LOCAL & GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 May 1939, Page 6

LOCAL & GENERAL

French Sloop. The French Consul in New Zealand, Mr G. M. Pouquet, accompanied by his wife, arrived at Auckland yesterday morning to visit the sloop Dumont d’Urville. It is expected that Commander Captain Arzur will accompany them to Wellington on then’ return. Captain Arzur called on Bishop Liston yesterday. Considerable interest is being taken by the public in the sloop's visit and the officers and men are being extensively entertained. Cancer Research. Arrangements are being made by the Mayor of Auckland, Sir Ernest Davis, in his capacity as president of the Auckland Division of the British Em-, pire Cancer Campaign Society, for the launching of a provincial appeal to raise £l5OO for the establishment in Auckland of a cancer statistical research department. It is proposed that the appeal, the character of which was approved at a meeting of the division, lake the form of simultaneous street day collections in local authority districts throughout the province on Empire Day, May 24. Disfiguring Hoardings. The protest of the Wellington Beautifying Society against the use of disfiguring hoardings in rural and urban areas was at a recent meeting of the Town-Planning Institute of New Zealand, which urged that large advertising hoardings be strictly regulated, and that in those places where advertising hoardings were permitted, strict control be exercised in order to eliminate unsightly advertisements. The institute decided also that the Wellington Beautifying Society should be approached with a view to calling a conference of interested parties soon. Windows' Smashed. Roused by breaking glass shortly after midnight recently, a police constable on duty at Mt Cook Police Station found that two of the large windows in the front of the station had been smashed by a passer-by. He gave chase to the man, but was unable to catch him. Later complaints were received from several motorists that the side windows of their motor-cars had been broken. Some of the cars were parked in Taranaki Street, and others in Buckle Street, and it is believed that the person who broke the windows at the police station was also responsible for the damage to the cars. South Pacific Air Route. One of the largest flying-boats in the world, the 74-passenger Boeing Clipper, recently delivered to PanAmerican Airways, is expected in Auckland in July in the course of a survey flight over the new South Pacifiv air route. The machine is a sistership to the Yankee Clipper, which has just completed a double Atlantic crossing. It will fly from Honolulu, by way of Canton Island and Noumea, New Caledonia, to Auckland. An early resumption of the service, interrupted in January, 1938, is indicated by activity along the new route chosen by PanAmerican Airways. Wellington Burglary. About £2O worth of clothes was stolen from McElligott and Carruthers’ men’s outfitters shop, Molesworth Street, Wellington, in the early hours of yesterday morning. Entry was gained to the shop by breaking a pane of glass in the front door, which permitted the intruders to turn the lock from the inside. Goods, glass, and price tickets were scattered over the floor of the shop. The burglary, which is thought to have occurred between 2.30 a.m. and 3.30 a.m., was first noticed by a policeman, who saw that the glass in the door had been broken. Among the goods taken were overcoats, lumberjackets, ties, and socks. No cash was taken. A Sharp Lesson. Bernard Laurence Finch, aged 18, who admitted the conversion of a motor-car and intoxication while in charge of it, was yesterday, at New Plymouth, sentenced by Mr W. H. Woodward, S.M., to one month’s imprisonment and admitted to probation for two years. His licence was cancelled and he was prohibited from obtaining another for two years; he was also ordered to abstain from taking intoxicants for a similar period. On a charge of stealing an empty beer keg he was convicted without penalty. “My purpose is your reformation rather than your punishment or the deterrent effect on others.” said the magistrate. “The principal 1 purpose is your reformation, but I must administer a sharp lesson to you.” Early Morning Chase. An early morning chase of an unlawfully converted car from Newtown to Eastbourne—a distance of 17 miles—was described before Mr J. H. Luxford, S.M., in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday, when Leonard Neiling, labourer, aged 26, Bernard Holmes, labourer, aged 29, and Kenneth Jory Reeves, labourer, aged 20, were jointly charged with unlawful conversion of a car belonging to Gordon S. Traill, breaking and entering the shops of Roy A. Mahoney, tobacconist, Riddiford Street, and Citizens Service Stores Ltd, The Parade, IslandBay, and stealing goods valued at £3 14s and £l4 respectively, and attempting to break and enter the shops of Charles R. Mansell, tobacconist, Coutts Street. Kilbirnie, and A. M. Cann, The Parade, Island Bay, with intent to commit thefts. Accused pleaded guilty and were committed to the Supreme Court for sentence on May 18. Radio Staff Dismissals. A reduction has been made in the stall of the National Commercial Broadcasting Service. Reports have been in circulation in Wellington during the last few days that the services of some 24 employees have been dispensed with, but it is officially stated that the number does not exceed 15. The annual report on the service for the year ended March 31. 1938, ’ the latest available, stated that a staff of 280 was directly employed by the service, and that of this number 276 had been engaged and trained locally. When asked if there wore any special significance in these dismissals, the Ac-ting-Minister in charge of Broadcasting the Hon F. Jones, said that all the men involved were temporary employees. Normal staff adjustments were taking place continually throughout the year, and this was simply a periodical staff rearrangement. It was found that as the men gained greater experience fewer employees were required in certain departments. An endeavour was being made as far as possible to place the workers concerned in other employment.