HOMELAND AFFAIRS

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 December 1945, Page 8

HOMELAND AFFAIRS

CHRISTMAS SUPPLIES, f.N Z.P.A. 'Special Correspondent..) LONDON, December 5, With loss than three weeks to Christmas people here are beginning to talk turkey. Judging by Sir Ben Smith’s remark: “There is a hell of a black market in turkeys, and I don’t know how to stop it,” quite a percentage of this talk is not above 'board. I It was reported from Norfolk that policemen from now until Christmas , will be on “turkey patrol” to beat turkey rustlers and black marketeers, and that special police reinforpembnts have been drafted to the midNorfolk breeding district, where thousands of prime birds are almost ready for market. As much as £7 and £8 arc being paid by prosperous looking men with small carts and great, rolls of bank notes tor birds which have wasted away and will never be fit to eat. Another intimation -of Christmas is the first arrival of holly at Covent Garden, where, rich in berries, it is selling for a higher price than this time last year. “Useful” numbers of Christmas trees are expected shortly. Prices maintain their genI eral high level, and crackers, when available, are selling for nearly as much as 1/- each. CANDIDATES’ BODYGUARD. LONDON. December 4. The “Daily Herald’s” political correspondent says: The Secretary oi the Labour Party, Mr. Morgan Phik lips, issued a statement last night attacking a pamphlet issued by the Conservative Party. He declared that the Conservative Party leaders must cither explain,-or withdraw it without delay. The correspondent says the pamphlet is addressed to young Conservatives. It tells them that, in addition to acting as stewards at meetings, they can provide, in the times of political excitement, efficient bodyguards for candidates and for other speakers who are liable to receive rough treatment. Thereby they would be helping to keep the peace. The “Daily Herald” adds: Several Labour members of the House of Commons intend raising the matter in the House, saying that the call for bodyguards savours too much of the Hitler-Mussolini political technique. A Conservative Party official told the “Daily Mirror” that it is only one of many suggestions to the young Conservatives on how they could help the Party. He said: “It may never be acted on. It really, is a precautionary measure—a safeguard against rowdy opposition.” GAS INDUSTRY. LONDON, December 4. A non-party committee of inquiry appointed by the Coalition Government in Juno, 1944, submitted a report recommending the nationalisation of the gas industry, which the Labour Government has already announced has been decided on. The committee’s report recommends that the industry should be controlled in regions by boards appointed by the Minister of Fuel. JEWELLERY THEFT. LONDON, December 5. Scotland .Yard’s flying squad is hunting for 1 a jewel gang which carried out the most audacious London gem raid in recent years, says the “Evening News.” The gangsters last evening kidnapped the manageress of a jeweller’s shop, robbed her of the keys, and then left her bound and gagged on Hampstead Heath, while their associates took £20,000 worth of jewellery from the shop safe. AERIAL FREIGHT LONDON, Dec. 4. Another Hermes airliner will be flying probably on January 3 or soon after, said Sir Frederick HandleyPage. commenting on the crash of the prototype. The- “Daily Telegraph’s” aviation con espondent says: The Hermes is not sponsored.by the Brabazon committee. but Handley-Page received a substantial order for Hastings freight carriers, which vary from the Hermes only in the internal layout. VAMPIRE’S NEW SUCCESS LONDON, Dec. 4. De Havilland’s 540 miles an hour Vampire, to-day, became the first wholly jet-propelled aircraft to land on an aircraft-carrier. LieutenantCommander E. M. Brown, M.8.E., D.S.C., R.N.V.R., made four faultless landings and take-offs while H.M.S. Ocean rolled and pitched in a heavy ground swell off the Isle of Wight. The carrier had just been informed the pilot was ordered to remain on a Sussex airfield for more favourable conditions when the Vampire appeared and. swept over the flight deck. The carrier immediately turned into the wind. Brown made a perfect landing at 95 miles an hour. The Vampire stopped in 100 feet. In take-offs the Vampire took off in half the flight deck’s length. FATAL TEST.FLIGHT. LONDON, Dec. 5. The Hermes airliner, which crashed, apparently should not have gone on the test flight, said the Coroner conducting the inquest into the deaths of Handley Page’s chief test pilot and chief technician. The Coroner referred to the evidence of the aerodrome superintendent, who said it had only been in- : ended for the plane to take off from the ground to see if it would be airborne, but the pilot was evidently so confident that he Aew on.