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Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 July 1940, Page 4

Donatio Fund ackt.h hm £773 contributed oy the c. , munity in Wellington as the r<_. their patriotic gesture last Friday, total amount of the National Fund . to Monday last was £142,793. Storage of Petrol. The Wanganui Chamber of Commerce has decided to ask the Associated Chambers to represent to the Government that as a wartime safety measure petrol storage tanks in coastal locations should be rebuilt underground, and that men on the unemployed list should be utilised in the reconstruction work. Woman Fatally Burned. Falling into a fire, apparently after suffering a stroke early last evening, Mrs Charlotte Lewis, widow, aged 81 years, received severe burns and shock, from which she died at 11.30 o'clock in the Dunedin Hospital. She lived alone at North East Harbour and she was discovered by a niece and taken to hospital. Drunken Motorist Sent to Gaol.

Stating that he was unable to make an exception in this case, and impose a fine, even if the defendant had left his car to get another person to drive him home, the Magistrate, Mr Morling, at the Auckland S.M. Sourt yesterday sentenced Norman Claude Vivian Newdick, 42, salesman, to seven days' imprisonment for having been in a state of intoxication in charge of a

Waterside Work by Contract. Contract conditions for the loading and unloading of all overseas ships will apply at Wellington from July 10 and at Bluff and Timaru from July 15. Making this announcement last night, the Minister of Labour, Mr Webb, said the Waterfront Commission had made this arrangement and negotiations were now being carried out in other ports for the adoption of the co-operative contract system. An Emergency Scheme.

The organisation within five days of a fleet of 500 private motor-cars rated at over 10 horse-power, for use in the event of an emergency has been undertaken by the Automobile Association (Auckland), which has sent enrolment forms to thousands of members. “This is the private motorist’s opportunity to serve his country, and the call is made by the association with full confidence that an immediate and overwhelming response will be forthcoming," the association's circular states. State Houses. “The lower amount of £4,000,000 in the Estimates for this year does not mean that we are going to build fewer houses,” said the Minister of Housing, Mr Armstrong, in an interview last night. The Budget presented last week mentioned that £4,000,000 would be provided for State housing. Mr Armstrong explained that the amount provided was lower than last year, but the Housing Department had bought land well ahead of its requirements, and purchases of land would not make the same calls this year on the money available.

Enemy Aliens. “The Attorney-General assured me yesterday that he would be in a position to announce the personnel almost right away,” said the Prime Minister. Mr Fraser, in the House of Representatives last night, when replying to an urgent question by Mr Broadfoot (Opposition, Waitomo) as to when there would be announced the personnel of a tribunal to examine the bona tides of enemy aliens in the Dominion. The possession by aliens of arms of any description, including shotguns, and ammunition is prohibited by regulations gazetted last evening. They also impose a prohibition on the possession of explosives by any person, except with a permit. A Handsome Donation.

A caller on Mr G. A. Hayden, secretary of the National Patriotic Fund Board, yesterday was Mr S. T. Williamson, a New Zealander who has been in business in Hong Kong for a number of years and who is on a visit to the Dominion. He expressed a desire to learn something of the board’s activities, and after he had been given an outline of these, he announced that he would like to make a contribution, and he did so there and then. Mr Williamson’s contribution was £lOOO. and he has given it for the Sick, Wounded and Distress Fund. He was particularly impressed with the aid that has been given to the British Red Cross Society by the patriotic movement in New Zealand. Permits Not Being Issued.

Except in cases possessing exceptional circumstances permits to leave New Zealand are not being issued to women desirous of travelling to England. A fair number of applications have been received by the Government from women of various ages, who haying originally come from England, wish to return to that country, while others are from young New Zealand-born women who desire either to make a trip to England or to settle there permanently. The Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr Parry, in an interview last evening.- said that it was held by the authorities to be in the interests ol the women themselves that permits to travel to England at present were being withheld. Social Security Payments.

Payments amounting to £10,843,216 were made from the Social Security Fund during the financial year ended March 31 last. The monetary benefits cost £9,337,243, the hospital benefits £1.056,699, and administration expenses £449,274. The fund is balanced at £11,367,117, leaving £523,901 to bring forward to the current year. Details of the monetary benefits are: Age, £6,517,899; widows, £785,952; orphans, £ 14,880; family, £252,562; invalids. £942.196: miners, £92,653; Maori War, £1103; unemployment. £434,497; sickness. £298,790; emergency, £86,711. Maternity benefits, which began on May 15, 1939, amounted to £283,813. and general hospital benefits, which were inaugurated on July 1, 1939, totalled £772,886.