NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24951, 25 June 1942, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

A LETTER was received at the meeting of the Otago Hospital Board last night from the Union Trustee Company of Australia, enclosing a cheque for a legacy and interest amounting to £IOO 7s lOd. in the estate of Mr Neil McNeil Shaw, of Melbourne. The acting chairman (Mr A. F. Quelch) asked if any member of the board knew whether Mr Shaw had at one time lived in Dunedin. but members stated that they had no knowledge of him. Raffles Disapproved A Press Association telegram states that the Wellington Provincial Patriotic Council yesterday decided against raffles being conducted in its zones until the requirements of the All Purposes Appeal have been met. The question arose when it was mentioned that the organisation of one zone was entering another zone with a special appeal for money for the navy. Wireless in Lifeboats Ships which do not already have a lifeboat equipped with wireless transmitting and receiving apparatus must in future make this emergency provision. An order gazetted unaer the Shipping Control Emergency Regulations, 1939, provides that every ship must carry in a port and a starboard lifeboat an approved aerial mast, and in the chart or other approved room portable transmitting and receiving sets, together with a length of aerial wire. The necessary batteries must be kept fully charged.

Egg Marketing Offences Substantial penalties are provided for in the case of persons or bodies committing offences against the Egg Marketing Emergency Regulations, which were issued last week in order to provide for a more equitable distribution of eggs to the general public in areas where there is a scarcity. Offenders are liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or a fine not exceeding £2OO. In the case of a corporate body provision is made for a fine not exceeding £IOOO.

Appeal for Defaulters' Release A petition for the release of a farm worker, a settler of Orini. whose appeal for exemption from military service on conscientious grounds resulted in his detention in a defaulters' camp, has been signed by 150 farmers in the Morrinsville district. The reservist does farm contracting work, including haybaling, and has implements valued at £I2OO. It is claimed tfyat there is no one else, available to operate the machinery, and that it is in the interests of production and of the farmers that he should be released. The petition is being submitted to the Government for consideration.

Army's Good Influence A tribute to the influence of the army on certain types of young men was paid by the probation officer, Mr J. Anderson, when a soldier was being sentenced in the Supreme Court at Auckland. " Commanding officers sometimes take a very great interest in these youths," he said. "My experience has been that many of those who had been kicking over the traces, and for whom I did not hold out much hope, eventually saw reason because of the interest taken in them by their officers." He expressed the opinion that the man before the court would do well in the army. Probation was granted.

New Hotel Regulations "The new licensing regulations," said Canon R. G. Coats, who has been active in the Auckland campaign for greater control of drinking, " are encouraging in so far as they give greater power to the Police Department in controlling the illicit sale of liquor and tighten up the law in a few directions. But the change in the hours of sale will be quite negligible in effect. Unfortunately, the Government has not dealt with the question of what is a reasonable period for decent drinking. My wish was for a curtailment between the hours of 4 and 6 o'clock, with some opportunity under proper conditions later, on the lines of the English system. It is disappointing from every point of view., that they have not made drinking more decent."

Municipal Organ Recital The city organist, Dr V. E. Galway, will give an organ recital in the Town Hall on Sunday night at 8 o'clock. The programme includes some interesting items. Special mention may be made of Mendelssohn's "Prelude and Fugue in G," and the incidental music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Nocturne," and the " Wedding' March," also by Mendelssohn. Other compositions to be presented are: Fantasia on "St. Ann" (Cuthbert Harris), "Sonatina" and "March" (Bach), overture to the "Occasional Oratoria" (Handel), and "Ave Maria," from "The Miracle" (Humperdinck). Dr Galway will be assisted by Miss Phyllis McCoskery, who will sing "The Almond Tree " (Schumann), and Mr W. B. Lambert, whose contribution will be "My Last Abode" (Schubert). There will be no charge for admission. Women for the Army A prediction that before long the army would employ all the women in the Women's War Service Auxiliary, and others who had not yet joined, was made by the officer in charge of administration, Southern Military District, Colonel K. J. Walker, when he was addressing members of the Christchurch Transport and Cycle Corps of the W.W.S.A. Colonel Walker said accommodation would shortly be built for women at military camps in Canterbury, and women would be required in hundreds to release men for front-line service. In the past few weeks more than 30 women had been enlisted in the transport and clerical sections of the army in Christchurch. Seventy women were now wanted to train as signallers. It did not matter whether the women had had any previous training, said Colonel Walker, because the army would train them if, they were bright and alert. Statements Made at Accidents

" Statements made by people immediately after they have been involved in accidents of this nature must, as to their degree of culpability, always be examined very closely," Mr F. F. Reid, S.M., said in the Christchurch Magistrate's Court after hearing a claim for damages in which the plaintiff had brought evidence to show that the defendant had soon after an accident admitted some negligence, "On the one hand, you have the type of person who admits blame, but when we come to examine the facts it is apparent he was not responsible. And on the other hand you have the opposite type, who in his confusion is ready to do anything but take any blame himself. I always regard statements made at the time of an accident with a certain amount of suspicion." In the case before him, the magistrate said, the evidence showed that the defendant was suffering from concussion, and was not in a normal condition, and he (the magistrate) would dismiss entirely from his mind any admission which had been made by him.