NEWS OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 172, 23 July 1942, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

*Churchill Auction" Gifts Gifts for the Churchill auctions, which are being organised in Auckland, as in the other cities, continue to be received at the Central Library in substantial number and variety. The majority are books, some of them of exceptional interest. One collector, Mr. Warnock Lawrence, has given a collection of more than twenty books of New Zealand authorship or interest, Including several with Inscriptions or poems signed by the authors. Boot Repair s How many pairs of boots and shoes can be repaired in an ordinary w ? r king day? That question was asked at the Industrial Manpower Committee sitting in Hamilton, when a master bootmaker was appealing for an employee. He said that 40 pairs represented a good day's work, but he was handling an average of nearly 60 pairs a day. He added that some repair jobs took about 20 minutes and others up to 45 minutes, though the customers were charged the same price. Cycle Tyres "It's nothing more than a racket," said Mr. H. M. Christie, North Island transport zoning officer, to a gathering of business men in Petone "It will have to be stopped at once." He had told them that when some men in the Chrlstchurch area had tried to buy tyres for their bicycles the dealers had said they could not supply them, but had offered to sell new bicycles—with two new tyres on each, Mr. Christie pointed out— and to take the old bicycles in part exchange. A Bit Soon Yet "Are you getting any assistance from your wife?" asked the chairman of the No. 2 Armed Forces Appeal Board of a dairy farmer reservist who milks 17 cows by hand in an appeal case in Hastings. "Well, hardly; not yet. at any rate, as I was only married last week," answered reservist amidst laughter. He also added: "I hope to get assistance from her later," to which came the response from the Crown representative, "You had better break that to her gently." Prams on Trams Some enlightening figures about on . t l arns were given at a meeting of the women's branch of ♦ £ h « Btc ftV rch Citizens* AssodaKashas' SSiSaiJsM'cE «£?.J Rama a "d 26 had been refused. On the next Friday, a warm ™|ny day. 1170 prams were wr™ci 5P L were refused. Of this 13 °n one-man car routes. with the hooks that are new to he Pii a PI th * front of these cars those eight could have been carried For the six days from Monday, June 29, to Saturday, July 4, inclusive, between 0 a.m. and 6 p.m., 4805 prams IZXZtfEgli" th ® trams in Christchurch and 81, or 1.7 per cent, were refused. That the 81 owners of the refused prams had a cause for grievance, Mr. Mac Gibbon admitted, and •aid that he and the majority of the board were anxious to helb the women with prams.

American Hospb/ality An airman writing from Canada, describing a trip to the United S^ s ' says;—'"At Buffalo we called at the Services Club, a place similar to the Union Jack Club in Christchurch. Here we were given smokes, had a meal and the free use of everything. These people also arranged accommodation for us at the 'toniest' hotel at half price. In the United States the New Zealanders are just as popular as in Canada, and are feted wherever they go. One lady, whose name we do not even know, paid our taxi fare from the Services Club to our hotel/' Wild Pig Menace "Wild pigs are becoming a serious menace, and are coming into the open country," said Mr. L. T. Jones, speaking at the monthly meeting of the Waltotara County Council. It had been brought to his notice that bands of wild pigs in large numbers were roaming the countryside, and he wanted to know if the chairman, when visiting Wellington, would make representations to have ammunition available for the destruction of pigs. Mr. G. Palmer said rabbits were also getting worse than ever. The chairman, Mr. W. Morrison, said he would see what could be done. Plough Costs £440 The price of agricultural Implements has soared in England. Here is an example, quofed in an English newspaper. Two years ago, a Cambridgeshire farmer bought a new two-furrow plough for £89. He sold it recently for £440. "There must have been a tractor 'thrown in' as well," commented a puzzled official of the Ministry of Agriculture, but there was no tractor only the second-hand plough. Other farming implements are bringing correspondingly high prices, but the price in this instance was outstanding. No Popular Compromise "God help the Church that will yield its principles, change its policy, and lower its standards in response to the clamour of a traditional demand," said Colonel W. Ebbs, of the Salvation Army, at the Vivian Street Citadel, Wellington, referring to a recent decision of a church council to lower its ban against dancing and card playing to cater for the demands of the time. He declared that the unchanging aim of the Salvation Army was to bring men and woman Into vital contact with God, and that could not be done by compromising with the world or sacrificing standards to meet popular demands. Hotel Promts or Provisions? "I'm a working manager, not one of these hara-hitter, frock-coat variety," said a hotel manager, appealing against Home Guard service, at a sitting of the Chrlstchurch Armed Forces Appeal Board. "I work 17 hours a aay every day. I get up at 6 o'clock in the morning and I dont ever go to bed till 11 SsJori if fit When he was s ij nc *uded Sundays, and if on £ n e^ ult l not over his work •ftpr e •".y• "My wife looks after the household and I attend to the prwandertaf." "Did you sav >*a.U HX: attend to. I said provender inz, looking aftar the provisions."