NEWS IN BRIEF

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24411, 24 September 1940, Page 2

NEWS IN BRIEF

" I have never driven a motor vehicle,'' said a witness, a retired farmer, in the Wanganui Magistrate's Court. "You are a wise person," remarked Mr J. H. Salmon, S.M.

An impression is growing in Wanganui that the military camp on the racecourse will, remain there for the duration of the war, retaining a personnel of the permanent staff, but being available to various units of territorials as the men are called up for training. "The best citizen is not usually an only child, but rather comes from a large family," said Mrs H. Atmore, voluntary organiser for the Women's War Service Auxiliary, in a public address at Palmerston North. That was because in early life they had learned the art of sharing, the speaker added. Buy now New Goods, just opened up; many cannot be replaced. Shop early while the selection is good. Gifts for all at Mosgiel's Drapers.—A F Chevnp and Co.

Depredations of birds have caused serious losses to orchardists in the Marlborough district in recent weeks. In some cases it is reported that stone fruit, particularly peaches and nectarines will be in very short supply. The damage is brought about through the birds eating away the buds. Reporting on the cool stores at Cdstlecliff at the monthly meeting ox the Wanganui Harbour Board last week, the engineer, Mr R. R. Dawson, said that the ground floor of the cheese store was in a precarious condition, and would require to be replaced. Temporary repairs had been made to carry on for the present season. Extensive repairs were necessary to the Castlecliff wharf. " New Zealand soldiers are all over London. They are a hearty, cheery crowd and a great tonic to our people when thev are beginning to feel a bit blue." This is the text of a letter which Mr J. A. Lee, M.P., has received from his London -üblishers. He read it out at the meeting he addressed in Palmerston North. Granddsm (4241): Like moonlight pouring through the trees, Grand House Whisky. Mild and mellow. Best Scotch thoroughly matured; 13s 6d... Nine hundred miles of hose for fire-fighting purposes were made in England last year, stated the superintendent of the Hamilton Fire Brigade, Mr A. Craig, at the Rotary Club luncheon. Because all this hose was needed in Britain to combat possible fires caused by air raids, local brigades had been unable to get their orders fulfilled.

A photograph published in the latest issue of the magazine of the Port of London Authority depicts a number of barrels lying in a London dock export shed. Above them is a notice, " Dirty Lyttelton." It is explained by the magazine that no reflection is intended on the port in New Zealand, but that the notice signifies that the nature of the cargo requires that it be stowed on the ship apart from other goods. The view that overseas ships should as far as possible call at main ports and reduce their visits to the smaller ports, to increase efficiency and reduce freights, was expressed at last week's meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. It was pointed out that this would entail an increased coastal trade and more coastal vessels.

sending foodstuffs to soldiers overseas, pack in air-tight tins, as supplied by Dickinson Mytton ' td., 2'A Crawford street, nearly opp su.? Otago Farmers' Co-0p... The drawing of plans for a military hospital near the Auckland Hospital is proceeding steadily in. Wellington. It is believed that in the early stages the proposal to build a hospital of three wings was changed to one of two wings of larger size, this being dictated by the nature of the ground. The hospital will not be constructed of permanent materials, possibly because the site is part of the Domain.

The Gisborne Herald is parting with regret with an advertiser whose notices have appeared in every issue of the paper for 54 years. Mr E. G. A. Reynolds, head of an importing business in Gisborne, has retired as the result of the sale of his business site to an insurance company. He assured Mr Stanley Muir, managing director of the Herald, that only the sale of his business would have made him break the happy and successful association of more than half a century. Approximately 1150 miles by cycle were completed by a Hastings man. Mr Duke Maddox (formerly a well-known boxer) when he reached New Plymouth late one night recently. His tour took him well north of Auckland from Hastings, then down through Hamilton to New Plymouth. When he reaches his home in Hastings from Palmerston North he will have covered 1400 miles.

" Waterloo" whisky cannot be bettered anywhere. Order your next supply from Crossan's Waterloo Hotel. Caversham...

The mayor 0 f Napier, Mr T. W. Hercock, has acknowledged receipt of £1 from a resident in Tangarakau, Taranaki, in repayment of a loan from the mayor's fund for assistance to (those in distress. "The action is so rare that it deserves special mention,".Mr Hercock remarked.

" Don't ask me to get excited about them." declared Mr J. A. Lee, M.P. for Grey Lynn, when asked at a Palmerston North meeting recently, what he was prepared to do to secure a revision of harsh gaol sentences on political prisoners. " I am not going to be concerned over the plight- of a man who has been sent to gaol for telling a soldier not to go to war. The best trench is worse than the worst gaol. My concern is for those thousands of young men going overseas probably, to get smashed to pieces. They are going to have a tough time. too. and worse than the man in gaol." A Putiki resident, after reading the ominous words " invasion of England must be attempted," went to sleep on Monday night with Hitler's tanks* and aeroplanes on his mind. In the cold, small hours of the morning he awoke in a sort of half stupor, heard the racing of motors and knew there was considerable activity on the Airport road. He woke the household with a cry: "Come on, they've come!" The cold restored his senses and, peering through the gloom of the morn, he saw the motor-cycle platoon of the Wellington Regiment (City of Wellington's Own) moving down the road, with exhausts of their machines wide open. They were on their way to repel an invasion as imaginary as the Putiki man's dream, but he was pleased i-ather than annoyed at what had happened. Spring cleaning is now under way. and Grays, of the Big Store, Milton, are prepared for this great event with good stocks of brushes, paints, brooms, buckets, soaps, furnishings, linoleums and mats...

An interesting experiment showing how spontaneous combustion arises and how fires may be caused by the contact of two substances, harmless in themselves, was made by Superintendent Craig, of the Hamilton Fire Brigade, at the weekly luncheon of the Rotary Club. The superintendent mixed a little glycerine with some grains of Condy's crystals (potassium permanganate). In a few seconds there was a fierce flash of flame accompanied by bluish fumes. The top of the cigarette tin on which the experiment was carried out was burnt by the heat of the combustion. " The fly in the German ointment has always been the British Navy," says an article in the journal National Message. " This is revealed in the following extract from Cavalcade: 'From a pile of old letters someone has retrieved a quotation from a German newspaper, the Koelnische Zeitung, of September, 1014. It is about us, or our fathers. It says: There will be no such country as Great Britain in existence at the end of the war. In its place we shall have Little Britain, a narrow strip of island territory peopled by loutish football kjekers, living on the crumbs that Germany will deign to throw to them. . . . Then the once mighty Empire, with her navai, strength represented by the few old tubs which Germany will have left her. will become the laughing stock of the nations. . . ,'" The extract concludes with a note to Goebbels that "football starts on Saturday week." Have you tried Hitchon's pork saveloys, pork sausages, or Oxford sausage (cooked)? If your grocer can't supply ring our Dunedin branch (12-344) Milton (22).,.