NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 14, 12 October 1942, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF

Church Thanksgiving

A thanksgiving day to meet the. cost of repairing earthquake damage was held in the Cambridge Terrace Congregational Church yesterday. At the close of the evening service the Rev. C. G. H. Bycrqft announced that the whole amount required, £279/16/8, had been contributed, lhe congregation stood to sing the Doxology. Army Call-up. It has been announced that a start is to be made in about four days’ time with the calling up for service of the men aged 35, -36 and 37 who were included in the recent ballot. Some of those iu the August ballot have not yet received their notices.

Vegetable Production. A total of 10,000 extra acres of vegetables would be grown this year and 100,000,000 cans of various kinds of primary prolucts would be produced, said the late Minister of Primary Production, Mr. Polson, addressing the Makara-Hutt A alley Farmers’ Union recently.

Student Imprisoned. Edward Francis Cule Hefford, who had been remanded on four charges of theft from fellow-students at the Dunedin Hospital, the amounts totalling £l4, was sentenced on Saturday to a month’s imprisonment.—P.A.

Familiar Tune. Just after the arrival of tlie I’nms Minister and Mrs. Fraser at the Chinese national celebrations in Wellington on Saturday afternoon, a number of Chinese children, some in national garb, sang a song in honour of Chinese Independence. Day. Two verses were sung, one in Chinese, the other in English. The tune to which they sang was “Clementine.” Falls Front Horses. Three people were injured through falling off horses during the weekend and all were taken, to hospital by the Free Ambulance. Mr. John Wilson, of Gracefield Road, received head injuries on Saturday afternoon, when a stirrup leather broke and he came off. Misses B. Bicknell and C. Hazelwood, of Mungaroa, both students, were double-banking on a horse at midday yesterday when they fell off and each girl fractured her left leg. Parcels for Prisoners. . The Prisoners of War Inquiry Ofiiee states that tbe repacking centres for personal parcels still find that a large number of next-of-kin are including in their parcels chocolate in sealed tins. This cannot be allowed, and the necessary removal means delay iu the forwarding of the parcel. Chocolate must be in unsealed tins and can be obtained from the packing dehots. Music is still prohibited in personally-addressed parcels to prisoners in Italian camps.

Faked Petrol Coupons? When the need for a greater allocation of petrol to motorists was being advocated at the annual meeting of the Automobile Association (Canterbury), Mr. J. S. Hawkes, who is a member of the Christchurch Oil Fuel Committee, said that he was mystified at the number of cars on the road in spite of the restrictions. He did not know how they did it There were a certain number of faked coupons on the market, he added, and the committee" was anxious to know where they came from. . Fur Seals Plentiful. Fishermen who have been fishing round Stewart Island this season report that fur seals are very plentiful in that locality and- that in places where a few years ago only an occasional seal was. to be seen there are now hundreds, indicating that they are multiplying quickly. The close season for fur seals has been extended till March 31, 1945, but it is the. opinion of fishermen that a short open season should be made, first for the protection of the fishing grounds and, second, that the skins would be of considerable value immediately after the war.

The Long Way Round. . Many people who visit Karon on Sunday are somewhat chagrined to find that they are taken by way of Molesworth Street and Tinakori Road, fully a mile longer than the Bowen Street route, lhe official reason for this is that a service via Tinakori Road has to be maintained for the benefit of Wellington North people and business is picked up on that route, whereas' the Bowen Street route is dead running. The answer, in brief, is that it pays to use the long way round. Certain cars on Sunday do use the short cut, but these only go as.far as the cemetery.

Care Needed In Use of Water. ' Despite the restoration of the Orougo-rongo-Karori water main, the level ot water in the Karori' reserviors has not yet begun to recover from the heavy fall during the time the main was out of action. . The loss of level —about 15 inches a day—during the period of the repairs, has left the reservoirs much lower than normal, and the restoration is of great importance to' the city’s water supply through the summer. Evidently, the warning given that water must be usedmore sparingly has not been-heed.ed.-Un-, less improvement is shown it. will, be necessary to impose summer, restrictions while it is still spring.

Razor Blades for Prison Camps. Some months ago the Prisoners of War Inquiry Office made arrangements for razor blades to be sent from England to prisoners and has been informed by the High Commissioner’s Office that m August 17 large cases .of blades were shipped to the International Red Cross, eacli case containing packages already addressed to the British camp captains atall camps containing New Zealanders.. Provision was made for 24 blades for each man, with a margin for additionalprisoners. All camp captains were written to and requested to arrange for distribution and to hold the balance for issue to new prisoners as required.

Letters to Prisoners of War. The Prisoners of War Inquiry Office has received from the International Red Cross, Geneva, information about how mail from New Zealand has been received by prisoners. Details include the dates qf dispatch from the Dominion, the number of letters, and the dates of arrival in Geneva. The approximate number of letters dealt with from February to the end of April (times of posting) is 33,200. The following figures give the average date of dispatch, . the date of arrival in Geneva, and the approximate number of letters:— Dispatch FebruaryApril 1, arrival June 25-29, 9500; dispatch March 15, arrival May 8, 1000. dispatch end of March-April 4, arrival May 15-21, 13,000: dispatch March 11-April 10. arrival July 13, 4600; dispatch April 7-May 7, arrival July 27, 4000; dispatch March 20-April 28, arrival June 17, 1100.