General News

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 26 June 1943, Page 4

General News

More Staff Required With the object of releasing inspectors now engaged in inside duties to “catch up” with delinquent taxpayers, there have been tentative discussions in Wellington with business institutions employing large and trained clerical staffs, so that their services can be made available to the Income -Tax Department. With this year’s assessment work about to begin, the department is reported to be pressed for adequate staff.

Coal Output Curtailed Coal output from the mines in the Buffer district has been curtailed and miners and waterside workers in the Buffer district have, through the lack of shipping and the state of the harbour, lost considerable time during the last few weeks (states “The Press”). As prospects of an improVement in the bar and harbour conditions in the near future are remote, the Government will be asked to replace the dredge which was taken to Wellington. The request is being made as a result of the appeal to miners by the Minister of Mines to produce more coal for the war effort. “No Pyjamas!” While the public has become used to tobacconists’ signs announcing a lack of cigarettes and tobacco, such notices, indicating shortages, have not yet become very general in other retail shops (says the “N.Z. Herald”). The difficulty in securing an important article of men’s wear is reflected, however, in the sign appearing outside a Newmarket mercery shop which announces: “No Pyjamas!” Lawn Tennis Balls 9 Unless there is some improvement in the position relating to the supply of tennis balls, the majority of lawn tennis clubs in Dunedin may be faced next season with the prospect of ceas'mg their activities altogether (states the “Daily Times”). A member of the Otago Lawn Tennis Association said yesterday that the stocks of most ol the clubs had been completely depleted during the past season. The matter was taken up recently by the Otago Council of Sport, which sought permission from the Minister of Supply and Munitions (Mr D. G. Sullivan) for the manufacture of a quantity of tennis balls in New Zealand, but the Minister advised that, although a limited quantity which was being made in the Dominion was being released to convalescent camps, the supplies of rubber were such that manufacture for general purposes could not be permitted.

Production of Gold Giving evidence to the Armed Forces Appeal Board at Greymouth, Mr W. J. Ellis, representing the Barrytown Gold Dredging Company, said that since the commencement of hostilities in 1939, 26,3750 z of bullion had been won and that £22,491 had been paid in war tax. Thirty former employees were serving with the armed forces. The dredge was short-handed and could employ 13 more men immediately. Orchard Production Orchardists in the Auckland district, extending from Port Albert to Mercer, supplied 170,631 cases of apples to the Internal Marketing Division this season, an increase of 19,118 cases over the 1942 return. They also sent 25,906 cases of pears, an increase of 10,310. Effects of Malaria “I don’t think one is far from the truth in saying that malaria is the most -outstanding disease of humanity,” said Dr D. Miller, of the Cawthron Institute, in the course of a lecture to the Nelson Philosophical Society on the subject of mosquitoes and malaria. “Not only is the mortality due to it high, but its influence in reducing the efficiency of millions of people is of great economic importance. For example in India it is estimated that of the 100,000,000 people suffering from malaria annually, 1,000,000 perish from it. On the other hand it lowers the vitality to such an extent that the inroads of other diseases account for a further 1,000,000 deaths while it is responsible for an annual disease rate of from between 25 and 75 millions.. In times of war the influence of malaria is perhaps more spectacular. In 1916, on the Macedonian front, the French could put no more than 20,000 in the line out of a force of at least 120,000, the army being immobilised in hospital. The British in that year had some 30,000 men down, and in 1917 some 70,000. The Germans fared no better—malaria had joined the battle on both sides!”

Artesian Water for Blenheim? T ecislons of considerable importance to Blenheim In connection with its water supply were reached this week by the Borough Council which considered a report prepared by its engineer (Mr P. Burgoyne) after thorough investigations made in company with Councillors E. S. Parker and C. C. Costello into possible sources of auxiliary supply( states the “Express”). As recorded by this report the council approved of the installation of an auxiliary pumping plant, and of the carrying out in Grove road, at an estimated cost of £ 100, of a test bore to locate an artesian flow capable of providing the 20,000 gallons an hour considered to be necessary to augment the Taylor river supply. On the recommendation of the engineer it was also decided to make an offer to the Nelson City Council for a second-hand pumping plant, comprising two electrically driven pumps with a combined capacity close to 20,000 gallons per hour. Mr Burgoyne said he had inspected this equipment, which was in good condition.

Boys With Air-Guns The fact that it is unlawful for any person under the age of 16 years to have or to use an air gun, which is regarded as a firearm under the Firearms Act, was again emphasised in the Children’s Court at New Plymouth when four boys appeared before Mr W. H. Woodward, S.M., charged with this offence. In two of the cases airguns had been given to the boys as presents, and the parent of one boy stated that she thought it was only unlawful to buy a gun. It was stated that it is unlawful for a person under 16 either to buy a gun, or to have one given or lent to him or to fire one. Senior-Sergeant Anniss said complaints had been made to the police of a cow shot in the udder and of a broken window, but the boys, who admitted shooting in the vicinity from which the complaints came, denied ever shooting at cows or breaking windows either on purpose or by accident. The magistrate ordered that the guns be confiscated by the police until the boys reached the age of 16 and the four offenders were admonished and discharged. The New Zealander in War A correspondent writing to “The Mail” states: “The enclosed extract bears out what General Sir Bernard Freyberg has just been saying, and also my own experiences of the past generation of the New Zealanders as long ago as the Boer War”: The extract referred to is from “The Gallant Company” (p. 149), by H. R. Williams, an Australian born, who served with the Australian Infantry in the line from July, 1915, to 1918, when he was wounded severely, and rose from private to lieutenant. It reads: “They were wonderful fellows, those New Zealanders. On the whole, of all the nationalities that made up the British Army of th e Great War, 1 would rank the average New Zealander as the outstanding best. They were all fighters, second to none, good sports, great comrades. They were far more English than the Australians, had a higher discipline (measured by the old army standard), and as shock troops they were the equal of any on the Western Front. I once heard an English officer giving a lecture at the 4th Army School at Flexicourt, in which he declared that the New Zealand Division was rated by the High Command as one of the three best divisions in the British Expeditionary Force.”