NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 67, 16 September 1943, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

WEATHER FORECAST

Moderate winds from an easterly quarter predominating. Weather dull with continuous rain at first, but some improvement tomorrow. Cool temperatures. The further outlook is for rather unsettled weather.

The Moon. —New moon, September 29.

High Water.—Today, 6.36 p.m.; tomorrow, 7.1 a.m., 7.38 p.m.

P. and T. Contributions.

The thirty-second instalment .to the National Patriotic Fund under the system of voluntary contributions by Post and Telegraph Department employees is for £170. To date these employees have given a total of £10,724 to the patriotic funds. "Same as Last Year." "I move that we give them trie same as we did last year," said the chairman, Mr. J. A. Sampson, of the Waikato County Council, when a request for a donation was received from the Workers' Educational Association. "How much is that?" asked a member. "Nothing," was the reply. The motion was carried. Croquet Rentals Reduced. Something has come down in price —croquet court rents. The City Council agreed last night to a recommendation of the reserves committee that use of municipal croquet courts should be granted to the clubs concerned during the 1943-44 season at a rental of £18 15s, which is*a 25 per cent, reduction in the usual charge of £25 a court. Higher Still. Milk and cream sales by the City Milk Department climb and continue to climb. Last month the daily sales of milk averaged 12,667 gallons, which was 34.7 per cent, higher than in August last year, and cream sales, 65,345 pints for the month, were 42.4 per cent, higher. During the month 18,509 gallons of milk were supplied to schools. For Vegetable Growers. A .public demonstration of seed sowing and planting, to assist people who are interested in the "dig for victory" campaign, will be given in Kent Terrace, opposite the foot of Home Street, between 12.30 and 1.30 tomorrow. Experts will be present to answer inquiries. This demonstration will be the first of a series which will be continued in the afternoons of the following week. Damage by Military Traffic. Representations are to be made by the City Council to the Public Works Department for compensation for damage to roads and streets in the city caused by military traffic. Councillor W. J. Gaudin said that an investigation made by the City Engineer indicated that a good deal of damage had been so caused. The City Engineer stated that he had already been in communication with the Public Works Department on the question. City Shop Values. Three shops on Lambton Quay came under the hammer yesterday. The property, which was offered by S. G. Nathan and Co., consisted of three wooden buildings standing on land with a frontage to the Quay of 42ft llin and having a depth of 78ft lin, and right opposite the Public Trust Office and having access to the back by right-of-way. Bidding began at £10,000 and advanced to £12,000, but it failed to reach the reserve. Memorial Tablets. The question of granting facilities for the erection in churches of individual memorials had become acute, said the Bishop of Auckland, the Rt. Rev W. J. Simkin, in addressing the Diocesan Synod. The bishops last May had agreed that it was desirable that memorial tablets in churches should be discouraged, but that a worthy memorial commemorating the names of all the members of the church in the parish who had made the.great sacrifice should be erected at the end of the war. Out of His Element. "I'm afraid the opening of flower shows is, to use popular language, 'not my cup of tea,' and if. ever my colleagues at the front hear of it I'll never be able to live it down," said Air Commodore G. T. Jarman, D.5.0., D.F.C., when opening the spring flower show at Lower Hutt. Commodore Jarman spoke of the very high regard in which New Zealand airmen were held in the R.A.F., and said that any R.A.F. squadron leader would always accept a New Zealander on "face value." In introducing Commodore Jarman, Mr. J. W. Andrews, Mayor of Lower Hutt, said he was delighted to welcome home a very distinguished citizen in whose capable hands was the training for the Air Force of the young men of the country. Mr. N. B. Gibbons also, on behalf of the Horticultural Society, expressed his pleasure at the presence of Air Commodore Jarman. Prisoners in Jap Hands. The Japanese authorities require letters and postcards addressed to prisoners of war and civilian internees in Japan and Japanese-occupied territory to be limited to 25 words and to be either typewritten or written clearly in block letters. The PostmasterGeneral (Mr. Webb) said last night that this advice had been received recently. It was understood that the restrictions were due to the inability of the Japanese to cope with censorship and the delivery of the present volume of mail. The Minister stressed the necessity for complying with these conditions, and also for correctly and fully addressing correspondence for prisoners of war and civilian internees in the Far East in accordance with the directions given in the leaflet of Instructions for Communicating with Prisoners of War, copies of which were available, free of charge, at all principal post offices. If the internment camp address of a prisoner was known, it must be used. Great Maori Gathering-. From 8000 to 10,000 people are expected to attend a function in Ruatoria next month on the occasion, of the handing of the Victoria Cross to the parents of the late Lieutenant Ngarimu, V.C., states a Gisborne correspondent. Most of those attending will be from a distance. Sir Apirana Ngata, M.P., is in Wellington negotiating with the Government for the necessary transport facilities. It is expected that there will be 300 Gisborne performers alone to transport to Ruatoria, requiring probably 60 cars and 600 gallons of petrol. In addition parties of the Maori Home Guard, schoolchildren, and civilians will be taken to Ruatoria, while members of Home Guard and permanent forces are to be brought from further south and many from the north. There will be also representatives of the Government and important officials and officers. Prefabricated Houses. "The word prefabrication is greatly misunderstood," said the Minister of Works (Mr. Semple) at Auckland on Tuesday, when discussing State housing problems. He claimed that the problems would be overcome by the greater application of prefabrication and of the comparatively new but revolutionary development of plastics. "Most people think that these as applied to houses mean a system whereby houses are turned out of a machine like sausages, that the quality of the material used is poor instead of good and that the houses so built will all look alike instead of having that pleasing individuality of the privatelyplanned dwelling," continued the Minister. "Nothing could be further from fact. For every 52 prefabricated panels to a house there are almost as many combinations as there are in a pack of cards. The quality of the timber used is exactly the same as is ordinarily used for building houses, and so are all the other materials. All that happens is that most of the assembly of component parts is now done in the builder's factory on amazingly accurate jigs instead of being put together piecemeal on the site." A survey was being made by one of the departmental engineers of the use of plastics in the United States in housebuilding so that New Zealand could quickly seize upon and develop this method of construction should if prove as good as it looked, said Mr. Semple,