NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 291, 7 September 1942, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF

Sixpenny Bananas Bananas were selling at sixpence each in Wellington fruitshops on Saturday. These were the biggest bananas seen .11 Wellington for a long time, but good-sized fruit were priced at three a shilling, and smaller ones ranged from four down to six a shilling. The best oranges were fivepence each. Sunday Bowls. . As the result of a postal bal.ot, the Wellington Bowling Club will in future allow play on its greens on Sunday. Ihe vote was two to one in favour of Sunday play. Fall Off Ladder. When he fell off a ladder yesterday afternoon, Mr. T. McLaren, 26 Overton Terrace, fractured his left arm, and received lacerated wounds on his face and forehead. He was taken to hospital by the Free Ambulance. Meeting of Fire-Watchers. A meeting of fire-watchers will be held at the Sydney Street Hall, today, at 0.15 p.m., to receive the Ministers reply to the recent deputation, and his later reply regarding an alternative scheme submitted by the committee. Suburban E.P.S. Raises Funds. . A fair organized by the Kilbirnie E.P.S. was held ou Kilbiruie Recreation Ground ou Saturday afternoon, to raise funds for a new first aid post, the cost of which is estimated to be about iIWMThe money-raising devices employed by the E.P.S. proved very successful, as nearly £63 was collected. £5OOO Gift for War Comforts. The National Patriotic I' mid Board has received advice through the New Zealand High Commissioner’s office m London of a gift of £5OOO in New Zealand currency by Sir Alexander Maclean for the provision, of . comforts for New Zealand prisoners of war. Sir Alexander Maclean is a former Auckland resident and is now living in Britain. Free Kindergarten Competitions The Berhampore Free Kindergarten competitions, held in St. Thomas s Hall, Newtown, last week, concluded successfully on Saturday night, when a demonstration concert was given, and prizes were presented. There was a large audience. The adjudicators for the competitions were .Miss Estelle _ Beere, Miss Molly Atkinson, Mrs. Wiggs, and Mr. Frank Crowther. Work for Italians Advocated. For such crops as peas Nelson requires a large amount of hand laoour in the picking season. The suggestion for employing Italian, prisoners-of-war on. vegetable production is favoured by growers. Gangs of 20' or 30 men in various parts of the district would prove very useful in augmenting the labour supply in the vegetable harvesting and fruit and hop-picking season. Fire In Church. Shortly before 1 o’clock yesterday morning the lire brigade received a call to the Church of Christ at the intersection of Rintoul and Colombo Streets, where they found 'the back of the hall on fire. Two engines attended from the Constable Street'station and three from the Central station, and in about 10 minutes the tire was brought under control. The church is a wooden building and the fire caused a fair amount of damage, particularly to the back part of the church and hall. >• Lower Hutt E.P.S. Test. A full-scale test of all E.P.S. units at Lo.wer Hutt was held yesterday afternoon at a time not previously announced. With the co-operation of the army bomb disposal unit, an incident was arranged in each of the six districts, providing also practice for the evacuation and law and order sections. The fire-fighting units worked in conjunction with the Petone Fire Brigade in incidents on an extended scale. Though only threequarters of an hour elapsed between the sounding of the alert and the all clear, the complete test occupied ' over two hours. Penalties for Pillaging. A suggestion that the penalties for pillaging cargo should be made more severe and that the .Waterfront Control Commission, which was costing £13,000 a year, should he asked to take a hand, was made at a meeting of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. Members expressed the view in several instances the broaching of cargo had been so cleverly done that it seemed very unlikely it could have been done on the waterfront in New Zealand. It was also

agreed that the police be asked to exercise great care in granting permission to go on the Wharves. Maori Boys Sent Poaching. . Two Maoris, Rangi Otimi and Martin Otimi, who took trout from a stream during the closed season were each fined £5 by Mr. W. H. Freeman, S.M., in Rotorua “A disturbing feature about this case is that young boys were in company with defendants at the time, stated Mr. A. Kean, Conservator of Fish and Game, who prosecuted on behalf of the Internal Affairs Department. “We know that boys are being sent out to take trout and that the Maoris know that the department is reluctant to prosecute youths.” Ranger Francis had caught defendants with five fish and in the act of trying to gaff others. Old Landmark Destroyed. “Official inquiries are being made as to the cause of the destruction of the JO years old landmark,” stated the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Parry, when referring at the weekend to the felling of an historic Norfolk pine, hoary with age, which had stood at the corner of Young and Dawson. Streets, New Plymouth. A Taranaki report, the Minister said, showed that the pine had grown to a stately giant, 94ft high and 6ft. wide at the base. “On first consideration of the report it is difficult to conceive that a landmark of the importance of this aged Norfolk pine could have been wantonly and thoughtlessly sacrificed,” said the Minister. Civil Defence Conference. The .first conference of the regional commissioners and district controllers recently appointed under the Emergency Reserve Corps Regulations as. part of the new civil defence administration, was held in Wellington last week, when there was a full discussion and. exchange of views on matters of policy and administration. There was a full attendance, with the exception of Mr. J. A. G. Allum, district controller for the Auek-land-North Auckland area. The Minister of Civil Defence, Mr. Bodkin, who convened the conference, was unable to be present on account of family illness, and at the Minister’s request the Director of National Service, Mr. J. S. Hunter, presided. Youths and Army Service. The drafting of men from civil life into the Army in such a way us to make little adverse difference to national security while avoiding interference with education was recommended in a letter to the Minister of Education from the Rongotai College Parents' Association. It was suggested that school teaching should be declared an essential undertaking, and that no more public school teachers be called for service which obliges them to relinquish their duties as teachers. It was also suggested that no young men under 20 years of age be drafted into the armed forces. These young men, it was pointed out, would, if drafted direct from educational institutions, be at a great disadvantage at the close of hostilities since they would possess no vocation to which they might return, and in the search for employment they wottid take last place in competition with older men. It was also emphasized that the prolonged and continuous association of youths in their late, adolescence with older men was undesirable.