NEWS OF THE DAY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22730, 31 August 1948, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Motuhora Lad InjuredWhen he jumped from a moving truck at Motuhora yesterday, lan Hooper, aged 17, fell and received injuries which necessitated his removal to the Cook Hospital. He was reported to be fairly comfortable this morning.

Gisborne-Opotlki in li Days The appearance of two young women in unusual attire in Church street on Wednesday afternoon attracted a lot of attention, reports the Opotiki News. They were the two young women who left Gisborne on Tuesday morning to "hike" to Opotiki via the Coast scenic highway. infectious Diseases Eleven cases of infectious disease were notified in the East Cape health, district for the week ended at noon yesterday. There was one case of scarlet fever, one of diphtheria and nine of pulmonary tuberculosis. One death occurred from non-pulmonary tuberculosis and one from pulmonary tuberculosis. White Mudguards. The painting of bicycle mudguards provided an extensive task for Mr. K*. Petrowski, the Hawke’s Bay Automobile Association’s patrol officer at Hastings, recently. His total reached 1187 machines. Mr. Petrowski visited at the schools with his paint and brush, and every cycle which was not already painted was treated. Savings Quotas Obtained.

Each of the 11 quota offices in the Gisborne postal district obtained their weekly national savings quotas for the week ended August 28. Investments for the week totalled £1699, £IOO6 of this sum being invested in- Gisborne and £307 in Ruatoria. Waimana, with. £246 was well up for a small office, while £56 was deposited at Tolaga Bay. Fish Oil Industry

The production of New Zealand’s fish liver oil industry has reached about 2,000,000,000 units of vitamin A a year, states the annual report of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. It adds that research on mole, cular distillation of fish oils has been maintained, and has led to further development of this relatively new industry. Ewe With Six Lambs

Six lambs were born recently to on® ewe on the Marathon station, Seddon, owned by Mr. A. Gunn. Two of tha lambs were found dead owing to tha cold, but Mr. Gunn was able to have the remaining lour. This equals the record of a Shropshire stud ewe owned by Mr, Martin Macale, Methven, in 1931. la this case, however, five of the lambs perished owing to the cold weather pre. vailing at the time. National Savings

In reviewing the progress of national savings, Mr. T. N. Smallwood, chairman of the New Zealand National Savings Committee, stated that over £3,500,000 had been invested sine® April 1 last and that support was being given freely in both the North and South Islands. Eight of the 20 postal districts had exceeded their annual objectives for the current financial year and 175 of the 352 quota towns had been similarly successful. Erosion Survey A large proportion, amounting to .55 per cent of the northern half of the North Island shows little evidence of erosion under present farming methods, according to a erosion survey of the area recently completed. This is stated in the annual report of the Soil Bureau of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. It adds that there is less slip and more sheet erosion in this area compared with the southern half of the island.

Open-Cast Mine Extension Further deposits of high-grade coal estimated to total 600*000 tons are soon to be worked at the Kimihia State open-cast mine, a few miles north-east of Huntly. Coal is still being produced at a rate of about 300 tons a day from the southern half of the first area reclaimed from Kihihia Lake. Before the remaining 90,000 tons are worked out from there it is hoped to have begun mining part of a new area of the lake bed which has been cleared of water behind a stopbank erected last summer. Bowlers’ Sympathy.

Following an expression of deep , regret by the president, Mr- E. E. Somervell, concerning the loss suffered by the death during the year, delegates to the annual meeting, of tha Gisborne-East Coast Bowling Centre stood in silence last evening in token of sympathy with the bereaved relatives of the following members of clubs: Messrs H. S. Briant, J. G Aiton and G. Bennett (Poverty Bay), P. Brady (Kahutia), E. Ward (Matawai), and P. G. Burton (Ruatoria).

Code of Distress Signals A distress code of 19 symbols by which airborne assistance can be summoned by persons on the ground has v been adopted for search and rescua purposes by the civil aviation branch of the Air Department. Pilots have been advised to make themselves familiar with the symbols in case they should be forced down in areas where airborne assistance would be of value. Letters form the basis of the code and there are other simple symbols which can be laid out with strips of fabric, a parachute, wood or stones. 20,000 on Waiting List.

People going to Britain without full recognition of the difficulty of securing return passages faced disappointment and embarrassment, said the general > manager of the New Zealand Shipping Company, Mr. F. W. Spite, who has returned to the Dominion by air. “I cannot issue too strong a warning to those looking for early passages to tha Dominion,” he said. “It will be two years before all new and reconditioned vessels are in commission. The committee in London is dealing with a waiting list of 20,000. but it will take years to overtake it.”

Kauri Gum Digging Uneconomic The death knell of North Auckland’s kauri gum industry, which is again in sore straits after enjoying a short-lived period of properit.y duringjthe war. is believed to have been sounded by the Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr. A. H. Nordmeyer. In a letter to Mr. S. W. Smith (Opposition-Hobson), who made representations for a higher guaranteed price Op behalf of the gum diggers, the Minister states that economic assistance from the Govern-; ment cannot be justified and suggests that the men might be better employed in other occupations.

Radio On Fire Engines A decision to equip the No. 1 fire engine with two-way radio telephone communication has been made by tha Auckland Metropolitan Fire Board. The superintendent. Mr. W. L. Wilson, said it was hoped eventually to equip all the machines with radio telephones. They would increase the efficiency of the brigade and reduce running costs. The set to be installed had passed strenuous tests. It would cost £2OB, Advice has been received that a turntable escape ladder ordered by tha board has left Liverpool for New Zealand. Wet-Weather Construction.

Complaints submitted by the Opotiki Chamber of Commerce regarding the state of the highway through the Wai- 1 mana Gorge in recent weeks were dealt with in a letter received at tha chamber’s latest meeting from Mr. O. G. Thornton, district engineer at Hamilton. Mr Thornton stated that it would not have been possible to suspend construction work there during the winter, as the job had to be kept going to absorb off-season labour. However, little construction work had been nossible during the past three months, as plant and man-power had been reauired to clear slips and keep the road open. The engineer pointed out that consolidation of sub-grade and base course of metalling was more effective during winter months than in dry weather. Most of the trouble ex-pt-rienved this year was due to the exceoh'onnl rainfall, the volume gauged » nearly GOin. up to dale, v/itn an average annual fall of 51 in.