NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 281, 26 August 1942, Page 5

NEWS IN BRIEF

Art Union Draw The drawing of the “Lucky Charm" art union is to take place at the board room, second floor, Wellington Commercial Travellers’ Association Building, Customhouse Quay, Wellington, this morning, commencing at 9.30 o’clock. Patriotic Appeal. It was stated at yesterday’s meeting of the Wellington Metropolitan Patriotic Committee that'the Wellington Patriotic Appeal had reached the total of £58.000. Accident Victim Identified. * The victim of the cycling accident in Norway Street on Monday afternoon has been identified as Miss Noeline McMillan, aged about 20, who worked and lived at the People’s Palace. Child Drowned.

Mavis Coleen Fahey, aged 2. whose parents reside in Beach Street, Hokitika, fell from a wharf on the Hokitika River on Saturday and was drowned. The body was recovered on Monday on the sea beach. —P.A. Taxation of Patriotic Donations.

An approach is to be made to the Government by the Wellington Metropolitan Patriotic Committee for some relief from taxation on donations for patriotic purposes, either by the granting of exemption from taxation or by a Government subsidy on all funds raised for the purpose.

Luxury Green Peas. New season’s green peas, from Waimea Valley, Nelson, brought 1/7 a lb. wholesale at the Wellington public markets yesterday morning. Nelson farmers state that the' season, so far, has been most propitious for the production of early vegetables, very few frosts and moderate rains only having been experienced during the winter months. Whirlwind Destroys Shed. When a whirlwind struck a milking shed at Tariki, Miss E. Bowling, one of three persons sheltering in it from a storm, received a blow on the head which necessitated her admission to New Plymouth Hospital. Her condition is not serious. The other two persons escaped injury, but the shed was destroyed. Part of it was found nearly a mile away.—P.A. Rest Room for Servicewomen. The Wellington Metropolitan Patriotic Committee yesterday referred an application for a grant for a rest room for the combined women’s clubs representing the fighting forces to the women’s metropolitan committee. The decisions arrived at by the women’s committee will be placed before the male representatives of the three services on the metropolitan committee.

Missionaries Safe. The Resident Commissioner of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate has advised that all the missionaries of the South Sea Evangelical Mission were well and safe on August 12. Included in the missionaries is Mr. Robert C. Vance, who has been in various parts of the Solomon group, particularly Malaita, for the past 14 years. Mr. Vance was a former resident of Wellington. Cafeteria Pots of Tea.

Authority to certain cafeterias which made application for permission to raise the price charged for a pot of tea -to 6d. has been given by the. Price Tribunal. These include those which had been charging less since the outbreak of war while others had, maintained their prewar price of 6dr It is pointed out that those cafeterias not named in the Price Tribunal’s order are . not covered, and their prices remain unaffected. Nuffield Trust Fund.

Decrease in interest rates would mean a reduction of approximately £lOO in the amount received by the New Zealand Crippled Children Society from the Nuffield Trust fund, according to Mr. J. M. A. Hott, who presided at the annual meeting of the society in Wellington yesterday. For the coming year tne income from this source was announced as £2650. All office-bearers of the society were re-elected. Work for Cripples.

All young cripples on the books of the. Wellington branch of the New Zealand Crippled Children Society were in positions and there had been no difficulty in finding work for them, said Mr. E. W. Hunt, a member of the executive council of the society, at the annual meeting in Wellington yesterday. Mr. G. J. Park, representing the Auckland branch, added that there was only one youth in Auckland for whom the branch had been unable to find work. Camp’s Capacity, “What’s the capacity of the camp?” asked Mr. D. W. Russell of a hotelkeeper, an appellant before the Armed Forces Appeal Board in Christchurch, when appellant said that he supplied all the liquid refreshment for a military camp.. M hen members of the board greeted his question with laughter. Mr. Russell explained that he meant the size of the camp, not the drinking capacity of the men. lhat would be about fair tank capacity, I expect,” said Mr. G. T. Thurston, a member of the board. Keleas.e of Seed Potatoes.

It has now been found possible to arrange for the release of a limited quantity of potatoes for use by private individuals in the North Island for seed purposes, according to information supplied by the Primary Industrial Controller. The quantity available is such that all demands cannot be met, and in order that some control over the. distribution can be kept, certain conditions have been drafted, compliance with which is essential before potatoes can be supplied. Particulars of these conditions are advertised in this issue. Useful E.P.S. Training.

An example of the usefulness of E.P.S. preparedness and training to meet the normal hazards of life was provided recently at York Bay, when a woman cyclist lost control of her machine on a sloping road and fell, receiving a severe cut on the arm and extensive abrasions. Within a minute or two members of the local E.P.S. medical unit were on the scene with their first-aid kits, and the woman received competent attention. She was taken by motor-car to a doctor m Lower Hutt, who found that all necessary first-aid treatment had been given, and sent her on to hospital. Drought Threatening.

Wine and spirit dealers and hotelkeepers in Dunedin have revealed that unless something is done to augment their supplies in the near future the city will become “bone dry,” says the “Otago Daily Times.” Chemists in Dunedin have been known to go from hotel to hotel in vain search of brandy to meet urgent doctors orders. One hotelkeeper said that he limits his bar sales of whisky to one bottle a day, whereas in normal times he sold about 60 bottles a week. He said that when the alcoholic content of beer was lowered there was a switch-over to wines and spirits which had helped to aggravate an already serious shortage. Population Drift. The drift from the South Island to the North Island of an increasingly large proportion of the Dominion’s industries and the headquarters of commercial undertakings was deplored at recent meetings of the council of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association, and at the last meeting a sub-committee was apponted -to consider ways and means of arresting this drift. The secretary to tbe association, Mr. R. T. Alston, announced that the sub-committee had held its first meeting and had decided to recommend to the council as the most urgent step the calling of a meeting of representative industrial and commercial organizations and other interested bodies. Structural History. _ . The earthquake-damaged Duke ot Lilinburgth Hotel was the last property in Willis Street to be set back to the new alignment when that side of the street was removed ten feet to the eastward at the beginning of the century, lhe cit} council, which had undertaken this extensive work, had to pay compensation for the land taken and provide the owners of properties with new fronts to their buildings. So it came about that. the city council erected part of the M no* Street facade of the hotel, and, a> '• happens, that wall escaped damage in tilrecent earthquakes, the main havoc being 'to the Manners Street ami eastern nth*. Tlie four-story addition on the northern side of the hotel was erected in reinforced concrete, and was put up more recently.