NEWS OF THE DAY

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 222, 18 September 1943, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Mortality Among Lambs One of the most calamitous results of the rocent period of heavy rain in Hawke’s Bay is the high mortality rate in the birth of lambs. The spell of rain came when the lambing season was in its height and farmers report that the percentage of deaths is one of the highest for many’ years. Suspected Burglar itemanaea John Albert Duncan, labourer, aged 20, of Wellington, appeared before Mr. H. I’. Lawry, S.M., at the Palmerston North Magistrate’s Court' yesterday charged witn being a rogue and vagabond. He had been iouud in the Square m possession of house-breaking equipment which included a plumber ’s chisel and 33 keys. On the request oi Senior-Sergeant Mclntyre, Duncan was remanded to Monday, September 20. Plant Root Crops “It is absolutely necessary for people to make use of ©very bit of laud they have available to plant root crops,” said the supervising officer ot the Department of Agriculture, Mr. F. M. Talbot, at Wanganui. 4 * There is every possibility that there will be a shortage of these vegetables, as large supplies are required lor the feeding ol Allied troops here and in. the Pacific. Anyone who plants even a small piece of ground will find it very advantage ous later.” Embarrassing A correspondent vouches for the following: In a country town the Mayor has sons who have expressed conseieu tious objections to military service. The other day when on his way to the centre of the town the Mayor gave a lift to u soldier recently' returned from the Middle East. As the car pulled up at the Post Office a local resident rushed up to the Mayor and said, “I’m so pleased to see one of your boys back from the front!’’ The Mayor was speechless. Customer’B Retort

A sign of the times is the disinclination on the part of some traders to sell goods which are scarce except to regular customers. That this attitude can be more or less countered by the con sumer was proved in Dunedin by a lady' who entered a tobacconist’s shop to which was attached a hairdressing salon and asked for cigarettes. She had with her a young boy, and when the shopkoeper informed her that ho had no cigarettes just then, she turned to the youngster and said sharply: “Come on, Allan, you’ll not get your hair cut here. ’ ’

Unappreciated Zeal Country children in Southland put in a tremendous lot of energy inspired by patriotic zeal, in collecting old tyres. Now the tyres have become a nuisance. The senior inspector of the Southland Education Board has reported that the tyres collected during the drive for waste rubber are still chutering up the sheds of country schools, and there seems to be no organised scheme to collect them. “If the people who so urgently wanted the rubber don’t take it we should tell the school committees to get rid of it. They cau’t be allowed to clutter up school sheds iu this way,” said Mr. S. Rice, chairman of the board. A member explained that it did not pay to shift the old tyres by road or rail.

Swept Through Pipe Swept by flood waters through an outlet pipe iu the weir of the Central Park swimming pool, a Whangarei Borough Couucil employee, Mr. A. O. Robinson, escaped with shock and a wetting. He was clearing driftwood and wreckage from a blocked pipe when he fell from the top of the weir So great was the force of the flood waters, which had risen quickly with the morning’s deluge of rain, that Mr. Robinson was pinned against the w’eir with his head only just clear of the water. Fellow-employees attempted to drag him out, but he disappeared under water, reappearing a few seconds later on the other side of the weir, having been carried through the outle t pipe. He was able to wade ashore without assistance. “Security” “Security” was the subject upon which Mrs. Linda Bennett addressed the Palmerston North Citizens’ Lunch Club yesterday, Dr. F. G. Scott presiding. Insecurity arose, she said, both from natural agencies, such as earthquakes and weather conditions, and from human agencies, such as the lust for power and such inequalities as evidenced in the slavery of the past, the holding for so long of women iu subservience to men and inequalities among nations. Thinking of the world as a unit as far as war was concerned must merge into thinking of the world as a unit in times of peace, said the speaker. There would be no security if nations treated thosq opposed to them from the point of view of revenge, and the same principles must be applied by individuals among themselves. She was to have given the talk some months ago, saM Mrs. Bennett, but circumstances had prevented it and she hoped the delay would be pardoned. “Rcformd Speling” 1 ‘ I hoep teecherz wil suun begin to see dhaer iz mor in dhis dhan a meer klus-ruum proceeduer. It iz an international kwostion ov graet importaus. ” This was the postcript to a letter on simplified spelling written by Professor R. Lawson, professor of education in the University of Otago, to the journal of the New Zealand Educational Institute. “One great obstacle to the more rapid diffusion of English, which has a chance of becoming a universal language,” he said, “is our ridiculous spelling. It U said that the spelling rucommended by the Society for Simplified English is ugly, but is ‘woz’ not as pretty as ‘was,’ or ‘kee’ as ‘quay’? Besides, the new spelling brings out the difference between ‘th’ in ‘thin” and ‘th’ in ‘than’—for example, ‘thin,’ ‘dhan.’ It is also said that the, new spelling would disguise the ‘roots,’ but what do children know of ‘roots’? They learn English ns Eng■lish, not as a partial derivative from Latin.”