LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 24025, 24 July 1941, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Company's Patriotic Effort A contribution of £390 toward tJie Fighting Forces Fund has been raised by L. J. Keys, Limited, and members of the staff. This amount is the result of an effort made by the staff of 53 over a period of six weeks, the coat entailed being only £3. Home Guard Rifle Range A site for a miniature rifle range close to Kohimarama Road has been obtained by the Kohimarama-Mission Bay Home Guard. A working bee has put the range in order and the official opening will take place shortly. Ammunition will be bought out of the unit's funds. Shining Cuckoo Not usually heard or seen m Auckland until later in the year, a shining cuckoo is reported by Mr. J. A. Leonard, of Northcote, to have been seen in his garden this week. The cuckoo spends the winter in the Solomon Islands and migrates usually about August or September. Its early appearance is taken as a portent of an early 6pring. Motoring Breaches Nearly 110 motorists were charged in the Magistrate's Court yesterday with breaches of the traffic regulations, the cases occupying two Courts, conducted by Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., and Mr. J. Morling, S.M. About 20 charges concerned the failure to relicence vehicles by the end of May, 50 involved failure to renow driving licences, and a large number dealt with vehicles with no fitness warrants. Leave After Crete "The restaurants were our camping grounds, and really we did make gluttons of ourselves," writes Private M. Panapa, of the way New Zealand soldiers spent their seven days' leave after returning to Egypt from Crete. "It was eat, eat all the time, and still more eating." Private Panapa formerly played halfback for North Auckland including the match against the Springboks in 1937, and later played Rugby League for Manukau. One Tree Hill Collection A house-to-house canvass in the borough of One Tree Hill resulted in the collection of £412 for the Fighting Forces Fund. The response was undoubtedly good, said the Mayor, Mr. I. J. Goldstine, at a meeting of the One Tree Hill Borough Council last night. With the council's allocation, £612 altogether would be paid to the fund. The Mayor and councillors expressed their appreciation both to the people who contributed and to the collectors. Collisions at Intersections There were 467 collisions involving injury between motor vehicles at inter- 1 sections in New Zealand for the year ended March 31, 1941, stated a letter from tlio Commissioner of Transport, received at a meeting of the Devonport Borough Council last night. This represented 54.3 per cent of all collisions between motor vehicles where some person had been injured. The council decided to intensify the control of traffic at intersections under its jurisdiction.

Treacle Tin Signalling Following up a suggestion that improvisation should be their motto, members of the Home Guard in Wellington have begun to conduct night signalling operations across the harbour, with lamps of their own manufacture. These are mainly made from discarded motor-car head lamps, but. also include a converted treacle tin, which has been brought by experiment to an unexpectedly high standard of efficiency. Recently the Eastbourne Home Guard and the Karori unit communicated a distance of seven and a-half miles across the harbour. Tests at Seatoun have also resulted in signalling being read in daylight at a distance of one and a-ha]f miles.