Forgotten Money.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 43, 20 January 1942, Page 4

Forgotten Money.

During the last eight years deposits

totalling £36.000, which have lain for a quarter of a century in the New Zealand Post Office Savings Dank, and have remained unclaimed at the end of that period, have been passed over to the Treasury as a contribution to the Consolidated Fund. Mohammedan New Year.

Yesterday marked the beginning of the Mohammedan year 1361. The starting point of the Mohammedan chronology is the flight from Mecca to Medina of the Prophet, but the calendar is a complicated onc i n that lunar as well as solar reckoning is used, hence the Mohammedan year docs not always contain the same number of days. Van Driver’s Escape. The driver of a small goods delivery van had a narrow escape from serious injury in a collision with a motor-car at the intersection of Fitzherbert Avenue and Ferguson Street yesterday afternoon. The right-hand door and running-board ot the van were seriously damaged, a spoke in the steering wheel was broken and glass from the windscreen scattered on the roadway, but the driver was able to emerge unhurt. The other vehicle was slightly damaged. Food Parcel Ban.

No change has been announced in the present arrangements for sending parcels from New Zealand to troops overseas. According to a cablegram received from London the Government, to save shipping space, has banned the sending of tood parcels to British and Allied troops, navy personnel and civilians in home or ioroign waters. However, the Now Zealand Post and Telegraph Department has not received any inquest from the United Kingdom to fall into line with the new British scheme. Home Guard Service. The fact that the Home Guard is an armed force lor the purposes oi the National Service Emergency Regulations is made clear in an amending regulation, which states that the military obligations of any member of an armed force shall prevail over any civil obligations, even when the person is in one of the “essential” industries. In explaining the difference between essential and reserved occupations, the Prime Minister did not mention the Home Guard, an.T perplexity was aroused among some of its members. Collapse of Copra Market Conditions brought about by the collapse of the copra market are having an effect on the life of the people in many villages, states Rev. C. T. J. Luxton, of Fiji, .in the Methodist Times. Usually a number of young men are away working oil plantations and their earnings come back to the villages. With tho closing down of some plantations and the curtailing of the staff of others, large numbers of young men have been left without work. Others who have been working for years have been returned to their villages, so that a greater number of men than usual arc now found in the villages. The lack of income has thrown the native back on his resources, and after many years of easy access to trade stores this is causing hardship. Hospital Staffing. In the course of a report from the emergency committee of the Palmerston North Hospital, received by the board yesterday, it was stated that all Territorials were being released and with the additional work necessary it would not be possible for all staff to get the full annual leave that is due to them, especially where annual leave is at present in areas. It was agreed that mutual arrangements should be made with individual officers at present due for annual leave to forgo portion of the leave which is due and accept payment in lieu thereof, the balance of the holiday to be arranged for as soon as the work will permit, It was reported that owing to the rapid depletion of the male staff due to the Territorial call-up. it would be necessary to endeavour to secure the services of further women to take over various types of work in the immediate future.

Auckland Raid Shelters

A scheme to provide deep air raid shelters for more than 20,000 people in tunnels under Albert Park and Constitution Hill is to be submitted to the Government through the Public Works Department by the Auckland City Council and the Auckland central committee of the Emergency Precautions Service. Another Freak Dahlia.

An unusual pink dahlia has been grown in the garden of Mrs W. JDavis, Jones’s Line, ltongotea. The stalk is of about normal length, though very thick, and resembles two stalks joined in one. A horizontal bloom appears about a foot up the stalk, but about three inches further up a second bloom, this time horizontal, appears. It thus produces a novel effect, the second bloom appearing to sit on the first.

Deep Shelters Rejected. “If it is considered necessary for members of the Cabinet to have a deep air raid shelter dug for them in Wellington, surely it is necessary for all of us to have deep shelters dug lor us,” said a questioner at a meeting held in Christchurch. The city engineer pointed out that it would be necessary to go down 40 ft to prepare such shelters, and that the objections to such a scheme ought to be obvious to all citizens. London had not got completely bomb-proof shelters, he said, and New Zealand would not have them either. The intention was to provide protection from splinters and blast.

Y.M.C.A. War Prisoners. The authorities in Germany are apparently allowing Y.M.C.A. secretaries to continue their work even though they themselves are prisoners. In a letter received by the national office of the Y.M.C.A. from Mr J. Ledger wood, formerly- seeretary of the Hamilton Y.M.C.A., he writes: “Greetings! Still keeping the flag flying. Our work is much appreciated. The world office Y.M.C.A. representative visited us ( last week; doing fine educational work. We are always thinking of our New Zealand movement a.nd anxious for its success m the home country. Many New Zealanders are here and all arc well and setting a splendid example to all.’