LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24083, 30 September 1941, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

R.S.A. Membership The financial membership of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association at August 31 was more than 3000 greater than last year. Included in this total are orer 600 members returned from the present war. Inter-Island Perry Service Starting to-morrow from Lyttelton and on Thursday from Wellington ferry steamers will make daylight interisland sailings from each port instead of the present evening sailings. The time of departure from Wellington will be 8.15 a.m. and 8 a.m. from Lyttelton. Monarch Butterflies The much-admired Monarch butterflies are beginning to make their appearance Again in Auckland. They do not seem to have been appreciably affected by the cold snap at the weekend, and many were to be seen vigorously active in the bright sunshine of yesterday. Territorials for Camp A further draft of territorial recruits will leave for camp to-morrow to undergo three months' intensive training. Auckland area men will be sent to Ngaruawahia. They are either above or below the Expeditionary Force age or belong to that group of single men between 21 and 41 who have been found unfit for overseas service. Aid for Orphanages A donation of £3O to the Auckland Orphanages' United Council was authorised at a meeting of the Auckland Electric-Power Board yesterday in response to a letter soliciting assistance. The chairman, Mr. S. J. Harbutt, said he was pleased to see that the orphanages had combined in their efforts as it had been difficult to make individual donations. More Opossum Skins It was reported to the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society that 4500 opossum skins have so far been inspected this season, compared with only 2645 last year, when the season was for one month only. The permits and licences issued in the district numbered 62. Three weeks still remain in which skins taken during the . open season may be stamped. The season closed on September 15. Hospital Dental Patients Shortage in the dental staff of the Wellington Public Hospital has resulted in an accumulation of work, and at present bookings are being made for treatment other than dentures for the middle of January of next year. This information was disclosed in a report before the Hospital Board, and the committee making the report said that if the board were of the opinion that some restriction should be made in the number of persons treated the only method to achieve that purpose would be the fixing of a financial barrier. This aspect of the question was referred toi the policy and finance committee. New Telephone Exchange The construction of a new automatic telephone exchange to serve the St. Heliers, Kohimarama and Mission Bay districts has been begun near St. Thomas' ruins. It will be of reinforced concrete with a plaster finish ancl will havo three rooms. It is expected that the building will be ready for operation by the middle of the year. It is the last of a series of new exchanges for the suburban area 3 to meet the increasing demands on the service in recent years. It is anticipated that the new exchanges at Avondale and Mount Albert will be brought into operation at the same time, affecting between 2000 and 3000 telephones.

Officer's Watch Returned A wounded New Zealand officer who lost his watch on a beach in Greece had it returned in the Wellington Hospital recently through the remarkable coincidence that the finder occupied an adjacent bed. The officer lost the watch when an enemy bullet shattered his wrist and severed the watch strap. It w;.s later picked up by a New Zealand soldier who was also wounded. Officer and soldier were repatriated to New Zealand and both entered Wellington Hospital for treatment, occupying adjacent beds. Having no watch, a nurse borrowed one being worn by the soldier, who explained that it was not his as he had found it in Greece. Greatly to his surprise the officer re- , cognised it as his own.