NEWS OF THE DAY

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 209, 3 September 1941, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Calls to Fire Brigade. During August eight calls were received by the Palmerston North Fire Brigade, the same number as in August last year. The calls were made up te follow: Chimney fires, 3; lire, 1; rubbish fire, 1; maliciously false alarms, 3. Vital Statistics. The vital statistics for Palmerston North for August show that 59 births were registered as against 53 for the corresponding month last year. The deaths totalled 48 compared with 29, and the figures for marriage certificates issued are 25 and 32 respectively. Five marriages were performed by the registrar in his office. Masters of English. More often, writes Mr. Ivor Brown, it is the thud of the single syllables than the roll of a fuller style which prevails. “If there be anyone that makes many poor to make a few rich, that suits not a Commonwealth.” What modern leveller with all his proletarian* jargon of liquidating middle-class ideology ever improved on this suberb simplicity of Oliver Cromwell’s? It is a quality which Mr. Churchill achieved in his description of our debt to the Royal Air Force. Accordingly, tho&e who would learn English can do so from the New Prime Minister or the old Protector. Helping Airmen Home. An instrument which has proved valuable to airmen is the combined radio compass and homing device manufactured by Amalgamated Wireless. This is a relatively small instrument, carried on plane, and operated by the pilot. As a compass, it enables the pilot to fix the exact diredtiontion of radio impulses, coming from any station on the air. By taking, the directions of two stations, he can plot his precise position on his chart, regardless of weather conditions. Also, he can use the instrument for homing, flying directly toward or away from a station. Maoris Doing Fine Work A plea for better chances of promotion for Maori factory workers was made at the annual meeting of shareholders of the Kaupokonui Co-operative Dairy Company, Ltd., by Mr. D. Murpliv, who paid a. tribute to the fine work being done by Maori factory hands and advocated the removal of anomalies that prevented their promotion. ‘‘ It was the Maori who got us out of a hole last season by doing a great job of work in our factories,”

said Mr. Murphy. “Their grouch is that they have no prospects of promotion.

Hospital Porter’s Invention Expected to prove a substantial benefit to hospitals and to return good profits to its inventors, a devise to produce plaster bandages in a few moments has been perfected at New Plymouth. It has caused considerable interest among members of the medical profession. The invention introduces to gauze bandages in a few moments and in one , operation the required amount of ground plaster to convert the plain bandage into one suitable for medical plaster work. The machine distributes the plaster evenly and thoroughly on the entire length of tho bandage, and is adapted to deal with all standard widths at the same Tate of speed. Formerly, the addition of the plaster was done by hand in a long process that required continuous smoothing out of the bandage and spreading by fingertips. Nurses stood at tables taking the plaster in handfuls from a bulk supply, sifting it’ over the exposed surface section by section, and rolling the prepared material again.