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Evening Star, Issue 24008, 6 October 1941, Page 6

The ‘ Star 1 of Wednesday will give first publication of the result of a ballot for Territorial service to be gazetted on that day. Extra copies required by agents and others should be ordered now.

An ingenious method has been adopted by the British Home Guard which trains riflemen to hit accurately the vital spots of a dive-bomber, writes an Englishman to an Auckland friend. The idea is a moving target which bursts into flame, indicating that a bull’s-eye has been scored. Consisting of a miniature bomber modelled in metal, the target is mounted on a moving shaft in a manner to simulate the motion of a dive-bomber. Should the marksman register a hit on a vulnerable part of the plane, the bullet immediately ignites the inflammable material.

One of Dunedin’s more important streets must bo Eorbury road. At its beginning, a notice tells strangers to the city that this is the way to the motor camp. It leads to St. Clair, and the crowds that follow it in the summer time are in number many more than the population of that suburb. And on fine Sundays it is one of the most popular walks in the city. Someone must have recognised one or other of these facts, for channelling is being put in the last section of it. Besides eliminating the possibility of water damage to the street, it will be a boon on these blackout nights. Disappointing catches in all Canterbury rivers, with scarcely, a bag worth recording, were reported for the opening of the fishing season. Although the weather was almost perfect, a light nor’-wester making little _ difference, the water in most fly-fishing streams was too high after recent floods, and with an abundance of natural foods the fish were not rising. With the shortage of petrol, there was not the usual number of city anglers taking part in the first day’s sport, but all available reports indicate that the same conditions were prevailing in all rivers and streams. Lake Ellesmere is at the present time of little depth, and trout have difficulty in entering the mouths of rivers from the lake, with the result that sport in that district has also been poor. However, when surplus waters have cleared away it is expected in spite of the quiet opening that the season will be good. A New Zealand florin sent back to the Dominion by a married woman living at Port Pine, South Australia, has gone to swell _ the National Patriotic Fund. The coin was forwarded to the Minister of Finance (Mr Nash), together with a letter in which the sender explained that her action was prompted through having read in a South Australian paper that a lady had- sent a New Zealand shilling which she had been keeping as a “ curio.” The writer added that the two-shilling piece was the first New Zealand money she had seen. She asked that the monev be treated as a contribution to the funds for the provision of comforts for the Dominion’s fighting forces overseas. Two letters have been sent to the sender acknowledging her contribution —one from Mr Nash and the other from the secretary of the National Patriotic Fund Board (Mr G. A. Hayden), to whom the florin was sent on by Mr Nash.

To see the telephone torn from its bracket and the radio set split in two was the alarming experience of Mr and Mrs Poulton, sen., when they were sitting in the front room of the home of Mr A. Poulton, of Makuri, near Pahiatua, during an electrical storm. When lightning struck the house a large hole was. also torn in the ceiling and a fire developed in the passage, but this was quickly suppressed. Outside the house, about 20yds away, a totara fence, held together by galvanised wire, was razed to the ground, and 20ft of the wire vanished.

At the request of the Dunedin Amenities Society, which is providing the cost, the City Council has agreed to construct a further 50 seats of the new attractive type to be placed in the various reserves and in positions where pedestrians can rest and enjoy some of Dunedin’s wonderful views. These seats will be placed in position as and when constructed during the next two years, the sites to be chosen by mutual arrangement between the council and the Amenities Society. 'Several seats which have recently been provided by the Dunedin Amenities Society and placed in position have been greatly appreciated by the general public. Two have been placed in position on the hill leading up to the Centennial Memorial, these being additional to those previously set in position near the memorial. A second seat has been provided on the Upper Peninsula road near the Highcliff Cafe. Another which has proved very popular has been set on a concrete platform at the junction of the Queen’s Drive and Driver's road. At the request of the Dunedin Training College, a seat has been provided for the college grounds. Mr Justice Kennedy has granted probate in the following estates;—Rebecca Thompson, Dunedin, widow; Joseph Mosley, Clydevale, farmer; Thomas Gilligan, Camara, labourer; Patrick Kinney, Dunedin, retired farmer; Elizabeth Urquharb, Dunedin, married woman; Henry George Freeman, Green Island, carpenter; Esther Bowie, Cromwell, widow; Laura Ella Smith, Dunedin, married woman. Letters of administration have been granted in the estates of John Thomas Wilson, Dunedin, gentleman; Margaret Lockhart, Milton, spinster; Elizabeth Miller Craigic, Ilatanui, widow.

For many citizens the Sunday afternoon stroll through the city’s reserves is being made much less enjoyable owing to the behaviour of groups of youths whoso choice of language in the hearing of women and children is by no means pleasing to the ear. In the Woodhaugh Gardens yesterday one particular gang (unfortunately “gang” seems to be the only suitable term to use) was guilty not only of vocal obscenities, but also of monopolising various sots of swings and see-saws which might otherwise have been giving pleasure to those for whom they were erected —the children. The seesaws, in point of fact, wore bcinn; subjected to treatment which could hardly help but have a damaging effect on the structure. The conduct of various groups of young Territorials, on the other hand, was exemplary. Possibly one reason for this lay in the fact that many of them, judging from their badges, were strangers to this city. There may also bo something in the idea however, that what the average young Now Zealander needs to make a man of him is discipline. In the meantime the “ hatloss brigade ” in mufti would be all the better for a suggestion of police surveillance while amusing themselves in the public reserves.

A letter from a soldier in tlie Middle East states that tho Germans have erected a stone monument at Suda Bay inscribed in German on one side, “To Our Glorious Dead,” and in English on the other, “ To tho Bravo Anzacs.” The letter states that a friend had escaped from Crete and had described the monument. The need for the utmost accuracy on the part of schoolboys in ancient Babylon when doing their home work was mentioned by Mr E. M. Blaiklock in an address at a luncheon given by the Auckland Grammar School Old Boys’ Association. Once the work was done, there would be no changing it. as the clay slab would probably be put in the oven to bake bard for the morning. “Wc can imagine.” said Air Blaiklock. “ a schoolboy trudging wearily to school with his sack of home work over his shoulder.”

“ Why is it that cuckoos seem to prefer laying their eggs in the nests of such small birds as grey warblers?” was a question put to tho Forest and Bird Protection Society. “ Tho cuckoos know that tho warblers’ diet consists of various kinds of grubs which are harmful to plants,” replied Captain Sanderson. “As foster-parents the warblers arc very active providers of the right kind of food for tho young cuckoos, which have huge appetites. It is true that only one egg is sneaked into a warblers’ nest, but the unexpected foundling soon grows larger than one of the duped birds, which work very hard to nourish the murderer of their own young. Happily, the delightful warbler, which has a very sweet trill,* has adapted itself to the new conditions in Now Zealand. Its song is heard in gardens of many towns and in the suburbs of cities, where cuckoos do not interfere with the nesting.” Referring to the operations of German raiders when speaking at the Rotary Club at Auckland, Captain R. H. Bevan, R.N., mentioned that the first had left port in April, 1940, followed by three others, and so far the only one that had been brought to book was sunk by H.M.S. Cornwall in the Indian Ocean. Describing the merchant ships which were used by Germany for raiding activities, Captain Bevan said that they were armed with Gin guns and fitted with torpedo tubes. All carried aircraft for reconnaissance purposes, and wore well provided in the way of radio. As a result they could maintain touch with the German Naval Command and with agents in foreign countries, as well as, perhaps, with agents in British countries, and obtain information from merchant ships which were indiscreet enough to use radio while at sea. In addition, all were fitted with elaborate moans of disguise, thus making them more difficult to detect.

When my lady supplements her natural charms with those cosmetic aids to beauty that make her so alluring, it is almost certain that she is using a preparation of New _ Zealand manufacture and not of the imported variety (says the Auckland ‘ Star ’). Approximately two years ago, when the imports selection procedure was directed to the banning of overseas cosmetics, most retailers bought very heavily in order to safeguard their business as far as possible. At the time there were stocks of imported lines in the Dominion, and there was a scramble on the part of retailers _so that they might retain their goodwill built up on particular brands. “It is safe to say,” stated an Auckland chemist, “ that these stocks are now almost entirely sold out. With the placing of restrictions upon imported cosmetics, it became apparent that there was a very big opening for the manufacture of preparations to take their place. The result has been that there is a welter of lines similar in appearance and use in a variety of brands.” An ironic incident in the scientific history of Antarctica was recounted by Dr R. A. Falla, director of the Canterbury Museum, to a meeting of the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of Now Zealand. He recounted that during Scott’s last Polar expedition, Dr Edward Wilson, who subsequently died with the leader on the march back from the Pole, led a small party on an amazing winter journey to obtain eggs of the Emperor penguin, then believed to be the most primitive of its kind, for embryological study. Enduring terrible hardships, the party, almost by a miracle, struggled back with three precious eggs. The irony was that subsequent study showed the Emperor penguin to be one of the highly-specialised species. The most primitive ones are the little blue and the white-flippered_ species of the New Zealand coast, which Dr Wilson could have studied in comfort _ at Diamond Harbour or at any bay in the peninsula during the weeks the Terra Nova lay at Lyttelton. The sweet fruits of public applause proved intoxicating to three-year-old Jenny, who lives in one of Dunedin’s hotels. She spent an afternoon this week-end robing herself, as children do, in more or less grown-up clothes, and achieved an effect so successful that for some time she was the centre of attraction with the family, the staff, and some of the more privileged patrons. So she hitched her wagon, if not to a star, at least to a height from which she could command a wider audience. But the sensation she caused was as nothing to the excitement raised within the house when a woman who had been passing by knocked to announce that Jenny, still in her fetching fancy dress, was displaying her charms to the street, balanced precariously on a second-story windowsill.

Some misunderstanding exists in regard to the qualifications of men required for specialist positions with the new tank corps at Waiouru Camp, and several married men with children have come forward at the Drill Hall expressing their willingness to join the corps. Such men are not required. Applications will be accepted only from single men, who arc of overseas fitness, and who have been called up in overseas ballots. In consequence of this limitation the services of married men offered for positions most urgently required to be filled—namely, those in which men must possess knowledge of motor mechanism in every directionhave had to be declined. Grade I. single men who have been ballotted/ are urgently required. Considerable satisfaction is expressed by the Army authorities at the manner in which the V.A.s who are taking the place of male ambulance orderlies are carrying out their duties. A roster of names of young women prepared to undertake the duties has been prepared by the Red Cross Society, and the girls take it in turn to carry out one day's duty at a time, supervising the needs of sick or wounded men who may have to be transferred from camp to hospital or to any other destination. Most of the girls have not been rushed with work, and they have expressed disappointment that they have not had more to do. Others, however, have had very busy days, when several men have required to be conveyed between points. The enthusiasm, keenness, and understanding of the young V.A.s have been more than favourably commented upon by the authorities.

England has always been considered the home of the daffodil, but years of intense culture in New Zealand have now produced a flower which compares more than favourably with its English parent The judge of the daffodils at the Canterbury Horticultural Society’s show, Mr S. Smith, said that he considered that the locally-grown bulbs were now definitely superior to those imported from the Old Country.

The Armv Records Office at the Kensington Drill Hall is now well installed in its new quarters at the eastern end of the building, although constructional alterations have not ygt been completed. The process of removal was an intricate one, not so much in the amount of furniture, but in the thousands of files which had to be transferred and set up again for reference with as little delay as possible. At the end of three hours, however, the office staff was working normally in its new quarters. Additional filing arrangements have yet to be installed, and further office appointments are required. Although the new room is much larger than that formerly occupied, its space is fully taxed, but it is possible to extend further should this be necessary. , Two separate glassed-in offices for the registration officer and for the staff engaged with sick and wounded men are being incorporated in the general office.

On Saturday at 5.12 p.m. a chimney fire iu Castle street was attended to by the City Fire Brigade. At 12.28 a.m. yesterday the brigade turned out iu answer to a malicious false alarm from the corner of Bond and Liverpool streets, and in the afternoon dealt with two chimney fires, one in Albany street and the other in Highgate. This morning at 11.20 the brigade turned out to a chimney fire in Duckworth street, Anderson’s Bay.

At 12.39 p.m. to-day the City Fire Brigade answered a call from the corner of Rosebery street and Ken mure road, and attended to a fire in a threeton truck belonging to Mr M. Stevenson. Slight damage was done to the wiring.

The honorary treasurer of the Churches’ Air Raid Relief Fund, Air J. H. Don Miller, advises further donations as follows Previously acknowledged £1,051 15s 3d, Roslyn Baptist Church (balance) £2 7s, Maori Hill Presbyterian Church (balance) £2 Bs, Moruiugton Presbyterian Church (balance) £;f 9s 9d. South Dunedin Presbyterian Church £9 18s -Id. C’aversham Presbyterian Church £26 2s lOd, Church of Christ. St. Andrew street, £l6 10s; total, £1,112 Us 2d.