NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 138, 8 December 1938, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

Funeral of Queen of Norway.

Today being the day of the funeral of Queen Maud of Norway, flags were flown at half-mast on all Government buildings. Town Hall Interior.

General repair work to the interior of the Town Hall is to be put in hand. Cracks which have appeared in the walls are to receive attention and the interior of the large hall and the corridors are to be repainted, the contract for this work having been let yesterday. The redecoration of the main hall is a big job, and is expected to take a month or six weeks. Fifth of the Oxfords. "The Post's" London correspondent advises that the last of tne five Airspeed Oxfords, ordered some time back for the New Zealand Air Force, is due to reach Auckland on December 22, by the Federal Steam Navigation Company's vessel Durham, leaving Liverpool on November 19. This machine has been fitted with cameras to carry out photographic work. No details are available yet concerning the delivery of the 30 Vickers Wellington bombers ordered earlier this year by the Government, and wh.ch are to be flown out by New Zealand pilots. Exit Railway Gates. A marked improvement, much appreciated by motorists, has been made at the railway crossing at Khandallah station. For a great number of years the crossing has been governed, so far as traffic is concerned, by oldtime railway gates on both sides, much like the former toll gates. These did not permit of more than one car using the crossing at a time, and thus was a distinct handicap, especially to traffic passing through the district. There has been an enormous increase of this traffic while the Ngahauranga Gorge Road has been closed and the Onslow Road has been more used. Popular Rural Mail. By providing for regular collections from and delivery of mails and parcels to rural mail boxes fixed outside: the farmer's gate, the Post Office brings many of its services direct to the country home. That this is substantially appreciated has been shown by the constantly-growing numbers of these boxes. The total distributed throughout the Dominion has now reached just over 30,000, which includes 4836 in the Hamilton postal district, 4687 in the Auckland district, 3389 in the Christchurch postal district, 2926 in Southland, 2568 in the Palmerston North area, 1729 in the Dunedin postal district, 1539 in the Timaru district, 1244 ih Wanganui district, 1218 in the Wellington area, and 1136 in the districts surrounding New Plymouth. The importance of this country postal service was demonstrated during the economic depression when the number of rural delivery boxes actually increased by 5385 during the five years from 1929, but the present total is an improvement on the 1929 figures to the extent of 10,703. Tobacco Research. Substantial progress is being made with the tobacco research work at the station of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in Motueka. Eleven acres of the experimental area have been planted with a large number of varieties and strains of tobacco which are being tested for their suitability for New Zealand conditions. Because of the special precautions taken at the seed-bed stage, comparatively little mosaic disease developed in the field and insect pests hav,e been almost absent. The Minister in Charge of the Scientific and Industrial Research Department (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan) said yesterday that tenders had been called for the erection of three curing kilns and a bulking shed, and that plans and specifications were being prepared for the o'her buildings i required for the complete and efficient functioning of the research station. Coastal Play Areas. The new play area for boys and girls at Karehana Bay, said the chairman of the Plimmerton and Karehana Bay Ratepayers' Association, Mr. J. Wallace today, will now be proceeded with, the titles to the donated ground having been handed over by Sir George Troup and Mr. C. S. Moore. It will be for the use of young people up to 17 years of age. The trustees are Councillor R. L. Button, | and Messrs. J. L. Allan, H. S. Baron, and J. Wallace. The entrance to the new play area is the vacant section opposite Gordon Road. The Block House Park of 31 acres has been obtained as a recreation park. Its control will be vested in a Domain B6ard, comprised of the member of the Hutt County Council for the district, and an appointee of the Government. These properties will be exempt from rates. Maori and Pakeha. One of the pleasing features of the coming Centennial celebrations was that the Native people would take their part in the observances, side by side with the pakeha, the Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon. W. E. Parry) said at a meeting of the National Centennial Council this morning. "I feel that both races can congratulate themselves on the fact that after a period of nearly one hundred years of pakeha colonisation, the Maori is taking an increasingly prominent part in the public affairs of the country, that he is responsible for a big share of its production, that he has his representatives in all our cultural, economic, and social activities, and that as a race he is increasing in numbers and in importance," Mr. Parry said.