NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27057, 16 April 1949, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Hospital Finance The estimates for the year 1949-50 came before a special meeting of the Otago Hospital Board on Thursday. Estimated maintenance was set down at £601,476 13s Id, and capital expenditure. including repayment on loans, at £185,860 16s 9d. Levies on local bodies for maintenance and capital expenditure totalled £76,279 18s 9d, while subsidies on local authorities for both items amounted to £578,480 13s 2d. Estimated expenditure of loan moneys on works was set down at £148,667 3s 6d. The schedule was adopted. Second Blossoming

A pear tree, which bore its fruit at the usual time, is now in full bloom again in Mr C. J. Henderson’s garden in George street, Port Chalmers. The leaves shed with the onset of autumn are still lying beneath the tree, which now has a light second growth of leaves as well as a covering of blossom Cook Strait Crossing “Our bags and trunks came all the way from London safe and sound,” said a young couple who recently travelled from London to Nelson, “ but you should have seen how they were knocked about just going across Cook Strait —handles were torn off, hinges broken, and the contents damaged by the rough handling on this short trip.” Gift Parcel Postages

A further reduction in postage charges on unsoliciting gift parcels to individuals in the United Kingdom has been announced by the Poslmastergeneral, Mr Hackett. says a Press Association message. The new charges, which are operative from Tuesday, are: Three-pound parcels. Is 6d postage; 71b, 2s 9d; 111 b, 4s; 221 b, 6s 3d. School Stationery

An assurance that an improvement will be made in the quality of school stationery has been given school committees, it was reported at the last meeting of the Canterbury Schpol Committees’ Association. Complaints had been made that the quality of some school exercise books had deteriorated so much that the paper was best described as blotting paper, it was reported

No Copyright A claim for damages of 1,000.000 francs (about £1000) by the Walt Disney film organisation against the Krema Chocolate Company, of Pans, for using the name of Snow White on one of its products, was dismissed last week by a Paris court. The court decided that the Disney organisation had no exclusive rights to the name because it was created by the Grimm brothers, the German fairy tale writers, more than a century ago. The British Farmer

Of the total population of Britain. 50,000,000, about 1,500,000 were farmers or farm workers, said Mr E. A. Thomson, of Sussex, in an interview. These workers had to produce enough for themselves and the rest of the population. They looked after 4,636.554 dairy and 4,815,316 beef cattle, 16,743,827 sheep, 1,509,794 pigs and 72,109,883 poultry. They cultivated and harvested land which produced 2.127,830 acres of wheat (250,000 in New Zealand), 2,062,500 acres of barley, 3,328,000 acres of oats, 1,332,000 acres of potatoes and all the vegetables for 50,000,000 people. The average size of a farm would be about 100 acres.

Measurement of Speed Who bowls the fastest ball at cricket, who hits the _ fastest serve, drive, or smash at tennis, what golfer actually sends the ball away faster and at what speed with what club? These questions, which have caused arguments in clubrooms, bars, homes, trams, and anywhere sportsmen may meet, can now be answered accurately. The electronic micro-wave speed indicator, developed for the Transport Department for the checking of speeds on the roads, can also be used for measuring the speeds of other objects. If all these questions are answered it will give considerable satisfaction to those who argued the -right way. But on wet days and on winter evenings what will there then be for sportsmen to argue about?

Rabbits Poisoned From Air Excellent results have been obtained by the Ashburton Gorge Rabbit Board in experiments carried out on the Mount Possession sheep station with phosphorised pollard used as rabbit poison. The board recently inspected two areas of about 18,000 acres each where the pollard had been spread. On one block the poison was spread by hand and on the other by aircraft. “The results in both cases were very good indeed,” said Lieutenant-colonel R. B. Neill, chairman of the board “An independent survey of the areas was carried out by the board’s foreman and his report of a kill of between 80, and 90 per cent, coincided with the report of the board," said Colonel Neill. Another poisoning contract has been carried out at Omarama, where approximately 13cwt of poison was dropped over 5000 acres. Another three tons of phosphorised pollard, which will cover 35,000 acres, will be dropped in the same area later this week.