NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 35, 10 August 1944, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

WEATHER FORECAST Moderate to strong north-westerly winds. Weather fair. Temperatures moderate. Further outlook becoming unsettled, with cold southerlies likely during Saturday. Temperature at 9 a.m., 52 degrees. New moon, August 19. High water.—Today, 10.14 p.m.; tomorrow, 10.38 a.m:, 11.7 p.m. Sun sets today 5.34 p.m.; rises tomorrow 7.17 a.m., sets 5.35 p.m.

Books for the Forces. Since the last book drive, held through the schools in March, the National Patriotic Fund Board has been advised that 165 cases of reading material, containing in all 25,350 items, has been sent overseas to the New Zealand Forces. The allocation was as follows: —Third Division, forward area, 7200 items: Air Force in Pacific, 2400 items; Middle East, 15,000 items; Tonga, 150 items; and Air Force, draft. 600 items. Another 100 cases containing 15,000 items, the report stated, was. ready for dispatch to the Middle East.

Millions of Trout Ova. Over 7,250,000 trout ova have been collected this season from the Ngongotaha and Tongariro hatcheries, according to Mr. A. Kean, conservator of fish and game (states a Rotorua correspondent). Some 400,000 fry have

been forwarded from Tongariro to the hatchery at Waikaremoana. Some 500 000 'fry have already been liberated in the Rotorua district, and 600,000 in the Taupo district. Further replacements of fry will be made in various streams and lakes in the conservation area every week for several weeks from the Ngongotaha and Tongariro hatcheries, and liberations from Waikaremoana will begin in three weeks. About 600,000 ova were forwarded last week to the order of various acclimatisation societies in both islands.

Seamen's Railway Fares. Differentiation between men of the Merchant Navy and members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force in the granting of concessions in railway fares was deplored at Auckland yesterday by the Port Chaplain, the Rev. H. K. Vickery. He said that the question of extending travelling privileges to merchant seamen had been raised in Parliament but nothing had been done states a Press Association message This week, under the auspices of t?ie Flyins? Angel Missions to Seamen four parties of merchant seamen had been the guests of farmers in North Auckland 'and the Waikato. Civilian rates had been charged for the merchant seamen in mufti, although each man carried a ship s pass and wore the Merchant Navy badge. Agriculture Streamlined.

Denying that there had been any decline in production from the land in New Zealand, the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Roberts), speaking in the Financial debate in the House of Representatives last- night, suggested that Opposition critics were doing the farmers a great injustice by such statements. The real position, ne continued, was that they had streamlined New Zealand's agriculture for war purposes. It was infinitely more important to grow vegetables for the Forces in the Pacific than to boost up the ordinary things we were used to. New Zealand farmers had adapted themselves to the needs of war, but the Opposition was only thinking ot the pockets of those who had done so. They were overlooking the over-riding consideration of productin for military purposes.

Production for Use. j "We want to see that the people control production 'for the people," said Mr T. H. McCombs (Government, Lyttelton) in the Budget debate in the House of Representatives last evening. Production for profit, he continued, meant that people would fear to produce aplenty, and private enterprise tried not to produce too much. The modern tendency the vorld over was for big monopolies and international cartels. Private enterprise needed to be guided along the lines of providing sufficient for the people of the world —it was not iust a problem for New Zealand. Private enterprise existed on the making of profits, and profits could not be made in plenty if goods were produced in too great a quantity for the demand. Production must be for use; there must not be production foxprofit.

Grass Clippings and Flies. In a discussion at a conference of local body sanitary inspectors in Christchurch on the control of flies, delegates' agreed that piles, of grass clippings could be favourable breeding grounds for flies, and one inspector recalled that a gardener who used grass clippings as a mulch on his rose beds found the material alive with maggots. Others asserted that the larger the heap of grass the less likely was it to become a breeding ground, since the heat generated in such large piles of grass was usually too great to permit the eggs to hatch. The smell from such heaps might still attract flies even though they did not breed, and a distinction was drawn between a flyattractive area and a fly-breeding area. Inspectors emphasised that the only evidence of breeding was the presence of eggs, maggots, or pupae. Retrospective Legislation. "If I were an opponent of this Government instead of being one of its best friends, I could not wish for better political ammunition to be put in my hands with which to shoot the Government," said the Hon. T. Bloodworth (Auckland), when discussing in the Legislative Council yesterday the clause in the Finance Bill which amends the Death Duties Amendment Act, 1923, and operates retrospectively from January 1. 1942. He said the principle involved in such retrospective legislation was wrong, although there might be precedents. It established something that might be very detrimental—if another Government came to the Treasury benches it could point to that clause as a case where the present Government adopted retrospective legislation. The Hon. W. Perry (Wellington) said he feared very much that the clause might have an effect on a number of innocent transactions that had taken place since