NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 57, 5 September 1945, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

WEATHER FORECAST

Forecast to 5 p.m. Thursday:—Fresh to strong northerly winds.. Weather cloudy with occasional rain developing during tonight or tomorrow morning. Temperatures moderate. Further outlook unsettled with occasional rain. An anticyclone is centred north of the North Island. A trough in the Central Tasman is moving slowly eastwards. New moon, September 7. Temperature at 9.30 a.m., 47deg. Rainfall for 24 hours to 9.30 a.m., Rainfall from August 5 to date, 4.73 in. High Water.—Today, 3.36 p.m.; tomorrow, 4.05 a.m., 4.30 p.m. Sun sets today 6 p.m.; rises tomorrow 6.38 a.m., sets 6.1 p.m. Day In Parliament. The Financial debate was continued in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon and evening. With a few exceptions, most of the topics raised were not new. To date 39 speakers have taken part in the discussion, 20 from the Opposition side and 19 from the Government benches. The House adjourned at 10.30 p.m. until this afternoon. Broadcasting- of Parliament. "My major mission is to find out what, in your very well-known experimental New Zealand style, has been the result of your broadcasting of Parliament," said the chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (Mr. R. J. F. Boyer) at a session of the Dominion Conference on Christian Order, to which Mr. Boyer is a visitor, in Christchurch on Saturday, reports "The Press." "I want to know [if broadcasting has enhanced your I estimation of Parliament," Mr. Boyer 'added, provoking some interjections of i"no" from members of the conference. Gratuity Payments. I Prompt payment of gratuities to serI-. v s men and service women entitled !to such sums was advocated by Mr. IA J. Murdoch (National, Marsden) in his Budget speech in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon. "These men have earned their money, and they are entitled to it," said Mr. Murdoch. "If they are going to build a house or start a business that money will be of great assistant. When they get that money they should get it in one piece, not in little driblets which can be frittered away and be of no particular value." Rotorua Hotels. "The district manager invites attention to the lack of adequate accommodation in Rotorua and the need for improvement in the standard provided," states the annual report of the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts and Publicity which was presented to Parliament yesterday. "For various reasons at least ten accommodation houses are no longer catering to the needs of the visitor. This represents a very serious loss of approximately 700 beds, and means that hundreds of persons have had to be turned away each summer. The present indications are that only two, possibly three, of these houses will again reopen to the public, and even then this does not appear likely to take place for some time. Of four licensed houses in Rotorua one only has a few rooms with private baths, three only have hot and cold water in bedrooms, and one only has central heating; of about 25 unlicensed houses three only have hot and cold water in bedrooms, and none provides private baths or central heating." Diamond Lies In Street. A valuable diamond has been lying in the street in Timaru for the last five months, but the loser was not as unlucky as she imagined. About the beginning of April (says the "Timaru Herald") a woman lost the precious stone from her ring in Beverley Road, but subsequent searches proved in vain. Heavy snow later covered the street, followed by frosts and rain. On a recent night a friend of the woman who had lost the diamond was returning home along Beverley Road. Caught in the lights of a car, something glittered brightly in the street. It was the lost diamond deeply embedded in a crevice opened by the snow and frost. After being dug out with a car key the diamond was returned to its surprised and grateful owner. A Body Blow.! The rivalry that exists between New Zealand and South Africa in regard to Rugby football supremacy was amusingly illustrated at Trieste last month during the progress of the Eighth Army lawn tennis championships, states the "Otago Daily Times." "Every time you run into a South African," writes a New Zealand soldier in a recent letter, "he has some caustic remark to make about football, such as lending us a book on how to play Rugby or have we heard of Bennie Osier's son. The other day, in company with a Dunedin ' journalist, now a war correspondent, I was watching the Eighth Army singles and a New Zealand private had had the temerity to give a Tommy officer a good beating, when a South African leaned over and said to us, 'Why the hell don't you blokes stick to tennis?'" Hanmer Earthquakes. "The recent swarm of earthquakes, described mostly from Hanmer Springs, appear to be due to an extension of the break which caused a strong earthquake in the Lake Sumner-Arthur's Pass area in 1928. Meantime, I am calling them the Acheron-Tennyson earthquakes, as the origins are beyond Hanmer, which township has already suffered from grossly exaggerated accounts of the tremors felt there recently," said Mv H. F. Baird, director of the Magnetic Observatory, Christchurch, to "The Press." Mr. Baird said he was making his observations after seeing and hearing Hanmer Springs and its people. "Mr. Beagley, physicist at the Magnetic Observatory, and I have closely scrutinised the seismograph records, and on Saturday visited the Hanmer district. The records indicate an origin due north of Christchurch, some 20 to 30 miles north by west of Hanmer. Felt motion near Hanmer was mainly in the east-west direction. Light swung in that plane, and two heavy objects fell to the east. Reasonably reliable estimates of the duration of the uncanny noise which preceded actual movement were seven seconds. These facts confirm instrumental location." Licensing- Anachronism. ."The retention of the three-fifths majority for the carrying of restoration is an anachronism," said Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., in evidence to the Royal Commission on Licensing yesterday. "The three-fifths majority was decided upon when local option was introduced in order to avoid confusion. When no-licence was carried it was to : continue until three-fifths of the people wanted licences restored. The bare ■ majority was rejected because of the 1 possibility of a narrow majority at one ' election becoming a narrow minority 'at the next election and the consequent ■ confusion which would result from constant chopping and changing. Now > that the local option poll has been ! abolished, the reason for the rejection ' of the bare majority is no longer ; valid." t Food for Britain. ' A suggestion to the Prime Minister ; that 2,000,000 pounds of foodstuffs be 1 sent free to the people of Britain is :to be made by the Wellington Navy : League. At the monthly meeting ■ yesterday Mr. R. Darroch spoke of the 3 hardship' that the British people had ; been through and sa/d he thought it - only right that the people of New Zea- ! land should show in a tangible way ; their appreciation of what/ the people • at Home had been through. The com- !■ ing winter was going to bring hunger ' and shortage in Britain and he felt that New Zealand should do everything possible to alleviate that shortage. It was suggested that the letter to Mr. Fraser be supported by one from the Navy League War Council.

The Oiient Line troopship Orion, tvhich arrived this morning with rehabilitated prisoners of ivar.