Local and General News

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21821, 26 November 1940, Page 4

Local and General News

“Daylight Robbery” “I would like to see our utter disgust recorded at the action of the Government. It is nothing but a direct piece of thieving. It’s daylight robbery and nothing short of it,” remarked Mr R. E. Talbot at a meeting of the Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Union when referring to the method of assessment of income tax under standard values. Fight Them on Beaches “I do not believe in this proposal of evacuating the towns in the event of an invasion,” said Captain W. Bell, commander of the Hbme Guard for the Invercargill district in an address at the meeting of the Southland provincial executive of the Farmers’ Union. “If an invader comes we should go out and fight him on the beaches and prevent him ever getting to the towns.” Ants in Napier A suggestion has been made in Napier, where ants are multiplying to an alarming degree, that school children may be able to assist in checking the pest. Footpaths in several parts of Napier harbour millions of the scurrying insects, and nests are to be found under concrete, tar and wood foundations. It is suggested that children from each house could pour boiling water, kerosene or disinfectant over the affected parts. Obligations Met The achievement of churches of all denominations in New Zealand in never failing to meet their financial obligations was referred to by the secretary of the Central Methodist Church Trust Board, Mr D. J. Wesney, when speaking at the laying of the foundation stone of the Centennial Hall in North Invercargill. A bank manager had told him, said Mr Wesney, that no church of any denomination in New Zealand had ever failed to meet its full financial obligations to the bank. Air Raid Humour The fact that the Englishman can always see the humorous side of a thing is revealed in the following comment in a recent letter from a New Zealand officer visiting London: “Let’s hope our New Zealand cities never know what it is to be bombed. The English are wonderful really. In one part of London I saw a hotel and a tea shop next door showing the effects of a raid. The hotel had a notice, ‘Open as usual,’ but the tea shop notice went one better—‘More open than usual’.” Art in Wartime “The arts are a manifestation of the spirit of man and are among the most enduring things in our civilisation. I suggest that if we cannot carry them on in wartime there must be something wrong," said Mr C. R. Ford, in opening the summer exhibition of the Auckland Society of Arts. “Even if there were no other reason, the practice of the arts would be justifiable as a means of escape from the troubles around us. It should be enough to point to Mr Winston Churchill, who took up painting in the last war as a relaxation from his heavy official responsibilities and showed that he had a real gift for it.” Sales Tax Tire amount of sales tax collected during the month of September, 1940, for ordinary revenue purposes, according to the October Abstract of Statistics, was £288,746 compared with £284,687 in August, and £293,848 in September, 1939. The aggregate sales tax receipts for the nine months ended September, 1940, were £2,620,645, a slight decrease on the total for the first nine months of 1939 (£2,708,324). The foregoing figures do not include the amount of sales tax credited to the War Expenses Account. The rate of sales tax was raised from 5 to 10 per cent, as from June 28, 1940, the additional revenue to be used for war purposes. Skeletons Found Two complete skeletons, buried close together in sand not more than two feet below the surface, were found by borough workmen on the upper edge of Ngamotu beach, New Plymouth, last week. The discovery was made about 50 yards eastwards of Bayly road, on the road leading to the oil bore. It is believed they are the remains of Maoris buried when there was a large native settle/nent near the beach. The native burial ground in the locality was then probably of much greater extent. The skeletons now unearthed were about a chain from the cemetery boundary, on the seaward edge of the road in front of the second house from Bayly road. They were uncovered during excavations for a water supply to the Bayly road camp. “The Perfect Dish Washer” The thanks of thousands of husbands would go to the man who produced a really efficient dishwashing machine, one that would take dirty dishes at , one end and turn them out at the other thoroughly cleaned and dried, remarked a speaker at the social gathering in Wellington of the New Zealand Institute of Marine and Power Engineers. The thought had occurred, he said amid laughter, while he was washing the dishes for his wife that night. There was more laughter when the following speaker invited those pi esent to have a look at “the perfect dish washer.” He had been at it for forty years, he said. In his opinion, the human dish washer was infinitely better than the mechanical one, because it was a simple matter to dispose surreptitiously of a broken cup or plate “without the wife knowing anything about it.” No matter how good it was, no machine could do that. Calmness of Britishers The calmness and courage of the people of Britain during air raids aie emphasised in a letter received by a Wellington resident from a member of the Women’s Land Army in Essex, which is as much in the danger zone as any other part of England. The correspondent writes: “We have our share of air raids and enemy bombers have been brought down nearby, but to date our only caualty has been a chicken. The siren warned at 3 o’clock this afternoon, and as I was alone in the house I thought I had better not have a sleep, which I was longing to do, in case an incendiary bomb came through the roof. They are easily dealt with by anyone on the spot, but can dr> much damage If left unattended. So I procured some fruit to munch to keep me awake until the ‘all-clear’ sounded. We got the usual fireworks last night, and consequently very little sleep, but we were on duty at 6.30 a.m. as usual. I am busy knitting gloves for soldiers and always have one with me when we go ‘to earth.’ I get through quite a lot of work during our enforced rests from farm labour.” New Zealand-grown Tea Tea bushes are flourishing 37 miles south of Auckland. A resident of Jellicoe Avenue, Tuakau, Mr Bruce Westland, has five growing in a sheltered part of his garden, raised from seed brought from Ceylon by a brother-in-law four years ago. The seeds were planted early in the autumn. Six germinated, and the seedlings were planted out about two months later. Five seedlings survived, and Mr Westland allowed them to grow up to a height of three feet, and then pruned them down to about 15 inches. The’ growth to three feet in height allowed strong root development, but for producing an abundance of tea leaves the bushes needed pruning and plucking. Mr Westland mentioned that for the first two years he had to protect the young tea trees with sacking from the frost each winter. He states that, judged from experience in Ceylon, they are now so well established that they are Immune from damage by frost. He has made his own tea from them, and finds it good to the palate. It took about 41b of green leaves to make lib of dry tea. Mr Westland does not know of anywhere else In New Zealand where tea bushes have been established.