In the News

Southland Times, Issue 24877, 17 October 1942, Page 4

In the News

Dominion Record The flag collection during the visit of the band of the Royal New Zealand Air Force to Gore, which amounted tc £77/5/7, was the largest received at any display given by the band in New Zealand, according to a statement made by Flight-Lieutenant Gladstone Hill yesterday. The total for the afternoon, £143/6/7, was the second biggest for the Dominion, the only other centre tc beat Gore being Auckland. The total collected for the day was the largest for the Dominion for a one-day effort by the band, Flight-Lieutenant Hill stated. The nearest figure to Gore’s total was obtained at Cambridge, with £325, but the effort there also included a street appeal. The collections made at Gore for the day were as follows:— Flag, £77/5/7; collection boxes, £66 1/-; proceeds from concert, £74/10/6; proceeds from dance, £127/4/6; total; £345/1/7. Medical Fees

“Will the Minister take steps to compel doctors to collect their fees direct from the Social Security Fund and will he also make it compulsory that doctors be not allowed to charge their patients in excess of the amounts prescribed by the Government?” Notice of a question in these terms was asked by Mr W. M. C. Denham (Lab., Invercargill) of the Minister of Health in the House of Representatives yesterday. In a note to the question Mr Denham said that placing responsibility upon doctors to claim direct from the State would reduce the departmental staff now required fob that work. The fact that many doctors were satisfied with the Government’s allowance for their services showed that the reward was quite adequate.—Correspondent. Transport Restriction

With the object of conserving tyres and petrol, notices are being served on licensed transport operators by the Southland East and Southland West Transport Control Committee that on and after Monday, October 26, the cartage of sawn timber must be restricted to the nearest railway loading point, excepting in cases where the direct route to the destination by road is shorter than the combined distances to the railway loading point and from the railway discharging point to the destination. “This is but another necessary step in the direction of conserving tyres and petrol,” stated Mr J. Lindsay, district oil fuel and tyre rationing controller, yesterday. “It is an indication of the co-operation of those vitally concerned in the industry to ensure that existing stocks are conserved wherever possible. For the scheme to be a success, however, all other vehicle owners also come within the scope of this restriction.” Children’s Allowances

In the House of Representatives yesterday the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, announced in reply to an urgent question by Mr W. Sullivan (Nat., Bay of Plenty) that the War Cabinet had decided to pay children s allowances in respect of all dependent children under 16 years of age of soldiers as from November 1. Mr Sullivan pointed out in his question that the present allowance was restricted to a maximum of five children. —P.A. Essential Industry

The Minister of Industrial ManPower, the Hon. A. McLagan, announced yesterday that every goods service and every passenger service, but excluding taxi-cab services, were to be declared essential industries. This was necessary, he said, to maintain the transport system, which was vital to the war effort. The retention of skilled drivers would also assist in the conservation of petrol and tyres. P.A. Prosecution Fails

After a retirement of only threequarters of an hour the jury in the Supreme Court at Wellington returned a verdict that Colin Douglas McKenzie, aged 34, a former buyer of Woolworths (N.Z.) Ltd., was not guilty of a charge of accepting approximately £6O in the nature of a bribe and contrary to the Secret Commissions Act. The charge was a rare one in which proceedings are instituted only by the authority of the Attorney-General. The hearing occupied two days before Mr Justice Blair. Mr W. H. Cunningham conducted the case for the Crown and Mr F. W. Ongley represented the accused. —P.A.

Payment of Overtime Workers covered by the motor mechanics’ award, where they are required to work on Saturday morning, are entitled to a holiday other than the statutory half-holiday in the week, and must have at least one Saturday off in every two weeks. Two men employed by the Auckland Gas Company, Ltd., had their conditions cited in a case stated by the inspector of awards to the Arbitration Court for a ruling on the question of overtime. These men alternately took Saturday and Tuesday as their half-day, the total hours being 44 in each instance. The company had acted on the assumption that payment should be made on the basis of hours worked in a pay week, which ended on Wednesday, and the question was whether payment for overtime had been incurred. The Court ruled that the ordinary working week under the award extended from 8 a.m. Monday o noon on Saturday and that the prescribed limitation of hours applied to the working week, and not to the employer’s pay week. Therefore, it was held that overtime should be paid.