NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24424, 9 October 1940, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

ALTHOUGH the “fifth column ” organisation, which was responsible for the circulation of treasonable pamphlets amongst the men in Christchurch and South Canterbury who were named in the ballot for the Territorial Forces, was apparently very well prepared or of considerable dimensions, no signs of its subversive activities have as yet appeared in Dunedin. The position, however, is being closely watched by the authorities.

Chinese Republic Anniversary The twenty-ninth anniversary of the foundation of the Chinese Republic will be celebrated to-morrow, October 10. and, in honour of the occasion, the day will be observed by the Chinese community as a public holiday. All Chinese places of business will be closed. The only official arrangement in Connection with the celebration will be a sports gathering.

Tongan Doctors The ability of Tongan doctors who had been trained at the Central Mission School, Suva, was commented upon favourably by Dr H. G. Brown, chief medical officer at Tonga, who is visiting Auckland on his way to Melbourne on leave. Some were excellent surgeons, While others were keen students of medicine, he said. The general health of the Tongan people was excellent.

Measles Among Troops Nearly 300 soldiers have now been patients in the Waikato Hospital annexe at the new Hamilton West School as a result of the measles epidemic. All cases, however, have been very mild, and there have been no complications. The ‘pidemic continues to develop, there being 101 men at present in the hospital, although 20 are practically due for discharge. Although this is the largest number of soldiers ever in the hospital at the one time for measles, nearly 200 men received treatment at the time of the influenza epidemic among the troops.

New Scottish Battalion A new Scottish batallion is soon to come into existence in the south, and its personnel will be recruited from men who have been called up in the ballot. The battalion’s uniform will be the same as that of the territorials, but it is hoped that they might be provided with Glengarry caps. The battalion headquarters company and two rifle companies will be established in Dunedin, and the support company will be formed .in Christchurch. The third rifle company to complete the battalion will be formed in Invercargill. 1

No Longer Neglected Till very recently the seamen were the most neglected service in the British Empire, said Archbishop O’Shea at the annual meeting of the Catholic Seamen’s Institute in Wellington. They had to put ‘up with frightful quarters in many cases. It was impossible to have Masses said for those travelling, and to get Masses said aboard a ship even for the passengers. What a change had taken place! Not only was every facility given on board for the passengers and the seamen, but the various institutes in the different ports which the seamen frequented were able to help them. It would be seen that a tremendous change was coming about for the better, materially and spiritually. Postal “ Desperado ”

Postal , communication between the Commissioner of Taxes and a St. Albans resident was almost interrupted by a small boy recently (says the Christchurch Star-Sun). The young “ desperado,” aged between four and five, was seen to get off his cycle and put his hand in the opening of this resident’s letter box just inside the gate. Seeing letters, in the box. he opened the back of it, apparently to remove the contents. “But someone was watching, and a good thing 100, as there was a very important letter from the Commissioner of Taxes, giving one month to pay up,” remarked the resident. “ The little chap had probably been watching the postman, and had no evil intentions, but we could have been blamed for defaulting when we might never have received the letter.”

Tribute to New Zealand Pilot The New Zealand flag presented by the City of Christchurch, New Zealand, to Christchurch. Hampshire, was used to drape the coffin of a New Zealand pilot who was killed in action over the English town in August. The Mayor (Mr R. M. Macfarlane, M.P.) has received a copy of the Christchurch Times (Hampshire) containing a report of the funeral of the New Zealand airman. Pilot-officer Cecil Henry Hight. “Up to the moment, we have not been able to ascertain the pilot’s address in New Zealand, but if possible we should like you to be kind enough to pass on to the local newspaper the slight tribute to his memory which appears in our columns,” states the accompanying letter from the publishers. “We think that people of your city will be glad to know that their gift to cur borough has been used for this purpose.”

“ Vulgar Crooning* ” The broadcasting of the worst type of jazz and vulgar croonings because people demanded it and paid so much a year for a licence, was condemned by Dr Edgar Ford, visiting examiner for the Trinity College of Music, when addressing members of the Music Teachers’ Association in Wellington on Saturday night. The same people, he said, paid for education departments, for art galleries, and public parks, but we did not refer to the man who could neither write nor speak decent English, to decide on a course of literature, or to the man who was lacking in the most elementary technique of drawing, as to what pictures were to be hung. Nor did we go to the farm labourer for the design of a public park, or take a plebiscite on these matters. If good light music were consistently presented over the wireless for a period the taste for the banal stuff we sometimes listen to would, to a very great extent, disappear.

Missing Persons “ Few, if any, are the cases of persons who disappear suddenly from the ken of their relatives and friends m which it can be said that there does not exist some possibility, however remote, of the missing person being alive somewhere, either in his own country or overseas; and that is equally so whether a person disappeared four years ago, as here, or forty,” stated the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers) in a Court of Appeal judgment in Wellington. “Rarely, if ever, can it be said with absolute certainty that the missing pterson is dead, even though a period of more than seven years has elapsed and a presumption of death has arisen. Granting leave to swear the death of a missing person does not, therefore, connote that his death is an absolute certainty; it implies that the circumstances are such as to satisfy the court that death is a practical, or what is sometimes called moral, certainty, in that no other reasonable probability is open. It may happen, and there are cases where it has happened, that a mistake has been made, but this possibility is inherent in all matters which the human mind is called upon to decide.” Accuracy of 8.8. C. Broadcasts

Praise for the accuracy and truthfulness of the 8.8. C. news broadcasts was given in an interview by the Rev. Lionel B. Fletcher, formerly of Auckland, who has returned from London. “In the day I have been in New Zealand,” he said, “ I have been amazed to discover how many people think that the broadcasts from Britain are really mainly propaganda. The fact is that the people of Britain themselves are irritated by what they consider the ultra-conservative way in which the news is given. It is literally true, and it also shows our weaknesses as well as our strength. That makes a lot of people in England very angry, and New Zealand people need not for a moment believe it is padded propaganda, because it is noi. In the eyes of the Continental nations,” said Mr Fletcher, “we are fools to fell them so much, and many Americans have said the same thing.” Mr Fletcher said that, some people in Wellington had already expressed doubts to him about the proportion of aircraft losses given in British communiques. He had many friends and some relatives connected with the Air Force, and he knew that great care was taken to ensure the accuracy of such claims.