NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25853, 25 May 1945, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

“T AM very afraid and reluctant to carry censorship too far, especially where a matter of knowledge or art is involved, but civilisation would not get far without the use of some censorship,” said Dr H. E. Field when speaking at the annual meeting of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Society for the Protection of Women and Children. He thought it was advisable that there should be some form of censorship of film posters and billboards, as well as of the films themselves, Dr Field said. The policy that was followed in the advertising of films was such that the posters and billboards often went much further than the films themselves. Part of the business of protecting young lives involved protection in such matters, and while he felt that it was often a dangerous thing to' rush after this or that moral evil, groups in the community should keep an alert eye on excesses, said Dr Field. There should at least be some effective supervision of the things which affected the individual through his visual sense. Gift Parcels for Channel Islands

The Acting Postmaster-general, Mr F. Jones, announced last night that in addition to ordinary correspondence, gift parcels for the Channel Islands are now accepted on the same conditions as gift parcels for civilians in the United Kingdom. A Pest to Sportsmen “The hedgehog is one of the worst vermin the society has to contend with,” said Mr C. M. Greenslade at the annual meeting of the Otago Acclimatisation Society last night. Sportsmen had found the hedgehog a pest, more particularly in regard to the destruction of quail eggs, he added, and every means should be taken to destroy it. Bituminous Products

The Minister of Supply, Mr D. G. Sullivan, announced yesterday the revocation of the order gazetted in 1942 controlling the use of bituminous products. According to *a Press Association message from Wellington, Mr Sullivan said that similar action would be taken in respect to other building contruction control notices as circumstances allowed. Steamer Express Service

On Tuesday, June 5, the Wahine will withdraw from the Wellington-Lyttel-ton service for her annual Government survey and. overhaul.* The Rangatira will continue alone during June, leaving Wellington on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and Lyttelton on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. On the completion of the Wahine’s survey, about the beginning of July, the Rangatira will in turn withdraw for her survey and overhaul. her place being taken by the Wahine, which will provide sailings under the restricted schedule.’ Interest-free Loan Sought The action of the Government in granting the miners of Rotowaro an interest-free loan of £6OOO for the erection of a hall has inspired the settlers at Te Kowhai to decide to make application for a smiliar grant for the same purpose. Speaking at a meeting of the Waipa County Council, Mr F. L. Onion said a plan for the hall had been prepared and there was no reason why the same treatment should not be accorded one section of the community as had been granted to another only a few miles away. Sound security could be offered in the form of a rate Removal of Restrictions

Almost daily, some new order modifies war-time controls over Canadian industry. In one day there were revoked 32 orders restricting the manufacture of a number of household appliances and other consumer goods, including washing machines, vacuum cleaners, sewing machines, and bicycles. To help to -meet the steadily growing demand for public transportation, the transit controller has lifted the restrictions on schedules and routes of bus operations. Although rationing remains, Canadian motorists will have more tyres. To stimulate essential building construction, arrangements are being made with the armed services to speed the discharge of bricklayers and all restrictions on the use and distribution of penicillin have been removed. An Australian Coot

A. strange bird flying with a flock of ducks was accidentally shot by a sportsman in the Hari Hari district, and was sent by the secretary qf the local Acclimatisation Society to the Director of the Canterbury Museum (Dr R. A. Falla), who has identified it as an Australian coot. Only on four times previously had similar birds been found in the South Island, on each occasion in Otago, said Dr Falla. As the I. coot was a rather heavy flyer, like the swamp-hen, it seemed strange that an odd one should be blown all the way from Australia, and it was just possible that a few birds might be nesting in New Zealand, added Dr Falla. As the specimen is the first of its kind to reach the museum, it has been mounted and added to the New Zealand collection. Field-marshal Smuts' South Africa’s most famous statesman, Field-marshal Jan Christian Smuts, celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday yesterday. An outstanding figure in South African and Empire affairs < since the South African War, he was born at Malmesbury, Cape Colony, and studied law at the universities of .Leyden, Cambridge, and Strasburg. After some years of private practice he was appointed Attor-ney-general of the Transvaal Republic by President Kruger and later became Secretary of War. By 1901 he had become commander-in-chief of the insurgent Boers in Cape Colony. For a period after the war Smuts was one of the irreconcilables. but in 1907 he became Colonial Minister under Botha and took a prominent part in the discussions of the convention that formed the Union scheme. He built ,up South Africa’s excellent army, which defeated the Germans in South-west Africa and crushed rebellion in the Union in the last war, and in 1919 became Premier. In his new role he worked constantly for Imperial solidarity and the League of Nations, becoming recognised as one of the Empire’s soundest administrators. His reputation has grown with the years and throughout the present war he has played an important part in all councils of Empire.