NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25804, 27 March 1945, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

rr<HE Union Steam Ship Company’s Monowai was in the forefront of the landing of the Allied troops in Normandy on D-Day on June 5 last year. Her participation in the operations was a signal success, there being no casualties among the ship’s company, and her boats being reported to have been the first ashore on her sector. Since the landing the Monowai has carried more than 100,000 passengers to the Continent. The Aorangi also played a part in the D-Day operations, acting as the mother-ship for 150 tugs. Both vessels are still on war service, and the captains and most of the principal officers and engineer-officers are New Zealanders.

Cargo Refused The refusal of a shipping company to carry cases of spirits because of the danger of pillaging was the subject of a discussion by the council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce last week. The chamber had been advised that as shipping companies are common carriers they must accept all goods other than those of a dangerous nature which might adversely affect other cargo. It was agreed that the company concerned be written to on the matter and as to its future policy regarding the acceptance of such cargo.

Game Birds by Air “The rapid transport which will be available after the war will make it possible to import game birds whicn were formerly too difficult to handle,” said Mr G. E. Turner, chairman of the Game Committee of the Otago Acclimatisation Society, at a meeting of the council of the society last night. Mr Turner added that birds such as snipe, which, because of their feeding habits, could not formerly be carried to New Zealand, might now be brought by air. There were many marshy areas in Otago on which snipe might thrive once they were established.

The Licensing Commission Mr T. Jordan, of Masterton, who was appointed to the Licensing Commission, has not taken his seat. Asked the reason, he informed the Dominion that he attended a preliminary meeting, and found that it was intended to sit continuously for some considerable time. He had anticipated that there would be intervals. In the circumstances, being unable to make any arrangements for his legal practice to be carried on in the period his sitting on the commission would have required, he was obliged to resign. He would like to have taken his place on the commission, but the position outlined made this impossible.

Major Criminals and Drink His own experience was that major criminals —and he had been associated with the prosecution of 30 murder cases—were not drinkers, said the Commissioner of Police, Mr James Cummings, in evidence in Wellington before the Royal Commission on Licensing. Mr O’Leary, K.C.: In cases of cool, deliberate crime was drink an ingredient? Mr Cummings said it might- have been to some extent responsible, in a few cases, but the motive was gain, or money. Mr O'Learv: The difference between you and Mr Dallard is that you put them in and he lets them out. His experience is on the Prisons Board. Fire at Naseby School

The complete demolition of the Naseby School was narrowly averted on Tuesday last, when, during a gale, a painter’s blow-lamp ignited the ceiling and roof of one room. The fire quickly spread to the other rooms, but, owing to the efforts of the local fire brigade, assisted by a good water pressure, it was successfully confined to the roof after a fight lasting nearly an hour and a-half. The interior furnishings were saved, but it is understood that some of the property of the teaching staff was damaged by fire and water. The school, which is approaching the eightieth year of its existence, was originally built to accommodate approximately 130 pupils. Jubilee Park Tip

The proposal to use an area of Jubilee Park as a tip site moved Cr R. F. Barr at last night’s meeting of the City Council to warn the Reserves Committee that residents in the neighbourhood entertained some fears in regard to the vermin and the nuisance quotient of such a convenience. Without giving any specific assurance, Cr L. J. Ireland, on behalf of the Reserves Committee, suggested to Cr Barr that the fears of residents were groundless in view of the department’s determination to make the Jubilee Park tip a “modern tip,” without which “our most central park could not possibly be developed.”

Service Appeal Procedure “All employers should know that a written statement must be supplied in support of appeals,” said the chairman (Mr W. R. Clarke) at a sitting of the No. XI Armed Forces Appeal Board yesterday, speaking to a co-appellant who had • prepared no statement in support of an appeal for an employee. The secretary, Mr W. J. Blackler, said that some appellants were very careless about putting in statements. The chairman intimated that in future the board would not hear appeals unless they were supported by written statements. Some people made verbal statements one day and came back the following day and denied what they had said, he added. Wool Stored at Aerodromes Wool being held in store in Canterbury is equivalent to one season’s clip in the province. All the wool has been sold to the British Government. To relieve congestion in wool stores a beginning was made last week on the transference to, and the storing of, between 8000 and 10,000 bales in hangars at the aerodrome at Ashburton, where the training of air force personnel has ceased. The wool stored in the cattle sheds at the Addington Show Grounds aggregates 15,000 bales. This wool was transposed from Christchurch, wool stores just before this season’s clips began to arrive. “ Including the wool shifted to Ashburton and the Show Grounds, there is practically a season’s clip on hand in Canterbury,” said the president of the Christchurch Woolbrokers’ Association (Mr Walter C. Brydone). Rate* for Students’ Hostels A suggestion that the Wellington City Council be approached and asked to strike a special rate and provide, out of loans or otherwise, buildings for use as hostels for Victoria University College students, was put forward at a meeting of the college council by Mr M. H. Oram, M.P., after he had emphasised the importance of the college to the city. At present, he said, the college relied almost entirely for its funds on grants from the Government, but he felt there were other bodies, institutions, and people who should assist financially in the development of the college. Something had to be done to provide hostel accommodation. The chairman, Mr H. F. O'Leary, K.C., said he thought notice of motion should be given of a proposal of that kind, which was something very different in the council’s experience, and Mr Oram agreed to do so. Mr M. F. Luckie said it would require legislation. Order to Stop Work The Works Department has issued instructions to the contractors to cease work on the construction of the twostorey home science wing at the King Edward Technical College. As the college is in a declared brick area and an application for a permit to erect a building of timber 'framework and plaster exterior was not made, the City Corporation is not prepared to accept responsibility for a breach of its regulations. The proposed wing was to be an extension of the existing Art School which was built in 1937 with timber framing and has never received the approval of the city's building department, the Government having exercised its right to ignore the existing civic building code. The Board of Managers of the College, the Public Works Department, and the contractors, the Fletcher Construction Company, therefore anticipated no difficulty in building the addition, which was to be of similar design. Most of the construction work below' ground level has been completed and the boxing and reinforcing steel work is in place. Yesterday morning, however. the building area presented a deserted appearance.