In the News

Southland Times, Issue 24565, 14 October 1941, Page 4

In the News

Lovelock’s Oak A feature of the annual athletic sports of the Timaru Boys’ High School which were held on Saturday afternoon was tile handing over of the Lovelock oak to the school by the president of the Old Boys’ Association. The oak was presented by Hitler to J. E. Lovelock, an old boy of the school, when he won the 1500 metres event at the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936, establishing a new world record. Six Planets Visible All the planets visible to the unaided eye are at present in the evening sky. Mercury can be located in the last of the twilight glow in the western sky, with Venus a brilliant object slightly higher. Mars, which was in opposition to the sun on Friday, rises in the east at sunset and remains visible all night. Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus are all in the constellation Taurus, and can be seen above the north-eastern horizon about 11 o’clock. Saturn is about six degrees south of the Pleiades cluster, with Uranus lying about midway between the two. Jupiter is further east, below the prominent constellation of Orion. Fish Dear in Gisborne The Bureau of Industries is to be asked by the Gisborne Borough Council to permit the sale of fish at the wharf at reasonable prices. The Mayor (Mr N. H. Bull) at a meeting of the council, said that the present price of fish was a hardship on large families with small incomes. Formerly an abundant supply of fish for a family could be secured on the wharf for 1/-, but the same amount could not be purchased now for three times that sum. Mr Bull added that he had been in touch with wholesalers and been sympathetically met, but the difficulties appeared insurmountable, first in securing the consent of the Bureau of Industries and second in arranging the necessary distributing agents on the wharf. Vicars’ Stipends A recommendation that all stipends should be increased by 10 per cent, to meet the greatly increased cost of living was made in a report adopted by the Auckland Diocesan Synod. The report also recommended that vestries be requested to meet the full expenses of travelling, thus enabling the clergy to receive a full nominal stipend. Housing in Hamilton “At present people are living in garages and slums of all sorts, and until we can impress on the Government the necessity of building houses suitable for families with five or six children these people will have to live in these hovels,” said the Mayor, Mr H. D. Caro, at a meeting of the Hamilton Borough Council, when a report concerning the shortage of houses in Hamilton was received. The report stated that, while during the last four years many excellent dwellings had been built, little had been done to relieve those in most urgent need. “It is evident that at the present rate of building it will be many years before the number of houses exceeds the demand, and unless some scheme of proper and efficient housing cf the people is evolved very soon the health of the community will suffer.” Dear Oranges

Complaint has recently been made in Wellington that, as a consequence of the shortage of imported oranges, some shopkeepers have been charging customers from 6d to 7d for an orange. When the complaint was referred to a retailer in Wellington he pointed out that the highest price fixed by the price control authorities was 3/2 a dozen for imported oranges. If the public were aware of this fact they would know how to act when'oranges were offered at 6d or 7d each. Limited supplies of Australian oranges are expected to be available in New Zealand about the middle of this week. Kookaburras at Waipu? Children at North River, Waipu, are curious to learn whether there are kookaburras in New Zealand. They say they have seen and heard a bird greatly resembling the laughing jackass, made familiar by Australian film newsreels. They are wondering if in some manner the birds have come to. the New Zealand bush. Strawberries in Auckland The first strawberries of the season made their appeaance at the Auckland City Markets last Wednesday, and sold at from 4/- to 4/2 a chip. Grown in the Avondale South and Birkdale districts, they were the production of two-year-old beds. Strawberries from younger plants will probably be offered for sale after the Labour week-end, October 27, and the flush of the season will be reached about three weeks before Christmas. Retail shops in Auckland were selling strawberries last week at 4/6 a chip. Religious Colour-Line It was to be deplored that divisions between Maori and pakeha in Church matters still existed, said Bishop Simkin at the Diocesan Synod at Auckland. The ministrations of pakeha clergy were not always welcome to Maoris, and vice versa. In one district which was temporarily without a vicar the parties to two weddings would not use the services of a Maori minister who was available, but brought a European minister many miles to officiate. The same occurred at a funeral, a sacred occasion when such distinctions ought surely to have been ignored. The bishop added that he was doing everything possible to lessen the division by insisting that Maori clergy should be given a full part in all diocesan services. At his own consecration he had arranged that the Bishop of Aotearoa should be one of the two bishops who presented him.

Daily News in the Desert

A news service which is greatly appreciated by New Zealand troops in remote positions in the Middle East is that given by The Desert Daily. A central service sends out a short news summary each day by radio, and signals officers or others with access to a receiving set make a copy of the message, which is, then copied by ths cyclostyle process and made available to the men. In this way men who are too far away from the principal centres to receive newspapers are kept in touch, with the latest news. Habits of Prisoners

The habits of accused persons when lodged in the cells were discussed at a sitting of the Magistrate’s Court in Invercargill yesterday morning. A constable told the court that the man charged with the offence under hearing had made himself a nuisance while he was in the cells by repeatedly calling out. Counsel asked if it was not a fact that the man was asking for a meal and that the witness had told him that he would be released before the pie cart closed. The constable said that might be so. Counsel contended that it was poor satisfaction for a man arrested at six o’clock in the evening to be told that he would be let out to get a meal in the early hours of the morning. The constable closed the discussion by remarking that when men were locked up in the cells for intoxication they did not usually bother about meals.