NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 15, 19 January 1944, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

WEATHER FORECAST Fresh north-westerly winds, but a change to fresh south-easterlies probable during tomorrow. Weather fair and mild at first, but becoming changeable and cooler with occasional showers following the wind change. The further outlook is for still rather changeable weather. The Moon. —New moon, January 26. High Water.—Today, 11.44 p.m.; tomorrow, 12.4 p.m. "Proud to Have Them." "The New Zealanders have been with me since Alamein, and their magnificent achievements are known to all. I am proud to have them in my Army, and, indeed, could not have done without them." This tribute to the New Zealand Forces with the Eighth Army was contained in a letter from General Sir Bernard Montgomery written to a Takaka resident, Mr. H. F Chaffey, of Cobb River, states the "Nelson Evening Mail." Mr. Chaffey, who corresponds regularly with members of the Middle East and Mediterranean Forces, had some time ago written to General Montgomery congratulating him on the manner of his contacts with officers and men, and the confidence they had shown m him. The reply, which was quite unexpected, was a hand-written note, bearing the signature "B. L. Montgomery, General, Eighth Army," and was sent from a field post office in Italy on October 5, 1943. Life-saving' Jackets Found. While patrolling the beaches in the Cloudy Bay area on Friday a Blenheim police party searching for traces of the victims of the recent Warngal launch fatality in Cook Strait found four life-saving jackets, states the "Marlborough Express." Three oi these were at Rarangi and one in White's Bay. These are not considered to have any connection with the launch tragedy, and it has been suggested that perhaps they were lost by American personnel who some time ago practised landing operations m the vicinity. An endeavour is being, made by the police to trace the origin of the jackets, which-are of the ordinary cork and canvas type. Supply of Gumboots. Gumboots from a shipment just landed would be released immediately to certain essential users said the Minister of Supply (Mr. Sullivan) last night, but he said that the supply was very far short of requirements. In spite of repeated efforts, stocks had up till now been unprocurable overseas Every effort would be made to effect a fair distribution of the gumboots which had 3ust arrived, and to give the greatest possible coverage among all essential users, specially the dairy-farming community; The Ministry of Supply had instituted a scheme o7 control which, with the assistance of various authorities to oudge the merits of individual applications, should give reasonable results in distribution. "It is intended," said Mr. SulliVan, "that the procedure in respect of the imported boots will also apply to the sale of gumboots now being produced in New Zealand. Local manufacture is progressing fayourably and the quantity produced will be a welcome addition to the shipment ]ust landed." Dealing with the control scheme, Mr. Sullivan said l«™ted stocks would be held by selected wholesalers and agents throughout the country. It would be the responsibility of the person requiring gumboots to make formal application on the form provided. Supplies of application forms now available could be obtained from retailers, dairy factory stores, various wholesalers, and district offices of the Departments of Industries *and Commerce and Agriculture in the four main centres. . Russian for B.A. Degree. The Senate of the University of New Zealand decided yesterday that Russian should in future be one of the foreign languages for students for the B.A degree. A Press Association message from Christchurch states that papers will now include unprepared passages for translation from and into Russian and no student shall be deemed to have satisfied the requirements in Russian unless he translates to the satisfaction of the examiner at least one of the sight passages from Russian into English and at least one passage from English into Russian. The ProChancellor (Dr. James Hight) said that one of the university colleges had^ already appointed a lecturer m Russian, and he emphasised the importance of the study of that language. To a Question by Mr. A. E. Flower he said that no attempt had yet been made to introduce Japanese. All Oriental languages were important, though they were not under consideration at the moment. Oldest Art Gallery. How the oldest art gallery in the world was discovered by a child was related by Professor James Shelley, Director of Broadcasting, in an address in the Sarjeant Gallery, states the "Wanganui Chronicle." Sixty-five years ago a little girl accompanied her father who was interested m antiquarian matters, into a deep cave in the mountains near the north _ coast of Spain. The father was digging in the floor of the cave for artifacts, weapons which used to be buried with a man in primitive times, but while the old man was looking downward to the earth the child, characteristically, was looking upward to heaven. Suddenly she startled the father by crying "Tauros, tauros," meaning bulls. There on the roof were the drawings of bison, reindeer, and buffalo, which had not been known in that part oi the world for thousands of years. The drawings had their origin probably between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. Learned men, said Professor Shelley, doubted the authenticity of this discovery, but it was not long after that similar drawings of animals, including mammoths and a prehistoric type of horse, were found in caves m the south of France, finely executed m black and red ochre. All this work had been done in pitch darkness.