NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 227, 24 September 1940, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Mittens for Troops. Advice has been received by the Auckland Provincial Patriotic Council fr-otn the National Patriotic Fund Board that the most urgently needed of knitted articles for the troops are mittens, and it has been suggested that all suitable wool deliv-ered in .zones, other than navy blue wool, should l>e knitted into them. Wool not suitable for itiittene should be used in making other articles for the troops. New Infirmary Block. The Auckland Hospital Board, at a meeting last evening, received a report from the architect, Mr. R. L. Farrell, who pointed out in connection with the h w block of six floors, to be erected at the infirmary at Epsom, that arrangements for the sub-contractors should be prepared as soon as possible so as to avoid any delay when the building was commenced. The report wae adopted. Use of Training College. Speaking, at a meeting of the Auckland Hospital Board, the chairman, Mr. Allan J. Moody, said that the Auckland Training College would be taken over if it were needed as a hospital for soldiers. He did not think that anyone wpuld cavil if they had to take it for that purp ;e, as the interests of the soldiers had to come first. He did not think, however, that the school authorities had need to worry in the meantime. Children from England. Nominations for children in England who would be taken by relatives in New Zealand were etiH being received, as were offers to take any child allotted, said the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. W. E. Parry, to-day. Recent dispatches received by the Government I indicated no variation in the decision of the British authorities to send a number of children to the Dominion. Complete arrangement* had been made for the reception and satisfactory placing of any who were sent. Measles at Napier. An outbreak of measles among Napier members of the Fourth Battery, Second Field Regiment, will probably make it necessary for the arrangements for the batter-'s camp at Foxton to be revised. Fifteen of its personnel are suffering from the complaint. Major W. D. Corbett said that Dr. M. H. Watt, DirectorGeneral of Health, had conferred with the battery medical officer. No advance party had left for Foxton on Monday, as bad been intended, and there was ;< probability that the training syllabus w< uld have to be rearranged. Te Rapa Military Camp. The authorities at the military camp at Te Rapa decided on Saturday to lift the isolation control imposed at the | camp when it was established over a fortnight ago owing to an outbreak of measles, and 75 per cent of the personnel was given leave. The majority visited Hamilton, and large numbers were guests at the two soldiers' clubs in the town. There were 14 admissions of soldiers suffering from measles to the Waikato Hospital during the week-end, and three were discharged. Forty-four men are in the institution at present. State Housing Position.

The assurance was .given-' by i-the Minister of Housing, 'the Hop. H. T. Armstrong, in Hamilton on Saturday that now the demands of the Army Departi-ent with reepect to camp construction were nearly satisfied, greater progress would be made with'the erection of houses. The Minister paid a vliit to the garden suburb housing scheme in Hamilton East, and expressed satisfaction with the progress made since his last visit. He said there was still an unsatisfied demand for State housee in Hamilton, and many more houses, than those provided or in course of erection were required. . He was anxious to push on the work until all requirements were met. Boys to Catch Boys. In an endeavour to stop the smashing of .treet lamps by boys, the Sunnier Borough Council (Christchurch) decided to arrange with the school committee and headmaster of the Sumner school for the issue of red badges labelled "warden" to six senior boys chosen through the committee. The boys' duty would be to try to prevent other boys from destroying the public property. The decision was reached on the motion of Mr. P. C. Fenwick. Mr. Fenwick said he had discussed the matter with members of the school committee. He was willing to pay for the badges. "Boys do the smashing of lamps and also damage to the breakwater at Scarborough," Mr. Fenwick said. "I have photographs of them doing it. It takes three boys to ehift some of the stones. On the Table of the House. "A cat may look at a king," but the proverbial pussy was not so unawed by authority as the cat in Parliament Building, Wellington, which selected the table of the House of Representatives as the place to deposit five of her black kittens. A few «...ts are maintained in the building, and they earn their keep, as good mousers should. They are necessarily given a fair amount of liberty in recess, and this was the unexpected result. Parliament not being in session, no constitutional question arose, through the summary removal oi the kittens. "Laid on the table of the House" is a well-known phrase in politics, for all Parliamentary papers arc placed there, so that they can be perused at any time during the session by members. The table ie spacious, for it has m carry a great variety of papers. Pussy's enterprise provided still wider variety, and created a precedent which Will not be encouraged. A "Bach'hanier" in Bags. During a discussion by the Te Awamutu Farmers' Union on the new fertiliser cost, by which bags have to be paid for if not returned in good order and condition for use again, members emphatically protested that this was only another way of forcing up the price from £3 16/ per ton to £4 2/6. It was contended that very few sacks could be used more than twice, so that the farmer receiving a consignment in once-used bags would not be able to return them in the specified condition,' however careful he might be. One member said that if the Government had been honest in its treatment of the farmer it would have fixed the price of fertiliser outright, but this "backhander" with the bags was an effort to ' hoodwink the public. Another member suggested that all farmers should refuse to use superphosphate until the tter was adjusted. "They want increased production," said another member, who added: "The Government is going the right way to stifle production." It was decided to lodge a vigorous protest against the round-about way adopted to raise the price of superphosphate, . i