In the News

Southland Times, Issue 24824, 17 August 1942, Page 4

In the News

No Stockings’ The war has shattered yet another convention. For years past the Otago representative basketball team has trooped on to the court immaculate in blue and white uniforms and black stockings. This year it braved the chilly atmosphere and the raised eyebrows of the spectators and abandoned stockings. Basketball is notoriously hard on stockings. This, together with a little coupon wisdom, abruptly dispelled the idea that a basketball player’s stockings are as necessary as a cricketer’s flannels. “The Cheapest Army” A reference to the Home Guard as “the cheapest army in the world” was made at a function held in Wellington in honour of the Thorndon unit. The Home Guard, it was stated, had carried out its tasks in the face of difficulties, which were now being reduced, and the value of the work and training which had been carried out was stressed. The fact that there would be an important role for the Home Guard in the event of an emergency was mentioned by an army • officer, who expressed his confidence in the ability of the units to carry out the duties duly allotted them. A great comradeship had been built up from the beginning, and that counted for much in the manner in which the Home Guard units were carrying on' Film of Wanganui V.C. A news-reel film showing scenes of Sergeant-Pilot J. A, Ward, the first New Zealander to win the Victoria Cross in the present war, being congratulated by his squadron-leader and fellowmembers of his crew has been presented to tlie airman’s parents, Mr and Mrs P. H, Ward, Wanganui. In making the presentation, the manager of a Wanganui theatre said the film had been on circuit in New Zealand and was a souvenir of a memorable exploit. Mr and Mrs Ward may have the film screened at any time. Tastes in Literature According to a recently published statement of Lieutenant-Colonel F. Waite, overseas commissioner for the National Patriotic Fund Board, soldiers in their reading prefer light novels, including those of the detective order, rather than classical literature. But prisoners of war show a preference for more solid reading, according to Lieu-tenant-Colonel A. A. Tennent, who was a prisoner of war in Italy for four months. He said at a meeting of next of kin on Saturday that prisoners of war did not want cheap, trashy novels, but good, solid books. Perhaps this was because they had plenty of time to think. Reference books were lacking in the prison camp in which he was interned, Lieutenant-Colonel Tennent said, and this led to endless arguments after the debates that were held as a means of passing the time in the prison camp. He suspected that some of the arguments which were in progress while he. was in the camp might still .be going on. Bicyclfcs for Dominion New Zealand is to receive a share of the 300,000 bicycles which are to be made in Great Britain this year to meet the war requirements of the Dominions. Private advices received in Auckland (says The New Zealand Herald) indicate that the New Zealand quota for the second half of the current year has been based on one-tenth of the imports for 1938, an average year, during which about 30,000 machines were brought into the country from the United Kingdom. The licences will, therefore, be for 3000 cycles, but it is by no means certain that the figure will be maintained for the first half of 1943.

Younger School Cadets? “Any boy up to Standard VI is too young to be taught soldering,’ said Mr J. H. Mander, expressing disapproval of a suggestion that the school cadet system should be reorganized, when this was being discussed at the annual conference of the North Taranaki School Committees’ Association at New Plymouth recently. The only good that came from junior cadet training was physical development and an inculcation of discipline, and as both of these were already being provided by the new system of physical education in the schools, he said, no good purpose could be served by reintroducing cadet companies into an already overcrowded syllabus, contending that it was time enough for a boy to begin military training when he left school. Women Theatre Operators The possibility of using women motion-picture theatre operators was mentioned by Mr T. P. McCready, a member of the No. 1 (Auckland) Armed Forces Appeal Board, when a motionpicture representative sought exemption for an operator. The witness stated that the matter was being investigated in Wellington. He added that women operators could be employed in the country, but in a city theatre, where 1500 patrons might be accommodated at the one time, their electrical knowledge did not make them suitable. Rations for Infants A suggestion that coupons for fruit and honey should replace those for sugar and tea in infants’ ration books was to be taken up with the Government, it was stated at the Auckland provincial conference of the Plunket Society. There was some discussion on fruit and vegetable marketing, but no action was taken, on the ground that economic questions were outside the scope of the Plunket organization. Fair Rents Legislation When Parliament next meets one of the matters to which attention will be given (states The Evening Post) is the fair rents legislation. The Act will expire on October 31. No doubt a Bill will be introduced to extend the period of operation of the measure. Apart from this, there is the possibility of some alteration to the provisions of the existing legislation. This has been mentioned by the Attorney-General, Mr H. G. R. Mason, who said that when the Act was first designed new buildings were exempted so that there might not be interference with building. The difficulty of building new dwellings during the war was one among the circumstances that had since arisen which called for a new approach to the problem, and it was being reconsidered accordingly.