Local and General

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 April 1943, Page 4

Local and General

A suspected case of infantile paralysis was reported at Greymouth to-day, a child oi _ si years. This is the second case in Greymouth in the past 11 days, the other being a positive case.

A dry spell at Whangarei extending approximately four months, was broken on Wednesday night, since when heavy ram, accompanied by high wind reaching gale force last night, has continued, though it slackened considerably to-day—P.A. The Army Board may from time to time order or authorise the temporary employment of members of defence forces in agricultural work or other work of urgent national importance, according to an amendment to the Defence Emergency Regulations issued last night. The amendment also provides that while this order continues in force it shall be the duty of members of defence forces to obey xhe commands by superior officers in relation to such employment.—P.A.

“The Royal New Zealand Air Force can set an excellent example for the Americans, said the “News-Chronicle” war correspondent in the South-west Pacific (Mr. Patrick Maitland), speaking at Christchurch yesterday of the part being played by New Zealanders under General MacArthur s command. “The New Zealand pilots are oi the very best. It is a pity that they have not got better machines, and that they have not been given a greater opportunity to take the air offensive over to the Japanese,” he said. There was a great demand for New Zealand navigators, Mr. Maitland said. Where some other countries had turned out par dyexperienced men who sometimes erred under lombat conditions, the New Zealand navigators had a world-wide reputation for their thorough training and deadly accuracy.

The National War Savings Scheme has been revised in the direction of reducing the quota for individual districts and the national objective from £5,000,000 to £4,000,000 per annum, to bring the achievement of the quota within the reach of many individual towns. As a result, Greymouth’s weekly quota has been reduced from £622 to £497, and this morning the flag was flown on the Chief Post Office to indicate fulfilment, £499/3/4 having been received up till that time. The annual quota for Greymouth will be £25,844. The revised weekly and annual quotas for the Greymouth postal district are: Blackball, £52, £2704; Brunnerton, £5O, £2600; Hokitika, £l7O, £8840; Ikamatua, £l6, £832; Jackson’s Bay, £l2, £624; Kumara, £3l, £1612; Moana, £6, I £312; Ngahere, £9. £468; Otira, £l4. £728; Reefton, £B3, £4316; Ross, £32, £1664; Runanga, £lOl, £5252; Stillwater, £9, £468; Waiuta, £35, £lB2O. The district quota is now £lll7 a week and £58,084 a year.

New Zealand has accepted an invitation to send a representative to the conference to be held in the United States on April 27 to discuss post-war food problems. This was announced yesterday by the Prime Minister (Mr Fraser). —P.A. Applications for release from camp have been made so far by half a dozen West Coast youths aged 18 or 19 in accordance with the new provision. They desire to enter various occupations, by no means all being associated with the farming industry. It is expected that they will report to the District Manpower Officer at Greymouth within a few days.

At least five cases will come before a sitting in Greymouth shortly of the Christchurch Manpower Committee. Two of them are appeals by firms (one a Hokitika bakery and the other a Greymouth drapery firm) against direction of female employees to war work in the North Island), and three are by employees of a Government department, an engineering establishment, and. a cake shop against direction to war undertakings.

The annual meeting of St. Paul’s Men’s Fellowship took place last evening, with a lair attendance. The vice-president (Mr W. A. Judkins) presided. The following were sleeted to office: —Patron, Mr R. J. Williams (re-elected); president, Mr W D. Panckhurst; vice-presi-dent, Mr Judkins (re-elected); secretary-treasurer, Mr F. Lindbom elected); committee, Messrs S. H. Sofield, F. Trainor,' L. Shuker, and J D. Watson. A roster of duties ioi the care of the church grounds was adopted and an offer by Mr Shuker to supply bulbs was accepted with thanks. ,

“Church, Community and State’ is to be the subject of a conference of the Churches of New Zealand to be held early in 1944. The national committee of the Campaign for Christian Order, at a meeting in Wellington, decided to set up a commission to prepare for it. The commission, which will be widely representative of Christian thought and opinion, will be estabished in a number of subdivisions throughout the country. The conference is expected to give an .i n " dication of the trend of the united Churches’ thought on social, political, and economic problems.

A new procedure, effective from yesterday, has been arranged by the Dominion Oil Fuel Controller for granting servicemen returned from overseas service their allowance oi 10 gallons of petrol, says a statement issued by the New Zealand Returned Services’ Association. To avoid any abuse of this privilege and thus conserve the available supplies of petrol and tyres, arrangements have been made by the Controller with the association by which local secretaries of the association will certify to the bona fides of applicants, and each application is to receive the endorsement of the local association secretary before it is presented to the subdistrict oil fuel controller. In smaller centres where there is no branch oi the association, applications may be made direct to the local oil fuel controller. —P.A.

Don’t miss the dog show at Victoria Park to-morrow (Saturday).—Advt.

Recent Ministerial statements have indicated that in future abandoned motor vehicles left in streets and roadways over a considerable time may be confiscated by the local bodies in whose districts they are abandoned. An amendment to the Motor Vehicles Registration Emergency Regulations, gazetted last night, now authorises this course, and states that a local authority may seize and remove any motor vehicle in its district if it appears that that vehicle has been abandoned by the owner and either that it is unregistered or that no license to use it has been issued for the current year. Every precaution is to be taken by local bodies to find and protect the interests oi owners of vehicles by the insertion of advertisements. —P.A.

Fresh oysters to-morrow morning at Preston’s Fish Shop, Tainui Street. —Advt.

The Postmaster-General (Mr Webb) has announced that from today the airgraph service hitherto available in New Zealand mainly lor messages addressed to members of the forces in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East, will be extended to provide for the acceptance of messages addressed to civilians in- the United Kingdom. London advice indicated, said Mr Webb, that airgraph mails from New Zealand for the United Kingdom took on the average 19 days in transmission, and in view of this it was felt that the decision to accept messages for civilians without restriction would be welcomed by the New Zealand public. The Minister.added that the extension of the service would coincide with the introduction of an airgraph service (for messages for both the armed forces and civilians) from the United Kingdom to this Dominion.—P.A.

Fresh Oysters arriving to-morrow (Saturday) mormng at Preston’s. — Advt.

An increase of 20 per cent, in production from the Waikato coalmines since the strike, which was followed by the State taking control of the mines for the duration of the war, was reported last evening by the Minister of Mines (Mr. Webb), at Auckland. The produclion from the mines last week was 18500 tons, compared with 16,000 tons before the State took control, said Mr. Webb. There was no suggestion of labour trouble, and everything was working smoothly. The board of management set up was doing excellent work. Referring to the handling of ships’ cargoes, Mr. Webb said that United States representatives had informed him that they had never seen better work than on the waterfront in Mew Zealand. Questioned on the work being done at the Dobson mine, recently purchased by the State, Mr. Webb said much development work, involving driving, ■was being carriec out. It would take time, but the progress was’ satisfactory.

All proceeds from the sale of Art Union tickets for the Section this week will be dezoted solely to Prisoners of War parcels. You are asked to buy an extra ticket this weekend. Sellers will be out as usual. Don’t wait to be asked.—Advt.

A request that the religions of patients in the Wellington Hospital should be records! on the head cards on each bed has not been agreed to by the Board. In iis report the medical superintendeit, Dr. J. Cairney, said: “I believe that some time ago it was the practice in this hospital, in common with many other hospitals, for the patent’s religion to bo recorded on the lead card. In the Wellington Hospittl the practice was abandoned several years ago, and as far as I can ascertain the decision to abandon it was arived at because a certain proportion,of patients had very definite objeitions to their religion being recorced in this manner and in a situation jvhere it was open to the view of all vsitors to the ward. My own opinion in this matter is that the wishes ?f patients, even though it may be inly a minority of patients, should hive priority over the wishes of offical visitors. I further believe that the wishes of a patient in a pubic hospital are as much entitled to ccpsideration in this respect as the wisles of a patient in a private hospitalJ

The Cobden Hotel has been sold by Mrs I. O’Donnell to Mr R. J. Marshall, of Christchurch.

At a meeting of the trustees of the Watkins Medal Fund, Mr A. M. Jamieson, of Greymouth, was appointed to succeed the late Mr G. E. Perkins, as one of the three trustees.

Although only fair patronage is being accorded the Midland express at present, the Greymouth-Christ-church rail-car service is busy. The double-unit car which will leave Greymouth this evening is fully booked with 120 fares, and the singleunit car which will run to-morrow evening is also booked out.

Recent announcements indicated that the system of inspections under the Price Tribunal was to be extended with the appointment ,of additional staff to enforce the regulations. So far an appointment has not been made at Greymouth and there is a probability that the regulations will be administered by the officials m Christchurch.

Fat stock traffic from the West Coast to Canterbury, which had appeared to be declining, this week showed a substantial inc L ea ? e ; eo r total of 87 trucks were railed (63 of sheep and lambs and 24 of cattle), an increase of 19 on last week s consignment. An average of 300 tons oi Westport coal a day has also been railed.

Hats that will be a smart contribution to your Autumn wear. Call and see our new collection; you will like it White’s Corner, Your Fashion Centre.—Advt.

Nursery Squares, 30 x 30, twill back, flannelette squares, British make, only a limited supply, 31/6 doz. at C. Smith’s.—Advt.

Pardon me, Madam, “Have you the time?” Have you the time to do all you would like to do in civilian defence, Red Cross work and other war activities. Thinik what you could accomplish with one extra day each week by using our Laundry Service. Think of the freedom, too, from that weekly drudgery of home laundering. You’ll save not only time but energy, and most important, your health. Hanging clothes in a cold, windy yard is risky at this time of the year. Your clothes will benefit, too, we know exactly what temperature, what suds and what method to use for each type of fabric and colour. You’ll find your white things whiter, your coloured things brighteu - .— Westland Laundry Ltd. ’Phone 136. Depot, 27 Albert Street. —Advt.