NEWS IN BRIE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 193, 13 May 1944, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIE

Profitable Holiday

The present good demand for deerskins was turned to profitable account by three Nelson youths. During a recent deerstalking holiday in the district they shot 70 deer. The animals were skinned and the hides brought out realized over £lOO. Boy Severely Injured. Terence Brown, aged 12, 114 Campbell Street, Karori, received severe bead injuries and concussion yesterday when Lie bicycle he was riding collided with a motor-lorry. He was taken to the hospital by the Free Ambulance. His con dition was reported last night to be fair. Benefits for Discharged Servicemen. The Wellington Metropolitan Patriotic Committee decided yesterday that discharged servicemen visiting Wellington in connexion with rehabilitation will be eligible to obtain sleeping accommodation and meals at the patriotic hostels at intervals of one week during the first three months after their discharge. Patriotic Fund. The Makara County Council yesterday decided to contribute £llO to the ■Wellington Metropolitan Patriotic Committee's fund for the current year. The chairman, Mr. 11. W. Bothamley, said this was a golden opportunity for the ratepayers of the county to show their appreciation of what N.Z. servicemen were doing for them. Low Administration Costs. Through the valuable help of vo.untary workers and sound administration, the total costs of the National Savings cam-, paign at September 30, 1943, worked out at the very low figure of .58 per cent., states a National War Savings bulletin. This approximates 1 l-3d. in the £. Administration of the issue of bonds, and the accounting work involved in handling 60,000 to 10,000 deposits each week accounts for half the expenses, the balance being, made up by advertising and similar items.

Infectious Diseases. • The sanitary inspector, Mr. D. C. Joll. informed the Hutt County Council yesterday that oue case of diphtheria and 17 cases of scarlet fever had been reported in the county during April. With the exception of one case at Ra-umati, all scarlet fever cases were from the districts surrounding Lower Hutt city and Upper Hutt borough. This was the greatest number of scarlet fever cases ever reported for one month in the county.

War Prisoners’ Examinations. Australian and New Zealand prisoners of war have been given the opportunity by the Australian Institute ot Secretaries of sitting examinations without pavment of any fees. The institute has decided that any prisoner candidates who pass shall no eligible for, membership without entrance fees.’ Special awards will be allocated to candidates achieving results comparable with the standard which wins the award at the usual examination of the institute. Borstal Institutions. Reference had been made to the conditions in Borstal institutions, but he was satisfied that the one in the Auckland district was in very capable hands, said Mr. Justice Fair when sentencing prisoners in the Supreme Court, Auckland. That institution had done very good work in the training of young men. Committal to a Borstal was not so much punishment as training to lead decent lives and to enable those concerned to hold up their heads in the community. Red Squil Ifor Rats. ' In view of the attention being focused on the rat menace, the announcement that red squill is being shipped to England and America once more is of special interest. Red squill is a bulb plant found only in countries bordering the Mediterranean and is used as a rat poison. It is an emetic which causes regurgitation in all animals except - rat, which is unable to regurgitate Till the United Nations went into North Africa the. supply there was being taken by the Axis.

Railway Locomotives. A statement that only 10 new locomotives had been placed on South Island railway lines since the start of the war was made before the Industrial Manpower Appeal Committee, Christchurch, by Mr. G. S.J. Read, assistant locomotive engineer, New Zealand Railways. Of the 38 locomotives ordered in 1938, he said, none had yet been built. The position was now serious, and rolling stock simply had to be built. He added that the manpower position was particularly acute.

Use of Dairy Batter. “Has the Minister considered the elimination of the rationing of dairy butter in order to make its use more popqlar ’ a member asked the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Roberts, at a meetin” of the Otago and Southland Primary Production Councils. It was said that if this were done larger quantities of factory butter would be made available for export to Britain. The Minister replied that he was prepared to look further into the matter to see if dairy butter could be utilized by pastrycooks.

Hutt Harbour Proposal. On the motion of Cr. A. D. I ark, tne Makara County Council yesterday decided to request the Minister of Works to include in the order of reference to be considered by the commission which is to inquire into the construction of a harbour at the mouth of the Hutt River the question of how ratepayers in the Wellington Harbour Board’s rating area might be affected by the proposed works. If the works wtre carried out, and were not successful, the ratepayers might have to carry a big burden, said Cr. I ark.

Orakei Maoris. .... . A reference to the Orakei Maori village problem was made by the mayor ot Auckland, Mr. J. A. C. Allum, in an election address. Promises had been ffiade that under Labour the village would be restored aud put into order, he said, but that aim had not been achieved. He had told Ministers that if a mistake had been made in buying land in the village, so far as the citizens were concerned, the Government might give it back—on one condition. That was that the Maoris would be prepared to live there under modern conditions.

Many Property Sales. Applications to the three Auckland land sales committees in April for consent to sell properties totalled 815. Or these, 116 related to farm lands. Consent was granted in 563 cases, of which t>6 concerned farm properties, and conditional consent was given in the ease of 6! applications. In 16 cases consent was refused and seven applications were withdrawn. The committees dealt finally with <l5 annlications. and at the end of the month. 1029. including those outstanding from previous months, remained to be dealt with. 192-of these relating to farms.

Lower Power Charges. Proposals for a reduction in charges to consumers of approximately ±o3W nate been adopted by the North Auckland Electric Power Board. The principal features of the new schedule of charges are. Commercial lighting, reduced D'" 111 2,’ to sd. a unit, a reduction from bd. to od. n unit on the high rate !>lock in the allin domestic tariff; reduction of Id. a unit in milking and commercial power other than, special rate consumers, mimmum charges reduced! discounts umfoiui „ fixe<rat 10 per cent. The new schedule of charges is subject to Price Inbunal confirmation. —P.A. Crown of the Year. erown U of U the S ve b ar" This has certainly three weeks, except for a o\tr at weekends. There have been about 1most windless days in which the sun has shone benignly from sunrise to sunset, and temperatures have been mild for ''ay. with cool nights. Reports J.?’! 0 trict stretching from I aekaktiriM t Levin sav .that superb weather has been experienced for the last fortnight, with complaints from some quarters about exceSive heat, which has brought on a revival of sea-bathing from the beaches.

Producers Want Money. \ resolution was adopted.at a combined meeting of representatives of the nrimary production councils of and Southland urging the Government to encourage the production of trozen meat for export to the United Kingdom by payin” out to primary producers the increased prices for certain grades of meat which were granted some time ago bv the imperial Government—an increase which at the present time was being held in a stabilization account in Wellington, and which, it was understood, amounted to some millions sterling.