NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 15, 13 October 1943, Page 8

NEWS IN BRIEF

Governor-General Given A “Lift” Instead of gliding away from the door of the Wellington Technical College after the Repertory Theatre's performance ot ••You Can’t Take It With You last night in an immaculate vice-regal car the Governor-General was taken home in the much less pretentious vehicle of a private motorist. When his Excellency s car started off it moved to the rhythmic thumping that announces a flat tyre, and Sir Cyril Newall and his party accepted the prompt offer by another patron of the show to drive them to Government House. Board's Allegation. At the October meeting of the Thames Valley Drainage Board it was alleged that Maori workmen on urgent work were deliberately working only part time in order to draw social security benefits also. ’Hie board decided that the Social Security Department be advised of the position. P.A.

Indoor Window Box. A novelty in interior, decoration which •s attracted the attention of visitors to the American Red Cross Service Club. Auckland, last week, was an indoor windowbox. Housed between an outer wall and an inside wall built of glass bricks almost to window-ledge height, a metal box extended for the whole length of a large window. Filled with daffodils, it was a most attractive feature in one of the cluo lounges. /Costly Eloquence. “He was thumping his hand on a '■.able in a restaurant, making a lengthy speech about ‘the rotten social system in New Zealand,’ ” said the police representative when Danie’ Bernard O’Connor pleaded guilty in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday to a charge of damaging a plate glass table top. ‘‘Curb quence in future, said Mr. btout, b.M., ordering defendant to pay £3, the cost.otthe damage.

Assembly Halls for Schools. “I believe all our schools should have assembly halls,” said Dr. J. D. Saimond. in an address on “Christian Order and Education,” in Dunedin. “A school assembly hall plays an important part in educating the emotions of our young people—in inculcating in them that, community feeling which is so essential if society is to hold together. After the war, he added, there shoulc. be enough military buildings available to provide all schools with assembly halls. Call for Spring Cleaning. “New Zealand needs a very thorough spring cleaning, and the sooner we get on to it the better it will be,” said the Rev. Stuart C. Francis, of St. Paul s Presbyterian Church, when speaking at a Citizens’ Service, in Christchurch. New Zealanders could not be proud of the fact that there was so much sexual disease, he continued, that they spent £lO,000,000 annually on drink, £8,000,000 on gambling, also that 7 per cent, of marriages ended in the divorce court. It was the duty of elder people, said Mr. Francis, to set the younger folk a good example.

The Chinese Flag. . Some interest was taken by citizens in the national flag of China, which was flown by a number of Chinese in Wellington on Sunday to mark the 32nd anniversary of the foundation of the Republic. The flag has a red background and in the centre of a blue quarter in the upper, left is a white sun, with 12 rays. It was explained by one of the Chinese that, to the people of China, the flag symbolizes the white sun shining from the blue sky on a crimson earth. The 12 rays of the sun are emblematic of the 12 months of the year and the 12 hours of.a' clock cycle.

/No Fish. I In the piping days of free marketing Vit was the custom of people residing in /the eastern bays to go down to the beach when they saw the fishermen hauling in their nets after a trawl for bait, in the hope of buying a flounder or wharehou or cod that had strayed into the net. Occasionally there was quite a good harvest and trade was brisk. It appears that these days have gone—perhaps for ever. Early yesterday morning a woman resident of one of the bays espied a „trawl being dragged ashore. She went "down as per custom, elated at the prospect of some nice fresh fish, newly caught, for breakfast. Said one of the fishermen: “Not allowed to sell fish now. The Government takes it.” So that was that.

Many Problems Ahead. “Though the day of victory has been brought appreciably nearer, the difficulnies confronting New Zealand are not any easier,” said Mr. C. V. Smith in his prest.dential address to New Zealand manufacturers in Napier yesterday. In fact, 5n many directions they are becoming fruore complicated, and with the collapse k>f Germany will become more complicated still. Aa it is not likely that the plans for the reconstruction of Europe will be theld! up till Japan is defeated, we shall mrobably have the unique problem of participating in peace proceedings and ’carrying on a war at the same time, it 'is quite probable, too, that as the offensive in fhe Pacific gathers weight we may have to play an increasingly important part in the provision of supplies of many types. ’ Then we have the problem of our own economic set-up and linked with that is rehabilitation. Finally we have tbe long-range problem of populating New Zealand, With all these problems New Zealand industry is very closely linked.