GENERAL ITEMS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 5 December 1940, Page 4

GENERAL ITEMS

School Vacation The Nelson Colleges will break up for the summer vacation on 13th December, re-opening for the first term in 1941 on sth February. Schools in the Nelson Education Board’s area will conclude their year on 18th December, resuming on 3rd February. Two Exhibitions A report that there is little hope of any but a small return on share subscriptions, totalling £ 137,000, from the Centennial Exhibition at which the attendance was 2,641,043, recalls the fact that the total attendance at the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition at Dunedin, which remained open fr m 17th November, 1925, to Ist May, 1926, was 3,200,498. states “The Post’s” Dunedin representative. The capital of the company was £IOO,OOO, and the shareholders received back 16s Id in the £l. The Government subsidy was £50,000, and further assistance by the Government was obtained in the form of a loan of £40,000, but this was repaid early in the exhibition period.

: Children's Imported Coats Importation is to be permitted in 1 1941 of boys’ and girls’ ready-made l topcoats, in sizes for ages of one to nine ! years, to the value of 50 per cent, of 1939 imports. Hitherto, there has been a ban on importation, except for sizes ! for children up to two years, which fall ► within the category of infants’ supplies. , Even then the question of allocation , had to be considered by the authorities in Wellington. > Achilles Memorial The first anniversary of the River Plate battle, 13th December, has been ! chosen as the date for the opening of the new memorial now being erected i on Achilles Point to commemorate the part played by H.M.S. Achilles in the engagement with the German pocket- | battleship Graf Spee (states the "N.Z. Herald”). The memorial takes the form of a lookout on the headland at the eastern extremity of St. Heliers Bay. A ceremony is being arranged for the opening day. and the Mayor of Auckland, Sir Ernest Davis, has invited Commodore W. E. Parry, C. 8., R.N., Chief of the Naval Staff, who commanded H.M.S. Achilles during the battle, to be present. Low Potato Prices Prices for new potatoes continue to fall at the Auckland Markets, first quality on Tuesday, bringing only from Is 9d to 3s a bag of over half a hundredweight. The market has never recovered from the position which arose out of a good season following a winter when the former stock was fully equal to needs, and it is stated the prices now obtained repay only about half the cost of production. Record Ambulance Year In the first 48 years of its operations the St. John Ambulance Association in Auckland made 30,000 awards up to the end of September, 1939, but in the year just past no fewer than 13,350 awards were made, or more than onethird of the aggregate for the 49 years in which the association has been established in the province. In the past year also the ambulances carried 16,600 patients and travelled 102,000 miles. Incredibly British Notice posted at a golf course outside London:—“Emergency Rule.—Players may pick out of any bomb crater, dropping ball not nearer hole, without penalty. Ground littered with debris may be treated as ground under repair.” Problems in Swallows It is a well-known axiom that one swallow does not make a summer, but the boys of a Napier school are evidently not well aware of this proverb. As a test they were recently asked to complete the sentence, “One swallow does not make . . .” With their minds evidently on the subject of eating some suggested “a feed.” One bright lad, whose future seems a trifle problematical, added “a drink.” The story was related to the Napier Rotary Club by a member (records the “Daily Mail”). Farmers and Butchers Quoting a series of statistics relating to farming income, Mr F. W. Doidge, member for Tauranga, said in an address at Rongotea that 60,000 farmers earned an average of £5 a week, yet butchers at Westfield could earn, in six months, a farmer’s income for a year and then go on social security for the remainder of the 12 months. There was something wrong with such a system. New Season’s Fruit More varieties of new season’s fruit continue to arrive at the City Markets. Dessert plums were available on Tuesday, bringing 14s to 18s a case, while a few dessert peaches were also offered. Apricots have already been on the market for nearly a week. Increased supplies of strawberries and tomatoes, including small quantities of outdoor tomatoes, continue to come forward, but the latter are in strong demand, and prices have not fallen very much. Toe H Nelson Next Saturday (7th December) at 8 p.m. in St. John’s Methodist Church the members of Toe H units in Nelson and district will hold their twelfth Birthday Festival of the founding of Toe H in the Nelson province. During the service the Lamps of the Nelson and Waimea branches and League of Women Helpers will be re-dedicated. Hampden Street School Baths At a meeting of the Hampden Street School Committee held this week to discuss the new swimming bath, it was decided to adhere as closely as possible to the hours of opening and the fees charged at the Municipal Baths. On school-days the baths will be reserved exclusively for the use of the children from 8 a.m. to 4.45 p.m. In this issue the committee advertises for applications for the position of caretaker who will be required to be in attendance when the baths are open outside the foregoing hours. The official opening is to be held on Saturday, 14ih inst. Spirit of the British “The people in England are all work- ! ing very hard: compared with them New Zealanders are slackers,” said Mrs W. M. Nixon, who returned to Christ—church a few days ago after spending two years in England with her husband, Flight Lieutenant W. M. Nixon, who was recently awarded the D.F.C. and who is now a prisoner of war in Germany (reports “The Press”). “The people were wonderful,” she said. “They would always make jokes of the air raids and laugh when Jerry appeared. It is true that the Germans have not scored one direct hit on a military objective, although they sometimes flew very low and delibei-ately fired on the civilian population. But even after a raid in which there were deaths, the people just went quietly about their work. The English spirit can’t help winning the war.” The prices of food and clothing had gone up just as rents had become higher since the beginning of the war, Mrs Nixon said. Everyone ir England understood that the rationing of food was arranged so that there should be no hoarding; there was ample food in the country and the rations in all important items of diet were generous and suffiicent for everyone. Coal and firewood could also be obtained in sufficient quantities, and there was no hardship except that caused by the war itself. “Everyone has a job and no one minds working long hours. There are few sporting activities and those that remain are mostly used for raising funds to help the war effort. Amusements and entertainments are also used to help; in fact, everything in England to-day is turned to some use in the work of winning the war. The people who have lost most are among the bravest and the most calm and helpful. If it had not been for the baby I would have stayed in England and joined oue of the women’s services.”

Inquiries From Prospective Visitors Inquiries received by the Nelson Progress League and the Automobile ( Association (Nelson) from people outside Nelson for bachs and houses at holiday resorts in the district indicate that more visitors may be expected this ! summer. The growing popularity of Nelson with southern holiday-makers is shown by the desire of many who spent a short time here last summer to return for a longer period this summer, and the increasing number from as far as Dunedin who head for Nelson for their holidays. Seed Germination The failure of Oregon seed supplied by the State Forest Service to germin- | ate in the board’s nurseries was men- | tioned by Mr E. A. Cooney, the super- ' intendent, in a report to the Selwyn Plantation Board in Christchurch. He j said he had obtained both 1939 and 1938 seed. The strike of 1939 seed i had been one of the best he had ever seen, whereas with the 1938 seed ger- ! mination was practically nil. i Potatoes and Beer ! If there is to be any price-raising |in Australia, Professor Copland has i to know about it and to say what the advance (if any) shall be. He has just fixed the prices of potatoes for j New South Wales and Queensland, land they range from £l6 to £l2 a ton, according to variety. This is wholesale; retailers must sell at around five pounds for a shilling. The Professor, to, has sanctioned an advance of 2d a bottle on beer and Id extra for a drink of beer, pint or half-pint. As for spirits, the Professor permits an advance of Id a nip. The new duty on beer is 9d per gallon, but the rise by the drink is Is 4d a gallon. However, the size of the glass is to be discussed by the Professor with licensed victuallers. “The elusive teetoller,” as Mr Lloyd George described him, does not wholly escape, for he has to pay more for his matches, and, if he smokes he will have more to pay for that pleasure. Sawdust as Manure The value of pinus sawdust as a manure was debated by members of the Selwyn Plantation Board, Christchurch, when it was suggested that sawdust from dumps could profitably be used by the board’s farmer tenants. The superintendent, Mr E. A. Cooney, said the sawdust was no good unless used green. Mr A. E. Langdale Hunt, the chairman, said it was only good for use as a manure for pinus trees.