In the News

Southland Times, Issue 24818, 10 August 1942, Page 4

In the News

Rubber Shortage

“The necessity for a degree of zoning to economize the use of rubber is inevitable, but the Bureau of Importers cannot agree with the statement recently made by the Minister of Transport, the Hon. R. Semple, when he said that the rubber position was something over which the New Zealand Government had no control, and that if critics wanted a ‘scape-goat’ they should concentrate on the Japanese or on the Malayan rubber kings who held on to the supplies until the enemy came in and helped himself,” says a statement issued by the bureau. “Such a statement made hurriedly will, no doubt, be accepted by a good many people, but the bureau points out that the excuses given by the Minister of Transport are not in accordance with facts. When in 1939 and the early part of 1940 supplies of tyres were readily available and rubber companies were anxious to export stocks to New Zealand, the Minister of Customs, the Hon. W. Nash, refused import licences and thus created a shortage within New Zealand; such shortage naturally has never been overcome, and is a further excellent example of the insidious workings of the Import Control Regulations.” Fine Family Record

“This family has certainly done its bit for the war effort, and it has a remarkable record,” said the chairman of the No. 2 (Auckland) Armed Forces Appeal Board, Mr I. J. Goldstine, when T. S. Sampson, garage proprietor, appealed for his son, George Samuel Sampson. The appeal was adjourned sine die. The appellant said he had five sons already in the forces and another would shortly be old enough to go. Of the two boys overseas one had recently lost two limbs as a result of wounds. The appellant, who was over 60, had voluntarily left his business to enter an essential industry and was working 70 hours a week. The seventh son, who was the subject of the appeal, was the only one remaining in the appellant’s business, and the appellant wished to retain him there to provide a living in post-war years.

Mounted Nurses The St. John Ambulance Brigade has made an innovation by registering at Gisborne the Poverty Bay Mounted Nursing Division, every member of which is an expert horsewoman, trained in first aid and home nursing work. Members will be available for duty in individual cases of accident or sickness, or in the event of a local emergency. They will be particularly valuable in the hilly country throughout the East Coast, more especially in view of the shortage of motor vehicles and the' heavy demands which are being made on medical practitioners. It\is anticipated that a number of other divisions will be registered on similar lines. Necessity’s Large Family

“It is extraordinary what a large family necessity has,” remarked Mr M. F. Duckie, chairman of the No. 1 (Wellington) Armed Forces Appeal Board, when a Presbyterian minister, supporting an appeal against Home Guard service on behalf of a Sunday school teqcher and Bible class leader, told the board that the reservist was the only male teacher he had left, and all efforts to find someone, male or female, to take his place had been of no avail. The Crown representative, Mr C. O. Bell, remarked that many people were free on Saturdays and Sundays, and yet would say that they could not help in such a case as that before the board. The minister said he felt that the prospect in regard to Sunday school teaching of children was serious, but he admitted that if the reservist left the district some other arrangement would have to be made. The appeal was dismissed. Manufacture of Cups

For the first time cups are being made in New Zealand. 'They are being produced at the rate of 15,000 a week from an Auckland kiln in. an effort to cope with a small portion of the Dominion-wide demand. Saucers are not being made yet, though the potters hope to be manufacturing them soon. Crockery shops have difficulty in maintaining their stocks. Orders from England, the home of chinaware, are increasingly difficult to fulfil, and some firms have been waiting over a year for stocks. There remain fairly good quantities of choice lines, but it is the everyday ware for which there is an unsatisfied demand.

Cold Baths in Vogue Many Wellington people, particularly those living in hotels and boarding houses, have been making a virtue of necessity since the second severe earthquake. While electric hot water systems in most homes escaped damage, so that householders have not been deprived of what has come to be regarded as a necessity, appliances for supplying hot water in hotels being on a large scale did not always survive the shake. In several cases damaged chimneys or cracked boilers have cut off all supplies of hot water in hotel bathrooms and kitchens. The comparative mildness of the weather has been for many the sole redeeming feature of enforced cold baths and showers.