In the News

Southland Times, Issue 24685, 5 March 1942, Page 4

In the News

Mistaken for Enemy Agents “We have been accused of being every sort of foreign agent except Japanese so far,” said the Director of the Christchurch Magnetic Observatory (Mr H. F. Baird), referring to his extensive travels and experiences in many parts of New Zealand on an important scientific mission. With Mr J. W. Beagley, physicist at the observatory, Mr Baird, except for a few weeks on odd occasions, has been travelling the Dominion since January of last year, engaged on a magnetic re-sur-vey of New Zealand. “On the East Coast,” said Mr Baird, “one Maori shook his fist in my face and said, ‘You German?’ At one place in North Auckland, first a detective and then a constable were put on our trail, despite the fact that we always made a point of reporting to the nearest police station and showing our credentials whenever we went to a new locality. Of course, using various instruments as we did, and frequently coming to a place and leaving the same day, we came under suspicion, as is liable to be the lot of scientific workers during wartime.” Home Guard on Trams The issuing of uniforms to the Home Guard has presented a problem for the Auckland Transport Board, which allows men in battledress to travel any distance on the trams for twopence. This privilege was not extended to the Home Guard, said Mr A. E. Ford, the board’s engineer and manager, and it would be impossible to distinguish between the Home Guardsman in uniform and soldiers. The concession given *o soldiers represented a loss of revenue amounting to £10,060. The matter is to be further discussed. Salaries of Key Men The salaries paid in some branches of the Civil Service for key men with high technical qualifications were the subject of a passing remark by the chairman of the Armed Forces Appeal Board, Mr M. F. Luckie, at Wellington, when the Director of National Service appealed on the ground of public interest on behalf of three officers of the Department of 1 Industries and Commerce. One man who had his M.Sc. degree was said to be getting £305 a year, and the same salary was paid to another man who had his B.Com. degree and been with the department since 1933. The third man, who had his B.Com. degree and part of his B.E. degree, was getting £335. He had been with the department for 12 years. “You need the best steel for razors, you know,” Mr Luckie remarked to the .department’s .representative. “I am not sure you will get it at these salaries.” Trenches as Rubbish Pits Thoughtless persons are using air raid trenches as rubbish tips, says The Auckland Star. All manner of things are thrown into them. On Monday evening about dusk a man, his wife and son stood on the edge of the park in Constitution Hill waiting for a tram. The boy, aged about nine years, saw an empty quart beer bottle on the grass near a trench, picked it up and hurled it with force into the trench. Someone might find it necessary to jump down into that trench in the event of a raid, and the results of alighting on jagged pieces of broken glass can well be imagined. V Prisoners Build Houses

In a letter from a New Zealand prisoner of war in Germany it is stated that the prisoners had almost completed one large house and had another three to build. The writer hoped that he would have an inside job for the winter; as he was dreading a winter without singlets, soeks, or warm clothing. In winter they would be working one hour less a day, starting at 7 instead of 6 o’clock. Rising time was 4 o’clock. Example of Greeks

The opinion that the private people of the Dominion should make more active preparations for defence and take the present inter-

national situation more seriously was expressed by Sergeant J. W. Calvert, of Hamilton. Sergeant Calvert said he greatly admired the Greek people for the way in which they shouldered the burdens cast upon them by the war. Old men, and women, for instance, constructed a road 100 miles long over

mountainous country, including a portion of Mount Olympus, in two months. The only tools used were picks, shovels and wheelbarrows. Mobile Cinema The annual meeting of the New Zealand Motion Picture Exhibitors’ Association, which was held in Wellington recently, approved arrangements made by the executive committee of the association for the raising of a fund to provide a mobile cinema unit for the use of the N.Z.E.F. overseas. Approval had been received from the Patriotic Fund Board, and the objective was £2OOO, it was stated. Members of the association present supported the fund by making substantial promises and a resolution was carried giving enthusiastic support to the fund. The meeting also agreed to the payment of a cheque for £5OO to the Minister of Finance as a contribution to the interest-free war loan for the duration of the war and six months thereafter. Tractoi'-drivers “Extinct”

“I asked the Placement Officer this morning whether he could get me a tractor driver, and he just laughted at me. Tractor drivers, apparently are becoming an extinct species,” said Mr D. E. Wanklyn, during the hearing of an appeal at a sitting of the Christchurch Man-Power Committee. The appeal was for a volunteer for ■ overseas service who had been held back as an essential man on a farm.

Hail-stones an Inch Thick

As far as the observatory records showed, the hail which accompanied the electrical storm in Christchurch last Wednesday was the largest ever measured, said the director of the Christchurch Magnetic Observatory (Mr H. F. Baird). Some of the stones which fell by the observatory measured up to an inch at their greatest breadth. One man claimed to have picked up a stone four inches through. Such a

stone would be a freak, but was quite feasible... In some of the stones examined at the observatory there were three different layers, so presumably those particular specimens had been raised in vertical currents at least three times before they finally reached earth. Survey of Peace-time Jobs

A survey of the civil qualifications of men in Army camps, in order to help fulfil the promise to release men for harvesting, has been made in recent weeks. The results, some of which have been announced to farmers, include the discovery at one camp of more than 150 men who were skilled tractor-drivers —members of a trade in which the shortage of manpower has been causing farmers concern. The usual procedure adopted by farmers to have men released from the Army for harvest and other vital farm work is to give the manpower committee the name of the man wanted. But some farmers have not the advantage of knowing a particular man available for release, and it is to aid those in that position that the survey is bing made.