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Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 128, 1 May 1941, Page 6

Petrol Coupons Stolen

Petrol coupons representin'! 2640 gallons were among the proceeds of a burglary at a service station in Rotorua on Sunday evening. A Good Record. The town clerk reported to the Tauranga Borough Council, this week, that rates totalling £11.068 have been collected, leaving £165 outstanding. This is 98.53 per cent., compared with 98.07 per cent, last year. Free Fishing and Shooting. Provision has been made by the Government to grant free fishing and shooting facilities in Rotorua to any of the sick and wounded men of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force who returned to the Dominion on Tuesday and who may he in Rotorua for convalescence. —Press Association. “Can.iot be Beaten.” “Anybody who has been in London since the blitz began knows that the British Empire cannot be beaten,” said Mr W. S. Boas, a Dutch journalist who has arrived in New Zealand. Mr Boas, who is president of the Netherlands Publishing Corporation, a concern that publishes Free Netherlands newspapers in Britain and the United States, will spend some time here before continuing to the Netherlands East Indies. Hospital Levies Rise An increase of approximately 30 per cent, in the rates levied oil local authorities was approved at a meeting of the North Canterbury Hospital Board at which a budget of £412,000 was adopted. It was claimed that in spite of the sharp rise the board’s rate would still as in the past compare favourably with those of other boards. The total levy on local bodies will be £124,002 11s 7d compared with £95,097 received last year. The subsidy to be received from the Government is, £131,754, compared with £50,009 last year.

“Flying Fortress” Pilot. The honour of flying the first of the Boeing “Flying Fortresses” for service with the Royal Air Force across the Atlantic, it is revealed, belongs to a To Kuiti airman, Pilot-Officer V 7. A. Pedersen, Royni Air Force. Early in the war PiloCOfficcr Pedersen served with the Coastal Command in command of a Lockheed Hudson bomber and took part in actions over Norway, France, Germany and Italy. For the two months before making the initial flight in the Boeing bomher lie was in Canada and underwent a special course at the Boeing factory in California. National Savings Competition. For the first fortnightly period in the second stage of the national savings flag competition, several changes in leading towns arc recorded as at April 23. The changes disclosed are: Auckland district, Ruawai replaces Whitford; Blenheim district, Seddoii replaces Ward; Hamilton district, Rotorua replaces To Anga; Invercargill district, Edendalc replaces Waikaka; New Plymouth district, Stratford replaces Awakino; Palmerston North district, Pongaroa replaces Weber; Wellington district, Feathcrston replaces Alfredton. Troops From Overseas. Advice was received by the Mayor (Mr A. E. Mansford) at 12.20 p.m. yesterday that several soldiers from overseas who have been invalided home would arrive in the city that day from Wellington. The .Mayor met the train then arriving, but was unable to find the men referred to, there being a large number of Territorials oil the station platform at the time. Arrangements were made for the attendance of the Garrison Band, but although Mr Mansford also met the expresses to Now Plymouth and Auckland ho could not make contact with tlie returned men. Red Cross Amenities.

"1 look forward to tlie time when we will have our own building with suitable lecture hall, practice, equipment, and sewing rooms, etc,” said the president (Mr A. R. McKegg) at the annual meeting last evening ot the Palmerston North branch of tlie Red Cross Society. “No more worthy cause exists than helping our people to help themselves intelligently in an emergency, and to devote their leisure time even when no emergency is hanging over their heads to acquiring a knowledge of themselves. We will strive to this end, and who knows but. what some Andrew will find the lad with the loaves and the fishes.”

Good Trout Catches. Three fish over IGI 1> were taken in Lake Taraweru (Rotorua) at the weekend. The heaviest, was. one of 181 b. and the others 1711) and IC.JIb. The latter was a particularly fine specimen 32in in length. Award to a Boy Sco it. The bronze cross of the Bov Scouts Association lias been awarded posthumously to .Ronald Eke, aged 15, of Essex, who, while pinned under tons of debris with, both his legs and arms j I crushed, gave information regarding j the whereabouts of other occupants oi the houses. Train Delayed. Because of engine trouble the Limited express from Auckland which is due to reach Palmerston North at 6.55 a.m. did not arrive to-day until 8.ill) a.m. Consequently the express from Palmerston North to Napier did not wait to receive passengers from the north, though it was held back for 82 minutes. Ten Women Police. The appointment oT women police was announced last night by the Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. P. Eraser) who is also Minister in Charge of Police. Ten are to be appointed for a start. Wellington and Auckland will each have three and Christchurch and Dunedin two each. 'The women selected will first be given a three months’ course of training starting on June 2, and | will servo in h probationary capacity before being considered for permanent appoinment. Famous Portsmouth Hotel Destroyed. Among the buildings destroyed by fire in a recent raid on Portsmouth, was the George Hotel, one of the oldest hostelries in the city. It was at the George that Lord Nelson breakfasted oil (September 14, 1805, before embarking in H.M.S. Victory, in which he lost his life five weeks later at Trafalgar. The fire gutted the building, including the Nelson room, in which there was a four-poster bed. A plaque on the wall of the hotel recording Nelson's association with the place was I one of the few historical features saved from the flames. 1,000,000 Germans in Belgium.

It is estimated in Belgian circles in London that there are now 1,000,000 Germans, military and civilian, in Belgium. Reports available on the billeting of troops in private houses are taken to indicate that the Germans are constantly bringing reinforcements to Central Belgium and to Elanders. Throughout the country, and particularly oil the coast, the Germans enforce the black-out with extreme severity, firing without hesitation at any window that shows the merest glimmer of light round the edge of a curtain. In spite of air alerts and privations, the population have not lost their courage. A letter recently received in a free country from one of these Belgian coast-dwellers ended with the words: “Just as in 1914-IS, on les aura.” Matches in Mail.

An outbreak of fire in a mailbag which was being loaded on the steamer Araliura at Nelson on the night of April 2 resulted in the appearance of Karecm Elias Alexander before Mr H. J. Dixon, S.M., in the Dunedin Police Court on a charge of having posted a packet containing a substance likely to injure other postal matter. Detective-Sergeant Hall said mail which was being loaded at Nelson for French Pass was noticed to be smouldering, and investigation disclosed that two boxes of wax vestas enclosed in a parcel posted at Dunedin by defendant to his son had caught alight. Defendant told the Court that ho was unaware lie was breaking a regulation by sending matches through the |iost, and the Magistrate, accepting his explanation, fined him £2 with costs 10s.