NEWS OF THE DAY

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 307, 29 December 1939, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

New Year Holiday “The Times” will not bo published on Monday, New Year’s Day. There will consequently be no papers published after to-morrow until Tuesday morning. In view of this the office of ‘ 4 The Times” will be closed from midday on Saturday until 6.30 on Monday evening, when it will be opened for the receipt of advertisements for the following day. The office will be open from 8.30 till 10.30 only on Tuesday morning, re-open-ing again in the evening, after which the customary hours will bo observed. And Yet He Was Not Pit!

A Maori recruit medically examined in Wliangarei last week weighed 18st. -lib., and, having a chest measurement of -18iu., showed an expansion of Tin. This man was reputed to be able to lift an average man on the end of a longhandled shovel. Unfortunately, the doctors do not i)ass a man ou strength, but on his fitness, and he could not pass tho test.

Palmerstonians Injured Two persons were injured when a motor-car containing a family from Palmerston North was involved in a collision with a bus at the junction of the Ngahauranga Gorge lioad and tbc Hutt Road at 10.50 a.ui. on Wednesday. The car was overturned and extensively damaged. Miss V. M. Calder, of 46 Bourko Street, Palmerston North, received an injury to her neck and shock,

and Alan Calder, a child, had some teeth knocked out and his lip cut. They were taken to hospital. Their parents, another adult, and two other children who were in the car were not injured. Humour in War

The grimness of war is always lightened by the humour of the fighting forces. Dr. H. D. liobertson, of Wanganui, who is at preseut in .London, has retold two of the excuses given by men of the Royal Air Force who were brought before their commanding officer for explanations as to flights over Germany dropping leaflets. The first man was late in returning to his base. Asked why, he said tnat things “were so quiet in Germany that we popped down and put the leaflets under the door.” The second pilot was back at his base too soon. His reason was that in his excitement he had dumped the whole cargo of leaflets over in one lot. ‘‘Good heavens, man, you might have killed somebody 1 ” declared the commanding officer. Correct War Colours. Bealed specimens of tho correct shades of Army khaki, Air Force blue, and Admiralty blue have been sent by tho British War Office, Air Ministry and Admiralty to the British Colour Council for official registration in their Dictionary of Colour standards, which is the recognised reference for colour determination throughout the world. These officially-approved shades are being copied ou colour charts and sent to textile and dye-stuff manufacturers and large and small tailoring concerns all over Britain and tho Empire. “This will eliminate the enormous waste of materials, dyos, and money which occurred in the last war, when in the absence of colour standardisation many uniforms were returned as useless simply because they were not uniform in colour,” saj r 3 an official of the council. Curing “Jay Walkers” Commenting on the tendency of people to “jay walk” on busy streets in New Zealand, a recent arrival from England said that the latest innovation in London prior to tho declaration of war was the issue of badges to safe walkers. An experiment carried out among school children on the outskirts of the city had proved successful in reducing accidents. Each child who qualified received a badge and road safety license. The license form contained a number of elementary shfety rules, and every time the holder violated one of the rules it was entered on the license. When a school teacher decided that the license holder had too many endorsements the license and safety badge were taken away. “Badges are not returned until the offender shows in the company of a warden that ho or she is a safe walker once more,” he added. “Older children act as wardens to check offencos. ” Travelled Policeman.

The Australian second A.I.F. has men of all classes and occupations in it, but probably few have had a more varied career than Warrant-Officer G. B. Dudley, now in charge of the provost corps at the Sydney Show Ground, writes a Sydney correspondent. A native of Oxford, ho joined the Rhodesian police in 1902, a few years later went gold mining and then went to Canada, where ho joined the Royal North-West Mounted Police. He left Canada as a private in the last war and rose to tho rank of major with tho D.S.O. and M.C. After the war he joined the Royal Irish Constabulary and then came to Australia, where ho was appointed in charge of the Commonwealth Police in the Northern Territory. Aft.er six years in that posi* tion he left it to join an expedition for New Guinea. Since then he has been a sheriff’s officer at the Darlinghurst Court and has also served as a militia man in tho tank corps. Missionaries’ Experience. Passengers, on the river steamer Fatshan, which struck a submerged object while on tho way from Hong Kong to Canton recently, were the Rev. H. Davies and Mrs. Davies, veteran missionaries of the New Zealand Fresbvtorian Church, and Miss E. M. Reid, of Auckland, a member of the same mission, who were returning from furlough in New Zealand. The Fatshan was following an unusual course owing to the .normal channel being dangerous for navigation. A huge hole was torn in her plates near the engine room and she was beached in a sinking condition. Writing of their experience in the Outlook, Mr. Davies says that Captain Whyte, of the Fatshan, got the boat grounded just in time. “The British sailors of the gunboat Tarantula,” ho says, “worked and behaved magnificently in transferring the 1800 passengers and all their baggage, first from tho Fatshan to tho Tarantula and then from the latter to tho Kinsan.’’ Lin Tin Island, on which the ship was beached, in occupied by the Japanese.