LOCAL AND GENERAL

Chronicle (Levin), 18 January 1947, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealanders in Japan The first relief oi the New Zea■land Occupatio'n.Force at present in ] Japan will complete its term of service in Septembeiyand the sec- : ond relief will complete its terin in i October. The conditions of enlist1 ment in the Force provided for a 1 maximum of 18 mOntbs' service jwith not more than 12 months in ! Japan. "I see no reason why the original conditions eannot be I adhered • to," said the Minister of i Defence (Mr. Jones) in reply to an ! inquiry last night. Theft at Manawatu Heads Forcing an entry into Buiman's I store at Manawatu Heads on Thurs1 t day night, thieves made off witft \ I cigarettes and tobacco to the value of £2 10s. Although comparatively , small in value, the loss of the parcel of "smokes" is particularly unfortunate since it represented the store's monthly quota and had, in fact, arrived from the distributors only that day. Although there was money in the till, it was not touch- | ed nor was anything else stolen. Entry was gained by forcing open an exterior window slide.

Rehabilitation. Loans With a further £1,443,672 during November, the value of rehabilitation loans. authoiased to former servicemen and women reached, by the end of that month, £30,912,355. By that date financial advances had 'been made to 39,283 applicants, of whom 36,027 had served overseas and 2858 had seen home service only. Another 280 wero war widows or dependants of deceased servicemen, and 118 wero former members of tht Mercantiie Marine. The number financially assisted during November itself was 1535. Frosts in Otago Orchards Late frosts expei'ienced in Ccntral Otago caused havoc among orchardists' crops. When a Daily /Times reporter visiied Roxburgh he jwas shown acres of unproductive I orchards, not a single fruit being i borne by thousands of apple and I apricot trees that had suff ered 'frost damage. An idea of the costs 'entailed by growers can bc gained from the expense of operating the fire-pots which are used to prevent frost damage in orchards.. This precaution has cost some growers- £120 a night. High Priced Ppaches An indication • of the high prices being received for early peaches by Hawke's Bay growers this season is given by the experience of one orchardist. He said that fcr 200 cases he had sent forward this season he had received £3 more than he had for 700 cases dispatched during the same period last year. His average price per case was £2 3s, which he considered most satisThctory. Other growers, he said, had adopted the tray system and received up to £4 4s, but he did not favour this system as the average price was not so good. fetate House Alloeations Until the end of November 6277 ex-servicemen had become tenants of State houses and flats under the 50 per cent. allocation system, state the Rehabilitation Department's latest statistical returns. Of these 159 were ailocated houses during November. Alloeations for the districts of Which the towns listed are the centres were (November and aggregate until the end of that month) as follows: Auckland 58 (1846), Hamilton 12 (474), Napier 7 (269), New Plymoufch 8 (182), Wellington 34 (2276),. Nelson 0 (133), Christchurch 21 (019), Dunedin 16 (352), Invercargill 3 (126)) tofals 159(6277).