GENERAL NEWS

Wanganui Chronicle, 23 December 1950, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS

No “Chronicle” There will be no publication of the “Chronicle” on Monday, due to the observance of Christmas Day. Publication will be resumed on Boxing Day. The “Chronicle” commercial I officers will be closed on Christmas j Day, but they will be open for an I hour from 9 am on Tuesday. AdvorI tisements will also be accepted from 7 p.m. on Monday. Tanker Paua Sold. Fifteen Chinese seamen will be flown to Wellington early in January to take the Shell Oil Co.’s tanker Paua to her new owners in Hongkong. The tanker, which used to bring bulk pettrol to Wanganui, has been laid up at Wellington for some months. The Paua has been sold to a Panamanian shipping Company which has its headquarters at Hongkong. Nautical Almanac Those to whom the Nautical Almanac is a necessity will find the 1951 issue much dearer than its predecessors, the cost being £l, against the 5s previously charged. Produced 1 by the Government Printer, the Al- ■ manac contains information indispensable to mariners, and its previous price, considering the amount of tabulation and number of maps it contained, probably meant a loss to the State. Care At Beaches. If the weather is fine during the Christmas holidays a large crowd of bathers is expected at Castlecliff beach. Yesterday the Castlecliff Surf Section issued an appeal to bathers to restrict their swimming to the areas marked off so that the patrol can give bathers adequate protection. The report stated that there were holes south of the look-out station but immediately in front of the station and for about 100 yards up the beach conditions are good. Red and yellow marking flags, standard throughout the Dominion, will be used at Castlecliff. Hard Day’s Work. Yesterday was a hard day for shop assistants as in addition to the heavy amount of trade transacted, working conditions were unpleasant as a result of the heat and the humidity. City shops were thronged with customers throughout the day and the atmosphere in many establishments became extremely hot. Shop assistants, however, managed to control their tempers, but they were one and all pleased when business ceased at 10 p.m Particularly heavy trade was experienced in hotel bars, and after five o’clock it was impossible to find a place in some licensed premises. Stamp Price Soars A New Zealand postage stamp which could be bought for about £2 at the beginning of the year is now fetching £22 at auctions in England. It is the 2s Captain Cook of the pictorial issue of 1936-43 with a perforation of 13£ x 14 and printed on espar paper. “From the financial i angle, the outstanding event of the year is undoubtedly the astonishing rise in value of this stamp,” said an Auckland specialist, Mr. Campbell Paterson. “Many will class this as just another result of inflation, but I cannot agree entirely. No doubt it is a contributing factor, but such things have been known in other countires in days when inflation was not a factor.” Gifts for Lepers Another record year of giving to the New Zealand Mission to Lepers is reported by the Dominion Secretary, Rev. Murray H. Feist, from Auckland. This year’s revenue from all sources was £27,760, which is £4OOO higher than last year’s record .igure. As each patient costs only between £lO and £ll a year, because of the subsidies and the effects at self-support in the homes and colonies, New Zealand’s increased giving means nearly i 400 more patients can be treated Because of the successes of the new ’ drugs, many homes are now besieged by destitute lepers seeking admission, and hundreds of thousands, in India particularly, are still without help whatever. <