DOMINION ITEMS

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 September 1942, Page 6

DOMINION ITEMS

BOY’S 'DEATH TIMARU, September 8. Neil Edward Orr, aged 16, a schoolboy, died early this morning at the Timaru Public Hospital. An inquest was opened at Timaru before the Coroner (Mr H. Morgan, S.M.). Evidence of identification was given by Neil Edward Orr, father of the boy, who said that Ills son had been playing with his sister at home in Church Street on Sunday evening. Apparently there had been a head-on collision between the two children, as, immediately after, the boy had complained of a severe pain in his head. He was eventually admitted to the hospital. MINESWEEPER LAUNCHED DUNEDIN, September 8. H.M.N.Z.S. Aroha, the first minesweeper constructed at the shipyards at Port’Chalmers, was launched successfully this afternoon by Lady Newall, in the presence of about 500 guests. The Governor-General (Sir Cyril Newall) was also present. The Minister of Defence (Mr Jones) acted as host for the occasion on behalf of the Government, in the absence of the Acting-Prime Minister (Mr Sullivan), who laid the keel when ' construction was begun on November 5.

After a consecration service Lady Newall named the ship, and on the bow she broke a bottle of New Zealand wine. The vessel slid smoothly down the ways into 15 feet of water, and then, with flags fluttering in the breeze, was piloted to a berth at a fitting-out wharf near the yards. The Aroha is the fii’st. of 12 steel vessels that are being constructed in the Dominion, five of which are for the Admiralty, and she is the fourth minesweepei' to be launched.