NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 128, 1 June 1944, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

WEATHER FORECAST Fresh to. strong, southerly winds reaching gale force at times, tomorrow. Weather overcast with, intermittent rain. Temperatures becoming: much colder. The further outlook is. for. cold and showery weather. ■ Temperature at 9 a.m., 48 degrees. Full Moon. —June 7. High Water.—Today, 12.48 p.m.; tomorrow, 1.2 a.m!, 1.27 p.m. Sun sets today, 5.1 p.m.; rises tomorrow 7.37 a.m., sets 5 p.m. Trans-Tasman Air Service. Tasmaii Empire Airways advise that arrangements are baing. made to increase the frequency of the transTasman service to three times a week, commencing about the middle of June. Food for Pets. The matter of food for pets under the new meat rationing cuts, is still under consideration, it is stated by the Rationing Control Office. It had earlier been hoped that a solution to the problem had been found, but this has now proved to be impracticable, and it will be at least a week before a decision is announced. The Weather in May. The weather in Wellington during May did not depart very much from the normal. The month's approximate mean temperature as recorded at Kelburn was 50.6 degrees, compared with the average of 51.4 degrees for May in previous years, both the mean maximum and the mean minimum temperatures being slightly lower than usual. The highest maximum temperature during the month was one of 63.3 degrees, and the .lowest grass temperature was 29.1 degrees on the 16th. There were seven more hours of bright sunshine than usual for May, the total bein r 137.4 hours, and there was considerably less wind than usual, the daily run averaging only 165 miles, compared with 198 jniles a day as the normal figure. The rainfall was 29 points below the average, the total fall at Kelburn being 3.77 inches. Tribute to Red Cross. The following letter from an escaped prisoner of war who was incarcerated in Italy has been received by the secretary of the War Purposes Committee of the Joint Council of the Order of St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross Society: "I am an escaped prisoner of war from Italy, and\vould here like to put on record my appreciation of the wonderful work which .your association, coupled with the Red Cross, has been and is still doing for our boys who are in prison camps. In Italy, if it had not been for the British Red Cross and St. John, not one man in a million would have come out alive. Therer fore, we all feel that you people have saved our lives and thank you accordingly. For myself, I feel that the public should know of this, and that is why I am penning this note to you." A Strange Fauna. New Zealand has many strange and archaic animals, says a writer in "Forest and Bird." An.earthworm five feet long, a very long eel, more marine spiders than any other country, a reptile which dates from remote geologic times, and a fish that hibernates in the mud during the winter, are no less remarkable features of New Zealand's native animals than are the flightless birds, of which the kiwi and the moa are the best known. The kiwi is the only bird known having its nostrils at the end of the beak, no other bird has a beak twisted to one side like the wrybill plover's, and in no bird other than • the huia have the two sexes differently, shaped beaks. New Zealand's only native mammals are two bats. The Maori rat and dQg were brought to New Zealand by the Maoris, so are not strictly native. It is suggested that in the absence of hoofed animals, their place was taken by flightless birds, such as the moas, some of which attained a huge size. Patriotic Quotas.' With four months still to go before he close of the National Patriotic Tund Board's year, Taranaki and Otago have paid their quotas in full to the board. There are 11 provincial patriotic councils, and each is allocated a quota to raise annually for the joard's requirements. This money is in addition to the funds the provinces have to find to finance their activities within their territories. Taranaki was first to pay in its quota, making its final payment on March 20. The quota was £29,625, but Taranaki began the year with a credit of £6258 16s. The Otago quota was £58,852, and }he province had a credit of 012,433, leaving a balance of £46,419. This amount has now been paid to the )oard. The secretary-treasurer of the board Mr. G. A. Hayde^, said yesterday that as the board had heavy commitments, the action of the Taranaki and Otago provincial councils in meeting their obligations at an early date was greatly appreciated. -He also said that, encouraging progress payments had been received from the other provincial councils.