General News

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 18 April 1944, Page 4

General News

Bowling Club’s Generosity The Gratitude Building Fund has benefitted by £l6 as a result of a generous action of the Maitai Bowling Club. The club donated the whole of the entry fee and gate takings of a recent day’s play and the winning team donated the prize money it received. Deersta!k e r’s Body Recovered The body of Loftus McVicar. aged 18 years, the son of Mr John McVicar, of Totara Flat, who was drowned on Bth April in the headwaters of the Grey river, at Alexander, has been recovered 10 miles from where he was last seen alive, upstream 30 miles from the Big Grey bridge at Ikamatua. An inquest was held at Totara Flat. Schoolboy Jumps sft 9in Eleven records were broken at .the Waikato Secondary Schools’ Sports’ Association meeting. The most striking was the feat of E. Rhodes (Huntly District High School) who cleared sft 9in in the high jump, exceeding the previous best by four inches. Edward Rhodes attended the Puponga School in Golden Bay for several years prior to his parents removing to Huntly. Farmers’ Protest A protest at the action of the Government in refusing permits for travel on railways to schoolchildren returning home for the May holidays was voiced in a resolution passed by the annual meeting 0 f the Whangarei subprovincial executive of the Farmers’ Union. The resolution mentioned the interference with family life that such an action caused. The views expressed were supported by delegates from the Women's Division who were present at the meeting. National Anthems With the presence of servicemen of Allied Nations in New Zealand, the procedure to be observed in the playing of the National Anthem and the anthems of other countries has become a subject of debate, says the "n Z Herald.” The matte,- was referred Vo the authority in charge of the offic-

ial collection of war music. He said the position was quite plain, although the correct procedure was seldom observed in New Zealand. At the opening of a function or entertainment the National Anthem must be played first The anthem of any other nation if the occasion warranted it, should follow On no account should it be played first or be played if the National,Anthem is omitted. At the conclusion of the pro ceedingg the order must be reversed" The National Anthem must always come last. In reply to another ciue/ lion, the official said that New Zee land bands seldom played the National Anthem in the way it should be nlsv ed, as laid down in the King's RemiV-/ tions. Tie referred particularly to tempo and reverence. He said Royallr played an important part in the wav in which the National Anthem should bo played. The late King Edward on the advice no doubt of the then Maste,of the King’s Musick, had a slightly different presentation from the prose/ one promulgated through the Kim,v Regulations. b

Donation to T.S.A. A donation of £<s to the Tahuna I bands Association was approved by the Nelson Harbour Board lasi night. Several members emphasised the value of die reserve to the whole district, Mr J. Carr remarking that campers with experience of camps Ihrbughout the South Island and in many places in the South li land con idered the Tahuna motor camp second to none. Dehydration of Apples After considerable delay the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research has brought its apple dehydration plant in Hawkes Bay to a stage where production con proceed. The factory is gradually getting up to maximum capacity and is reported to be turning out a very fine product. The original aim was for 100,000 cases to he dehydrated, but on account of lateness of starting, and other incidental problems, that quantity might not be reached. ILchabilitaiion M c thods The opinion that too much authority had been delegated by the Rehabilitation Board to the Slate Advances Corporation was expressed and the treatment of local rehabilitation committees was roundly criticised at a meeting of 70 members ol ihe Cambridge Returned Services Association last night. It was stated that there was a feeling of frustration, especially on the part of the committees, and a greater measure of decentralisation was urged, together with a more human appreciation of the needs of returning members of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. New Bank Books As the old books are filled a new type of bank book i s being issued by the Post Office Savings Bank. The new book includes a balance column, which was not incorporated in the old book, which contained only deposit and withdrawal columns. With the new column the public will be able to tell at a glance how much they have in credit in the bank. Work at the ledger windows will be facilitated by the new books, and no longer will both the deposit and withdrawal columns have to be added up to find the credit balance for working out interest. Radio Donated for Recreational Centre It was reported to a meeting of the finance and general committee of the Gratitude Building Fund appeal last evening that Mr C. A. Grainger had donated a console model radio for use by the returned servicemen for whom the centre is being provided., New Zealand Boxers An opinion on New Zealand amateur boxers which was expressed by Tom Heeney, who is now serving in the South Pacific with the United States Navy, is contained in “Kiwi News,” the newspaper which is published for the Third New Zealand Division. The former New Zealand contender for the world’s heavy-weight championship said that the average New Zealand amateur had stamina, speed, courage and the ability to take punishment, but was handicapped by not having developed a punching technique. Very frequently lie lost to an opponent who was slower, knew less of the game, but had a punch and hit hard from all angles. ‘‘And after all,” said Heeney, “boxing is essentially a matter of hitting the other fellow before he hits you, and hitting him so hard he is not able to hit you back.” More Pip Fruit Wanted Emphasising the urgent need for increased production in New Zealand of apples and pears, the “Orchardist of New Zealand” states that before the war the annual crop of apples and pears exceeded 3,000,000 cases, of which about half was exported, but the annual crop is less than 2,500,000 cases. The drop in production, states the journal, has coincided with a reduction in the import of citrus and other fruits, resulting in the civilian demand far exceeding the supply, except for a short period of about two months during the harvest season. Greater production was possible only if the grower had the tools with which to do the job. Those tools included machinery, manpower, and fertiliser. Teaching of English The opinion that insufficient emphasis has been placed on English in the new teaching plans recommended by the Post-primary Education Committee was expressed in a report by a special committee of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce. “The whole subject of the postprimary curriculum is of interest to us, because members of the chamber are, collectively, large employers of labour, specially of the labour released on to the market by the post-primary schools,” states the report. “We should desire a minimum for our staff a developed intelligence, evidence 0 f initiative. legible writing, correct spelling, adequate knowledge 0 f grammar and punctuation; ability to speak and pronounce words correctly, some ability in arithmetic, including accuracy in all fundamentals, and some measures of general knowledge. On past experience, lowever, we are not certain that these will be attained.”