Thought For To-day.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 99, 26 March 1942, Page 4

Thought For To-day.

Duty makes us do tilings noli, but love makes us do them beautifully.— Phillips Brooks. Watersiders’ Earnings.

Following arc the average weekly earnings of A grade waterside workers employed by the "Wellington Harbour Board" in recent weeks: "Week ended February 3, £l3 9s 9d ; February 10, £lO 8s 'Bd; February 17, £ll 3s 9d; February 24, £l4 Is' 4d. Individual Thought and Action.

A plea for the restoration of individual thought and action for the tackling of to-day's problems in pioneer fashion was made by the president of the. Wellington Chamber of Commerce (Mr 11. H- Nimmo), addressing the annual meeting of the chamber. 72,000 Bombed Homes Repaired. Millions of pounds have already been spent in repairing bomb damage done in Britain. In a single week the British building industry made 72,000 homes habitable again, and local councils which have been carrying out "first-aid" repairs now report that tens of thousands of houses have been restored. Gift to Greek People. In the course of a message to the Consul-General for Greece in New Zealand (Mr T. E. Y. Scddon) the Prime Minister says that £SOOO is being donated for the relief of distress in Greece and the Greek Government is being informed that this sum will be handed to the Greek Government by the New Zealand High Commissioner in London.

Railway Workshops' Hours. For some considerable time the railway workshop employees at Lower Hutt had been working a 55-hour week, said Mr R. F. Black, district locomotive engineer, giving evidence before the No. 4A Armed Forces Appeal Board to-day. All ordinary holidays had been suspended for the time being. Witness indicated that the workshops were also engaged in other than railway work and lent men to private firms on occasions to assist in work of national importance. Pioneers of To-day. "To-day we are become pioneers and must square up to our problems in pioneer fashion; we must .'Jcny ourselves the luxury of worrying over peacetime problems: we must attack our difficulties as pioneers," said Mr R H. Nimmo (president) at the annual meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. "Liberty, the right to individual action; freedom, the right to individual thought, we stand not in danger of having these precious gifts taken from us; rather do we stand endangered of giving them away, as did the kiwi the gift of flight."

Locomotive Staff Shortage. Such was the position in regard to a shortage of staff in the locomotive branch of the Railway Department, said Mr R. F. Black, locomotivo engineer with jurisdiction over the Wellington province, giving evidence today before the No. 4A Armed Forces Appeal Boardj that if there were not a falling-off in the volume of traffic soon, applications would have to be made for the release of men from the Army. Only recently the traffic department had had an accumulation of tonnage at Marton and called for two engines to shift it. The engines could not he supplied because the crews had not had the requisite ten hours off duty.

'Ambergris Found. A quantity of ambergris, weighing 601 b, was found oh the beach at Kawhia on Saturday afternoon. A further 251 b was picked up by the same man on Sunday. Women Court Clerks. Women have begun to appear in the Magistrates' Court in Wellington as clerks of court conducting the proceedings. Probably women have never before done this kind of work in New Zealand, and a woman- sitting below a magistrate, calling cases and administering oaths, is a sign of the extent to which the calls for Army service have depleted the numbers of men in civil occupations. Production of Agar.

Among new industries likely to be established in New Zealand as an indirect result of the war is the production of agar, a substance manufactured from certain seaweeds. Agar is chiefly used in the canning of meat, but smaller quantities are urgently required for medicinal purposes and for uso as culture media in hospitals. Some is also used in making confectionery, cosmetics and numerous other products. Keen To Serve.

One of the appeals coming before the No. 4A Armed Forces Appeal Board in Palmerston North yesterday was by a firm engaged in work of national importance, in respect of one of its staff. Because of the nature of the evidence this was heard in camera. At a later stage the reservist enquired what had become of the appeal and raised strong objections to any indefinite adjournment as he was entering the Air Force. The appeal was then dismissed.