NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 39, 16 February 1943, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

"All-in" Art Union. The drawing of the "All-in" art union is to take place at the board room, 2nd Floor, Wellington Commercial Travellers' Association Building, Customhouse Quay, Wellington, tomorrow, commencing at 9.30 a.m. j "Picnics Unwarranted." The application of the E.P.S. traffic units of Lower Hutt and Petone for a donation towards a picnic fund met with strong opposition from the Petone Borough Council last evening. The Deputy Mayor, Councillor H. Green, said he thought picnics in wartime unwarranted. Even school picnics had been abandoned. Other councillors expressed similar views. A motion that the request be declined was passed, an amendment by Councillor A. G. Steffensen that a donation of £2 10s be made not being seconded. Previously the council had made a request to its own employees that they should work on picnic day, the council agreeing to pay the double time required by the award. The employees had already intimated that they would not be holding the picnic.

Alternative to State Control

Recognising the need for a well-thought-out alternative to post-war State control, the North Taranaki executive of the Farmers' Union is urging the Dominion executive to make plans now for a big co-operative organisation among New Zealand farmers to handle their interests. Admitting that the day of individual effort in marketing has passed, the executive felt that a measure of control in the post-war period was inevitable. In urging preparation of a co-operative plan among farmers, the meeting felt there were inherent disadvantages in continued and increased State control, "but," Mr. H. E. Blyde, president, pointed out, "we are not hitting at this Government or any other Government. It is a question whether State control is better than co-operative control and what is best for New Zealand as a whole. Let us establish the principle fi rs t—co-operation—and then let us establish it on a sound foundation, making haste slowly." "Don Rs" Aid Farmers. Army dispatch riders on motorcycles are carrying important packets in their mail bags along the dusty roads of Canterbury this month. But they are addressed not to the commanding officers of brigades or regiments, but to the farmers, and they contain not battle orders but wheat samples. To overcome the difficulties farmers have in these days of petrol shortages and busy harvesting, the; Army has offered to take over the ]ob of honorary liaison officer between wheat growers and their nearest wheattesting station.