In the News

Southland Times, Issue 24686, 6 March 1942, Page 4

In the News

Released from Camp A decision that Captain G. Mitchell, commandei’ of the Blenheim Company, National Military Reserve, must relinquish his military duties and return to his civilian occupation as secretary of the Marlborough Hospital Board, was given by the No. 9 Man-Power Committee. The chairman said it had been felt that under the conditions with which their organization was now faced the needs of the hospital authorities for the services of their administrative officer must receive first consideration. Varying Petrol Prices In the course of extensive travels on a magnetic re-survey of New Zealand, Mr H. F. Baird, director of the Christchurch Magnetic Observatory, has become an authority on Dominion petrol prices. The highest paid was at Ruatoria, on the East Coast, where the rate was 3/3J a gallon. In the South Island the dearest petrol was at Waihao, where the charge was 3/3 a gallon. Mr Baird said that the average price would be about 3/- a gallon. The party passed New Zealand’s most northerly bowser, at Te Kao, at 5 o’clock in the morning with a full tank, and had their most northerly refill at a place called Houhora, where the price was 3/1, compared with 2/11-1 at Waikawa, one of the most southerly bowsers in the South Island. The party also acquired considerable experience of the Dominion roads, and voted the inland road in the Far North the worst, although its state was compensated for by the excellence of the return trip along the NinetyMile Beach. The steepest road travelled in the South Island was over the Crown Range. “In our travels,” commented Mr Baird, “we struck cold weather in every province, except, strangely enough, Southland.” Collection of Ergot Already 1001 b of ergot has been received at depots established by the Waikato Grain, Seed and Produce Association. A considerable further quantity is expected. Mr Scott Colville, secretary of the association, in commending the work of two children who collected 31b 6oz of ergot in two and a-half hours, stated that the substance was urgently required and collectors were asked to forward the supplies they had in hand as soon, as possible.

Chinese Reservist The No. 4A Armed Forces Appeal Board had the unusual experience in Hastings of hearing an appeal on behalf of a Chinese reservist, a fruiterer, who was appealed for by his father. In evidence, the reservist said that he had enlisted for the Air Force, but had been rejected through defective eyesight. He said that he had been engaged in A.R.P. work in Canton during the Japanese bombing raids, and since the start of the present war he had been appointed by the Hastings EiP.S. committee to organize the Chinese of the district for the provision of vegetable supplies in the event of an emergency. He added that his younger brother was in camp as a territorial. The board decided to adjourn the appeal sine die, but indicated that the matter would probably come up for review at a later date. Science and Small Boys

“There is a close correlation between the activity of a science and the interest taken in it by small boys,” said Mr W. E. Moore in his presidential address to the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. The science of aeronautics was in a flourishing condition, and there was a corresponding degree of interest in aeroplanes among boys. Biological science might advance more rapidly if schoolchildren were given greater encouragement to take an interest in nature study. The advancement of science depended on the enthusiasm of amateurs as well as on formal teaching. Formal teaching alone produced the “pigeonhole’’ type of mind, which dismissed as unimportant what did not fit into existing “pigeonholes.”

Air Raid Casualties A graphic illustration of the incidence of air-raid casualties in Britain is contained in an Australian emergency precautions guide which has been received by the authorities in Christchurch. The analysis of casualties, which has been reduced to units, shows that for each 14 casualties in the open street, there were only seven when people lay down in the street, four and a-half for those sheltering in street doorways, one and a-half in houses, and only a half in surface shelters. The Mayor of Christchurch (Mr E. H. Andrews), commenting on these figures, said that they formed an answer to those who considered the city’s surface shelters were unsafe. Uses of Bats and Toads

A less timid policy towards the importation of birds and small animals from overseas was advocated by Mr W. E. Moore in his presidential address to the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He was particularly concerned, he said, with the lack of facilities in this country fol' nature study among boys, and mentioned the case of a boy who had been forbidden to land a water-tortoise for fear that it might eat trout. Bats might be imported to hunt for sandflies, and squirrels to spread the seeds of trees. Mr E. F. Stead, supporting Mr Moore’s suggestions, said that he had never been able to understand why the common toad had not been brought into New Zealand and surmised that its absence from gardens might account for the prevalence of such pests as woodlice and earwigs. Proud Officer

To have acted as guide to Queen Mary, was the experience of Lieutenant A. Porter, of Palmerston North, now serving with a unit of the overseas forces in Great Britain. “The chief item of excitement in our ranks some time ago was a visit from Queen Mary, who lives not far away,” wrote Lieutenant Porter. “She decided to inspect our mill, and it fell to me to guide the party from Badminton House. Queen Mary wished me to ride in her car to the mill. Badly scared, I did so, to the astonishment of the major when we arrived. The inspection of the mill went off very well, and then we provided afternoon tea in the park adjoining our house. All this time I had been without the solace of a smoke and was ‘fairly dying’ for a cigarette. So I asked the equerry, in an awed whisper, if it would be all right to light up. He told me there would be no trouble at all, and to offer one to the Queen while I was on the job. “I had not a cigarette case, just a limp paper packet. So there was nothing to do but to hold out the old packet with a very sorry feeling. The cigarette was accepted, too, and after a while I climbed into the Queen’s huge car- and went back in state. I thought no more about the whole thing, except to wonder- if I had behaved myself properly, until the next night, when there was a parcel on my plate at dinner-time. I opened it and found the most handsome ( silver cigarette case, with a card: ‘With best wishes, Mary R.’ It had the Queen Mother’s monogram and crown on it. I felt as proud as if I’d been awarded the V.C.”