NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26532, 6 August 1947, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

First Taste of Whale Evidence that whale has become a regular item on British menus is contained in a letter received by a Dunedin business man from a friend in Derby. “To-day we had our first piece of whale,” the letter states. “It cooked and tasted like steak and onions, with no fishy taste. I think the worst part was getting used to the idea, which seemed awful, but, if we eat pig, why not whale? Anyway we ate it and found it good. What we shall be eating next we don’t think about! ”

Power Saving The power saving in Dunedin for the 24 hours ended at midnight on Monday was 10.86 per cent. The storage level of Lake Mahinerangi fell by half an inch on Monday, making the level 66ft 01 in yesterday morning.

R.S.A. Membership The total number of financial members of the Dunedin branch of the Returned Services’ Association at the end of July was 8531, of whom 5441 were returned servicemen or servicewomen of the 1939-45’ war.

Temperature Record A temperature record was established in Christchurch yesterday, when the maximum was 72.6 degrees, the highest ever recorded in August. The previous highest, says a Press Association telegram, was 70 degrees, on August 31, 1923. To-day was brilliantly fine, with a light north-west wind.

Oversight in Regulation Apparently because of an oversight, a recently gazetted amendment to the Motor Vehicles Regulation, 1940, is likely to be a serious embarrassment to members of the police force in the execution of their duty. The regulation provides that a driver of a motor vehicle shall produce his driver’s licence for inspection whenever he is instructed to do so by a traffic inspector as defined by Regulation No. 2 of the Traffic Regulations, 1936. A policeman is not covered by the lastmentioned provision.

Why Not “ Empire? ” The sooner Britons stopped talking about the British Commonwealth of Nations and referred to it as the British Empire the better, said the Mayor of Auckland, Mr Allum, at a dinner of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries. If he had the power, he would urge the pooling of the Empire’s resources for 25 years to help Britain with defence. Unity was needed among the peoples of the Empire, and talk about the British Commonwealth of Nations would not help in providing that unity. “We should speak of the Empire, and not apologise for it either,” Mr Allum declared. Censorship of Films

A total of 1473 films of ail classes, with a total length of 4,172,810 feet, were examined during the year, said the annual report of the Department of Internal Affairs. Of this number, 114 were passed subject to excisions, 131 were passed with the recommendation that they were more suitable for adult audiences, and 32 were passed with the warning that they were unsuitable for children. Four films were rejected in the first instance, but were subsequently all passed after reconstruction. One was approved for exhibition with a new title. Dangerous Drivers Boys with trolleys were coming down streets of the borough at excessive speed, and accidents were likely to happen, said Cr McEwan at the monthly meeting of the West Harbour Borough Council last night. Complaints had been made to him by elderly people in the borough, who claimed that they could not move away from the danger areas as quickly as they wished. The council decided to ask the local constable to keep a watch for these juvenile dangerous drivers, and warn them of the possibily serious consequences of an accident. Project Revived A train ferry service across Cook Strait is considered by the Marlborough Regional Planning Council to be an urgent necessity in view of the large accumulation of cargo that has built up at numerous ports serving the North and South Islands due to the slow turn-round in shipping. A decision has been made to bring the matter befpre the Government for its immediate consideration. Such a project is not an original one as far as Marlborough is concerned, for a train ferry service connecting the province with Wellington was first mooted about 25 years ago. when Clifford Bay near Cape Campbell was favoured as the southern port. Parliamentary English “ What a torrent of words—the most ordinary, dispirited, over-worked fourth standard words! ” is the comment of the New Zealand National Review on the public speaking in the House of Representatives. “Is it that too many members of Parliament take too little care in the preparation of their speeches? Churchill wrote, rewrote and revised a third time every important speech that he made. On' the basis of what Churchill contrived to do in the war, either of our political parties, now so equally balanced, might win a decisive victory with three or four notable speeches which compelled attention and evoked admiration.”

Municipal Organ Recital The city organist, Dr V. E. Galway, v/ill give an after-church recital in the Town Hall on Sunday night, when the following programme will be presented:—Fug le on the name B.A.C.H (Schumann), “Ave Maria” (Arcadelt). Choral Prelude' “O, Lamb of God ’’ (Bach). “A tune for the Flutes” (John Stanley). “Electa ut Sol” (Dallier), “Angelus” (Cocker), “Nocturne ’ (Mendelssohn). Toccata in G (Dubois) Dr Galway will be assisted by the Dunedin Music Students’ Club Choir, under the conductorship of Mr John Matheson. The choir will contribute items of Elizabethan music—“ O Lord. Increase My Faith” (Gibbons), “In Going To My Naked Bed” (Edwards). “If Ye Love Me ” (Tallis) and “Awake Sweet Love” (Dowland) There will be no charge for admission.

Pigs to Save Life Pigs were urgently sought last week by the Grey Hospital authorities to save the life of a male patient. Tncsuperintendent, Dr S. Barclay, explaining the need for pigs, said that the new treatment was being tried on a patient to whom every other known treatment had been applied without success. The treatment consisted of feeding to the patient the raw lining of the small intestine of the pig. The lining, after being scraped off like tripe, was chopped up fine and fed raw to the patient through a tube. When it was first decided to use this treatment the hospital authorities nad little idea of the difficulties that would be encountered. Every butcher in the Grey district was communicated with, but none had a pig which could be slaughtered. Eventually a pig was procured and the treatment com menced. More animals were required however, and the search led to Hokitika and even to Christchurch, whence the present supply is coming. One pig each day is required.