Local and General

Chronicle (Levin), 21 March 1949, Page 4

Local and General

Posted To N.Z. Army Eleven tradesmen from Britain have ]oeen posted to the -New Zea'land Army in the last fprtnight, fSix have been sent tp Trentham and five tp Ngaruawahia. They are the first of a grpup pf 46 British px-servieemen selected for service ' in tne New Zealand Army from 800 applicants. Royal Railway Coaches Two specially designed and appointed railway earriages, intended for the. Royal tour of the Dominion, were off-loaded'from the overseas fre.ighter Komata. at.,Wellington on. Fri'day. The earriages, which are longe'r than, the ordinary passenger coaches and veritable homes on wheels, will be, stbred" pending a decision by their Majes-' ties regarding the -tour. Bicycle A Carriage Upholding the' ;Police eontention that a bicycle" -kylregarded. at law I as beiqg a carfiage, the Magistrate, liMr. J. R. Herd, f^ned 'a man £2 on | a charge of being drunk in. charge of a bieycle at Masterton, Sergeant \C-. George 'cited lbgal .hrecedents- to j show that a bicycle was regarded I as a carriage. The pqlice said .tne ; man had been , found lying in JChapel Street smellirig strongly .of | liquor and ' with "A .bicycle si^ fept 'away! A do'etor said acpused was i too drunk to ride a bicycle. ! j Sliortage Of Classrooms

I "We are 400 classrooms behmd ! our needs at the present time Ibecause pf the curtailment of our 1 building programme during- the ■war and, in addition, we will require 1400 classrooms for, primary [Schools and 238 .post-primary classI rooms by 1952," said the Minister I of Education (Mr. McCombs) dur- ' ing a brief inspeption of the Dannevirke High School. Mr. McCombs ; isaid that the Education Depart- ! ment was aiming at an area of 25 1 acres for secondary schools, four of ! which were needed at Auckland in the immediate future. Helen Keller In Japan i " A Japanese Quaker, Iwahashi, j who is blind and has charge of the ' i "Light House" institutipn . for the ! ! blind in Osaka, arr-anged the ' recent visit of Helen Keller to ; Japan and accompanied her on yher | ; two months' tour of the eountry,1 says the New Zealand Friends' Newsletter. The "drive" was suc- ! cessful beyond expectations. Aggre- ; gate ^.udiepces numbered 130,000, and * money raised amounted to about 40 million yen (about £40,000) . A nation- wide union of and for the blind was established. ! Conversion Of Flying-boat j Engine tests of the National Airways Corporatibn's ' former R.N.Z.A.F. flying-boat, which is heing converted into ' a modern passenger carrier at Hobsonville, are nearing completion, and the flying-boat will probably be pqt rinto the water next Tuesday. Provided the tgSts are gupcessful, the jfirsc flignt will take . placp . at the end of the week. The conversipn of the Hying-boat is regarded as the biggest job of its kin.d attempted in New Zealarid, It is expected that the flying-boat' will begin its new life on the Auckland^Fiji run early in April. s P.M.G. Wqnld Be Pleased "A masterpiece of official cour- • tesy,'1 was how Mrs. M. Cleland, of tPennsylvania, deseribed a letter she received from the Wellington ppst pffi.ee after postal Qfflcials had trace.d, a missing friend for her to Auckland. ' "Not knowing pur brusque olficials here, you would (find it hara tp believe how much J appreciate,! your gracious letter," She replied to the gratified postal lofiftcials at Wellington, adding, vTf a letter similaF to mine had been received here, it WQUid prob^ ably have elicited: 'Some old dame trymg to find another old dame. Tell her the lines are busy.' "