GENERAL ITEMS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 24 October 1941, Page 4

GENERAL ITEMS

■ Value of Tanks in Libya The magnificent victories won by ! ! General Wavcll’s armies in the West- I ' ern Desert were the subject of com- ! I merit by Major-General E. Puttick, who i was the speaker at a luncheon given j by the English-speaking Union in Wel- j j lington. Those victories, said Major- | j General Puttick, were almost without j ; parallel. They were won by troops j : maicing up two divisions which cap- ] lured about four or five times their] i strength. Their strength and their sue- j ces. he said, were largely due to tanks, i of which they had in New Zealand ] I now some of the latest models.

Use of “CiiiTiiKi’Pii" m Dunedin. Inquiries made by the "Otago Daily i Dunedin revealed that this seaweed is used in large quantities by a local firm tor the manufacture of medicinal foods for the prevention of goitre. The ; correct name of the seaweed is not 1 carrageen, but rather it is a species of gigart mas, and is collected along the east coast from Timaru southwards. Over 1 a,ooolb of the dried seaweed used annually |>y the Dunedin firm. ’ which before the war imported its sup ! plies from Ireland and France at bei tween lOd and h. a pound. The quality of the imported gigartma was higher than that received from New Zealand collectors, and the reason for this is • that the people of the coastal areas of ,i Ireland and France have been collect .mg the weed for centuries, whereas the work is new in this country. The ' Dunedin firm collected supplies itself when first the seaweed could not be , obtained from overseas and it experienced considerable difficulty in inducing residents of coastal districts to gather the weed. It is now receiving sufficient supplies to meet its needs. Doctors' Fees. The rights of doctors to sue for fees under the Social Security Amendment i Act, which operates from Ist Novcm- . her. were outlined this week by the i Minister of Health, the Hon. A. H. ■! Nordmeyer. "The doctor's right to sue . is limited to the amount mentioned in r the Act, 7s Od for normal consultations, and 12s lid l'or night or Sunday calls," Mr Nordmeyer said. “He has no right 1 to sue for any amount higher than this, j although the patient may pay him a ! higher fee than 7s Gd without either doctor or patient committing an offence.” 1 Fictitious Price for Tomatoes. A purely fictitious price was paid for Hlb of local hothouse tomatoes at a Dunedin saleroom a few days ago, thci line being knocked down at 34s 6d or! 23s a lb <states the "Otago Daily 1 Times”). The purchaser was Mr V. Farcy, who has a fruit shop in Carroll ■street, and the tomatoes were grown by, 1 Mr T. Y. Turner, of North-East Valley. Whether the purchaser made a wager that he would buy the line, some of the first tomatoes of the season, or whether ' he was merely "dared” by his friends, the fact remains that two or three of his companions, who were present at the auction, bid heavily against him. | with the result that the price was (forced up far beyond the normal , amount paid even for early tomatoes, j The price of 23s a lb far more than any customer could be expected to pay for them when offered on a retail j basis, was as satisfactory to the grower as ii must have been to the persons j who were responsible for forcing the purchaser up to such an unprecedented figure for the line. Job For Fit Men ! “Unless the Government is prepared [ to force workers to remain in indus- ' try. it is impossible to got them to re- i main in a job like ours," declared a] : milk vendor, who appealed before the j I No 4 Armed Forces Appeal Board ves- ! terday for postponement of service by j his son on the grounds of public inter- ' est and hardship (reports “The Post"', j "The milk delivery business requires i ] fit men owing to the strain of early \ i hours, irregular sleep, and the amount I • of walking and running that has to be I : done. Old men cannot do the work. I ! don't see how it would be possible to j i get girls to do the work satisfactorily ; ! owing to the vast amount of walking ini volved. Another difficulty is to get j girls to get up at. say, 2.30 in the morn- ] ! ing to do the work at 3 o'clock, when j there are many other pleasant jobs they j can do. Another factor to be considi ered is that on the dark mornings per- , j haps many of the girls would not think it right to be out at that time.” 1 A Life-and-Dcath Struggle "People are inclined to avoid taxa- , tion. in the hope that the oft-repcated j : warnings against the ill-advised use of j credit expansion will prove to be un- ] founded,” remarks the National Bank of Australia, in its summary. "That is the reason for the readiness in the public mind —and unfortunately it is] a growing readiness- to place so much j reliance on the use of credit expansion or national credit. The strength of ' that belief and its possibl 1 implications if carried into practical effect, [are a real and serious danger. The trouble lies in widespread failure to; j fully realise that no device can alter j the stark fact that, with so much effort ! j devoted to war production, this lifei and-d*»ath struggle means a reduction • ' m the comfort and privileges of all sec- : lions of the community.'' Phospliatir I crtillsers The limit of error allowed vendors | In respect of the certified percentage of j soluble phosphoric acid present in ( j superphosphate is increased from .75 ! per cent, to 2.15 per cent, by amending' • regulations gazetted last night. The , regulations also make a proportionate j increase in the limits of error in respect iof the percentage of soluble and insoluble phosphoric acid in compound manures containing superphosphate. ; this has been done as a temporary ] wartime measure, because a substantial . , proportion of lower grade phosphate is I now being received for manufacture. Air Force Courts-Martial A series of warrants for the convening <> f general courts-martial in the I j Royal Air Force Fighter, Bomber, 1 Coastal and Far East Commands is | published in last night’s “Gazette.” | Under regulations gazetted in April,! j New Zealand airmen serving outside I .the Dominion for the duration of the I war are deemed to be serving together ; and acting in combination with the air forces raised in the United Kingdom. The warrants contain the same proviso |as that relating to the Army—that > ! death sentences on New Zealanders ' shall not be put into effect unless ap- ' proved by the New Zealand Govcrn- , rnent. j Champion Troop Horse i Miss E. Cook, of Landsdown Park, Appleby, was a successful exhibitor at ; the Marlborough Agricultural and Pas- • j toral Association’s Show where she I Rained awards in all the classes in | which her champion hack All Gold won j entered. All Gold was awarded the , chief honours in the class for the best ! i troop horse, beating the winner of the ! (South Island Troop Horse Champion-) I ship. Masonic Installations Masonic lodges in Golden Bay have recently held their annual installation] j ceremonies. The installation of Bro. ! j ,J. Cashman as Worshipful Master of the ] , Golden Bay Masonic Lodge, No. 2194. j j E.C.. was performed at Takaka by the ! ; Rt. Worshipful Bro. J. Steere. District ] jGrand Master in the presence of a I ] large attendance of local and visiting I brethren, including representatives of ! [ the Collingwood, Nelson. Motueka and j West Coast lodges. At Collingwood, ! Bro. O. C. Skilton was installed as j Worshipful Master of St. Cuthbert’s | Lodge. No. 144, by the Rt. Worshipful ! Bro. Rudd. Provincial Grand Master. [There was a large and representative [ attendance, Motueka, Nelson. Takaka land Blenheim being among the neighj homing lodges represented. [ Slip Near Owen River A heavy fall of rock slipped on to the j Nelson-Murchison main highway near i Owen River last night, coming down |, j just in front of a truck travelling to j I Murchison. The reverberations of bigl, | boulders landing on the road were felt j [by the occupants of the truck, who j had to clear away some of the debris ] . by hand before they could usmmL j i