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Evening Star, Issue 25032, 26 November 1943, Page 2

The New South Wales Temperance Alliance was outwitted in an attempt to prevent an auction sale of 500 bottles of liquor for the fighting French prisoners of war appeal at the Australia Hotel, Sydnev. The sale had been announced to start at 4.30 p.m. and finish at 7.30 ip.ni. The alliance asked the Chief Secretary, Mr J. M. Baddeley, ti> ban the safe because it was illegal to sell intoxicating liquor after 6 p.m. Officials of the appeal heard of the move arm forestalled it by advancing the starting time of the auction by two hours. The sale ended at 5.45 p.m. Ninety people paid £2,500 for the liquor. The high pricos were paid because the money was for charity, the proceeds being to provide comforts for French prisoners of war. Mr Frank Albert, managing director of a Sydney music store, paid £63 for a 118 oz jug of Buccardi rum. Fighting Frenchmen paid 10 guineas for the right to pour down the sewer two bottles of Vichy water (mineral water). There were loud hoots when it was put up. A recommendation that the office of the Masonic Grand Lodge of New Zealand be permanently situated in Wellington was adopted at the annual communication, which concluded in Christchurch yesterday. The proposal was debated keenly at yesterday's session, and the decision by 513 votes to 466 was announced to-day. • The chief executive officers will be chosen from the four main divisions of the territory in the same manner and rotation as at present, andi all meetings of the boards will be held in the centre in which the chief executive officers for the time being are resident. When that centre is other than Wellington, a small branch office will be opened there. The vegetable dehydration factory for the Canterbury district', which is to be established in Christchurch at an estimated cost of from £IOO,OOO to £150,000, is expected to begin the production of dehydrated potatoes by February. Preliminary work on the site at Riccarton was begun yesterday by the Works Department. Approximately eight acres of land have been taken by the Government for the factory under the Accomodation Emergency Regulations. The plans prepared by the Internal Marketing Division provide for a cool store in addition to the actual dehydration iplant, a housing scheme for employees, a cafeteria, lawn tennis courts, and garden plots. The administration block will include tho Christchurch office of the Marketing Division. The factory will employ approximately 100 workers, including a large number of girls.

The following message has been received from the Soviet Government m reply to the cablegram sent on tho occasion of the Soviet National Day from the Government and people of New Zealand:—"The Government of the U.S.S.R. expresses to the Government 'and people of New Zealand its gratitude for their congratulations on the occasion of the twenty-sixth anniversary of the Soviet State and for the expression of their feelings in connection with the fight of the Soviet people against the German Fascist invaders."

Eighty dozen garments, valued at. £3OO, were stolen by burglars from the factory and showroom of Messrs Stirling, Henry (N.Z.), Ltd., clothing manufacturers, of Queen street, Auckland, towards the end of last week. The garments were women's pyjamas, nightgowns, and underwear. Ten days previously similar articles valued at £BO were stolen. On each occasion entry was gained +o the premises ]<v forcing the door of a, garage on the ground floor and forcing another door on the stairs leading to the clothing manufacturers' premises. Nothing was disturbed in the motor garage or any of the offices.

The post-war problems which would have to be met in Britain would apply equally to all countries, said Sir Walter Lay ton, leader of the British Press Delegation in New Zealand, in the course of an address to the Dunedin Rotary Club, and no progress would be achieved without international co-opera-tion. Last time, while all paid lip service to the principle of co-operation, every nation had embarked on a policy of self-sufficiency, and everyone had failed. The nation in which this type of exclusive mentality had been most highly developed was the United States, and it was in the United States that the crack had first appeared which had resulted in a world-wide fall in prices. Real progress would be achieved only by a true spirit of co-operation and the helping of those countries in which future' markets would be developed. Thus New Zealand should assist the countries which could purchase her agricultural produce, for ;by that means the general volume of trade would be expanded, and a repetition, of the disaster which shook the economic world after the last Great War would be avoided. In the course of his address to the members of the Dunedin Rotary Club yesterday, Sir Walter Laytoti, leader of the British Press Delegation now in New Zealand, mentioned a tribute to British planning which was paid by the editor of a widely-read American magazine who had been given tho opportunity of inspecting various war industries. "If this is British 'muddling through,' " the editor had cabled back to his" magazine, " then Heaven help America 1 "

" I would like to know if you could put me wise to a few of the following things, ns I have been receiving a lot of abuse from various people out this way," stated a reservist in a letter to the Southland Armed Forces Appeal Board at Gore. "You stated in a previous letter that I would be released for the Ai-my as soon as there was enough labour available. Well, sir, how many people should it take to run the place on which I am employed ? Also, what is my position if T leave the job? Another thing, my younger brother is away working for another farmer, and what I want to know is why I should not be away having a 'go at the Japs.' " The father of the reservist said it would be impossible to carry on his dairy farm if the reservist were to be released for camp, but the son declared that he would not remain on the property. " I hope that the people who cast reflections on this boy will stop it in the national interest." snid the chairman. Mr E. H. Murney. The appeal was adjourned sine die.

Infectious diseases notified to tho Health Department during the weok ending to-day have been: Scarlet fever two cases, pulmonary tuberculosis two cases, erysipelas one case. Very few jam strawberries are likely to come on the market in Christchurch this season, according to Mr S. L. Rogers, secretary of the New Zealand Federation of Retail Fruiterers. He said that " seconds " as the smaller strawberries were called were now in greater demand, particularly by milk bars for use with ice cream, and as a result the price would be too high for jam making.

The right standard demanded .in making clothing for servicemen was referred to by the manager of a factory producing jungle shirts, when he was giving evidence before the No. 10a Armed Forces Appeal Court in Christchurch. He said that if the pocket of a shirt was one-eighth of an inch out the shirt was rejected. " I don't think the Japanese would mind if the pocket was not he said. The fallacy of this precision was emphasised later, however, when the witness said that in the jungle the shirts sometimes lasted only two days before they were torn to shreds

The Wanganui Education Board at its monthly meeting supported a recommendation forwarded to the Education Department by the Canterbury Education Board that encouragement should be given, especially in secondary schools, to teachers who desire to introduce the use of Esperanto to their pupils. A detailed report on the advantages of a universal language was submitted by Mr F. A. Bates, of the inspectorate staff.

The extraordinary lengths to which motor accessory thieves have_ been going in Auckland were painfully brought home to one motorist (says the ' Auckland Star '). He discovered, to his amazement, that although his spare tyre was apparently intact, when he wanted to use it, the inner tube had been removed. One, of the largest Auckland garages has been warning motorists to keep their cars locked, especially rear compartments where tools and accessories may be kept. The outlook for private motorists, they state, is gloomy, and they are warning them in their own interests. Apart from tyres and tubes, which are hard to get, headlight bulbs, wheel jacks and pumps are particularly favoured by thieves. In the latter case the rubber connector, without which car pumps are quite useless, seems to be the bait. New connectors are virtually' unprocurable.

The Auckland Athletic Centre obtained 1,000 rounds of ammunition for starting at athletic meetings and stored it at the home of an official. The official became worried about having so much ammunition in a private house, so he applied to the police and told his story. They were not interested and sent him on to the city council. After mature consideration that body decided it was no concern of theirs and recommended that he interview the Labour Department. However, it was not their business and they suggested the explosives inspector. The latter thought the Marine Department might be interested, but, promptly on hearing the official's story, they though he had done his best to get a permit; it would, therefore, be better to let the matter rest and be forgotten.

Railway concession fares are still not available to overseas merchant seamen seeking a brief holiday in the country while their ships are in port. Repeated representations to the Government by the merchant seamen's committee of the Auckland Patriotic Association that concessions similar to those given servicemen and women should be extended to seamen and officers on holiday have failed to extract any response other than that the matter will be given consideration. It was mentioned on behalf of the men that the number concerned was not great, and it was suggested that it would be a graceful act on New Zealand's part to make the concession to those who face danger every time they put to sea.