In Town And Out

Southland Times, Issue 23945, 11 October 1939, Page 8

In Town And Out

Price of Potatoes

The Minister of Supply (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan) in a statement points out to wholesalers and others interested in the potato trade that the emergency price-fixation regulations _ specify that the price of all commodities, including potatoes, must not exceed the prices ruling on September I.—Press Association.

Rejected Volunteers

. It is proposed by the Army Department to issue special certificates to all men who have volunteered for service with the special military force and been permanently rejected, says The New Zealand Herald. The issue will be carried out within the next few days and each certificate, which the receiver may carry with him, will state that the holder has volunteered and been rejected. Clothes-Line Thief A clothes-line thief has been busy in East Invercargill lately, _ several housewives having lost clothing that was left out overnight. At one house in Islington street some curtains disappeared, and with them went the peg-bag. New Season’s Fat Lambs Buyers competed keenly for the first fat lambs of the season at the Lorneville stock sale yesterday. Three lambs were forward in good condition and two sent in by Mr G. O. Cassells, of Makarewa, realized 33/- and 30/6. The other lamb was entered by Mr J. McLean, of Makarewa, and brought 28/-. Observance Not Cancelled Armistice Day and Anzac Day will be observed as usual this year. Advice to this effect has been received by the secretary of the Invercargill Returned Soldiers’ Association (Mr J. S. Filippini) from the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association. Mission of Friendship The Mission of Friendship which is being conducted in Invercargill this week by the Presbyterian Church is attracting large congregations to the special services each evening. Five churches—First, St. Paul’s, Knox, North Invercargill and St. Andrew’s—are cooperating in the mission, and each has undertaken the responsibility for the area of the city within its bounds, The speakers at these services, which will be held each evening (except Saturday), include well-known Presbyterian ministers. The mission will conclude bn Sunday evening with a service which will take the form of an impressive Christian witness to the community.' » Income Tax Assessments Income tax assessments are at present being issued to taxpayers in receipt of income from investments and businesses, the returns of which have involved a large amount of detailed checking by the Taxation Department during the past few months. The minimum rate of tax is 2/-, rising by l-100d for every pound of income above the exemption limit of £2OO. The Department is not including the new war taxation in the assessments, but a statement has been made that taxpayers will be expected to pay the additional amount when the demands are issued during the next two months. The 15 per cent, special war tax on incomes involves an addition of 3/- for every £1 of tax in the present assessments.-

Australian Visit Cancelled

The proposed visit of the Australian contingent of returned soldiers for the Anzac Day ceremony in New Zealand next year has been cancelled, according to advice received by the secretary of the Invercargill Returned Soldiers’ Association (Mr J. S. Filippini) from the general secretary of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association. No visit will be made to this country, it is stated, until after the war.

z Table Tennis Performances Referring to the table tennis evening held during recreation week at Winton, the Mayor (Mr T. Walker) remarked at the monthly meeting of the Winton Borough Council that he had been greatly impressed by the performances given by visiting players from Invercargill. “They gave a remarkable exhibition,” he said, “and it was well worth seeing. It was a nice gesture on their part to come up to the function and give an exhibition.”

Health Stamp Issue

Because of the recent increase in postal rates the sale of health stamps was deferred and they will now be offered at all post offices as from next Monday. It has been necessary to have them overprinted with the new values of IJd and 3d, the amounts allocated for health purposes being Jd and Id respectively. The proceeds from the sale of health stamps are devoted to the cost of administering children’s health camps throughout New Zealand.

Teaching of Languages A working knowledge of Spanish and Italian is of more use than French and German when travelling in Continental countries, according to Mr J. J. Hurley, who expressed this opinion at the meeting of the Board of Governors of the Christchurch Technical College. Mr Hurley said he thought an effort should be made to teach the first two languages in schools. The principal, Dr D. E. Hansen, said that Latin, French and German were taught at the college, but efforts to form classes for Spanish and Maori had been unsuccessful. Book On Stewart Island

The opinion that the book on Stewart Island, “Rakiura” now being written by Dr Basil Howard, of Dunedin, for the Stewart Island Centennial Committee, would supersede McNab’s “Murihiku” as the standard work on Stewart Island and Foveaux Strait, was expressed by Mr F. G. Hall-Jones at the weekly luncheon of the Invercargill Rotary Club yesterday. Mr Hall-Jones said that Dr Howard would deliver an address in Invercargill on Friday night to the University Association of Southland.

Languages In Switzerland Languages spoken in Switzerland include German, French, Italian and his toric Romansch. In an interview with The Press, Christchurch, Mr Angus Mcßean, a New Zealander who is revisiting the Dominion after four years on the staff of the Rosenberg International College in Switzerland, said that, contrary to a general impression, there was no Swiss language in that country, nor was there a Swiss people. German was spoken by most of the people in the eastern districts, who had a strongly pronounced dialect. French was general in the part near Lake Geneva, and people in the Italian canton of Ticino spoke Italian Romansch, which is collateral with Spanish and Italian, and is a direct descendant of the Latin spoken by the Roman soldiers that garrisoned the area long years ago, combined with a proportion of Celtic words, is the language of the residents of the deep mountain valleys.