GENERAL NEWS TOUR BY JET-PROPELLED AIRCRAFT

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 March 1946, Page 6

GENERAL NEWS TOUR BY JET-PROPELLED AIRCRAFT

In connection with the itinerary of the Gloster Meteor Mark Illi jet aircraft which is to commence jits' New Zealand tour to-morrow, it is officially stated by the Air Department that this itinerary was a provisional one only and may be advanced or retarded considerably. The organisation for a tour of this nature is considerable and while a servicing party will be travelling ahead of the aircraft only a limited number of spare parts are at present available. Accordingly inspection delays may occur, but the areas previously mentioned will eventually be covered. —(P.A.)

School Teams Leave for City. Members of the Greymouth Technical High School’s senior cricket and tennis- teams left by special bus this morning for Christchurch, and tomorrow will play their annual matches with teams from the West Christchurch High School. The party numbered 27, including the Principal, Mr. W. M. S.tewart, Miss M. E. Ray, who is in charge of the girls’ tennis teams, and Mr. A. L. Litt, who is in charge of the cricketers.

National Savings Successes. Last week 271 places, a record number in the present national savings year, were successful in obtaining their weekly quotas. The Blenheim, Greymouth, Napier, Nelson, Oamaru, Timaru and Westport districts had the distinction of every office recording a quota success. All the principal centres reached their objectives and every postal district in the Dominion subscribed its full quota. Investments are being well maintained and regular week-by-week savings for the month of February amounted to £352,000.

Sales Tax on Prams.

At the annual meeting of the New Zealand Perambulator and Wickerwork Manufacturers’ Federation, held in Wellington, the president, Mr. A. Thompson of Auckland commenting on the prices of prams, said that manufacturers’ wholesale and retail prices were rigidly controlled by the Price Tribunal. Sales tax had an importantbearing on the retail selling price of prams, each pram bearing sales tax at the rate of 20 per cent. This meant that at the present range of selling prices the sales tax on each pram sold was between £l/10/- and £2 which is a heavy imposition on parents. Trolley Buses for Dunedin.

The Transport Committee of the City Corporation has now practically completed its loan schedule covering the cost of the switch-over of the city transport system from tramcars to trolley buses. The project will involve an expenditure of £650,000. With the approval of the City Council the scheme will be placed before the Loans Board and a poll of the ratepayers will then be taken. If the scheme is endorsed, it will result in a preliminary order for 70 buses being placed in Britain. —(P.A.)

Beetle Menace in Forests. “There is a beetle destroying our forests, particularly the birch,” said Cr. V. Dellavoda at the monthly meeting of the Buller County Council. Plantations from Punakaiki to Matai, and in the Maruia valley, were infested with this pest, which was a definite menace, he added. He visualised trees dying and then fire spreading through the dried up forests. If such a fire covered the Buller Gorge coal seams the disaster would be a national one, he said. His motion that the notice of the Commissioner of State Forests, Mr Skinner, and the Cawthron Institute be drawn to the menace was carried. Cr. J. H. Powell said he did not know whether to blame the opossums or the new beetle, but he had noticed that the mountain rata had disappeared from the district.

Mass will be celebrated on next Sunday, March 24, at Moana, 8 a.m., and at Paroa, 10 a.m.—Advt.

All residents of Greymouth Borough are invited to a public meeting in Harkers Lounge to-night (Wednesday), at 7.30, to discuss the matter of rates payable in the Borough, with the idea to forming a ratepayers’ association to protect and secure the wise use of those same monies. The meeting has been convened by R. P. Chibnail, S. R. Hood, C. K. Morel and A. Agnew. Whether you pay rates personally, or indirectly through paying rent, come along. We urge all to take an interest in what is going on in your town. —Advt.

Ladies’ Interlock Pyjamas in Flesh, Nile and Azure. Collar, pintucked bodice and long sleeves, S.W. and W. 29/6.—C. Smith Ltd.—Advt.