LOCAL AND GENERAL

Chronicle (Levin), 3 July 1946, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Preparing to Leave JapanThe first draft of J-Force personnel, returning to New Zealand by the Chitral, have been moved to special transit camps, preparing foi the train journey to Kure and for embarkation on their arrival. The troops will sail on July 4, and in a little more than a fortnight will have their feet on New Zealand soil. N.Z. Girls for U.S. The first New Zealand fiancees of United -States servicemen to enter the United States under the special enabling legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Truman at the end of last week, will leave Auckland by the Mariposa and Monterey this week, said the United States minister yeste^day. He said about 60 fiancees would leave by those vessels.- He added that about 800 New Zealand girls were eXpected to go 'to Ameriea under the legislation this year. Mail Fillaged Six bags of registered mail brought to New Zealand by the freighter Samcalia which arrived at Auckland from San Francisco on Saturday, were found to have been pillaged. The thieves stole six packages and 15 others were opened and searched for valuables. Most of the 766 bags of mail carried by the Samcalia which called at Papeete and Rarotonga en route, was from the United States and Canada but six packages that were stolen were all posted at Kingston, Jamaica. The value of the six stolen items is not known but it would not be great. Can't Read His Own Story A sequel to the-.recent Australian censorship controversy which arose when the police seized an Australian novel and several wellknown books by the American author Thorne Smith, occurred when the editors of ttx True Detective magazine asked the Police Commissioner (Mr. McKay) for facts of the pyjama girl murder case. The commissioner had the detectives' reports correlated and submitted the story which the magazine accepted. A cheque was sent to a charitable organisation. The latest fact to emerge is that Mr. McKay has no legal chanee o.f seeing his story in print, as True Detective is a banned piiblication in Australia. History of War Some of New Zealand's most distinguished military figures will meet in Wellington to cfecide the policy regarding the compilation . and publishing of the histories of the various units of the 2nd N.Z.E.F., Major-General Kippenberger presiding. Unit histories will be apart from the New Zealand official war history, of which General Kippenberger is editor-in-chief. Normally, a battalion is a formation of sufficient importance to warrant its own personal history being w'ritten, but just how far down the scale^the procedure will be followed wiirbe discussed by the delegates, of whom there will be 55 at the conference including, where possible, the original commanding offlcers and those longest in command. Some of the men who eventually had charge of a brigade or even a division will, therefore, be representing more modest formations. Timber Shortage Questions relating to the Dominion timber shortage were answered in replies to the 2nd N.Z.E.F. Association by the national secretary of the New Zealand Timber Workers' Union (Mr. F. Craig) , who cites three factors responsible for the shortage, namely, the demands' of war construction on reserve stocks, lack of labour in the mills. and excessive 'post-war demand. He states all the timber possible was being milled within the limits of the labour available. The labour shortage was due to the fact that the employers, with few exceptions, neglected to provide adequate accommodation for the men, also the wages, compared with those offered in the cities, were not sufficiently attractive. A scheme was now under way for the State to provide satisfactory accommodation with the millers, later paying back the money involved,