In the News

Southland Times, Issue 24547, 23 September 1941, Page 4

In the News

Incidents at Meeting There was an unpleasant incident at the mass meeting held in Wellington last week to protest against the Social Security Amendment Bill. The amplifying system failed for a short period. It was later found that someone had entered the back of the Town Hall premises and cut off the power. “No doubt one of the local Nazis did not want you to hear the truth,” said the Mayor of Wellington (Mr T. C. A. Hislop), who presided. At the end of the meeting a man did not stand up for the singing of “God Save the King,” and he was hauled to his feet by another man who rushed down from several seats above him. Wounded Soldiers’ Recovery A reassuring statement about the condition of wounded New Zealand soldiers who are receiving attention in hospitals in Greece as prisoners of war is contained in a letter which has been received from an Auckland officer who is one of those looking after them. Written early in June, it says that up to that date the death rate had been not more than 1.89 per cent., this being described as remarkably low. Building Character In support of Sir Cyril Newall’s contention, voiced at a recent Boy Scouts’ Association meeting, “that what Hitler has done in Germany we can do in New Zealand with our children, but in a right direction,” Mr E. F. Hemingway, chairman of the Wanganui Education Board, has suggested that the leading educationists and representatives of religious bodies should get together and devise a scheme which would teach the children to place more value on spiritual things and also teach responsibility in raising the standard of character. “Figures contained in the report of the Child Welfare Department furnish much food for thought,” said Mr Hemingway. “Three thousand children each year before the Children’s Court is far too great.” Expensive Sparrows , So much did homesick early settlers i hanker after the familiar sounds of the Old Country that sparrows were worth £l/10/- a pair in New Zealand in the sixties. The Canterbury Acclimatization Society offered in 1864 15/- for each pair landed, but the Auckland Provincial Government raised the bid to 30/- a pair. Five birds were liberated in Canterbury and 47 in Auckland in 1867, some of the birds landed in Auckland being auctioned at £1 a pair. Raising as many as five broods of half a dozen chicks a season, the sparrow increased rapidly; allowing for a death rate of one-third of the whole annual increase, one pair will have 322,100 offspring at the end of five years, not taking into account the youngsters raised by their offspring. Little wonder, therefore, that the sparrow is now so plentiful, and is costing the country a fortune to feed every year, though it probably pays its board by the number of harmful insects it destroys. ' Cold Bath They breed them tough in Aidershot. This was learned by a Hawke’s Bay man who was billeted in a place famous among the forces for its hospitality. Getting out of bed one midwinter morning, the man was told that a bath was available. He went to the bathroom, where the water in the bath was coated with a layer of ice. He was surprised, but determined to show that New Zealand could also produce tough men, he stepped into the depths of the icy water. Later in the morning the son of the house said: “I’ve had your bath run for you; take it while it’s hot.” The New Zealander explained that he had already had his bath and was still tingling. “Oh, that was not your bath. That was the water we use fpr incendiaries. We have it there so that we can bucket it out in a hurry,” the lad told the amazed guest. Less Earned, More Income In certain circumstances under the Social Security Act the more a person earns the smaller is his net income. A paragraph in this column recently pointed out that a man with five children earning £6 a week actually received less than a man with the same family who earned £5 a week, be- | cause of the family benefit granted on | the smaller income. Another anomaly occurs in the age benefit provisions. When a married couple reach the age of 60 each is entitled to receive £l/10/a week and additional earnings up to I £1 a week are permitted. No taxes are I payable on the benefits, but 2/- tax will be deducted from the £1 earned, leaving £3/18/- net. If only one of the partners is 60 years old £l/10/- in benefit is received and additional earnings up to £2/10/- a week are permitted. On these earnings 5/- tax will be deducted, leaving a net income of £3/15/-. Spy Story Exploded The handing over of the battered remains of a marine code book, a standard publication of the international code of signals, to the committee of the New Plymouth public library closed a two-year-old spy story which had been investigated by the local police. The code book and a pair of battered binoculars were found wrapped in a 1918 newspaper by boys exploring caves near New Plymouth overlooking the sea at a point held as tapu by the Maoris. Sensing possible spy activities, the boys passed the find on to the police, who made inquiries which led them to the conclusion that the code book and glasses had been merely the hidden treasures of a band of small boys, who had used them to improve their nautical knowledge by watching from the cliffs. Churchill the Journalist A recent reference in a book review in The Southland Times was a reminder that Mr Winston Churchill has enjoyed unusual success in his profession, that of journalist and author. It was while he was serving with a cavalry regiment in India that he first tried his hand at journalism. He wrote accounts of frontier fighting and these were published by The Daily Telegraph, London. His first book, “The Malakand Field Force,” also dealing with a frontier expedition, met with such success that Mr Churchill was induced to try his hand at novel writing. His novel, “Savrola,” traces the fortunes of a liberal leader who overthrew an arbitrary Government only to be swallowed up by a socialist revolution. The novel was quite successful, but Mr Churchill is apparently not particularly proud of the effort. At least he says in his book, “My Early Life,” “I have consistently urged my friends to abstain from reading it.” Mr Churchill took part in the Sudan campaign which culminated in the battle of Omdurman, and when he found that some letters he had written about that battle for The Morning Post had yielded over £3OO he decided to resign from the Army and devote his time to journalism. When the Boer War broke out he was sent to South Africa as principal correspondent of The Morning Post. In those days war correspondents were allowed much more freedom of action than they enjoy today, and, though he was officially a non-combatant, Mr Churchill succeeded in getting mixed up in a great deal of fighting. He was also captured by the Boers and his subsequent daring escape made him a national hero. He returned to London with a firmly established reputation even though he was not very popular with the War Office. Mr Churchill has never been afraid to say and write exactly what he thinks.