NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 287, 2 September 1942, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF

Quake Aftermath

Mr. L. S. Drake, chief traffic officer, Wellington, when visiting the city council’s garage in Chaffers Street yesterday morning, heard a fairly loud crashing noise. A window, untouched by anyone, had cracked and broken, there, were new cracks in the brickwork of the. garage, and the bitumen pavement, outside was cracked right across. “Evidently there had been tension in that part of the building following the earthquake,” said Mr. Drake. “Then something below ground collapsed. It was a weird sensation.”

Royal Birthday. Yesterday was the sixty-second .birthday of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. Although the Queen- succeeded, to the throne in 1890, she dates her reign from her coming-of-age in 1898.

Value of Church Property. In the annual statement of assets and liabilities as at June 30, 1942, the value of St. John’s Church and schoolroom (with church officer's property) is set down at £20,000. The manse is valued at £3OOO. Conference Abandoned. There will be no annual Dominion conference of the League of Nations Union this year. It was originally scheduled to take place in Wellington today and tomorrow. The secretary, Miss M. P. Ahern, said last night that branches had been circularized and as a result it had been decided, because of travelling restrictions and other wartime difficulties, not to hold the conference. Alleged Gold Robbery. The metallurgist who is charged with the theft of 36500 z. of alluvial gold, valued at £31,496, from Arahura Gold Dredging, Ltd., Leo Edward Moreland, aged 41, was remanded again by Mr. Stout, S.M., in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday. The remand, which was on the application of the police, was till September 15.

Fanning on Racecourse. One of the most successful features of the Waikato Racing Club's operations during the last year has been its farming activities. liargb numbers of cattle and sheep are grazed and fattened on its racecourse at Te Rapa, and the buying and selling of stock resulted in a net profit of £642 to the club for the year. Jail for Bigamist. “You committed a deliberate offence against the marriage laws,” said Mr. Justice Smith in the Supreme Court. Wellington, yesterday, in sentencing Wallace Shing; labourer, aged 40, to 12 months imprisonment at hard labour for bigamy. His Honour added that prisoner had married the other woman on the very day his wife had visited him at Paekakariki and asked him to return to her. Cat’s Change of Domicile. How a cat will find its way back to a home where it has been domiciled for some time, however far the distance and length of time the journey will take, has often been told. An Eltbam cat, however, reversed the order. It was left at its old home when its owner moved to a new part of the- town, fully a mile away. To the owner’s surprise it turned up at the new home three weeks later. Manners Street Trams. The mayor oi Wellington announced yesterday that trams would resume running on the southern (inward) track in Manners Street tomorrow. Outwardbound tram? would still use the Hunter Street-Jervcis Quay tracks. He said that some people had represented that it might bo advantageous always to run the south-bound trams through Hunter Street bui. the tramway management had informed him that it meant a considerable revenue locs, the receipts since the earthy quake having been on an average £l2o lower than before.

Death of Dulce of Kent. In reply to a recent message of sympathy sent from the Maoris in connexion with the death of the Duke of Kent, the Governor-General, Sir Cyril N ewall, has received the following message from the King:— “Please convey to the Maori people of New Zealand the sincere thanks of myself and my family for their kind message of sympathy which we so greatly appreciate.” A message ot sympathy in the death of the Duke of Kent has been received by the Government from Norwegian residents in the Dominion through the honorary consul for Norway, Mr. Jack Halligan.

Farm Workers’ Wages. Ah agreement had been reached witn the New Zealand Workers' Union that as from August 1,1942, workers on farms other than dairy farms would receive the same rate of pay as the new rates for workers on dairy farms, stated the Dominion secretary of the ;*'ew Zetuano Farmers’ Union, Mr. A. P. O Shea, in a letter received by the Wanganui provincial executive at its monthly meeting. The weekly rates are as follows: Under 17 vears £l/2/-; 17-18, £l/9/-; 18-19, £l/16/-; ’ 19-20, £2/3/6; 20-21, £2/10/6; over 21 years, £2/17/6. The keep allowance has been raised to £l.

A Potato Ration. "It has been suggested that new potatoes should be rationed,” said Mr. Arthur Turner, of Turner and Growers, Ltd., in his address to members of the New Zealand People’s University at Auckland. “Well, I worked the ration out—the known quantity of new potatoes against the population of Auckland, lhe ration would be one-tenth of an ounce ot a new potato a person a day. . Next u P l r <xl for a potato of that size. .Lhe best 1 could do was to find one of aprpoximately a quarter-ounce,” and, amid laugiucr, he produced oue the size of a pea.

Basis of Soil Fertility. "When a soil loses fertility we pour on fertilizer, or at best alter its tame flora and fauna, without considering the iaet that its wild flora and fauna, which built the soil to begin with, may likewise be important to its maintenance, says Professor Aldo Leopold, in an arUcle reprinted in “Forest and Bird. It was recently discovered, tor example, that good tobacco crops depend, for some unknown reason, on the preconditioning o the soil by wild ragweed. It does not occur to us that such unexpected chains of dependency may have wide prevalence in nature.”

Patriotic Effort Unity. Mr. G. A. Hayden, secretary ot the National Patriotic Fund Board, speaking at a public meeting in Invercargill, made an appeal for unity in tne patriotic effort. "We should forget our little local troubles and work together for tne good of our men in the fighting foices, he said. “The National Patriotic I’mid Board has made mistakes., and it may make mistakes again, but it is trying to do its job to the best of its ability, lli« work cannot be done by small local committees. Just as tile war can be won only by a united effort, so patriotic work iilso demnuds 11 united ciiort.

Possible Education Changes. The possibility ot raising the schoolleaving age, together with, the possible introduction of the accrediting system for university entrance, were outlined by the Director of Education. Dr. C. L. Beebv, when the 1942 conference of the New’Zealand Vocational Guidance Association opened at Canterbury College. The matter would not rest merely with the solving of these two major problems, said Dr. Beeby, but such a step would briiw in its wake a host of other problems’ equally urgent. Such changes would be not merely administrative, but would involve the whole direction and scope of education. The fact that only about one-sixteenth,of the children leaving primary schools completed a university course was a possible indication that too mueli post-primary activity might be governed by tile needs of this small minority. Home Guaidsman in Wrong Uniform. A Home Guardsman who was said to have worn an expeditionary force uniform was charged in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday, with the theft at. Christchurch of a military overcoat valued at £3/10/-, the property of the New Zealand Government. He was Thomas -McNeil, aged 31, motor-driver, and lie pleaded guilty to the charge. Detective-Sergeant W. McLennan, prosecuting, said that accused had stolen the coat from a party at the Riccarton racecourse, and at the time of his arrest he was wearing the field service uniform anil colour patches of the N.Z.E.F., which he was not entitled to do. “He is only in the Home Guard, mid he has a bad list.” Detective-Sergeant McLennan concluded. Defending counsel, Mr. G. 1. Joseph, attributed accused's trouble to drink. The magistrate, Mr. Stout, imposed a sentence of a month’s imprisonment.