NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 185, 2 May 1940, Page 5

NEWS IN BRIEF

Petrol Thieves Active

A warning to motorists to take precautions against the activities of petrol thieves has been issued by the Automobile Association (Wellington). The thieves are particularly active in the less busy residential streets. Evidently, the association says, the concession which permitted motorists to use April coupons during either March or April left a good many motorists without fuel toward the end of the month, and the dishonest among them resorted to petrol stealing. The frequency of the complaints in the past few days showed that the thieving had become so serious that a special warning was warranted. Turf For Library Grounds.

Turf from some of the Wellington city reserves is to be used to finish' off the grounds of the new Central Library in Mercer Street. At present men are employed in spreading the soil and smoothing the surface of the symmetrical spaces in front. of the library, and a start will be made with the turfing operations as soon as conditions are favourable. The work is being done under the supervision of the director of parks, Mr. J. G. MaeKenzie.

Wellington Building Figures. Permits for private buildings issued in Wellington during April represented £78,509/15/- in signed contracts. This figure is considerably ahead of that for April of last year, which was only £58,864. The reason for this difference was the inclusion in last month’s figures of some £30,000 for the Wei-, lington Hospital store. Northland Library.

A generah canvass of the Northland district to obtain support for the erection of a library in the district is to be. undertaken by the Northland Progress Association. At a meeting of the association this week it was reported that £B/14/- had been added to the patriotic fund as the result of a recent collection. Gifts For Troops.

More than 800 cases were needed to pack approximately G5OO parcels received under the National Patriotic Fund Board’s scheme to give parcels of comforts as gifts from the people of New Zealand tb the men of the First Echelon of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Egypt. Eacn of the eleven provincial patriotic councils through its separate organization was asked to supply a certain number of parcels. In this work they were assisted by individual citizens and various organizations, and the parcels they collected were then sent to Wellington to the National Patriotic Fund Board’s gifts store, The Friendly Terrier.

Buster, a meek. and friendly Irish terrier, has acquired fame, but not the fame which any self-respecting dog should acquire. Kept by a man well known in Auckland public life, to keep down rats in his business establishment and act as a deterrent to burglars, Buster recently fell down on the job. When burglars ultimately did descend on him, he treated them like long-lost friends. He barked not, but licked their hands, and submitted as peacefully as a lamb to being locked up in one of his master's cars, garaged on the premises. Buster was sleeping blissfully when his owner arrived next morning, and the latter is now searching the city for a ferocious watchdog. Buster’s fate is in the balance.

Patriotic Italian. A commendable contribution to the Dominion’s war effort is proposed by the proprietor of a Dunedin beauty salon, Signor Salvatore Giudice, an Italian, who will give to the patriotic funds one day’s gross earnings from his shop, reports the Dunedin correspondent of the "Star-Sun.” Signor Gindice keenly hopes that his fellow countrymen in the Dominion will follow suit, if only as a gesture to the country of their adoption. He says it is possible that in the near future a great poll- , tlcal flirtation between Rome and Berlin will take place, but it still remains possible for British foreign policy to promote, even at great cost, a definite Franco-Italian understanding and thus tiring Italy into thmsame lighting ranks as in 1915-18.

Warning to Recruits. A warning to men not to leave their jobs when they enlisted for service was given by Captain Conyers-Brown, Area Officer, Whangarei. Captain Conyers-Brown said that men were leaving their employment when they enlisted, and then, as they were not called up for service immediately, they were applying to the Social Security Department for temporary jobs or unemployment benefits. It was often difficult to find temporary employment for these men, while they were liable to be debarred from unemployment benefits, as they were voluntary unemployed.