In the News

Southland Times, Issue 24235, 19 September 1940, Page 8

In the News

Bag Snatched From Woman To have her bag snatched from her was the experience of a woman in Mary street at about 8.45 o’clock last night. A youth rode up on a bicycle and snatched the bag, but his method of escape proved to be inadequate in the circumstances and the woman was able to snatch her bag back again before the youth mounted his bicycle and rode off. Gift Of Compass

A compass of standard British design for Army use has been presented by Mr F. Chisholm, of Fortrose.

Interest On Fixed Deposits The Associated Banks announce that the rates'of interest payable on fixed deposits received or renewed on and after September 18, 1940, will be as follows:—Three months and under six months, ;] per cent.; six months and under 12 months, 1| per cent.; 12 months and under 24 months, 2J per cent.; 24 months, 2i per cent. The 12 months’ and 24 months’ rates are unchanged, a reduction being made in three months’ and six months’ rates, short-term money being unemployable by the banks at the present time.

Donation For Soldiers’ Parcels A donation of £lO/10/- from the Invercargill Bank Officers’ Club for Christmas parcels for soldiers has been received by the treasurer of the Southland Provincial Patriotic Fund (Mr W. F. Sturman). Scouts Entertained

An interesting display of moving films showing the Boy Scout rally in Dunedin, the World Jamboree in Holland in 1937 and the Sydney Jamboree in 1938 were shown to an attendance of about 300 persons, including the Invercargill Boy Scouts and Wolf Cubs, in Smith’s hall last evening. The Mataura Boy Scouts also attended. The films, which were supplied by the Boy Scout Headquarters, Wellington, are being shown throughout New Zealand.

Heavy Frost In Christchurch A frost of 10.3 degrees was experienced in Christchurch on Tuesday morning. Coming after a fairly long spell of warm spring weather, it seemed all the more severe to those going home late or getting up early. But it was too early to do much damage in gardens; few gardeners yet have potatoes and other crops at the stage where they are subject to the effects of frost, and those few seemed to have taken good care to cover them, says The Press.

Bureau System On Waterfront Only a few points in the agreement between the Waterside Workers’ Union and the employers’ representatives remain to be approved by the union before the introduction of the bureau system in Dunedin, and it is expected [ that a complete settlement will be arrived at within a few days, states The I Otago Daily Times. The bureau system, which is really a system of equalizing the hours of the workers in place of the former custom of free selection of labour, has been in operation in Lyttelton for some five years past and was introduced in Wellington and Auckland about three years ago. Girl Tram Conductors Recently the general manager of Wellington tramways, Mr M. Cable, said that if the present drain on the service by war enlistments continued the board might have to consider engaging young women as conductors. Some months ago the manager of the Glasgow Transport Department reported to his committee that he would be unable to carry on unless he employed women. That committee approved the report, and 200 women between the ages of 25 and 30 years were called up. An attractive uniform was designed for them, consisting of a tartan skirt, a fawn tunic with buff cuffs, and collars, and a beret instead of a cap. The first 100 began duty on June 1.

Italian Miners Placed The Italian miners who lost their positions in the State mines in the Runanga district when Italy entered the war are being placed on a landclearing job on a block of .about 2000 acres of Crown land on the West Coast. The men will camp on the job, and about 14 have already been placed. Most of them have been receiving Social Security benefit for some months.

Foreign Americans “On the railway station at Chicago I sat at dinner next to a woman with the most work-hardened hands, rough, blackened, and with worn and broken nails,” said Miss K. Turner in an address to the New Education Fellowship at Christchurch “She spoke with a foreign accent, but I forbore to ask her what country she came from —a question one never asks in the States. Soon she told me that she was born in Georgia, Russia, and that she had come to America in 1911. She and her sister had bought a little land and on it they had worked ever since. She was an ardent American, seeming to believe, as so many of her fellow-foreigners do, that her adopted country is the best on earth, and that all the good things that have ever been done have been, done by Mr Roosevelt.”

Relic From H.M.S. Britomart A linen handkerchief 100 years old was displayed at Akaroa this week This was procured from a sailor on H.M.S. Britomart, whose commander, Captain Stanley, visited Akaroa on August 11, 1840, to hoist the flag at Green’s Point when the Magistrates, Murphy and Robinson, exercised the first act of sovereignty over the South Island. The handkerchief, or neck cloth, is of linen, about 18 inches square and red, with a white floral design round the edges. It is now in the pos-

session of Mr G. E. Murray, of Kinloch, Little River, whose late wife was a granddaughter of James Wright, known as the Baron of Whakamoa, who was whaling at Whakamoa in 1842. How James Wright came into possession of this relic is not known. The handkerchief is in a wonderful state of preservation, . .i-