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Evening Star, Issue 24265, 5 August 1942, Page 4

.The changing conditions of employment following the withdrawal of largo numbers of men for military service has brought particular problems to the Dunedin Vocational Guidance Association (states the annual report). Among these might bo noticed the number of women and girls going to work formerly done exclusively by men and boys. The approach of military service has brought to many boys a deplorable feeling of unconcern, and the association says it is looking to schools and home influences to combat this. With the higher standard of performance now required, quite apart from any question of wages paid, employers as a whole seem to have come to the conclusion that 13 and 14-year-old children cannot do the work clemanded of junior labour in most places. However, there are still parents not pressed by economic need who persist in sending their children out to attempt that task.- “ Young people of special abilities living in country districts presented their needs to ns,” states the annual report of the Dunedin Vocational Guidance Association. “It is frequently difficult to find for those young folk suitable work where they can secure training to develop their special talents, and at the same time a wage sufficiently high to enable them to live in town without making too great a demand on parents. Those having the required educational qualifications have, in many cases, turned to the Public Service. A few others have been found employment at satisfactory wages, but there iremaiu in the country districts young people, who, if given the opportunity, might become valuable specialist workers in our city industries and in commerce. Wo are looking forward to the day when more seasonal secondary industries will be established in the country centres themselves.” Contributions towards Otago’s £150,000 All Purposes Patriotic Appeal have now reached £103,426 2s sd. Payments from the various zones and sub-zones (with their quotas in parentheses) are as follows-North Otago, £16,792 13s 7d (£18,000) ; South Otago, £7,049 2s 2d (£16,500); Tuapeka, £3,958 16s (£6.000); Vincent, , £2,991 15s 7d (£6,000) • Maniototo, £2,790 3s 7d (£3,000); Lakes, £2,938 17s lid (£3,000) ; Dunedin-St. Kilda. £58,535 7s Id (£73,500); Palmerston-Waihemoj £1.153 12s lid (£2,505) ; Waikouaiti, £9Bl 7s 6d (£4,800) ; Taiepi. £3,119 8s 8d (£8,040); Peninsula, £645 Is 5d (£2,806) ; Port Chalmers, £512 13s lOd (£1,980); West Harbour. £760 (£1.545) ; Green Island, £1,197 Is lOd (£2.325)'. Tribute is paid in the annual report of the Dunedin Vocational Guidance Association to the work of its efficient officers. Miss L. Vial and Mr T. Conly. The report states that they combine sympathetic understanding of youths’ hopes and aspirations with a practical knowledge of industry and a sincere desire to place the feet of tire youths on the road to life’s success. Appreciation is also voiced of the work of their staff. The annual report of the Dunedin Vocational Guidance Association states that during the year it has actively interested itself in the welfare of crippled children. Wherever possible employment has been found for them, and thanks are due to sympathetic employers, without whose aid it would not have beeil so easy to help. The education of these young people is being watched, and, as far as possible, guided into directions likely to be of vocational use. At-the monthly meeting of the West Harbour Borough Council last night Or F. Mitchell, who represented the council at a meeting of the local bodies’ Electing Committee, which had met to appoint a representative to the hoard of managers of the King Edward Technical College, moved the following motion, which was carried unanimously:— “ That the council is of the opinion that the interests of local bodies would be bettor served by direct representation on the King Edward Technical College Board by electing a member of a local body to the board in preference to » citizen who is not a member, and that those bodies concerned be notified to this effect.” Donations of £5 Ss and £2 2s were granted to the Otago Expansion League and the Makagai Leper Fund respectively. The question of holding Sunday evening entertainments for members of the forces was considered at a meeting called by the mayor (Mr A. H. Allen) on Monday, which was attended by representatives of all the Dunedin churches, the Otago Provincial Patriotic Council, and the Dunedin-St. Kilda sub-zone. It was decided to appoint a committee of four, representatives fropi the churches, one from the P.S.A., oile from the military, and four from the patriotic bodies to go fully into • the matter and report. The (}uestion has been asked whether traffic is to be discontinued during the forthcoming E.P.S. trial. N lt is explained in reply that in'an emergency all traffic is stopped except those vehicles carrying E.P.S. stickers. These are to proceed to their posts. " It is pointed out also that many tram drivers and drivers of other forms of transport have E.P.S duties to attend to during an emergency. , The British Ministry of Supply recently issued an order limiting the use of tin and lead in the manufacture" of packages for civilian use. In their stead sheet metal, uncoatcd by either lead or tin, is to be used. The effect of this order will be the cessation of the manufacture of most kinds of. tins for the vacuum packing of coffee and tobacco. Other things'to be affected will include biscuits, confectionery, syrup, dried milk and milk foods, oils, polishes, and many pharmaceutical and toilet articlcs.

The acme of economy would appear to have been reached by a Midlands munition factory (states a British newspaper). Tons of dirt and refuse are swept daily from the floors. After all the oil has been extracted from the metal shavings they are melted in the furnaces to provide more munitions. As much as 1,200 gallons of oil in one week has been salvaged by this method. The oil soaked up by cleaning rags has also been found worth the expense involved in its recovery. Metal foundries pass waste sweepings through a machine fitted with electric magnets, and by this means separate the iron from the brass and other metals. , “ The Public Service has some anomalies of men being ‘casuals’ for 15 vears,” said a member of the Wellington Industrial Man Power Committee at Stratford, when a storeman’s service n the Public Works Department was being considered. The committee was endeavouring to find out the differences of permanent, temporary, and casual employment. “ While the war is on one man should be able to milk 40 cows and do the complementary work,” said Mr A. Hayward at a meeting of the No. 1 Armed Forces Appeal Board in Hamilton. MiHay ward said the board could not agree to release a man from camp to milk an additional 10 cows. The board declined the application, and said that when the harvesting season approached an application for temporary release of the soldier could be made. Comment on the misuse of taxis was voiced by a driver at the meeting of the Auckland Taxi Control Committee last week. “ I have had cases where my car is ordered the night before to report at a house some distance from the city at about 4.30 a.m.,” be said. “ I have been instructed to tap gently on the front window, and on doing so I have found Is 6d handed out to me and a voice has siud the car was no longer required. All the person needed was someone to waken him without disturbing the rest of the household.” “ There are people who would have you believe that all is not well with the morals of young women in the services,” said Group-captain Findlay in the course of a recruiting address at the air raid shelter in Wellington recently. “ I am speaking to the mothers, and i can assure you that your daughters are looked after just as well, if not better, as at borne. I ask you to disbelieve anything you may hear to the contrary.” A .(Russian film, called ‘ 100,000,000 jWomcn,’ recently released in. Britain, discloses the fact that Soviet nurses are being trained as parachutists, and when conditions demand they are equipped with medical supplies and dropped in front-line positions. The scenes depicted in the film were taken under actual war conditions. “ Rubber has become such a necessary commodity in the world that every effort should he made to cultivate it wherever it will grow,” writes an Auckland correspondent. “ Some years ago several fine specimens of rubber trees were growing at Kawau, and I was present when a planter from Malay was surprised to find that these trees had' flourished in New Zealand. He tapped them, and we got a good supply of ‘ lac.’ He expressed his opinion that North 'Auckland waste lands should be planted and that we could grow rubber trees that would compare very favourably with those grown in Malaya. It would bo a good thing if our Government'Agricultural Department took this matter up and made a trial. The warm rains of the north should supply all the necessary moisture.” “ Feet are like fingerprints. There are no two alike,” said an appellant at a sitting of the. Industrial Man Power Committee in Christchurch this week. “In some cases one person may have two different-sized feet,” he added. The size of feet varied to such ■an extent that he had made a pair of khoes for one person with one shoe size three and a-half and the other size five. The feet of many people varied from between a quarter and half a size, “ This' is the first occasion that a member of the permanent staff has been asked to go elsewhere, and the decision of the committee will he important,” said the superintendent of the Christchurch Fire Brigade (Mr A. Morrison), appealing to the Industrial Man Power Committee on Monday against the decision. of_ the man power officer granting permission to a member of the St, Albans Fire Brigade to transfer to the Police Force. “It takes two years to train a fireman—this man has been with us for two years and nine months, and is,now serving well in the St. Albans Brigade,” Mr Morrison said. It was essential that the strength of the brigade be maintained, and with 10 members with less than eight months’ experience on the staff it was specially urgent for the senior men to he kept. In every case appeals to the Armed Forces Appeal Board for the release of firemen had been upheld, and it would be the start of a vicious circle if the man power officer took the men away. Decision was reserved. “He thought of it first ” is the very apt title of the weekly show display at the Museum. The exhibit consists of an armadillo, which, to all intents and purposes, might well be classed as an “animal tank.” The armadillo is not regarded as an aggressive typo of animal, its armour being merely for protective purposes. It is about 2ft long (from bead to tail), and Jives on roots and refuse. Some people use it for the making of baskets. “ Moral delinquency is at least as great an enemy as Germany and Japan,” states an editorial article in the ‘ Outlook,’ published yesterday. The article deplores the “ complacency ” with which the public has received the McMillan report on abortion and venereal disease, and claims that the spiritual as well as the physical causes of the disease must be dealt with. “ It is obvious that a crusade for moral purity is overdue,” the article continues. “ Chastity is a virtue which must recapture its popularity if our race is to be fit to survive.” The article points out that parents have a.duty to train their children so that they will bo sure of the right and so far/' temptation with courage and strength. Publicity and propaganda. “ which it 'maintained were very poor in New Zealand, compared with other countries,” were the subjects of representations by the Manufacturers’ Federation when it mot the War Council last week, states an official report by the federation, A letter from the Registrar of Social Security, Timaru, read at a meeting of the Management Committee of the South Canterbury Rugby Union this week, stated that a player injured in a Rugby match may receive compensation from tho Rugby Union’s insurance fund'-without any deductions being made from sickness benefits obtainable through the Social Security Department. At the previous meeting ot the committee statements had been made indicating that an injured player was required to refund any sickness benefit received from the Social Security Fund because he had been covered by the Rugby Union’s insurance fund.