NEWS IN BRIEF:

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 42, 13 November 1940, Page 9

NEWS IN BRIEF:

Waipawa By-Election Absent voters in tlie Waipaw.-i byelectiuu are re.miuded that, witli tlie exception of lite larger offices, post offices close al 12.30 p.m. on Saturdays. Ail persons intending to record their votes at post offices as absent voters on Saturday should aecor'dingly do so in tlie morning. Warning To Motorists. A start will be made this morning on tlie application of a priming coat to tlie Western Hutt Road between Normandale and Meiling. To facilitate Die work ami to avoid the wet bitumen. motorists would be advised to use other routes during tlie next few days. Massive Boulder. Tlte huge boulder which came down on the track south of Hihitahi on Friday night and derailed a freight train is reported to weigh 126 tons. 'l’his estimate was made by engineers after the boulder was measured on Saturday morning. 'Die massive stone completely blocked tlie permanent way and had to be blasted to pieces by charges of gelignite. No trains were permitted to ppss rhe locality of the trouble foi nearly three days. Medicine for Dogs. Though it is essential for owners in registering dogs to buy special hydatid medicine, tliere is no compulsion that Hie pills must be administered, according to an interpretation of tlie Act by Mr. Orr Walker. S.M., in Hie Magistrates’ Court. Auckland. "Local bodies are bound to supply Hie medicine, and owners must buy ii. but thereafter it is merely assumed that, they will give it to their dogs," lie said. “A cltiusc is needed to make tlie duty compulsory.” Sending of Christmas Cards. "I think that this Christinas card business is overdone.” said Mr. Morgan Williams, M.P.. when tlie issuing of cards for 1949 was being discussed by the Lyttelton Harbour Board. The protest failed tlud tlie board decided to issue cards, tlte design to lie dechied by tlte chairman. "They tire all right if half a dozen cigars come with them,” said Mr. W. .1. Bowden, who supported the issuing of the cards, adding that they gave pleasure to a great many people.

War Effort in Cook Islands. More titan £lOOO lias been received by the National Patriotic Fund Board from European and native people of tlie Cook Islands. Tlie latest sum i< £299. which has come from tlie islands of Mauke. Mititira, and Maugaia. Previously the board lias acknowledged monetary contributions fro,in A tin. Rarotonga, and Airutaki. Tlie people in tlie Cook gj'oup have also for warded to Wellington parcels of excellentlykntted woollen comforts for members of New Zealand's lighting forces.

Gift of Old Coins. Both the National Patriotic Fund Board and tlie Wellington Provincial Patriotic Council have received in recent months jewellery and other valuable articles for disposal in aid of patriotic funds. To tlte list have been added recently an 1854 American golden dollar tiiul an 1894 English lialfsovereigu. They were given ainmytuously to help in tlie relief of tlie air raid victims of Great Britain. Accompanying the gifts was a short unsigned note: "Just a little appreciation of the wonderful courage of flic British folk !" Conclusion of Cenlemiial.

With tlte outbreak oi war just uvet 14 months ago. a curtailment in New Zealand’s Centennial celebrations was inevitable. But for Hie war these would have continued in one form or another till next Saturday, November 16. whieh is the one hundredth anniversary of the separation of New Zealand front New South Wales. The date will not go by quite untnarked. Flags are to be flown on all post offices and public- buildings and a limi! Centennial message will lie given to tlie people of New Zealand by Hie Government.

War and Class Barriers. "The smashing of class barriers among civilians and a new helpfulness one to the other" lias been a noticeable result of the ..'ar in London, according to Dr. D. A. Arnott, of Hie London Chest Hospital, in a letter to bis mother. Mrs. D. Arnott. Puriri Stre’et. Christchurch. Dr. Arnott, in liis letter, paid numerous tributes to tlie spirit and general attitude of Loudon people in the face of the intensified air attacks of September, and expressed his confirmation of reports that Hie damage from air attacks was much less than would be imagined. In the increasing determination and virility of the British spirit, ho said, the war was not producing only destruction. but was recreating Great Britain.

School Dental Service. 'Die birth of the New Zealand School Dental Service as a result of deficiencies shown in the Great War was explained by Mr. 11. M. McCuteheou. district supervisor, at tlie opening of tlie new clinic at Elmwood School. ChristelitU'ch. this week. 'Dio loss of manpower through dental disease was one of tlte nation's greatest weaknesses during Hie last war. lie said. Importtint <teps toward remedying HHs pusi--Hon bad been made >i the years between. imt tlte present dental exantiti-,-ttions of recruits showed that tliere was still much to lie desired. About 70 ]ier cent, of Hie men required (rotiinielli, and a big proportion ol Hie men in Hie army had dentures. Evon now. nearly all New Zealand children required some form ot. dental treatment. Imt by educational methods and the School Dental Service Hie position would bo gradually rectified. Mr. McCutcheon said.

The Beetle Rises. Eagerly awaited yearly by tlie tingling fraternity, tlie rise of tlie li(tb' brown grass beetle began around Wellington yesterday. While occasion:,! beetles api>ear earlier, the mass advent of tlie‘beetle usually takes place about Hie second week of November, and tlie lietii. of yesterday no doubt brought about the emergence of the thousands of these beetles to be seen last evening at dusk flying noisily over lawns and long grass in the suburbs. This Hie little "shiny brown beetle whicli is sometimes attracted into houses by the lights at night, and it is the mature form of the grass grub so destructive to lawns and grass plots. There are several closely related species, all regarden as a. delicacy by hungry trout, which is the reason the anglers are interested in the beetles’ appearance. It. really marks the commencement, of surface feeding by the trout, and therefore of tlie effective dry fly fishing.