NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25444, 27 January 1944, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

./AWING to the scattered location of ” units of the New Zealand Forces in the Pacific area, gramophones and records find great favour with the troops. The requests received by the National Patriotic Fund Board for electricallyrecorded gramophone records particularly have been so numerous of late that the supply position both wholesale and retail is almost exhausted, and the board has asked the provincial Patriotic Councils to appeal to the public to assist in meeting the demand. Persons willing to present either electric-ally-recorded or ordinary gramophone records in their possession are requested to hand them over to the secretary of the local Patriotic Committee for forwarding to the provincial secretary.

Library Conference Postponed Owing to the travel restrictions, the conference and annual meeting of the New Zealand Library Association, which were to have been held in Wanganui from February 15 till February 18, have been indefinitely postponed. Audacious Pillaging ■ According to the recent experience of a Christchurch resident (states the Star-Sun), pillaging has been brought to a highly efficient state. Auckland relatives sent him a case of approximately 30 lemons, and when, he opened the case he found that 17 of them had been cut, the juice squeezed out, and the lemons replaced in the case. Fire Brigade Calls ; The superintendent’s report received at the monthly meeting of .the Dunedin Metropolitan Fire Board on Tuesday night stated that' the brigade answered 59 calls during December. Of these, 22. were calls to grass and rubbish fires. There were 19 false alarms, but only two of these were malicious calls. Of the five fires in private dwellings, two were caused by defective electric irons and one by a defect in a radio set. Horror Films * , Mi-

Legislation has been prepared irt New South Wales to ban - horror films from Saturday afternoon matinees for children. It is proposed to classify films into four categories, and it will be permissible to show at matinees only those films which are passed as suitable for children. Printed matter relating to films will be censored and objectionable features will be eliminated from advertising. A research bureau is to be .established to record the effect of films, on children. Taxes Cancel Profits

A war tax review issued by the Australian Department of Information shows that nearly half of the profits of Australian companies are now being taken in income taxation, which has been so sharply increased that to have a clear income of £SOOO a man must earn £52,000 a year. The war to date has cost Australians £ 186 a head. Due to the war stimulus, the gross profits of companies have risen by 36 per cent, since the outbreak of war, but profits after taxation are 9 per cent, below the 1939 level.

Surprise for Banker Once during his career as a banker, said the manager of the New Plymouth branch of the Bank of New Zealand (Mr A. M. Thomson), at a farewell gathering in his honour, it had been necessary for him to send out a polite note to several customers warning them that their overdraft had exceeded the limit. Great had been his surprise, however, when one of the recipients had written a letter of apology and enclosed a cheque on his account for the difference. Definitions of an Art Bungalow

"It is an art bungalow,” said Mr C. G. Penlington, describing a house during the hearing of an application at the Urban Land Sales Committee in Christchurch on Tuesday. “What do you mean by ‘ art ’? ” asked the chairman (Mr K. G. Archer). “An artist’s model, I presume,” replied Mr Penlington; “at any rate, that looks well on paper.” Mr Archer remarked that “ art silk ” was artificial silk. Mr F. Whiley, who valued the property for the vendor, said that “ art ” meant that the bungalow had many attractive features that other bungalows did not have. Later in the hearing, the assistant district valuer (Mr W. Mason), who valued the property for the Crown, described it as a “cheap bach.” “ Ersatz ” Coins in Stamp Machine

A queer assortment of substitutes for coins was discovered by officials of the Timaru Post Office this week when an investigation was made into the condition of the stamp vending machines outside the post office, following a number of complaints that the machines were out of order. Persons had evidently been endeavouring to obtain stamps from the machines by inserting bent pennies, flattened half-pennies, pieces of cardboard cut to the size of pennies, buttons, pieces of tin, washers, matches, nails, and, in one instance, a one-cent piece of the Straits Settlements bearing a youthful portrait of Queen Victoria, and the date 1883. One machine had been thrown out of order by the filed end of a camera film. Swimming Team Return*

The Otago" representative swimming team, which: won the War, Memorial Shield at the New Zealand amateur championships at Auckland last week, returned by the express yesterday. The team was met at the station by the Mayor (Mr A. H. Allen), who congratulated the swimmers on their performance. He reminded the competitors that much of the credit was due to the executive and officials of the Otago Swimming Centre, who were always available to coach young swimmers and to arrange competitions and tours. He also congratulated the girls of the St Clair Surf Life Saving Club, who won the principal events at the National Surfing Championships at Wellington.

Results of Mea£ Grading Although the grading of meat for sale by retailers has been in force in Wellington since the middle of November, the average housewife appears to have taken little interest in the scheme. She is familiar with the distinctive markings indicating, the..quality, of the meat, but is not conscious of any great advantages from grading. To the regular customers of the many butchers who have always stocked only high-quality meat, the scheme has meant virtually nothing, but purchasers who have no permanent shop at which they buy realise that the grading system has eliminated any risk of their being supplied with second-grade meat at firstgrade prices. “My butcher always keeps first-grade meat, and the quality now is exactly the same as it was before grading was introduced,” said one customer .of a suburban butcher. “ It is, the price that worries me more than the quality.” The proprietress of a boarding-house who purchases her meat at shops catering for customers satisfied with second-grade quality said that the grading system protected her from being charged more for this meat than it was really worth. Some butchers, she added, used to sell secondfrade meat just a fraction cheaper than rst-grade meat and well above its true value.

Conduct of Maori Girls “This town is upside down because of the waywardness of some of the Maori woman and girls, and with so many servicemen about there is Jittle chance of it reverting to its, former state of good conduct. The police number the same as five years ago, and, although we receive assistance from patrols, we are not getting very far,” said Senior Sergeant Kelly in the Pukekohe Court, when a young Maori was charged with assaulting his wife, who, he alleged, had been associating with servicemen. “ Unless the military authorities issue some rigid instructions about their personnel associating with Maori women, I cannot see how we are going to stop this sort of conduct,” continued the senior sergeant. “The Maori girls claim that they are just as entitled to associate with servicemen as the white girls, and they get very cheeky when spoken to about the matter.” Mr C. K. Lawrie, J.P.: “Probably it is not only the Maori girls who are to blame.” “The whole thing goes back to the home, where there is a lack of parental control,” said Senior Sergeant Kelly. “Parents must be aware of what is going on, yet they seem to do nothing about it. It is a sad state of affairs, which the police are doipg every thing they can to improve.” The Bench suggested that the matter should be taken up With Ih* Justice Department.