NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 102, 1 May 1943, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

WEATHER-FORECAST Moderate to fresh southerly winds. Weather fair, although cool. The further outlook is for fair to fine weather. Day of Prayer Tomorrow. Tomorrow will be observed as a special day of prayer throughout the Churches in New Zealand. All the nations at present engaged in the struggle against the Axis Powers will have special intercessions offered on their behalf, and among the smaller nations the suffering people of Poland, who are celebrating the 152 nd anniversary of the constitution of their country, will be specially remembered. English People Save. The average savings of a person in England is lOs a week; in New Zealand it is 4Jd a week. In England the enormous sum of £1,000,000,000 is saved annually by wage-earners. The savings in New Zealand are between £2.500,000 and £3,000,000. These figures were disclosed by Mr. Read Masters, a returned soldier of the last war, and Mr. H. R. Davis, a returned soldier from the present war, when they were speaking at the Travel Club meeting in Christchurch in support of the National War Savings campaign. If each person in Christchurch would save a shilling a week, Mr. Masters said, £8000 a week would be raised. That would exceed the city's weekly quota of £7450. Flag Day Return. Gratification at the fine response of the public to its flag day appeal yesterday Is expressed by the Wellington provincial committee of the Joint Council of the Order of St. John and the Red Cross Society, which conducted the appeal under the auspices of the Wellington Provincial Patriotic Council. Up to this morning £3647 7s 6d had been counted, and when the final returns are checked it is anticipated that the result will be about £4000, which is £1000 better than the result of the last appeal in 1940. The yields of the three main districts were:—Wellington City. £3103; Hutt City, £340; Petone, £209. Esperanto for Blind. The increasing fact that a considerable amount of Esperanto literature had been set up in Braille type was mentioned by Mr. J. McLennan at the Karori Esperanto Society's meeting this week. He said that according to recent information well over a thousand grammars, magazines, and other books had been made available to blind Esperantists. The centre of the International League of the Blind was in Sweden, he continued, and the league was able to provide both reading and teaching facilities to blind students. The National Library for the Blind, London, also had an Esperanto section covering a wide range of subjects. Evidence of Saving. "Much has been said in the community about lavish spending and lack of restraint by people in money matters. While there may be some justification for such (Comment, there is .a very large section of the people who are saving and who appreciate the need to refrain from spending when the country is at war and goods are in short supply," said Mr. G. W. Sanders, president of the Auckland Savings Bank, in his report to the annual meeting of the trustees yesterday. The report presented stated that the bank's funds had increased in the last year by over £1,770,000 to £13,449,000, a record, and Mr. Sanders remarked, a Press Association message adds, that the growth of funds in recent years had been phenomenal. Thirteen years ago the total was just half the present sum. Eggs from the South. Christchurch people will have to face much more severe rationing of eggs for the next few weeks, as with the intended diversion of more eggs to Wellington supplies to the shops will be reduced, stales a Press Association message. An announcement was made at Christchurch yesterday by the managing director of the Central Egg Floor, Ltd., Mr. C. Ferguson, that from Monday he would be reducing supplies to Christchurch shops to about half what they were receiving at present. The reason, he said, was that the Wellington public had not had a delivery of eggs for the last two weeks, while Christchurch had been receiving comparatively substantial amounts. It would be necessary to reduce the quantities going to Christchurch shops for at least the next three weeks, which would, on average, cover the shortest supply period of the year. Flag' in Cemetery. The Auckland City Council has apl proved a proposal by the Auckland Returned Services' Association, on behalf of an anonymous donor, that the association be allowed to erect a permanent flagpole in the soldiers' plot at the Waikumete Cemetery, on condition that the Union Jack be hoisted and lowered to half-mast on the occasion of every burial in the plot. The association stated that these stipulations had been made by the donor, who had offered £100. He wished the Union Jack to be used, rather than the New Zealand ensign, because ex-ser-vicemen of Empire forces other than those of New Zealand were frequently buried in the cemetery. Captain R. S Judson, V.C., expressed doubts whether anyone had a right to hoist the Union Jack in the circumstances mentioned without express authority. The council approved the proposal with any reservation that might be neoded to meet the point mentioned by Captain Judson. Strychnine for Rabbits. Regulations have been issued enabling the Minister of Health, on the request of the Minister of Agriculture, to authorise in writing the storing or selling of strychnine not packed in the regulation fluted bottles, provided the strychnine is subsequently sold or used for the poisoning of rabbits. The Minister of Health (Mr. Nordmeyer) said last evening that the flutings required on poison bottles were intended to make them easily recognisable in the dark and in ordinary cases were a very necessary safeguard. Recently, after considerable delay, a shipment of strychnine had arrived and was urgently Required for the poisoning of rabbits. This strychnine came from sources which had not supplied the Dominion before and was not packed in the usual way. Endeavours had been made to find enough fluted bottles for repacking the strychnine, but this had not been possible. Accordingly, this one safeguard was being relaxed, but only within the narrowest limits. Poisons of all other types and strychnine not used for poisoning rabbits would still have to comply with all the provisions of the Poison Regulations.