coming from the pipe broken by the earthquake butside the house and was travelling along the trench, in which the earthquake had loosened the earth. There was a dead budgerigar in a cage in another room. The whole house seemed to have suffered severely in the earthquake. ...,■. The medical evidence was that the process of saturation of the blood with carbon monoxide might have gone on for hours until finally asphyxia, occurred. There must have been only a low concentration of gas in the bedroom. , The Coroner said it was a pity that the deceased did not heed the warn-ing-given at the time. Apparently he had riot realised his danger.

GRADUAL RETURN TO NORMAL LONDON, August 14. The present position in India is re- ; viewed in a message received in London from a New Delhi correspondent. He gives a picture of the situation : throughout the country gradually re- : turning to normal and marred only by isolated incidents. ■ . -.. Authoritative quarters expressed the opinion that the police and mili- ■ tary had acted with great/restraint ! and strength, and the question of martial law has not been raised..

i ' LONDON, Aug. 13. A Chungking message reports that the Korean Independence Party . has asked President Roosevelt, Mr. I Churchill, Premier Stalin,, and Marshal i Chiang Kai-shek to mediate in the > Anglo-Indian question, requested Mr. ; Roosevelt to recommend rational methods of settlement, implored Mr. Churchill to release Indian leaders, and ; sent identical messages to the other two leaders asking them to.use their in--1 fluence' -.for; the release of the leaders. : The party believes the settlement of ' the Indian problem will bring earlier ' victory for the United Nations.

: , CATHEDRAL BURNT DOWN I . L ■ • (Rec. 1 p.m.) LONDON, August 14. > > Mainz Cathedral was among valuable ' historic monuments which were burnt ■ down in the recent R.A.F. raids, says ■ Berlin radio. The bishop's palace was • damaged. Five other churches were destroyed.