NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 148, 20 December 1943, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

WEATHER FORECAST Moderate north-easterly winds freshening" tomorrow. Weather fair to fine and warmer. The further outlook is. for a brief period of rain probable.. The Moon.—New moon, December 27. ' . High Water.—Today, .11.34 p.m.; tomorrow, 11.45 a.m. Town Hall Reopened. After having been out of use for| over a year as the result of earthquake damage, the Town Hall was formally opened again for use by Wellington's citizens on Saturday night, although there still remains some work to be done. The occasion was the Royal Choral Union's performance of Handel's oratorio. "The Messiah," and the Mayor" (Mr. T..C, A. Hislop) paid tribute to the Choral Union's work. Speaking of the building, the Mayor said the walls, which had been found to be lj inches out of alignment, had now been strengthened and the entire structure had been braced. It was now stronger than ever before, and as strong as any building in the city. "Rules to Suit Itself." "It is quite obvious that the Government is going to make the rules of the game to suit itself and its friends," said Mr. J. Maher, chairman of direc-j tors of the Wellington Dairy Farmers'! Co-operative Association, in a statement last week. "The question of redressing the injustices to city milk suppliers," he said, "has to go to the Stabilisation Commission, according to a statment made by the Minister of Agriculture. It should be noted that the question of giving the workers extra holidays and holiday pay did not have to go to the Stabilisation Commission. "I would like some member of the Government to come out and claim that this is fair play, but I will guarantee that no one will do that," concluded Mr. Maher. One Effect of Rationing-. "Many people believe, and I am one of them, that rationing in Australia brought about a real appreciation of our pre-war standards of living, which we had casually taken for granted," said Mr. T. G. D'Alton, High Commissioner for Australia in New Zealand, \ in an address last night. "We were a very fortunate people, but we did not know it till rationing and other wartime restrictions had to be imposed. We began to realise what the people of Great Britain had been enduring for the past two years. I am convinced that we then became more unselfish. -We learned to economise here and there. We became more considerate to tradespeople and to our neighbours. In short, our demands upon life became comparatively simple and we retained our self-respect. I say that we would have lost our selfrespect had we resisted rationing and had the people successfully demanded that our Prime Minister should not impose it." Decline in Production, Concern at the decline in the production of dairy and pig products was expressed on Saturday by Mr. A. P. O'Shea, secretary of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, who said the position gave cause for grave misgiving. With diary produce, pig meats and beef would be the most stable internationally saleable products after the war, and it was particularly unfortunate that it should be in precisely these industries that the greatest decline in New Zealand's production was taking place, he said. Prices for pig meats and beef were unattractive compared with those obtainable for other meats,' and, in the case of pig meats, the labour shortage also had a serious effect. "There will be considerable national loss if these declines are allowed to continue fuEther," said Mr. O'Shea. "It is essential to see that more labour is provided for all farmers, particularly dairy farmers, and it would be in the best interests of the Dominion as a whole to increase both beef and pork prices. Such action would at. least do something to arrest the present dangerous decline." Treble Surprise. There was an unexpected reunion in an Auckland family on a recent weekend. Of three sons on active service, one is in the Navy, a second was in Australia on Air Force duty, and the third was in Canada, also in the Air Force, as far as the family knew. The father received a telephone call from an Auckland aerodrome, with a request to send out a car to pick up his son just back from Canada. Joyfully he did so. Not long after he got home there was a knock, and when he opened the front door he was greeted by his second son with: "What's in the larder,, dad? I've just flown 1200 miles, and we were so excited I didn't eat before we left." The filial trio was completed the same weekend when the son in the Navy walked casually in, also on leave. In was the first reunion in three years.