NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25798, 20 March 1945, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

A SUGGESTION that the board should go out of trading in electrical appliances so as to encourage private enterprise, and especially the rehabilitation of returned servicemen, was placed before the Manawatu-Oroua Electric Power Board by the engineer, Mr W. A. Waters. In the early days of the board’s operations, in order to bring in the revenue as rapidly as possible. the board induced farmers and industrial corners to scrap oil, gas, and steam engines, selling them motors at practically cost price. "We need more electricians in our area, not only for post-war developments, but also to cope with ordinary maintenance,” he said. “If the board announces its intention to go out of trading it will encourage electricans to start up in business.” The matter was referred to the executive for a report.

Appeal for Sewing Materials The recent appeal for supplies of buttons. cotton, and other sewing materials for the Polish camp at Pahiatua, where 735 children are living, met with a generous response, said Mrs M. M. Cole, secretary of the W.W.S.A., yesterday. An excellent collection had been assembled several weeks ago, and had been forwarded to Wellington. Scarlet Fever Cases Five cases of scarlet fever were admitted to the Logan Park Hospital during the week ended yesetrday, one was discharged, and 12 remain for treatment. One patient suffering from chickenpox was also admitted. At the Dunedin Public Hospital four cases of scarlet fever were discharged, and four remain in the institution. One case of meningitis is receiving treatment. Amount of Mufti Allowance A remit from the Western Suburbs branch of the R.S.A. that the mufti allowance for discharged servicemen should be increased from £25 to £SO was presented to a conference of delegates from the Auckland district on Saturday. Some members expressed agreement, but Mr R. G. Mason pointed out that this would mean an added cost to the country of £5.000,000. He considered that this could be better spent in improving other rehabilitation benefits. After further debate the remit was withdrawn.

Baby Born on Ferry A baby girl was born on the ferry steamer Ngoiro as it was berthing at Auckland on completing a voyage from Waiheke Island on Saturday morning. The mother was a young woman who was on her way to St. Helens Hospital, and she was attended by a district nurse and members of the St. John Ambulance. It was stated that the child may be named Ngoiro St. John. According to officials of the company, it was the first occasion on which a birth has taken place on one of the Dcvonport Steam Ferry Company’s vessels. Appeal Committee Incident

A statement that 40 men were urgently required for seasonal work in the wool stores in Auckland, which was made in evidence by the manpower officer’s representative, Mr R. Lydford, at a sitting of the Auckland Industrial Man-power Committee, had an unexpected result. At the conclusion of the case a young man came forward from the pubjjc gallery at the back of the courtroom and volunteered to fill one of the vacancies. He was instructed by the chairman of the committee. Mr J. O. Liddell, to apply to the office.

Prison Hunger Strikers The last two of the five military defaulters in the Auckland prison who embarked on hunger strikes have abandoned their fast. They continued for about four weeks, during which time they refused to take any food. Two of the five lasted for about a fortnight before they decided to cease their hunger strike, and the remaining man was recently admitted to the Auckland Hospital for observation of a medical condition not directly caused by his fast at the prison. He Is still there, and his condition is satisfactory. Ireland’s War-time Position “In New Zealand we have felt the shock of war more directly than Ireland.” said the Roman Catholic Bishop of Christchurch, Dr Lyons, at the conclusion of the Irish national concert in Christchurch on Saturday evening. “But we must not think that the tragedy and horror of war have not come into the homes of Ireland, too. Mr de Valera remained neutral because his people wished it, but Ireland has helped Britain in many ways. In Eire, whose population is 3,000.000, onequarter of a million of her people are serving with the British Army, and that excludes the large number of men and women working on industrial front.”

New Giant British Machine Tool Construction has now been completed in Britain of a new giant machine tool described as “calculated to assist Britain to maintain her supremacy in marine engineering,” reports the London Financial News. The new tool is a gearcutter, 16 feet high and nine feet wide, weighing over 60 tons, but possessing a degree of precision higher than has ever before been achieved in marine engineering. It cuts a gear up to 150 inches across, while units of measurement employed go down to the fraction of one ten-thousandth of an inch. It is stated to assure far smoother running for all sea and ocean-going vessels. Leader Writer at 85 Although he is 85 years old, the Rev. Hugh Kelly, who was Presbyterian minister at Woodlands at the beginning of this century, can still use his pen with vigour and liveliness. He is now living with a daughter in Melbourne, and once a week writes a leading article for the Age. In a recent letter to a friend at Woodlands he mentioned that he was enjoying good health, and recalled the names of families and places in the district of his former parish. After serving the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand for more than 20 years, he left in 1903 for St. Andrew’s Church, Carlton, Melbourne. He retired about a year ago. The Wrong Delinquent After the experience of the members of the House of Representatives who are sitting on a Select Committee on Local Government in drifting for three hours in a launch which broke down in the Bay of Islands—a launch that was allegedly equipped with a small shifting spanner and a borrowed nail file in the way of tools—they were apparently disposed to blame the Bay of Islands Harbour Board for having issued a licence to the owner of the launch to ply for hire. “If there were no tools on a boat,” the chairman of the board was asked at the next sitting of the committee, “ the engine was not overhauled for seven years, and if there was no dinghy, would your board issue a licence? ” It was later on discovered that the Marine Department and not the Harbour Board issued the licences, and apologies had to be made to the Bay of Islands Harbour Board.

Seven Hundred Miles an Hour Britain is on the verge of designing aircraft to travel at over 700 miles an hour—faster than the speed of sound. This was stated by Mr Lennox Boyd, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Aircraft Production, in a recent speech. Mr Boyd disclosed that a gigantic 100,000 h.p. wind tunnel. 25 times more powerful than any existing tunnel, is to be built at the new English air research station in Bedfordshire There will also be several tunnels of 40,000 h.p. This station, which will be the largest in the world, will be equipped with all the latest research plant needed for revolutionary development in post-war aviation. Among these developments Mr Boyd forecasts greater speed, greater load, and far higher ranges. The electrical plant needed to operate the new station will be as large as that serving the industrial city of Manchester, which has close on 1,000,000 inhabitants.