FLOOD RELIEF

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24851, 24 March 1944, Page 2

FLOOD RELIEF

APPEAL FOR FREE GRANTS PROTECTION WORKS URGED ; (S.R.) WELLINGTON, Thursday Free grants instead of loans should j be provided by the Government to assist I the settlers in the Bay of Plenty and I the Poverty Bay districts who had j suffered losses from flood damage, said Mr. W. Sullivan (Opposition—Bay of Plenty), when speaking in the Finance Bill debate in the House of Representatives to-day. The damage in the Bay of Plenty district suffered by settlers was estimated at from £IO,OOO to £12.000 and in the Poverty Bay district at from £IO.OOO to £50,000. Those estimates did riot include the damage to roads and highways. Mr. Sullivan said tlie farmers were making a reasonable request when they asked the Cabinet to give them grants to cover the costs of fertiliser and seed. The present extent of Government assistance was a loan, for which security had to be provided. The farmers could get similar accommodation from their dairy companies or merchants, so there was nothing much in the Government's promise of assistance. Market gardeners , had also suffered severely and 1 it" was in the interests of the country that thev should be assisted to remain on their holdings instead of drifting into , other jobs. The floods were a national disaster and should be treated as such. Mr. Sullivan said he hoped Mat early ■ steps would be taken to establish river control boards in the flooded areas. The lands subject to flooding were producing about £1.000,000 in butterfat alone. If boards were set up as proposed by the Government's recent legislation, then the construction of proper stopbanks would be undertaken and so avoid a repetition of the flooding. LOCAL AND GENERAL i Apples More Plentiful ,■ Apples, which have been very scarce j for the last few. weeks and have been | practically unobtainable from most 1 shops, are now coming on to the market iin greatly increased quantities. Fluc- ! tuations in the weather have retarded ' the season for most sorts of apples, birfc ! the fruit now being offered is in good | condition and there is plenty at Governj ment fixed prices. Native Rates Native rating has ceased to become a problem in Fast Coast counties, whereas little more than ten years ago only a quarter of the native rates were received. The Waiapu County clerk, Mr. A. G. Hicks, reports that 88.9? per cent has been paid out of ±,l*,W4 levied for the year just closing. .Maori rating in the W aiapu County is iniportant, for the Maoris, who comprise two-thirds of the population, pay onethird of the rates. Ceremony in. Domain The presentation of "15 Silver Stars and one Soldier's Medal awarded to lo officers and men ol a visiting American division will be made at a ceremony on the Outer Domain at three o'clock this afternoon. All the awards were made for gallantrv in action against the enemy in the New Georgia campaign. After the presentation a battalion or the division will pass in review before the commanding officer and New Zealand and American officials. An invitation to attend has been extended to the public. Life of Power Poles During the last few weeks workmen employed by the Auckland ElectricPower Board have been engaged in the eastern part of the Parnell district stripping the hardwood power poles of , the outer shell of decayed wood, caused bv some years of weathering. In some cases the poles have been _ reduced, to about two-thirds of their original thickness and it has been found that the timber underneath is hard and sound and capable of giving many more years of useful service. No sign of termite infestation has been found in any or the poles treated. Hospital Liquor "When I took office six years ago a lot of things at the hospital, needed reforming," said the chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board, Mr. Allan J. Moody, in an address at Fpsom last night. "One of them was liquor. The board was buying 8000 bottles of stout and 5500- bottles of beer every year, and we made it our business to set that right. Now the bill for liquor is practically nothing. We found that £450 a year was being spent on tobacco for the infirmary. There was an outcrv when we cut it down, but the old gentlemen there were getting more than they could smoke and were gambling with the rest."

Air Fighter Tactics Particular interest among spectators of to-day's Air Force demonstration over the city and suburbs should attach to a combat manoeuvre to be flown by Wnrhawk fighters. It involves tactics actually used against the Japanese in the Pacific theatre to offset their original advantage in numbers. Known as weaving and scissoring, the manoeuvre is flown by pairs of aircraft, which continually interweave their fugut tracks while they maintain over a distance parallel paths at the same le\ elIt was commonly used by New Zealand pilots over Eabaul, where, in the earl, v days of the fighting, they met and ha to fly through larger Japanese toiillations.

Motorist's Misfortune A new version of "ringing the changes" is related of a well-known Dunedin business man. Accompanied j a friend, ho was travelling by car to < important conference when one or back tyres blew out. As he teg® l ! , repair the punctured tyre his tn pointed out that it was a retr^"' j The astonished car owner then examinea the other tyres and found , ia ~, second back tyre was also a ie r * • lie had not had any of ins t treaded and the only explanatim . while'the car was unattended >e left Dunedin someone liau riMiioy - - i;e own tyres, which were capable olj, j many thousands of miles or Spaded had replaced them with the r tyro.