Local and General

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 April 1943, Page 4

Local and General

An important engineering effort was completed in Auckland to-day when a 270-ton dock gate for the Calliope Dock was launched Built by local engineers of Australian steel, it cost £22,000, and the work was begun last August. Its length is 85ft, height 45ft, and width 13Mt. —P.A.

The Westport Coal Company’s Millerton mine has been idle since Tuesday. The cause of the trouble is stated to be the interpretation of part of the agreement. Tire Coal Production Council is due to arrive tomorrow.—P.A. #

Timber traffic on West Coast lines jshows no diminution, there being srill at least 1,000,000 super, feet consigned each week. Westport coal traffic to the East Coast is also being maintained at some 300 tons a day. Fat stock consignments, this week, fell to 67 trucks, compared with 87 last week.

A striking memento of the gallant night action fought by two New Zealand corvettes which caused the destruction of a Japanese submarine in the Pacific earlier this year has been brought, back to New Zealand by Mr. Nash. It is the flag, stained and tattered, that was flown by the submarine. The flag measures about nine feet by six feet and was given to Mr. Nash by Captain Holden, who was in charge of the squadron engaged in salvaging parts of the submarine. —P.A.

“It is my opinion that no less than 25 per cent, of the male community patronise the bookmaker, a man. liable on conviction to two years’ imprisonment, and I believe this is largely responsible for the present increase in adolescent crime. The youth sees his elder doing something against the law and boasting- of it. Think of the effect of that on the mind of an adolescent,’ said Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., in an address to the Auckland Justices of the Peace Association. “I believe,” he added, “that the promiscuous way the gaming Jaws of this country are flouted is responsible for the slipping of adolescents—their first little slip, perhaps, in many cases—into a life of crime.” At a conference of Army education officers of the Northern Military District held , to-day it was revealed that in the first two l months of its existence the scheme has been I highly successful. It was reported that 1,200 requests for courses, excluding professional rwudies. have been made and that there have been 56 enrolments at the University. A mobile library service is now visiting over o() posts and in the first week 635 books and 832 novels and magazines were distributed. Three thousand books have been distributed , as library stock to larger units. Officers re- I norted getting excellent co-operation from I Commanders. Educational committees had 1 been organised and there had been no at- . tempt to “sell” the scheme, the voluntary I aspect being emphasised in all enrolments by personal contact ascertaining the exact individual requirements of the men. The demand of the men was spontaneous.—P.A.

After long consideration a twoacre site has been chosen in Auckland for the erection of a vocational training centre for war amputees.— P.A.

“It is, of course, correct that officers of this brigade are saluted. That is a simple courtesy and compliment which has been practised in Wellington for many years,” said the Superintendent of the Wellington Fire Brigade (Mr. A. Woolley).—P.A.

Twenty-one undertakings are listed in the twenty-eight schedule of essential declarations. They include the maintenance and protection of exotic forests, except for workers whose wages are subsidised wholly or in part from Government funds wider Scheme 13.

Sittings of the Armed Forces Appeal Board, Greymouth, have been arranged as follow:—April 14, Reefton; April 15, Westport; April 19, Hokitika; April 20 and 21, Greymouth. All the foregoing sittings will commence at 10 a.m.

The Westland Provincial Patriotic Council decided at a meeting last evening to meet in future only once every two months. Five of those present, Mrs. Shallcrass, and Messrs J. W. Greenslade, W. Green, R. Kelleher, and T. G. Jamieson, voted against the motion contending that the meetings should be held every month as they have been up to now.

Crowds thronged the King Edward Barracks at Christchurch last evening for the final night of the United Nations’ Fair. According to the chairman of the committee (Mr. C. Miln), total receipts from the Miss Victory contest, held in conjunction with the fair, had reached a total of £46,000 last night, and were expected to reach £50,000 when all the accounts were completed. Mr. Miln announced that the Miss Victory contest had been won by Miss New Zealand (Miss Kathleen Davies), with Miss Greece (Mrs. Gladstone Ward) runner-up.

‘This meeting feels that a very grave injustice had been perpetrated in the distribution of the wool payments, and asks that a case be stated before a Judge of the Supreme Court with power to act.” This resolution was carried at a large meeting of farmers at Masterton yesterday. The meeting was addressed by the Minister of Agriculture and of Marketing (Mr Barclay), who claimed that there was absolutely no case for any section of the wool industry demanding that the additional 15. per cent, be paid for local wool. —P.A.

Seventy thousand cases of Nelson’s apple crop will be processed by local factories this year. About 50,000 of these will be canned and another 30,000 dried. With approximately 30,000 bushels which will be pulped, these figures represent about 10 per cent, of Nelson’s total apple crop. Up to March 29 400,000 cases of apples and 47,000 cases of pears had been received at assembly points in the Nelson district. This is about twice the number handled up to the same period last year. An earlier season and a bigger crop account for the increase.

Good progress is being made with the laying of the Erua Moana sewer by the staff of the Greymouth Borough Council. Following the recent completion of the piers, some 250 ft. of piping has been placed in position, being about half the distance to be traversed. Next week probably will witness the completion of the street sealing programme for the present season. Thanks lo the recent fine weather, excellent progress has been made in the business area, and it is hoped to complete the sealing of Mackay Street as far as the corner of Tarapuhi Street during the coming week.

Easter holiday traffic on the Midland line promises to be heavy, if early bookings are any criterion. When the reservations opened at 9 o’clock this morning for the doubleunit rail-car leaving Greymouth on April 22 the seats were all taken within ten minutes. A large quiue formed, and the fact that there were a number of applicants for block reservations added to the speed with which a the accommodation was booked. There is now not even standing room available, the complete quota of 120 ‘journeys” having been claimed. Reservations are also heavy for the special trains in Easier wook.

Approximately £250 is in hand as a result of the sales of tickets in the patriotic raffle for a section in Josephine Street. Greymouth, and though three week-ends will elapse before the raffle closes the remaining efforts will be concentrated into two on account of the intervention of Good Friday. The Committee organising the selling of tickets have found that there has been a fairly good response from citizens but the greatest handicap has been a shortage of sellers. It is hoped to raise between £350 and £4OO from the raffle. In connection with a special drive the Greymouth Municipal Band will play selections in the main streets of the town to-morrow evening.

All proceeds from the sale of Art Union tickets for the Section this week will be devoted solely to Navy na'-cclse You are asked to buy an extra ticket this week-end. Sellers will be out as usual. Don't wait to be asked.—Advt.

“Sufficient wheat samples have been tested to show that the baking quality of the new crop is good and that the difficulty with wholemeals has not recurred this year,” said a i enort to the Wheat Research Committee at Christchurch. “Most of the mills are now using a sufficiently large proportion of the new wheat to enable us to confirm our expectations based on the wheat tests. The flour in 1942, as in the last few seasons, proved to be of satisfactory quality, and only a few cases of difficulty were encountered. Most of these were due to damage to flour held as E.P.S. reserves. On the whole these stocks had withstood storage very well indeed. A feature of the 1942 crop was the relative poorness of the wheats for making wholemeals.

Success marked the national war savings quota operations for the first week of the new financial year, 143 places, including sixteen of the eighteen provincial centres having attained their quotas. Although the number of successes is the highest Recorded for several months, this is pot the only gratifying feature. The fifteen postal districts attained their full district quotas, sufficient surpluses having been recorded at some places to offset deficiencies at others. At Darfield (Canterbury), for example, where the weekly quota is £39, the sum raised last week was no less than £2037 which is £9 in excess of its annual quota. Another notable feature of the week’s operations was the attainment of the weekiv quotas in the Auckland and Christchurch metropolitan areas wh;re for some months the investments ted fallen short of the prescribed amounts. At Christchurch where the weekly quota is £7450, the results were exceptional, investments for the week having exceeded £40,000. A useful gift ter the Forces, or for everyday wear. Ladies’ all wtel Hose in Airforce. Sizes 91” and 10*. 6/9 pair. C. Smith Ltd.—Advt. Moray’s nure wool Cashmer* Hose, expanding tops, double soles. Shad-s: Crispie, mid-grey, gunmetal, 7/3 pair. I also Morley’s Surprise fully-faduoned Hose. Shades: Crispie Pintail, Faur- I elle, Freckle. 10/6 pair. C. Smi;h Ltd. —Advt* \

A miner, Abraham Airns, 26, single, employed at the Liverpool mine, received lacerations to his right hand while at work yesterday afternoon. He was .admitted to the Grey Hospital and was to-day reported to be in a satisfactory condition.

The Hokitika Fire Brigade was called out this morning at 3.45 to an empty house in Fitzherbert Street occupied until a few days ago by Mr. .P. Mulrennan. The place was greatly damaged. The Brigade was called out again some hours later, to quell the flames, which had once more broken out.

The Oil Fuel Controller at Greymouth announced to-day that arrangements have been made whereby owners of motor vehicles to which gas producers are fitted, and which are used solely for private purposes, may now obtain licenses authorising them to procure 2 cwt of char a month. Up till now only 1 cwt. a month has been obtainable.

An endeavour is to be made to promote increased egg production on the West Coast to meet the growing demands in the Dominion. Mr. J. W. McClinchey and Mr. T. Dove, who are Canterbury-Westland representatives on ‘the Poultry Board, will arrive in Greymouth on Saturday and will subsequently visit Hokitika and Westport, addressing meetings on the subject.

Of a pre-war roll of 2817, 972 members had joined the armed forces and 35 had made the supreme sacrifice, stated the report presented to the 64th annual conference of the United Fire Brigades’ Association, in Wellington. The report added that the brigades affiliated to the association had increased by seven, bringing the roll to 163. Gold stars presented during the year totalled 25, bringing the aggregate to 712.

An inquest into the death of Edward Tarling. 32. of Dobson, who died in the Grey Hospital yesterday morning, was opened yesterday afternoon before the Coroner (Mr. G. G. Chisholm, S.M.) and after evidence of identification had been given was adjourned sine die. Deceased received a fracture of the spine in a motor accident near Dobson on March 7. and he had been a patient in hospital since the accident.

Hundreds are viewing and buying White’s Coats. They have a large selection of right up to the minute stvles. You too should call early at WHITE’S CORNER. YOUR FASHION CENTRE.—Advt.