NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24913, 12 May 1942, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY

TTNANIMOUS approval of the action of the Price Tribunal in increasing the price of beer was expressed at a meeting yesterday of the Dunedin Licensed Victuallers’ Association over which Mr A. A. Paape presided. It was also unanimously decided to eliminate all fourpenny bars. The prices of bottled ales were fixed at 2s and Is Hd, but in the meantime there is to be no increase in the prices of wines and spirits. The wholesale price of ale, it was stated, is now treble that ruling during the last war, owing mainly to additional duties and taxes.

The Liberty Loan At a meeting of the executive of the Dunedin Returned Services’ Association last night it was decided to subscribe £2OO to the Liberty Loan. The sum of £SOO was transferred from the Poppy Day account to the 2nd N.Z.E.F. Fund, bringing the total to approximately £ 1200. American Minister’* Visit Advice has been received by the Mayor, Mr A. H. Allen, that Brigadiergeneral Patrick J. Hurley. Minister for the United States of America in New Zealand, will visit Dunedin towards the end of the month. The Mayor intends to accord him a civic reception in the Town Hall on the evening of May 28. A Barman’s Frankness

“ The sausage rolls are taken out of the oven and I put salt on them. It makes them drink more beer,” was a statement made on oath by a barman of a city hotel when giving evidence on a charge of having supplied liquor to a person under the age of 21, in the Auckland Police Court before Mr J. H. Luxford, S.M. The barman was explaining to the court his duties in connection with serving the counter lunch at the hotel where he worked. Service Appreciated Appreciation of the action of members of the staff of the Dunedin Public Library in giving up their own time for the preparation and distribution of books foremen on active service was expressed at the meeting of the City Council last night. Cr R. Walls said that he had heard the most appreciative references to the work of the staff, and Cr L. J. T. Ireland, who attended m uniform, added that he could speak from personal experience of the careful selection and the excellent condition of the books. The chairman of the Library. Committee (Cr E. J. Smith) undertook to convey to the members of the staff councillors’ appreciation of their efforts.

Night Driving Tests A description of a test being carried out at the University of Otago to ascertain the efficiency of motorists in night driving was given by Mr G. W. Ferens at a meeting of the Automobile Association (Otago) last night. Mr Ferens said that this particular night driving test had been introduced in Great Britain, and the test at the University was the only one of that type that was being carried out elsewhere in the Empire. It was both interesting and effective, and it showed motorists how efficient they were in night driving. The test was most valuable for E.P.S. transport drivers, Mr Ferens said, and he could foresee a wider use of scientific tests for examining applicants for drivers’ licences.

Appreciated Gift [ Appreciation of the gift of the Automobile Association (Otago) of 2cwt of chocolate in pound cartons for distribution by Sir Stenson Cooke, secretary of the British Automobile Association, to necessitous cases in any devastated area, was contained in a letter from Sir v Stenson received by the association last night. “ The association’s gift by its generosity surprised even me with all my experience of New Zealand hospitality,” Sir Stenson wrote. “ It is quite one of the most beautiful things within our experience during this war, and for your committee, in spite of preoccupations and distance, to think so practically of those in need here is moving—profoundly so at this juncture when suddenly New Zealand has become a ‘ front ’ and when you are all so much in our minds.” Castor and Olive Oils

The possibilities of producing castor oil, olive oil and peanuts in New Zealand are now being investigated by the Horticulture Division of the Department of Agriculture. Castor oil, which is now “in special demand, for war purposes, is produced chiefly in India and Brazil. The castor bean plant has long been grown in New Zealand for ornamental nurposes. A small experimental crop was grown at Whangarei this season, and is now being harvested. A trial extraction is to be made to test the quality of the oil. Best quality olive oil has in the past come from Italy, with North Africa also producing considerable quantities. Olive trees have been extensively grown in New Zealand, but no attempt has been made to undertake oil production. Suitable varieties have now been planted in Hawke’s Bay, but it will be three or four years before the trees begin to bear.

A Communal Farm A Wellington soldier writing home provides an interesting note on life in Palestine as the result of a visit to the Plain of Armageddon, or Megiddo. which lies south-west of the Sea of Galilee. “I was able to look over a communal farm and was told how it was organised,” he writes. “On this farm, inhabited mainly by Jews from all countries, there are 80 families, making a total of 200 with the children. No money is given to the people, Everything they require is issued to them on much the same lines as in the army, and each person has his or her allotted job. Food is served in a large dining hall. There were , 135 cows to be milked by hand three times a day. The farm is fully mechanised with tractors, reapers and binders, etc., which is a great contrast to the smaller village farms, where the camel is used to tow the single-furrow wooden plough.”

University Talent “Is the talent represented by the graduates of the university of maximum value to the country,” asked Professor F. P. Worley, chairman of the Professorial Board, in his address at the Auckland University graduation ceremony. “ I fear it is not. Some defects militate against the greatest use being made of graduates and intellectual people generally. One, more pronounced here than in other countries, is due to*.our failure to teach graduates how to speak in public. In this country few hold any place whatever in the Government, and that to me is a tragedy. We as graduates are no match for the soap-box orators. The ability to address crowds fluently and forcefully is lacking. Hence we are not represented as candidates at the polls. (Applause.) There is no doubt about it. I have no hesitation in saying and I do not care whom I may offend, that the calibre of the people who are candidates at the polls is not creditable to the community.” Car Lights in Emergency That the Dominion lighting controller (Mr F. T. M. Kissel) had given a special dispensation to E.P.S. workers to drive their motor vehicles with unshrouded parking lights during an emergency or a trial was revealed by the'president (Mr P. W. Breen) at the monthly meeting of the Automobile Association. (Otago) last night. Mr Breen said that the previous regulation was that motorists should drive their cars during a black-out only if they had the parking lights covered with two thicknesses of newspaper. Mr Breen said he had tried driving on a dark night with his parking lights covered with newspaper, and he considered that to do so was to incur risk of serious injury to the driver as well as to other people. He had questioned the Mayor (Mr A. H. Allen) on the matter, but Mr Allen had stated that he had not received official instructions to allow all E.P.S. workers t.o drive with full parking lights. Mr Breen said that, after a telephone conversation with Mr Kissel last night, he was convinced that Mr Allen was not reading the regulations correctly. The Mayor would not do anything in the matter until he had received official advice from the Dominion controller. “And there the matter rests,” Mr Breen said. “The new dispensation applies everywhere in New Zealand except in Dunedin.”