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Evening Star, Issue 25745, 19 March 1946, Page 4

Let me say as definitely as possible that those who have lost the family breadwinner in the war are entitled to all the benefits of the universal family allowance,” said the Leader of the Opposition, Mr S. G. Holland, last night in answer to a questioner at a public meeting addressed by him at New Plymouth. The questioner sought a statement of the National Party’s policy in relation to the elegibility of war widows with children for the family benefit. Mr Holland said the National Party believed wholeheartedly in the universal family, allowance. The seating accommodation of 1,200 in the Opera House was overtaxed to hear Mr Holland and several hundred persons outside listened to liis address by a loudspeaker system. Advice oil the extension of the hours during which Customs officers will be available at the Chief Post Office for the clearance of overseas parcels has been received by the president of the Customhouse Agents’, Association (Mr J. A. Winefield). The hours of the officers’ attendance were reduced, as a war measure and have been considered inconvenient by agents, who have recentely made representations for an increase. As a result, ail extension is to be made, and officeis are to be available from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and from 1, to 4 p.m., Reference to the recent rioting in Bombay was made by Captain G. A. Mcßae, formerly a prisoner, of war in Germany, in a letter to his mother, Mrs G. R. Mcßae, of Christchurch. Captain Mcßae is now employed by an insurance company in Bombay. In the letter Captain Mcßae said that many persons he knew were attacked, and some of them had been badly beaten up. “ There does not seem to be much doubt that the riot was assisted and organised by parties which should know better, and which were making impassioned appeals in the paper each day for a cessation of the orgy of blood,” Captain Mcßae said, "The total damage and the loss of life will never be released. It was far more— I am told by authoritative parties—than was published. The civil police and the Army did a great job. Wehad to evacuate our office one day, as it was so bad in our area. We have three truckloads of military outside our door, fully armed with Bren guns, tommy guns, and even mortars.” Evidence that New Zealand and Australia do not have a monopoly of droughts is contained in the following extract from a letter received by a Dunedin resident from a friend in the Orange" Free State recently:—“The drought is assuming serious proportions in the Union. To-day was kept as a special day of prayer for . ram in all churches. The weather is really awful. The thermometer climbs up quite near the hundred mark without any difficulty each day. It’s no joke travelling about the country in this heat. The week before Christmas I paid a visit to Kimberley on duty, and the temperature on two successive days was 105 deg. in the shade. It was one of the stickiest trips that I have made since coming to the Orange Free State. There are a few clouds in the sky this afternoon, so we are all longing that there will be some rain. It’s the wbrst drought for 20 years. . The average rainfall for Bloemfontein is 24in a year, but for 1945 we bad only llin, and it is worse in some other parts of the country. This will give you some idea of the position here at the moment.”

“ Canned foods are getting scarce here, flour is going to be rationed, and the bakeries are to make more rye bread than white broad in future,” writes an Auckland woman, now married to an American, in a letter from Akron. United States. “ They say that this year is going to be worse for us even than the war years, as so much food is being exported to Europe.” The Shaw Savill vessel Karamea, which' is due at Auckland from Australia to-morrow, will be the first ship to be released in New Zealand to its owners, following the recent London decision to free vessels from the control of the Ministry of War Transport. The Karamea was officially freed at Fremantle 10 days ago. When she arrives at Auckland she will be surveyed to ascertain any alterations necessary to restore her to normal running before being handed back to her owners. Only alterations which may be considered necessary to ensure her seaworthiness will be done. Passengers in two cars which were involved in a head-on collision on an approach to the one-way bridge at Waianakarua had a singularly lucky escape. The accident occurred in heavy fog at 9.15 yesterday morning. The driver of one car was uninjured, but his mother, who was a passenger, was removed to Oamaru for medical treatment, being badly cut about the face and bleeding freely. The driver of the other car, who was travelling alone, was slightly injured. The cars were both badly wrecked; and traffic on the road was held up for a short period. Sixty cases were set down for hearing by the Land Sales Committee at its meeting this afternoon. The twenty-first New Zealand Rotary Conference opened at Napier this morning. Following an official welcome to the visiting delegates, the conference was addressed by Mr John M. llott, representing Rotary International, and the District Governor, Mr M. S. Spence.—P.A.