NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26077, 14 February 1946, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Sales Tax on Houses “Will the Government consider lifting the sales tax on houses for returned servicemen? ” was a question put at the conference in the Council Chamber yesterday in regard to the housing situation. Mr P. G. Connolly, M.P., replying to the query, said that when a returned serviceman obtained a loan of up to £ISOO on a house he was also eligible for a supplementary loan of £l5O to £2OO. He did not pay interest on this supplementary loan, and so long as he lived in the house he was not required to repay the capital. The sales tax would amount to about £BO or £9O, added Mr Connolly, and it was easy for anyone to see that this was more than cancelled by the supplementary loan. The Tobacco Shortage A change-daily sign system has been started by a tobacconist in Dunedin. On Monday, his window sign said, “No tobacco: Nash acid drops in season.” He had a new sign for Tuesday. It said: “ Sorry—No Cigarettes or Tobacco. Try Nash Acid Drops.” To further annoy his customers, he had printed, in small type: “Sorry, no acid drops.”

Infantile Paralysis Thirty three cases of infantile paralysis have now been reported in the Otago Health District this year. With four cases in November and December of 1945, the total number of notifications since the outbreak of the disease is now 37. The last case was on Tuesday. when a positive case, that of a girl aged four, was admitted to hospital. Soya Bean as Food The value of the soya bean as a food was referred to by Sir Stanton Hicks, of Adelaide, in an address on nutrition to the British Medical Association conference in Auckland on Tuesday. Scientific experiments had made it possible, he said, to grow these beans in northern and arid parts o_ America, and they were being used not only for food, but also for manufacture into plastics. Potatoes and wheat also could now be grown _in places where formerly there was insufficient sunlight to support them. Colour Problem in America Washington was more tolerant to negroes than other parts of the United States, but there were still many problems to be overcome, said Mr D. b. Dodds at a luncheon held by the Christchurch Businessmen’s Ciub on Monday. Mr Dodds served more than two years with the New Zealand Supply Mission in Washington. It was easier to see the problem than the solution, Mr Dodds said. In some of the southern States negroes were not allowed to sit in the same compartments as white persons on buses, and even in Washington negroes were not permitted to attend the same lunemas as the whites. Material for Butter Boxes “Arrangements have been made for the importation of a very good quality solid fibre-board from Canada for the manufacture of boxes in New Zealand during the 1945-46 season,” says the annual report of the. New Zealand Dairy Board. It is hoped to have improved machinery available at Penrose, which will result in a firmer corrugated board being available for the boxes made there. In co-operation with the Forestry Department, the Dairy Division, the Ministry of Supply, and various commercial organisations, arrangements are also being made to secure samples and test various types of boxes, so that the industry may be in a position to have its butter transported in the most satisfactory conainers available. Future of Camp Buildings Sir James Fletcher was asked at the conference on housing held in the Council Chamber yesterday whether it would be possible to make the Taieri Air Station buildings available for housing purposes for returned servicemen, In reply, Sir James said that some military establishments were to be maintained on a permanent basis. If the buildings at Taieri could be occupied as they stood, they would probably be made available by the authorities, but their distance from the city might preclude that. He added that the Works Department was preparing a schedule of all buildings in the Otago area available for removal. These would be dismantled and made available to local authorities requiring them for housing.

Olympic Swimming Pool Project The opinion that a modern Olympic swimming pool should be looked on as a civic asset in the same way as are the botanic gardens and other amenities in the city was expressed by Mr D Forsyth at the fortnightly meeting of the Otago Swimming Centre last night. Mr Forsyth said that most members of the City Council argued that the present baths did not pay, but they did not put forward the same argument in regard to other amenities. It was time something definite was put before the public regarding the proposal to erect an Olympic pool, said Mr Forsyth, and it would be a fine advertisement for the city if something could be achieved by centennial year. On Mr Forsyth’s suggestion, it was decided to invite the Mayor (Mr D. C. Cameron), the chairman of the General Committee (Cr D. C. Jolly), the town clerk (Mr R. A. Johnston) and the city engineer (Mr S. G. Scoular) to meet the centre at a special meeting in March to discuss the whole subject of swimming facilities in the city.

English School Teacher’s Request A request for co-operation in a correspondence plan to bring English and New Zealand and other schoolboys into closer touch with -one another was received by the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr E. H. Andrews) from Mr V. H. Lloyd, a teacher at the Lostock County Modern School, Stretford, Manchester. Mr Lloyd stated that the borough of Stretford had a population of 60,000, and was largely an indusdustrial area. His school was a modern type, opened in 1941, with free education and an age-range among his boys of 11 to 15 years. He asked to be put in touch with a similar school in the Christchurch area. The boys would find many topics of mutual interest—sports, films, books, hobbies, and local and national events. Such a correspondence plan, ’he said, which he hoped to put into effect with schools in other countries of the Commonwealth of Nations, would have an educational value apart from allowing the establishment of friendships and understanding.