NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25278, 15 July 1943, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY

“ rpHERE is a steady demand for travel books about Syria, Egypt, Tripoli. Greece, Crete, and all other countries where New Zealand soldiers have been stationed recently.” said the acting city librarian (Miss E. D. Bryant) yesterday. Literature about Italy was having an enormous demand, while all books written about the Pacific continued to be very popular. Books about the air force were always in demand. A large number of troopship and camp magazines, newspapers and menu cards had already been received, Miss Bryant stated, and it was hoped to make the collection as complete as that of the Great War. Donations of papers published by the troops would be gratefully accepted. Up to date, she added, it had not been possible to obtain a copy of the Crete News. Mufti Allowance for Women

The graduated scale of mufti allowances fixed by the War Cabinet for payment to discharged servicemen will also be paid to servicewomen on discharge from the armed forces. An announcement to this effect was made last night by the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser.

Sale of Army Vehicle* Eighty-one used army vehicles were sold on' Tuesday and yesterday at the army reception depot, realising approximately £25,000. The vehicles, which were disposed of at valuation, ranged from 15cwt trucks and vans to trucks of a capacity of three to four tons. The buyers were almost entirely transport operators, coal merchants and other business people, and farmers.

Government Indecision ® “ Recent Government statements have indicated that the importance of food production is realised in official circles, but the handling of the manpower position relating to the production of foodstuffs and to changes in types of production has been deplorable,” said Mr W. W. Mulholland in his presidential address to the Dominion Conference of the Farmers’ Union in Wellington yesterday. “It has been characterised by hesitancy and indecision and reversals of policy interspersed with bursts of energy, so that the ordinary farmer has been left confused and frequently angry and disappointed.”

Girl Posed as a Marine A case which counsel said seemed to have its humorous side for everyone except the accused resulted in a girl being fined £2 and costs in the Magistrate’s Court at Wellington for- unlawfully wearing the uniform of a United States Marine. An order for the suppression of her name was made by Mr J. L. Stout, S.M., who said it was the second case of that nature. The police said the girl had become infatuated with a serviceman stationed on the waterfront and had borrowed the uniform of a Marine in an attempt to see the serviceman. Mr Scott said the boots worn by the accused were so big that she could not walk properly, and the trousers so large that she had to roll up the legs.

Found in a Cairo Street Picked up in a Cairo street many months ago, the tramway pass issued to the late Major T. Milliken when he tfas a member of the Christchurch City Council before the war, was brought to the Christchurch Tramway Board’s office recently by a soldier who had returned ’ from the Middle East. Major Milliken was killed in action in Libya on December 8, 1941, and there is no indication of how he came to lose the pass in Cairo. The pass is a square silver medallion, with a green enamel border, and bears the design of a tram and the words “Christchurch Tramway Board.” The number was checked, and it was found that the pass was the one issued to Major Milliken when he was elected to the City Council in 1935. First Pair of Telephones The first pair of telephones used in New Zealand has been presented to the Otago Early Settlers’ Museum by Mr T. M. B. Muir. The telephones were made in 1877 by Mr Henri, a locksmith and electric bell mechanician, who had a shop in Princes street, the work being undertaken at the request of Mr Muir, who had seen a picture of telephones in the Scientific American. Successful tests were made with lines to Port Chalmers and Oamaru, and later with Christchurch, from which city a well-known baritone sang a song to his wife in Dunedin. The statement accompanying the telephones says that Mr Henri, who had been an assistant to Professor Tait, of Edinburgh University, said he had seen such instruments years before. “If that is true, how can Mr Graham Bell be the inventor of the telephone?” asks Mr Muir.

Mercury-coated Pennies A deluge of mercury-coated pennies has descended on Napier in the past few days to the financial detriment of numerous shopkeepers. The origin of these defaced coins which have been filtering into tills is unknown at present, but they are sufficiently deceptive in appearance to be accepted in a rush period for the coins they are intended to represent—a two-shilling piece or half a crown. 'Naturally, the counterfeit coin is the lightest and does not retain for long its polished sheen. A specimen of the coated penny was shown to a pressman by an irate shopkeeper, who said that others had had the same unfortunate experience. “Those responsible for these coins are either a small section of the community who have the necessary know, ledge to create counterfeit coins by silvering, or else school children have learned the method and are looking for easy money,” he said.