GENERAL ITEMS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 15 June 1940, Page 6

GENERAL ITEMS

For France and Britain “The critical situation urgently demands that we do all we possibly can to help the cause of the Allies,” states the Nelson Ministers’ Association. “Much can be done by prayer. ‘Call upon Me in your hour of need, then I will rescue you,’ saith the Lord. Tomorrow (Sunday) will be observed as a day of national prayer for France and Britain. The Nelson Ministers’ Association would urge everybody to attend some place of worship.” Proclamation Over South Island The flag will be flown at the Chief Post Office, Nelson, on Monday next, which is the hundredth anniversary of Proclamation over the South Island at Cloudy Bay. War-Torn China “In 1937, at the height of the Japanese fighting in the Shanghai area, our company had bombs in the compound and shells in the mills. It was a trying time.” That was the experience of Mr S. Isherwood, of Shanghai, who has arrived on a brief visit to Auckland with his wife and son (says the “Star”). He is an executive of the China Printing and Finishing Company, which launched a new plant in Shanghai in 1934. It is the largest plant of its kind in the East, and performs every process in the manufacture of cotton goods from the raw cotton to the manufactured‘aid dyed article. The company employs a staff of about 50 foreigners and 3000 Chinese. At present, Mr Isherwood said, foreigners in the International Settlement had to co-operate mainly with the Japanese, who were the strongest force now that Britain, was occupied with the war in Europe. The Japanese had a big voice in the conduct of affairs and had proved eminently reasonable. There was a great deal of poverty in China owing to the depreciation of the silver dollar. That was in spite of the fact that substantial inceases in wages had been granted. Motorists as Soldiers There are now over 450 members of the Automobile Association (Auckland) on active service, and for the term that they serve they are exempt from subscription fees. Last month 386 new members were elected to the association making the total membership 35,207, which is stronger by 2586 than at this time last year. There are over 420 members in Fiji. Matches from Singapore A further shipment of safety matches has arrived from Singapore. The shortage of matches is still proving embarrassing to merchants and shopkeepers, and although this consignment will help in a small measure to meet the demand it will not last long when distributed to an eager public. When import licenses for matches, which were recently granted, are operated upon, it is expected that Singapore will be the chief source of supply. An Unimpressive Record “Personally, I found the Italians to be very nice people, but, with the exception of their Alpini troops, which were very good, they were the worst soldiers I have ever seen or heard of,” was the succint summing up of the Italians as a fighting nation by a Dunedin resident who spent a considerable period in Italy during the last war (reports the “Otago Daily Times”). “I arrived in Italy with the Allied Expeditionary Force in time to meet the army in full flight from Caporetto,’’ he said. “They poured past in their hundreds and thousands, stopping only to pillage, and the Allied forces had to get past them as best they could and hold up the enemy advance. The Italians behaved like a mob of sheep without a leader, and although nowadays they may be better trained, I don’t think jt is possible that those sheep have turned into lions.” The Italian penchant for putting on a brave and dashing front when the battle had been won for them by someone else was also mentioned by the informant, who said that during the 18 months he was with the Allied forces in Italy he saw several instances in which the Italians took full credit for work in which they had had little hand. “Whenever we took a small town,” he said, “the Italian troops, which had not been much in evidence during the fighting, suddenly appeared and paraded through the streets as if they alone had been responsible for the victory. If they were certain that a victory was about to be won they joined the fight—and it would appear that this is the main reason why they have decided to declare war on the Allies at the present time—but on other occasions they were very good at running." The conviction that the French forces on the Italian border should have little trouble in dealing with their adversaries was also expressed by the resident, who said that although the Italians were very good with machinery he had so poor an opinion of their fighting qualities that he thought their armoured divisions would prove no match for the French. Taking No Chances The following notice appears on the street windows of a Wellington restaurant: “This restaurant is owned by , who is a Greek. Greece has always been an ally of Britain and France.” Formation Flying Over Wellington The biggest exhibition of formation flying by air force machines to be seen from Wellington took place yesterday when 19 aeroplanes from No. 2 Elementary Flying Training School, Woodbourne, flew over the city in three formations. The main' formation consisted of nine Vincent biplanes, the next of seven Airspeed Oxfords, and the third of three Vincents. Rooftops, balconies and windows were crowded with spectators attracted by the roar of the engines. Most of the pilots were’pupil Dilots, and it was to give the experience in formation flying that the flight was carried out. The accuracy of the manoeuvres as seen from the ground ieffected high credit op the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The calm, sunny day made conditions excellent for the exercise and* the machines made a

spectacular sight as they flew low over the city, with the bright sunshine glinting on the wings and fuselages.