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Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 126, 30 April 1941, Page 6

Theft of Bulbs

Tt was reported -at a meeting of the Hamilton Borough Council that 800 ranunculi bulbs had been stolon from ono of the flower beds in the centre of the town. Soldiers Back Home. Among the 215 members of the 2nd N.Z.E.F., who have been invalided home from England nnd the Middle East, are Gunner T>. M. Andrews (Palmerston North) and Private A. J. H. Fowler (Marton). Savings Bank Grants. At-the annual meeting of tlie Dunedin Savings Bank grants totalling £3OOO were passed, including £ISOO to the Provincial Patriotic Council and £SOO for the provision of soldiers’ comforts. Total grants by the trustees to date are £80,231. Health Stamp Campaign. The proceeds from the sale of health stamps and donations, from October, 1040, to February, 1941, amounted to £80.38, compared with £8390 for the previous year. The amount duo to bo paid to health camp organisations from this year’s campaign is £SOOO. Parcels For Overseas. Tliree main dispatches of unadd reseed gift parcels received through the provincial patriotic councils of the Dominion have been sent overseas for the New Zealand forces by the National Patriotic Fund Board. The number of these parcels sent to date has reached the imposing total of nearly 100.000. New R.S.A. Members. At a committee meeting of the Palmerston North R.S.A. three returned soldiers who had served in the present war were elected to membership. The chairman (Mr B. J. Jacobs) intimated that up to the present timo four returned men of the present hostilities had joined the local branch, and expressed the pleasure felt by all members. Racing In Cairo. Describing a trip to a race meeting in Cairo, Trooper R. M. F. Grr states in a letter to triends, in New Zealand that there was a very cosmopolitan crowd to be seen, and officers mixed with the privates and sailors and airmen. “Out here they have totalisators on which you can invest from 2s to 10s,” continued the letter. “The horses are Arab ponies and the jockeys often wait for each other on the top turn to make a race of it coming down the homo straight.” National Savings Scheme. A decision to support the movement with 100 per cent, membership was made at a large meeting of City Council employees, yesterday, following an address by the district organiser of the National Savings Scheme (Mr E. E. Nansett). On the motion of Mr W. C. Cantlon, it wa6 decided to fully support the movement and over 70 accounts were opened immediately. The meeting was presided over by the Mayor (Mr A. E. Mansford). Youths For Dairy Industry. “That it be a recommendation from this conference that, owing to the difficulty of obtaining suitable labour to carry on the work in dairy factories, the labour regulations should be relaxed during the war period” was a remit carried by the ward conference of Board, held in Palmerston Nortli yesterday. The mover of the remit (Mr S. A. Broadfoot; Levin) said that it more youths by proportion to adult labour could be employed this would be of material assistance. The remit was seconded by Mr W. Gloyn and carried. Supreme Court Sessions. Indications from the list of cases lor hearing at the Supreme Court sessions opening in Palmerston North on Monday (at which His Honour Mr Justice Blair is to preside) are that they will hist about a fortnight. To date, there arc two criminal cases for trial, while two prisoners will come forward for sentence. In the civil list there are two eases for hearing by the Judge and a jury of 12, one to be heard by the *1 u'dgo and a jury of lour, and three to be taken by the Judge alone. Three petitions in divorce are set down for hearing before the Judge and a jury of 12, and three before the Judge alone. Twelve undefended eases are listed. There is one appeal from a Magistrate’s decision and also two originating summonses brought under the Family Protection Act. Cairo's "Traffic Perils. “It is quite an experience to travel in a taxi through Cairo by the ‘Dead City* route,” states a letter received from Trooper R. M. F. Orr, a former resident of Sanson now serving with the 2nd N.Z.E.F. “The drivers are the most reckless in the world and on the road one passes all sorts df vehicles, including old trucks and donkey carts. Not onJy have the drivers to contend with such vehicles, but also children pulling small handcarts, darting from dark, oteoure alleyways straight across the road and missing death by inches. Driving through Cairo by this route is certainly hair-raising, when the taxi conics to a sudden stop or swings and sways, and it is marvellous that more people are not killed.”

A Trip To Palestine. Giving tho details, in a letter of a trip to Palestine, Trooper 15- M. F. Orr, of tlio 2nd N.Z.E.F., states that the carriages were filled with men of the Forces on leave and included Imperial troops, Frenchmen, Poles and Sudanese. So that the New Zealander and liis companion could obtain a little sleep, they made thejr beds on the carriage floor. Dominion Cheese Consumption. Speaking in Palmcrson North, yesterday, the chairman of the Dairy Board (Mr W. E. Hale) said that only between 3000 and 4000 tons of cheese were consumed annually within the Dominion. Therefore, it could r>c' seen that to withdraw cheese from the New Zealand market so that England would secure the maximum amount available would not bring about any material increase in exports. The War For Democracy. Extending a welcome at Wellington last night to Mr W. Holmes, pastpresident of the British Trades Union Congress, the Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) stated: “We know of your work for the toiljng masses of Great Britain and particularly for the agricultural workers. Above all we welcome you as an ambassador not only of the greet trades union movement, but specially as a messenger of the people from Land’s End to John o’ Groats, who are courageously facing up to the cruellest attacks in the front trenches of the war for Democracy.” Physical Welfare. “Reports received recently from physical welfare officers show a wide range of satisfactory progress,” said Hon. W. E. Parry (Minister of Internal Affairs) in a review of the various activities. “The principal work continues to be the training of instructors for units of the Home Guard- and Women’s War Service Auxiliary, but officers have gladly and efficiently helped in the organising and promotion of various recreational projects whenever they were able to spare time for such purposes. In each of three largo districts (Auckland, the central area of the North Island, and Wellington) the total of instructors trained by the department’s officers is about four hundred, who are now qualified to train classes of Home Guardsmen, a total of many thousands. Proportionate progress is being made in other districts.”