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Evening Star, Issue 25470, 28 April 1945, Page 6

The Minister of Supply announced yesterday (says a Press Association telegram) that the War Cabinet had decided that petrol coupon No. 11, at half its face value, would be available to private motorists for use during May. Mr Charles A. Martin (guest organist) will give,an after-church recital in the Town Hall to-morrow night, when an interesting and varied programme of organ" mnsio will be presented. The following compositions will be performed:—' Air ' (Samuel Wesley), Fantasia and Fugue in C minor (C. P. E. Bach), Intermezzo (Bertram Luard-Selby), ' Reve d'Amour ' (Felix Corbett), 'Sous les Bois ' (Guilmant), ' Variations de Concert ' (Bonnet), ' The Bee ' (Lemare), 'Barcarole ' (Rubinstein), and Variations on ' The Star-Spangled Banner ' (Volckmar). Mr Martin will be assisted by Mr Bryan Drake, who will sing the recitative ' I Rage, I Melt, I Burn,' the air ' O Ruddier Than the Cherry,' and ' Hear Me, Ye Winds and Waves ' (Handel). There will be no chaTge for admission. With the school holidays only a week away parents are preparing to take advantage of the vacation. This was reflected this morning in a rush on the railway booking office. A queue was established about 6 a.m.. and an hour later it stretched from the door of the reserved seat office to the main entrance to the station. The booking staff is working on lines similar _to those in force at Easter in allotting seats in rotation to agencies, the booking windows, and telegraphed applications from country stations. No extra trains are being run, and already seating accommodation is severely taxed for the beginning of the holidays.

How hard 'it is for civilian clubs in England to secure footballs was made clear in a letter read at a meeting of the Management Committee of the Canterbury Rugby Union. The writer was R. A. Chapman, who with G. Eggleton, both members of the Training College senior fifteen last season, is now serving in the Royal Navy. " Our first fifteen," wrote Chapman, " had a grand trip to Paignton, which is where the 1935 All Blacks had their training headquarters. This club is doing a grand job in keeping the game going in its district in spite of many difficulties. " As a civilian club, it cannot get any Rugby halls or jerseys, and has had to use the ball given to it by the 1935 All Blacks. It is the one used in the game New Zealand v. Wales."

A. 14-foot shark,, estimated to weigh over 15cwt, was caught near the wharf at Halfmoon Bay, Stewart Island, on Wednesday evening. The shark had been annoying the fisherman, some of whom "were apprehensive about travelling to and from the launches by dinghy. A line with a baited sharkhook was thrown out from the launch Digger, and the shark was caught by Mr C. Hanning and shot. The liver, which weighed 3171 b, was sold at 7d per lb, giving a return of over £9. The shark's teeth are also likely to prove of some value. The view that the educational standard of primary school children who were taught by correspondence had slipped more than a year as result of the issue of the new arithmetic book was held by Mr C. J. Speight at the meeting of the Southland provincial executive of the Farmers' Union. The school leaving age had been raised to fifteen but children of that age now leaving school had a poorer education than a child of fourteen used to. " 1 do think that the powers-that-be, whoever they are, have made a retrograde step," said Mr Speight. "We send children to school to make use of their brains. Matters should not be made easier for them."

Discovered a few minutes before the train was scheduled to leave, a defect in a. spring of the guard's van delayed the departure of th© north express for about 15 minutes this morning. The defect was found on the regular station inspection of tl« rolling stock, but it was unfortunate that the van was the last vehicle to be checked. It was only 10 minutes after the van was removed that the train pulled out, an van in the station yard being requisitioned and the goods transferred by a hard-working staff of almost a dozen.

" I do not think we will get any support from the South Island Local Bodies' Association for the Invercargill airport being made the transtasman terminal. Strong claims are likely to come from Christchurch," said the Hon. T. F. Doyle. M.L.C., at a meeting of the Bluff Harbour Board. He was referring to a suggestion that Southland representatives on the South Island Local Bodies' Association should he armed with facts to advocate the claims of Invercargill airport as the transtasman terminal at he next trans-Tasman terminal at the next conference of the association. Tho suggestion was made, after the chairman (Mr L. W. Spencer) had reported on the conference held in the city recently to advocate these claims. Mr Doyle added that he thought the first thing to do was to get proper facilities at Invercargill airport and then push hard for the airport to be made the terminal. Mr Spencer said he thought that the whole question of the airport and the transtasman terminal could be safely left to the committee set up at the recent conference. He did not think it would be advisable for the hoard to take any separate action.