In the News

Southland Times, Issue 24870, 9 October 1942, Page 4

In the News

Miners Accept Decision The Pukemiro miners, at a pithead meeting at Pukemiro on Tuesday morning, by a majority of five to one decided to accept the findings of the National Disputes Committee on the dispute on the minimum wage question in the Taupiri section, which caused the recent stoppage that became general through the Waikato mines. At a meeting of the executive of the Northern Miners’ Union on the previous night, it was recommended that the workers accept and abide by the decision. Members of the executive went out to the various mines on Tuesday morning and placed the details of the committee’s findings before the men. Short meetings were held at Rotowaro, Alison, Renown, Glen Afton, and MacDonald. At Pukemiro the meeting did not conclude until 9.30 a.m., after which the men went into the mine. Woman Driver Another branch of work previously undertaken by men and now within women’s sphere is that of driving a rural mail delivery van. Mrs E. Ballantyne has completed a month’s work on the Tuatapere-Pukemaori rural delivery and finds the work interesting and pleasant. Mrs Ballantyne begins work at 9 a.m. sorting and putting the mail in rotation. The run includes Papatotara, Clifden, part of the Lilburn Valley and Pukemaori, a total distance of 47 miles daily, which is usually completed by about 2.15 p.m. Mrs Ballantyne has been rather unlucky with punctures, for she had had to change a wheel three times, but considers the work pleasant and quite a suitable job jor a woman. Clarendon Phosphates A scheme for the exploitation of the newly-discovered phosphate deposits at Clarendon is to be prepared immediately. At a meeting of the Dunedin Grain, Seed and Produce Merchants’ Association, the Fertilizer Controller (Mr I. L. Elliot explained that the deposits which it was proposed to work were entirely new, differing somewhat in composition and geological formation from the deposits which were worked over a number of years and marketed by the Ewing Phosphate Company, and which were also about to be exploited for supplementing supplies of phosphatic materials suitable for manufacturing into superphosphate. The material from the newly-discovered deposits, however, could be treated for direct application to the land or. for use as an ingredient in the various crop mixtures used by farmers. Merchants indicated their willingness to co-operate and to provide for the distribution and marketing of the new phosphatic material when it was available, and Messrs J. D. Noonan (Christchurch), J. W. Holmes (Dunedin), and J. M. Wilson (Invercargill), were appointed to confer with the Government immediately with a view to formulating a scheme which would advance the project. Lovely Blooms The cinerarias in the glass-house at the No. 2 gardens are now at their best and are attracting well-merited attention. The colours vary from white through the. various shades of lavender, and massed on forms at both sides oi the door they make an effective display. Now in Uniform Members of the 32nd Lines of Communication Company have now been issued with uniforms. The . company will parade with the companies of the Invercargill battalion of the Home Guard for a march through the city next Wednesday evening on the occasion of the visit of the band of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Training Tank Gunners Modern methods of training tank gunners are to be adopted in the South Island by the introduction of special apparatus similar in conception to the Link trainer of the Air Force. It is fox' the equipment of this apparatus that the Arjny needs the air rifles it is trying to buy. An officer said at Christchurch that the public did not seem to be taking the request seriously, but added that the weapons would serve a most valuable purpose. The old way of training tank gunners was to send them out in tanks to fire at towed targets. A large quantity of expensive ammunition was expended before a gunner became proficient. It was difficult to make the towed targets behave as enemy targets would, and it was difficult for a gunner to observe his fire, and so his training took longer. These disadvantages had been overcome in the new apparatus. In tills the gunner sat in a turret similar to that of a tank, with the same gun sights, but, instead of having the tank’s gun, he had air rifles, while a moving target passed before him, He used the appropriate gun, and saw the exact effect of his fire. The ammunition for the air rifles was cheap, and the gunners soon became proficient. Council’s Appeal Fails An appeal for the retention of Norman Frederick Taylor, secretary of the Waikato Primary Production Council, before the No. 1 Armed Forces Appeal Board, sitting at Hamilton, was supported by the chairman of the council, Mr R. A. Candy. Mr Candy admitted that Taylor was appointed after he was called in the ballot, but said he was the most suitable man available. The chairman of the board, Mr S. C. B. Macky, said it would not be satisfactory to have a man reporting on other reservists when he himself was eligible for service. The appeal was dismissed, time being allowed the council to find another secretary.