In the News

Southland Times, Issue 25641, 7 April 1945, Page 4

In the News

No Plane Yesterday

The Union Airways plane did not come south yesterday. Unfavourable weather in the Wellington district was responsible for the interruption in the service. Not Keen to Know

“I have something wrong with my stomach. I don’t know what it is and I don’t like to go to a doctor to find out,” said an appellant at the sitting of the Southland Armed Forces Appeal Board in Invercargill yesterday. “A medical certificate might have helped your appeal,” the chairman, Mr D. H. Cockburn, reminded the appellant. Victory Celebrations Railwajmxen discussed the celebration of the cessation of hostilities with Germany at a meeting held in the railway workshops, Invercargill, at lunch time yesterday. A strong committee was elected to go into ways and means of making the railwaymen’s contribution to the celebrations a memorable one. New Telephone Directory A start was made yesterday in the Southland postal district with the issue of the new telephone directory for 1945. Distribution throughout the district should be completed within a week. Subscribers are asked to take care of the new books. The department points out that the supply is limited and that it may not be possible to secure replacements. Correspondent Wanted

In a letter to the town clerk (Mr W. F. Sturman) an English girl, aged 16 years, who works in the office of a medium-sized steel manufacturing firm, expresses a desire to correspond with “a suitable member of your community.” The letter is signed by Miss Mary Newman and the address given is 12 Swallow street, Attercliffe, Sheffield 9, Yorkshire, England. Literary Competition

Only two entries have been received for the MacMillan Brown Prize competition conducted by the University of Otago. The subject this year was “Return from Battle.” The prize was founded, in 1921 by Professor J. MacMillan Brown and is now offered annually for excellence in an English composition in verse or prose of not more than 3000 words. The examiners are the professor of English literature at the University and two others appointed by the University Council. Restrictions Relaxed

Since the outbreak of wax - stamp collectors have been prohibited under the censorship regulations from sending stamps overseas for exchange with fellow-collectors. The Post and Telegraph Department now advises that the restrictions have been relaxed to permit collectors sending small lots of used or unused stamps eithei - as bona fide gifts or for the purpose of exchange. Sendings are confined to British Empire destinations (with the exception of Eire) and to the United States of America only. Air Services Resumed

The air services between Auckland and Gisborne and between Gisborne and Palmerston North have been resumed by Union Airways after an interval of five and a-half years. A plane leaves Gisborne foi- Mangere aerodrome on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, returning in the afternoons of the same days. A similar two days a week service is operating between Gisborne and Palmerston North via Napier. The services were suspended in October, 1939, as a result of a Government commandeer of service aeroplanes. Locket Stolen

A locket belonging to the mother of New Zealand’s first airman V.C., the late Sergeant-Pilot J. Ward, was stolen from her purse during a recent visit to Wellington. Mrs Ward left the purse in a taxi, and although the driver- was handed the purse by a later fare, it was discovered that all the money, some brooches, and a gold locket containing the photographs of the V.C. winner and his brother had been removed from it. Mrs Ward, who lives in Wanganui, was especially concerned at the loss of the locket, which naturally has a great sentimental value to her.

Kawarau Dam Board Attention to the existence of a public body about which little has been heard for many years was drawn at a meeting of the Clutha County Council, when a letter was received from the district engineer for the Works Department (Mr C. Langbein) asking the council to appoint a representative on the Kawarau Dam Board of Control. It was stated by councillors that the board had not met for years and that the council’s representative had been dead for a considerable time. A councillor suggested that the recent flood in the Molyneux had caused the authorities to remember that the dam was supposed to be a partial flood controller. The council appointed a representative. Poorer Farm Lands

The opinion that short hours of work and high wages in the cities, if pushed too far, might eventually lead to the abandonment of a good deal of our poorer farming land which, in the aggregate, produced a great deal of natural wealth, was expressed by' Mr A. P. O’Shea, Dominion secretary of the Farmers’ Union, when speaking in Pahiatua. He said the high country farmers in- the South Island were in a very difficult position, and something would have to be done about it. The plain fact was that the returns for their wool were not great enough to cope with increased costs. It would cost more to police this country for rabbits, goats and deer than it would to assist the farmers to stay on the land. Inferior Coal

Statements directly contradicting those made by the Minister of Mines, Mr Webb, some months ago that the Waitewhena (Ohura) open-cast coal “was as good as the best Waikato opencast product,” were made by Wanganui railwaymen. They stated that not only was it exceedingly dirty to handle, but delays of up to an hour had been caused on trains between Wanganui and Marton through fire trouble. After considerable agitation by locomotive crews throughout the Wanganui district, a conference is to be convened in Palmerston North to discuss the problem and it will be attended by road foremen (locomotive inspectors) from most sections of the Wanganui district. It is understood that one of the alternatives the foremen may discuss to improve the present position is to work lighter or fewer trains, so that operations can be conducted on what supplies of better class coal there are available.