DAILY INTERCESSION.

Evening Star, Issue 25084, 27 January 1944, Page 4

DAILY INTERCESSION.

O God of truth and love, in Whom, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, we lament the uses Jo which advance in science and knowledge has been put. Do Thou sanctify all knowledge, that in deep reverence for Thee and with faith in man, and desire for the uorld's highest good, we may use the powers tve possess, for the highest ends, Thine own glory, and the good of the human family. Let no blindness of man, nor selfishness of soul, retard the progress of Thy kingdom in every sphere of life Thou hast given to man; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Owing to the scattered location of units of the New Zealand'forces in the Pacific area, gramophones and records find great favour with the troops. The requests received by the National Patriotic Fund Board for electricallyrecorded gramophone records particularly have been so numerous of late that the supply position, both wholesale and retail, is almost exhausted, and the board has asked the provincial patriotic councils to appeal to 'the public to assist in meeting the demand. Persons willing to present either elec-trically-recorded or ordinary gramophone records in their possession are requested to hand them over to the secretary of the local patriotic committee for forwarding to the provincial secretary.

The Mayor (Mr A. H. Allen) acknowledges with thanks receipt of a donation of £4 from " In As Much " to the fund for the adoption of Chinese refugee children, bringing the total up to £1,144 lis 4d. In view of the school-leaving age being raised to 15 years, it has been decided to grant from February 1 next a railway concession of half-fare to children between four years and under 15 years of age. Announcing this, the Minister of Railways (Mr Semple) said that the new arrangement was in conformity with the travel facilities in New South Wales. He recalled that on April 28 of last year it was decided that children under four years would be carried free, and those over four years and under 14 at half-fare. ' Deploring the recent loss of infant life through smothering, the Dominion executive of the Plunket Society urges all mothers to safeguard their babies from this risk by taking advantage of the teachiug by the society's nurses, whose services are free to' all, and whose beliefs are that babies' beds should be made with a firm undermattress covered by a thin, soft chaff mattress, a small flat pillow, and coverings arranged for warmth and security without restriction anywhere. The bods at all the Karitane hospitals are made on this principle, and demonstrations can be seen at the Plunket rooms.

" The general rubber position makes it essential that we should conserve our existing supplies of tyres to the utmost, and this cannot be done if general speeding and overloading take place," said the Minister of Transport (Mr O'Brien). "1 have therefore instructed the Commissioner of Transport (Mr G. L. Laurenson) that there is to be a general tightening-up in the enforcement of both speeding and tyreloading restrictions." The Minister said' that reports from the Transport Department indicated that the speed restriction of 40 miles an hour on all cars, and■ the tyre load limits on com-! mercial vehicles imposed last year as a measure for conserving tyres were not being satisfactorily observed. There had been a considerable number of pro, | seditions for breaches of the speed limit, but comparatively few prosecutions had been instituted; for breaches of the tyre-loading provisions. The Otago representative swimming team, which won the War Memorial Shield at the New Zealand amateur championships at Auckland last week, returned by the. express yesterday. The -teaiu was met at the station by the Mayor (Mr A. H. -Allen), who congratulated the swimmers on their performance. He reminded the competitors that much of the credit was due to the executive and officials of the Otago Swimming Centre, who were always available to coach young swimmers arid to arrange competitions and tours. He also congratulated the girls of the St. Clair Surf Life Saving Club, who won the principal events at the national surfing championships at Wellington. .The superintendent's report received at the monthly meeting of the Dunedin Metropolitan Fire Board stated that the brigade answered 59 calls during December. Of these 22 were calls to grass and rubbish fires. There were 19 false alarms, but only two of these were malicious calls. Of the five fires in private dwellings, two were caused by defective electric irons and one by a* defect in a radio set. A sentence of 11 months' military detention has been imposed on Private Stephen Wingrove, aged 20, who pleaded not guilty at a court martial at Papakura last Wednesday to a charge that when on active service in New Caledonia oh December 4 he absented himself without leave until lie surrendered himself at Auckland on December 13. Evidence was given that Wingrove and another soldier had stowed away in.a plane and had landed in New Zeaalnd. He subsequently' gave himself up to the military police,

The free arithmetic text boo ! ks for Standard I. children, which are to be issued at .the beginning of the new school year, have not yet been received in Dunedin. but it is expected by the Otago Education Board that supplies will come to hand within a few days. The Minister of Education (the Hon. H. G. 11. Mason) announced last week that the issue of free text books, which ultimately would extend throughout the schools, would begin immediately with arithmetic books for children in Standard 1., to be followed a few months later by arithmetic books for Standard 11. children. A 14-year-old boy whose home is in Wellington stowed away some months ago in a transport while the vessel was in a New Zealand port. He was discovered after the ship had put to sea, and has recently been returned to New Zealand. In the meantime he travelled several thousand miles.' On his arrival back in New Zealand he was handed over to the police and placed under the supervision of a child welfare officer pending the arrival, of his parents. New Brighton residents for some weeks have been watching'with considerable interest and admiration th« efforts of a married couple to convert aibout an acre of land in Page's road, near the Brighton bridge, into a vege-table-producing plot (says the Christchurch ' Star-Sun '). With the assistance of harrows and other implements this enterprising pair have been observed in the early hours of the morning and late in the evening churning up the land and removing large quantities of twitch and other weeds. The work began about trliroe weeks before Christmas, and already most of the section lias been planted out in various kinds of vegetables for winter use. But interest in the venture was increased considerably when tram travellers one night observed that during the day a little bungalow and garage had been placed on the site during the day. The house had 'been transported bodily from Worcester street, near Woodha.ni road.

Union Airways advises that, commencing Saturday,, February 5, the Dunedin service will be operated soutnhouud from Auckland to Dunedin on Saturday and northbound trom Dunedin to Auckland on Monday, m addition to the present schedule. This will provide a two-way daily service trom Monday to Saturday inclusive with through connections to and from AucKAlaUe quantity of whisky and brandy was stolen when thieves broke into the storeroom of the Commercial Hotel Green' Island, last night. Entrance was effected by means ot a window at the side of the building. One Christchurch motorist has been reduced bv the rubber shortage to driving his car—a, dilapidated roadsterwith no tyres on the rear wheels He is able to maintain a fair speed with the driving wheels naming on the bare rims. Another, sign of the times was the presence on a city street one evening this week of a cyclist carrying on his handlebars an immense kerosene lantern in place of the usual battery lamp; refills for which are practically unprocurable. With the placing of the Home Guard on reserve, final parades of units m and about Dunedin will be held in the next few days for the purpose of giving guardsmen the opportunity of returning their uniforms and equipment. Rifles "that were impressed when the Home Guard was formed are to be returned to their owners, who have been advised bv notice to take possession of the weapons at the Drill Hall. A receiving depot is to be established in the South Dunediu Town Hall, and uniforms and equipment not handed in at the parades will be accepted thero.

Over 300 children are at present accommodated in summer health camps in Otago and Southland. The camp at Omaui. Southland, will 'be open for two months, catering for. over 100 Southland children, in two groups. In the convention buildings at Pounawea there are 50 South Otago children, and at Kurow 30, North Otago children for a period of three weeks. . The Dunedin children are in two camps, one at Company Bay, where 40 children are h"mg looked after by the Central Mission organisation, and the other at Waikoiiaiti. where' there are 60 boys and girls It appears that, although convalescent oases need a period of three months in a permanent camp, such as the King George V. Memorial . camp at Roxburgh, a necessary work is being done at the summer camps. Conducted fro of charge to the children, they are being supported by the generosity of th» public and voluntary helpers.