Wellington Blamed for More Than Share of Pillaging

Manawatu Times, Volume 67, Issue 209, 2 September 1942, Page 4

Wellington Blamed for More Than Share of Pillaging

Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Sept. 1. A protest against Wellington being blamed for more than its share of cargo pillaging w-as made by Mr. W. I. J. Blyth at a meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce to-night. He referred to the report of a discussion on the subject by the Canterbury Chamber which one paper headed "Wellington alleged centre.’ That, he said, was a very drastic statement. His information was that a great deal of the pillaging occurred on the trucks between Christchurch and Lyttelton. At the Canterbury meeting one case of pillaging mentioned was that of £l7B worth of hosiery. Actually that pillaging had occurred In Liverpool and 12 men had been sent to gaol for it. It was very disheartening to find one chamber blasting another chamber or another port, he concluded. Captain S. Holm said the Associated Chambers had made recommendations designed to reduce pillaging. If pillaging occurred in one part of a ship the names of the men working in that part were listed. It was not a black list, but if a man’s name recurred frequently he might be spoken to. This seemed the only way to track down the offenders. It was not fair that honest men should be blamed for the dishonest minority. The scheme was already working in some vessels and he hoped it would be extended. Ohau Hail Destroyed. The community at Ohau suffered a severe loss on Saturday night when the hall was completely destroyed by fire. Water was not available and efforts to save the building when the fire was first discovered were unavailing. There is little prospect of the hall being rebuilt until after the war. The insurances on the lost building amount to only £6OO. Bigamist Sent to Gaol. A sentence of twelve months’ hard labour was imposed by Mr Justice Smith in the Wellington Supreme Court on Wallace Shing, aged 41, whose action in going through a form of marriage with a woman the same day as his wife asked him to return to her was described by His Honour as deliberate and wilful flouting of the marriage laws. Prisoner pleaded guilty at Palmerston North on Monday. * Farming on Racecourse. One of the most successful features of the Waikato Racing Club's operations during the last year has been its farming activities. Large numbers of cattle and sheep are grazed and fattened on its racecourse at Te Rapa, and the buying and selling of stock resulted in a net profit of £642 to the club for the year. At the annual meeting of the club yesterday thanks and congratulations were extended to the president, Mr F. R. Seddon, who was largely responsible for the result achieved. A Potato Ration. "It has been suggested that new potatoes should be rationed,” said Mr Arthur Turner in his address to members of the People’s University (Auckland). “Well, I worked the ration out—the known quantity of new potatoes against the population of Auckland. The ration would be one-tenth of an ounce of a new potato per person per day. Next I hunted for a potato of that size. The best I could do was to find one of approximately a quarter-ounce,” and, amid laugnter, he produced one the size of a pea. Bird's Double Nests The strange "double nests” of thrushes are discussed in the current Issue of “Forest and Bird” in which It Is affirmed that a second nest is built on top of one which has for some reason been abandoned. The writer says, “These so-called ‘double nests’ have given rise to the rather romantic theory that the thrush is a social bird and that two different pairs of birds are nesting together. The mistake lies in endowing the bird with the attribute of being sociable or gregarious; but when nesting, or at any other time, the song-thrush Is neither. All birds are Individualists, although many species are gregarious, just like a crowd of humans In the street on a late shopping night, each bent on his own affairs—gregarious, but not sociable.”