In the News

Southland Times, Issue 24232, 16 September 1940, Page 6

In the News

Dunkirk Men “Tough” A tribute to the endurance of the soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk is paid in an account of the work of the emergency medical service, as seen from one of the sector headquarters, published in The British Medical Journal. In 12 days 1873 cases were treated in sector hospitals, and though nearly half had received no treatment other than first aid before they reached the sector hospitals, and though they were carried in ambulances over distances from 30 to 60 miles, only 33 patients died—approximately 1.7 per cent, of the total. One group of patients had their boat from Dunkirk sunk and were thrown into the sea. They were rescued by another craft, which in its turn was also sunk. After immersion for two and a-half hours the men were finally rescued and brought to land. “It is good to know from the subsequent history of these cases that their unusual adventures did not retard their recovery,” states the report. Use Of Gas Producers

The use of gas producers on motorvehicles to save the consumption of oil fuel was discussed at a sitting of the No. 4 Transport Licensing Authority at Dunedin. The authority (Mr V. Raines) was reviewing the goods service licences of operators who convey horses to and from race meetings all over the country, and one applicant stated his willingness to use a gasproducer, plant on his float to save petrol. “The reason for reviewing these licences,” Mr Raines said, “is to ensure that there is no unnecessary use of oil fuel while services using New Zealand fuel are available. If an operator is willing to run his lorry on a gas-producer, I can’t see the need to curtail his operations to the same extent as if he were using imported fuel. I know what business men all over New Zealand think of the allowances of petrol to operators of horse floats while their allowances are drastically curtailed,” Mr Raines added. “That is why these licences are under review and ways of saving petrol discussed.”

Patriotic Contributions A contribution of £l5 to the Southland Patriotic Fund has been received from the Post and Telegraph Department. This amount represents Id in the £1 subscriptions from the wages of employees of the department in Southland. It is the second instalment, making a total of £3O from this source.

Appeal Against Increase Advice that it should refrain from paying the recently granted 5 per' cent, increase to its employees working under awards until the Court of Arbitration had adjudicated on an appeal lodged with it was received by the Tuapeka County Council at its meeting last week. It was stated that an appeal had been made on behalf of county councils throughout New Zealand, and that no action should be taken until that point had been decided. If the appeal were dismissed the increase would, of course, be retrospective. It was stated that the extra cost to the council involved in the increase would be £290 a year. Shelter In Air Raids In a talk to the Wellington Rotary Club, Mr W. A. Simpson, a Wellington business man who recently paid a visit to England, said the manner in which the big manufacturing firms had trained their staffs to take cover during prospective air raids was wonderful.' In the case of the firm with which he was connected ’the 7000 hands were all in shelters four minutes after the alarm was given. Since he had arrived back in New Zealand he had heard that this time had still further been cut down.

Up-To-The-Minute Slogans Catch phrases or slogans devised in Britain as a result of the campaign to save waste material were mentioned by the town clerk of Napier, Mr F. R. Waters, at a meeting of the Napier committee handling the collection of scrap metal. Some of the slogans mentioned by him were: “Save your aluminium

pots to put the lid on Hitler,” “It’s wicked to waste even waste,” “Out of the frying-pan into the sky,” and “Let your pot cook Hitler’s goose.”

Excess Profits Tax A motion asking that the excess profits tax should not apply to farmers and that the Dominion executive should be requested to watch the position carefully was carried at a meeting of the Timaru-St. Andrews branch of the Farmers’ Union. It was claimed that it would be difficult to arrive at an equitable basis on which to assess the tax if imposed on farmers, because of variations in prices and yields from year to year and because any surplus made by a farmer was generally put back into a farm. It was also stated that the application of the excess profits tax to farmers would not help the campaign for increased production, since fear of the tax would tend to discourage a farmer from increasing his production.

Early Land Deals The free and easy way in which early deals in land on Banks Peninsula weri. made with the Maoris was discussed by Mr C. R. Straubel in an address to the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. In March 1837, he said, Captain Clayton bought from the Maoris the land on either side of Akaroa heads, and several miles inland, including Peraki. This purchase was made when Captain Leathart’s ship brought Captain Hempieman, who was whaling for Clayton, to Peraki. Early in 1839 Leathart bought much the same piece of land from an Otago chief, and sold it later in the year to the firm of Cooper, Holt, and Rhodes, even though he had been a witness of the earlier sale to Clayton. Then in November 1839 Hempieman bought the same land from another chief, even though he must have known that it :had been sold to Clayton, as he was Clayton’s tenant under a seven-year agreement.

Church Budget Balanced “For the first time for many a long day our Church has balanced her budget,” states The Outlook, official journal of the Presbyterian Church. “The general treasurer reports that congregations contributed £45,684 for the work of the Church, £4408 more than they were asked to give and £14,388 more than they gave last year. The additional amount given from other sources than congregations and the surplus of receipts over expenditure will enable the reduction of a little more than half of the debt of £16,000 with which the year started. It is indicated that this most gratifying response to the appeal of ‘no-retrench-ment’ has been made by every section in the Church. Although definite figures are not yet available for the Young Women’s Bible Class Own Workers’ Fund, it seems certain that a record amount has been contributed, and, in addition, the members of the Young Women’s classes aimed at contributing a further £5OO through their congregational treasures. The aim which the Young Men’s Bible Class Union at its annual business meeting in January last set itself to reach was £lBOO. Last year the amount contributed was a record, being £1672, collected in 10 months and a-half. This year the total amount raised has exceeded £2OOO, 19 of the 26 districts exceeding their quota.”