NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 194, 15 May 1944, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF

Vacant House Raided

A house on Wellington Terrace was recently vacated by the tenants. Witinn three days strangers had entered tne house and removed various odds and ends left for the carrier’s second trip. They also removed the contents of the garden. Autumn Art Show. Invitations have been issued to members of the New Zealand Academy of I’me Arts for the formal opening of the autumn art exhibition. South Island Ewe Schedules. The New Zealand Meat Producers Board advises that the ewe schedule in the South Island will be increased by oneeighth of a penny' per lb., beginning today.

Jiggers Collide. . When two railway Jiggers collided at Jiahui. in the Buller Gorge, on Friday evening Vincent John Head, a carpenter employed; by the Railways Department iu Westport, had both his legs broken. There was one other man on Head s Jigger and seven on the other. No one else was hurt.—P.A. Rail Tunnel Proposal. The construction of a lengthy railway tunnel between Waitati and Sawyers Bay was held by a meeting convened in Dunedin by the chamber of commerce to be necessary to assist the future development of the city and Otago province. The. Minister of Railways, Mr. .Semple, has been requested to receive a deputation on the matter.

Fire in Police Cell. A « At 9 o’clock on Friday night the fire brigade was called to extinguish a fire in a nolice cell at Thames, in which -was an Allied soldier, held on detention. He was rescued in a semi-asphyxiated conditio- reviving after receiving medical attention. The brigade,; which was quickly on the scene, had to' deal with heavy smoke, the cell being considerably burnt. —P.A. Return of Impressed .Rifles. Numbers of rifles impressed by tne Army authorities in the emergency ot 1942 are now being returned to their owners. Shotguns and .22 rifles, which were purchased in the same period, are being offered to their former owners at a discount on valuation. When, the Army . found it necessary to augment its stock ot small arms, three methods were employed. Some were impressed, some were bougnt, and others were given outright by their owners. The weapons were handed m through the poice stations and receipts ' were issued for them. Healthy Finances. , “The funds are in a healthy state, gays the annual report of the Wellington Acclimatization Society, lhe balance of assets over liabilities was £al2t>, ot which £4943 were cash assets. Revenue had increased to £3832, compared witn but it was necessary to go back two years to obtain a fair comparison. The revenue from the shooting shown in the 1943 balance-sheet was for the previous year, when there was a close season. Two years-ago, the revenue was £3327. The net cost of working the game farm was £440, and the loss on Masterton hatchery was £lB.Meat Pies. , , Though mince and other forms of ineausually used in the making of meat pies have been placed on the coupon list, there has so far been no intimation that the sale of pies is to be subject to coupon presentation. There must be thousands of. workers whose midday luncheon consists mainly of a pie and cup of tea or ’ coffee. Under the former arrangement makers of pies were' allowed 60 per cent, of their pre-coupon meat allowance (taking the 12 months previous to the introduction of rationing as the period of normality), so that already a 40 per cent, cut has been made in this industry! In the light of restaurant experience, it is predicted that if coupons were required for meat pies there would probably be a drop of SO per cent, in the trade, one coupon being considered too much to expend on a fourpenny pie. Whisky Supplies. A wrong- impression gained by many people from a recent announcement that imports of whisky were being, increased by 10 per cent, was referred to on Saturday by the manager of a Wellington wine and spirit company. There would not be anv more whisky available for the general public, he said, as the increase, referred to value, not volume. Last year importers paid exchange on war risk and freight, but not on the whisky itself. This year they were required to pay for purchases in sterling. The increased quota had been granted to meet that position. One factor contributing to decreased supplies. he said, was importers’ inability to secure bulk supplies for bottling in New Zealand. With only a limited market, except in isolated instances, would supply oiily case whisky, their reason being a desire to keep their brands before the public. Respite for Vermin. ’ The war among human beings and the need for the concentration of every available person on the winning of the war have given a respite to vermin. The Wellington Acclimatization Society records that its 1943-44 financial year payments in royalties on vermin taken have not been nearly so great as in previous years. The reason was that everyone- on whom the society depended for vermin eradication, including even boys and girls, had been far too busy on the farms to give , much time to vermin destruction. The North Island Vermin Control Board had jiaid out £225 on 3478 pairs of hawks feet, 1123 tails and 1459 hedgehog snouts. Out of this total the society paid out £27 (100 .pairs of hawks’ feet, 186 ferrets, stoats and Tveasels’ tails and 339 hedgehogs’ snouts).