NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 27, 2 February 1943, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

A.A. Treat for Children,

Because of the difficulties of transport the executive of the Automobile Association (Wellington) decided last night that this year again, instead of providing the annual picnic for children's homes, the association should give £50 to the institutions concerned to be spent on a pro rata basis on fruit and other foods for the children. Payment in Advance? "It's money well spent and I think motorists get a great deal of value out of it," said the chairman of the executive of the Automobile Association (Mr. E. A. Batt) at its meeting last night, when a sum of £20 was voted to the Wellington Free Ambulance. New Road Map. With a view to being ready to issue a new road map soon after the war ends the executive of the Automobile Association (Wellington) last night voted a sum not exceeding £400 to be used in the drafting of such a new map. P. and T. Contributions. The National Patriotic Fund Board has received another £200 from the Post and Telegraph Department staffs' patriotic fund. This represents the twenty-sixth instalment and brings the total contributed to the National Patriotic Fund by the Post and Telegraph employees in this way to £8994. Honey Prices Fixed. The Price Tribunal has issued an order fixing the maximum prices to be charged by packers, producers, wholesalers, and retailers of honey. Retailers must keep a copy of the statement available for inspection by customers. Careless Walking. Jaywalking on the traffic entrance and exit at the main doors of the railway station, off Bunny Street, was the subject of a complaint made at last night's meeting of the executive of the Automobile Association (Wellington), and it was decided to ask the City Council traffic officers to endeavour to educate pedestrians to use the footpaths and pedestrian crossings provided for them there. Army Harvesting Pay. "The question of the allocation of the surplus funds, if any, has yet to be considered by the Government," replied the Minister of Defence (Mr. F. Jones) in Christchurch on Thursday, when he denied a report that the Patriotic Fund was receiving the balance, after deduction of pay and maintenance costs, from the payments made by farmers to the War Expenses Account for assistance by soldiers for harvesting, states the lT3tarSun." Agreement had been reached in the past that money earned by soldiers should be allocated to the Patriotic Fund, but the whole question of future disposals of surpluses was bemg reviewed. Triumphal March. "We are making history here at Morere today," said Flight Lieutenant Gladstone Hill, when the Royal New Zealand Air Force Band visited Morere the other day. He was referring to the playing of an Italian triumphal march which was played on the Italians' entrance into Addis Ababa when they conquered Ethiopia in 1935. The tune had been captured from an Italian at Mersa Matruh and had been sent to New Zealand on November 11. The music had'arrived a few days before and copies had been made for the band, so that they were able to play the tune for the first time in the British Empire. Land Girls Lack Outfits. Although it was promised during the Women's Land Service recruiting campaign in November that a working outfit would be issued directly a girl was placed on a farm, girls who have been working on Taranaki farms for three months have not received a single article, states the "Taranaki Herald." In the meantime they have had to purchase suitable clothes and have had to use nearly all their clothing coupons for this purpose. The only explanation offered by the National Service Department is that the outfits are in the course of manufacture and will be forwarded to the girls as soon as they are completed. Sugar For Wine. Referring to proceedings in a recent Court case in Oamaru where it was disclosed that an unlicensed winemaker had been able to procure sugar for the manufacture of wine, the Rationing Controller, Mr. J. E. Thomas, stated last evening that only licensed winemakers were entitled to such supplies. Anyone who made application as a winemaker and obtained a permit from a rationing office, but was not a licensed winemaker, did so under false pretences and committed a breach of the rationing regulations. As a result of the growing need for checking the bona fides of industrial applicants for sugar permits for manufacturing wine and similar products, said Mr. Thomas, local rationing officers were advised about a month ago that all such i-equests had in future to be referred to the Rationing Controller, in Wellington, who refers all such applications to the Department of Agriculture for verification and recommendation. In the case in question, the unused balance of the sugar purchased under permit was commandeered by the Food Controller.