NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26916, 30 October 1948, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

St. Kilda Band The St. Kilda Band, which won the Quickstep, and was co-winner with the Wellington Watersiders’ Band in the Test championship, held in Dunedin this year, has entered for the brass band festival to be held at Auckland in February. The secretary, Mr I. E. Still, told the Daily Times yesterday that although the entry from the band did not appear in the list of bands competing which was published yesterday morning, the band had received the contest music and its receipt for the entry fee. The band was at present conducting an appeal for funds to enable it to attend the contest and to purchase new instruments for use next February. Radio-telephone Link

With the extension of the New Zealand radio-telephone service to Denmark and the British and United States zones of Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Czechoslovakia as from November 1, people in the Dominion can speak by telephone to practically all European countries as well as to Australia, Great Britain, countries in North America and Hawaii, announced the Postmastergeneral, Mr Hackett, yesterday.

Petrol Coupons Petrol coupons Nos. 13, 14 and 15 will be available for November at the full face value. This was announced yesterday by the Minister of Supply, Mr Nordmeyer. In addition, coupons Nos. 10, 11 and 12, at their full face value, will be available during November if the coupons were not expended in October. An announcemflit will be made shortly whether or not it will be possible to provide an increased quota for the Christmas holidays. Freak Tulips

Mr H. J. Powell, of Rosebank, Balclutha, is another Otago horticulturist who has produced a tulip with six flowers growing from the same stalk. It is on display in a shop window in Balclutha, and has attracted a great deal of attention. Mr Powell told the Daily Times representative that although he has frequently noticed two blooms growing from one stalk, it is the first time in 20 years’ experience that he has seen a stalk bearing six flowers. Mr Powell grows about 1500 tulips each year.

Plane Chartered Addington, the Mecca of many thousands of New Zealand trotting followers to-dav will be the destination of three Dunedin persons who have chartered the Otago Aero Club’s Percival Proctor. The plane, which will be piloted by Mr R. G. Bush, the club’s instructor, will leave Taieri aerodrome at 8 o’clock this morning, and will land at Harewood in time for the party to reach Addington before the first race. If nothing disrupts the schedule, the plane will leave Harewood at 5 p.m. on the return journey, and should touch down at Taieri at 7.45 p.m. Irish Rivalry

“When I addressed delegates who had gathered in Dublin from both Northern Ireland and Eire, I had to be as careful as if I had been walking a tight-rope,” said the Rev. T. M. Bamber, when he was welcomed at the Baptist Assembly meeting yesterday. “ I managed that without rousing undue rivalry. I think, therefore, that I should be able to address Baptists from both North and South Islands of New Zealand without incurring too much inter-isiand feeling.” Mr Bamber brought greetings from British Baptists and from his own church, Rye Lane Chapel, London. Mrs Bamber also spoke.

“ Sentence ” of Probation It appears to have become the practice to speak and write of an offender as having been “sentenced to probabation.” It is pointed out that this is an erroneous statement, and indeed a contradiction in terms. Sentence and probation are mutually exclusive; probations is granted “in lieu of sentence,” and the offender is not sentenced at all, though he may be brought up for sentence later if he commits a breach of his probation conditions. He is “released on probation,” or “ admitted to probation ” (or granted probation), but there is no such thing as being “ sentenced to probation.”

Steel Supplies A prediction that by 1952, Australia would probably be able to satisfy all New Zealand’s steel needs, was made in Christchurch by Mr J. J. Murray, Australian Trade Commissioner in New Zealand. “We now export to New Zealand about £1,250,000 worth of steel each year, while steel in our own countiy is in very short supply,” he said. “Plans are in progress for stepping up steel production in Australia. It is my personal opinion that in the future ,New Zealand’s needs of steel will be provided by my country. I should think that, while the position may improve in the interim, by 1952 the position should be quite easy. I think that Australia will continue to provide the cheapest steel in the world, as she is doing to-day, because-of her iron ore and coal resources,” Mr Murray added. Housing Costs

The housing situation was still very acute, as in addition to the shortage of new houses comparatively large numbers of old buildings were definitely sub-standard and in some cases not really fit for habitation, said the chairman of directors of a Christchurch building society, Mr A. S. Taylor, at the annual meeting. Mr Taylor said that in his opinion building costs were still showing a rising tendency, making the problem of finance more difficult of solution. Returned servicemen were applying for larger loans than the maximum available under rehabilitation, as they found that £ISOO was insufficient. The Land Sales Act, he added, had served a very useful purpose in steadying the property market, but he thought that the adherence tc the 1942 standard of values was now operating too harshly on vendors. It had been suggested that the 1942 basis should be increased by 2i per cent, for each subsequent year, with a view to giving some relief and bringing property prices more in line with replacement costs.