General News

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23974, 15 June 1943, Page 4

General News

The Sunken Dredge Conferences among Harbour Board officials and Mr W. S. Mac Gibbon, de-puty-chairman of the board, were held on Saturday and again yesterday in regard to the raising of the sunken dredge Canterbury. Mr E. Coxhead, of the staff of the Otago Harbour Board, is in Lyttelton, and is acting in an advisory capacity. He will also assist with the work of raising the dredge. Arrangements are being made to procure the machinery, necessary for the work. A diver from Port Chalmers has arrived, and two others are expected. Members of the crew of the dredge have been given various jobs, and some of them were yesterday engaged in removing gear from the upper parts of the vessel. Memorial Locomotive Every endeavdur had been made to maintain the plaques in a clean condition, but because of the shortage of staff it had been found to be impossible to maintain the locomotive itself in a condition in keeping with the sentiments expressed by the plaques, said the Minister of Railways (the Hon. R. Semple), in a reply to the Mayor of Timaru (Mr A. E. S. Hanan), who drew the Minister’s attention to the condition of the engine Passchendaele, which was obtained as a tribute to the members of the railways staff who fell in the last war. . Mr Semple wrote that as the locomotive was no longer of the latest type and consequently could not be kept on express trains, it had been decided to remove the plaques and arrange for them to be exhibited, one at the Christchurch railway station and the other at the Dunedin station. Airgraph Mails The Postmaster-General (the Hon. P. C. Webb) said yesterday that since the inauguration of the outward airgraph service from New Zealand to Canada and-the United Kingdom, to June 8 70,506 airgraph messages had been dispatched. There were 24.789 messages to the forces and 15.697 civilian messages to the United Kingdom. 23.816 forces messages to the Middle East, and 6204 to Canada, At the commencement of the service the number of messages forwarded from all over New Zealand averaged 1500 weekly. The number was now about 9000. Up to June 8. 75.236 inward messages had been received. Outward mails averaged 15.3 days in transmission to Canada, 17.7 to the United Kingdom, and 23 days to the Middle East. —P.A. Size of Push-Chairs A request has been made to the Christchurch Tramway Board to vary the regulations governing the size of push-chairs to be carried on trams, because of difficulty in obtaining certain materials, said the report of the works and traffic committee to a meeting of the Christchurch Tramway Board yesterday. Mr J. S. Barr, chairman, said the regulations in Wellington provided for the carriage of push-chairs 33 inches by 20J inches, while m Christchurch the measurements were 39 x 221. “So far as the manufacturers are concerned," said Mr Barr, “the difficulty can be overcome by conformation* with the Wellington, regulations “I think our children are bigger, aren t they?” said Mr G. Manning. Empire Games in 1944 The Empire Games are still on the calendar to be held in London next year, Lord Burghley told “The Press last evening. The final- victory had yet to be won, but keeping in mind the hope that peace would permit the meeting to be held, sportsmen were prosecuting the war with greater determination, he said. Asked if the games were likely to be held in New Zealand after the war, Lord Burghley replied that if an invitation from the New Zealand Government was accepted by the Empire Games Council, he was sure British sportsmen would support the venture. The British Empire Games team had very much enjoyed the fixture held in Australia some years ago. R.S.A.’s Gift to Widows Fuel and potatoes will be provided for soldiers’ widows in Rangiora. according to a decision of the Rangiora Returned Services’ Association. British Courage An incident that exemplified the courage of the English people during the intensive German bombing was related in Christchurch last evening by Lord Burghley, M.P. “There is a little village in Sussex to which 1 sometimes go,” he said, “and in it there is a small public house to which I also sometimes go.” For many years four men. who were referred to locally as “the lads,” had met there to play dominoes. One night a huge bomb landed in the vicinity of the public house. “Now, the youngest of ‘the lads’ was 78," declared the speaker, “and considerable alarm was felt for them.' As they were brought to light from the rubbish and rubble, however, one was heard to say: T tell you it wa-are a double six.’ ” Another replied; “ T say it warn’t a double six.’ ” That would show, declared Lord Burghley. just how unruffled they were by what he termed Hitler's "machinations.” Returned Services’ Association An increase in membership in the last year of 592 was shown in figures presented to the executive of the Christchurch Returned Services’ Association last evening. Membership was given as 3489, compared with 2897 at the corresponding date last year. Game for Sportsmen More than 1700 cock and hep pheasants, costing £IOOO, are to be purchased by the Auckland Acclimatisation Society from Mr J. Digby. of Waimauku. The birds are to be delivered for release next February, and a further number will be obtained later. The society has 41 birds ready for immediate release. At a council meeting recently it was decided to make preliminary inquiries from the American and Indian Governments regarding the importation after the war of Californian mountain quail and sand grouse. Only Tyres Wanted at Present In a report from the meeting of the organising committee of the Canter--bury Reclamation Board, it was stated that reclaimed rubber from tyres only was being produced at present. The company producing reclaimed rubber was unable to purchase further supplies of other rubber commodities, but had offered to accept and store any consignments of rubber goods other than tyres pending final arrangements being made for the provision of suitable machinery to convert them into reclaim. The matter of reclaiming other rubber goods was being discussed by the National Council of Reclamation of Waste and the Ministry of Sup'ply, and an announcement was expected soon, the report added. Four Against Forty Recalling the inadequacy of aerial protection in Guadalcanar during the early part of the campaign in the western Pacific, the Minister of Finance (the Hon. W. Nash) (who was in the Solomon Islands recently) related in Christchurch last evening an incident which was described to him recently by an American general. The Japanese on one occasion sent 40 aeroplanes over Guadalcanar. The Americans had or.ly four fighting aeroplanes. “But they sent them all up.” said the Minister. “and each American aeroplane accounted for one Japanese bomber. It certainly takes a lot of courage to send four aeroplanes up against 40.”