Local & General

Chronicle (Levin), 9 February 1948, Page 4

Local & General

; Ship DesertiohVNeW Style I A new type of ship dfesertioh, | that of passengers and not of ffiembers of the crew, was reported from the Atlantis which arrived ih Wellington yesterday morning, Ohe passehger who was travelling to New Zealand under the GoVefhment's free and assisted passage j scheme deserted at Colombo. Two others, traVelling uhder the same | scheme, deserted, at Fremantle. Milk-Shakes Were Novelty "Are there 'any milk-bars in New Zealand?" .asked Miss Phyllis Jones, one of the Domihioh's new settlers who arrived in Wellington from England yesterday. Assured that there were, Miss Jones said: "I'm so glad. I- had a milk-shake in Adelalde aird thought it delicious." "Aren't there" any milkbars in Engia'nd?" she was asked. j "Oh, no. Th$re's not enough milk." ' ... Plea For Private Enterprise Althotigh New Zealand possesSes great possibilities for the eiiiployment of air trahspo'rt, particulafly for freight, full development of such a serviCe is not likely to come I about until private enterprise has j free rein. This is the opinioh of I Mr. E. C. Bowyer, chief execUtiVe of ! the Society of British Aircraft Con-

I structors, who was entertained in | Wellington yesterday by local ! agents of British aircraft ComI panies. ! Five Sundays In Month This year there w'ill be five Sun-. , days in February which happens once and, at most, twice in the lifetime of the average person. ' It only takes place in a leap year and then only when the fi'rst day of the month is a Sunday. The last time' thefe were five Sundays in February was in 1920, and the previoUs 1 occasion to that was in 1880. The I norma! interval is 28 years, but i when the end of a century is -ini cluded then the interval is lengthj efL'ed to 40 years. The next time { there will be five Sundays in Feb-j-.i;uajy wil.1 .be --•- I Treaty of Waitangi To mark the 198th anniversary •of the sigiiihg of the Treaty of Waitangi by Captain Hobson a colourful ceremony took place at Waitangi on Friday in the presenCfe i of Naval, Militafy ahd Air Force officers and meh, and a large num- | ber of brightly clad holiday makefs, ! Two corvettes, Arabis and Arbutus, | and a Catalina fiyi'ngboat lay in j proximity to the shore in front of j the Treaty House. After prayers I and the dedication of the flag, the I Union Jack was ceremoniously i hoisted on a tall kauri flagpole' oii i the exact spot 'where the treaty was I signed >and appfopfiate addressCs I were given by the Minister of I Lahds (Mi*. Skinner) , Mr. Rfri i Maihi Kawiti on behaif of the | Maori race, and Mr. Vernon Reed. I Nylon Mooring Ropes | Nylon, the synthetic materiai | usually associated. with filmy sheer I stoekings, is being put to different I Use on the Wellihgton Waterfroht, 1 Two of the main bow mooring lines I of tlie 17,00G-ton liner Rimutaka | are woven entirely of nylon yarris. | The mooring lines are whiter thah i the hemp lines used at other parts j of the ship ahd appear to be of a | harder texture, but are otherwise I ideptical in appearance. Ship's i officers said yesterday that the I nylon niOorlfig liries Wfere the fifsi I ever supplied to a N6W Zealand j Shipping ^Gompany • vessel ahd wete I in use as an experiment to find out ! their possibilities. They were probI ably the first nyioh rope to be I fttted. to a ship trading to New Zea- | land. Although they were morfe I costiy tiian hemp, they- Were ex^I pected to wear .hiuch longer and to I be a great deal stronger, with » nrore elasticity.