LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23996, 20 June 1941, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taxi Stand Removed On account of the formation of a traffic island near by, the City. Council decided last night to abolish the tnxi stand at the foot of Grey's Avenue, to enlarge the stand on the west side of Queen Street, outside the Civic Theatre, and to provide an overI flow stand in Wakefield Street. It was ! pointed out that the stand now consti- ; tufed a danger to the fire brigade, which made much use of Grey s Avenue. Comet Discovered The discovery of a new comet, the fourth to be found this year, is announced in a cablegram from Melbourne Observatory to the Carter Observatory, Wellington. Found 011 Monday, when it was close to the star Nu Scorpii, the cornet at midnight to-night will be in the constellation Libra, its exact position being right ascension 15 hours 47 mins., declination 11 deg. 40 mins. south. It is described as diffuse with a central nucleus, and is probably visible only telescopically at present. Library Service for Troops Returns submitted at a meeting of the National Patriotic Fund Board in Wellington showed that to date the war library service has supplied 94.121 books and 96.728 periodicals to training camps. Air Force and fortress stations in the Dominion, naval units, transports, and tor-use also by the New Zealand troops at the base camps overseas, The officer in charge of the country library service, Mr. G. T. Alley, also supervises the activities of the war library service. His statement for May showed that during the month the war library service made available for the forces 3224 books and 5117 periodicals. College's Patriotic Donation

A cheque for £IOO was presented to Mr. C. H. T. Palmer, chairman of the fighting services and public service group in the Fighters' Mother Competition for patriotic funds, at a gathering of the staff and pupils of Sacred Heart College yesterday. A competition was conducted among the four houses at the college, and the presentation was madu by O. Topia, captain of Basil House, which was successful in raising the largest sum. .Mr. Palmer, who was introduced to the boys by Brother Borgia. director of the college, explained t) them how tho fund was administered, Title of N.Z.E.F. A proposal that the title of tho Second N.Z.E.F. should be altered to Third ] N.Z.E F. was submitted to tho Dominion executive of the .Returned Soldiers' Association. It was pointed out that i this question had been dealt with previ- ! on sly, and that, in choosing tho title of j Second N.Z.E.F. the Government, bad ■given duo consideration to the despatch of Xow Zealand contingents to South Africa in 1890-1902. The deciding factors had been that the troops sent to South Alriea were titled "Contingents." .also that, although Australia bad already despatched troops overseas on four previous occasions it had been decided that the Australian divisions in the I present war be called the Second A.LF. (be proposed alteration was not approved. Valuable Books A valuable collection of several hundred volumes, including journals of various scientific societies, text books and rare mathematical work's was received recently by the Carter Observatory, Wellington, through Dr. L. J. Connie, iormerly superintendent, of , lI.M. Nautical Almanac Office, Koval , Naval College, Greenwich, London. l)r. Connie is a New Zealander and tho ' books be sent are part of the estates of two English astronomers who died j recently. Some, of the books date back i to DOS. the observatory's assistant- < astronomer, Mr. I. 1,. Thomson, said that a week after the books were ' shipped a bomb went through the build- ! ing in which they had been kept, in <■ London. Their voyage to the Dominion ( illustrates in a small way one of the i effects nf the war in the dispersal of libraries from the old world to the new. <