LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 April 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Frost in Masterton. Masterton experienced a frost of 2.2 degrees this morning.

War Expenses Fund. The interest free loans and donations to the New Zealand War Expenses Fund now total £2,664,691.

Cured Eels for Maori Battalion. Seven cases of cooked and cured eels arrived at the National Patriotic Fund Board’s goods store in Wellington yesterday afternoon from the Arowhenua Maori Runanga, Temuka. They are for the Maori Battalion overseas.

Child Hit by Motor Car. Injured ribs and concussion were received by Peter Guthrie, aged 10, Onepu Road, Lyall Bay, as the result of a collision between a motor car and the bicycle he was riding at the intersection of Freyberg and Wha Streets, Lyall Bay, at 6.5 o’clock last evening. He was taken to the Wellington Public Hospital and his condition is reported as fairly serious.

Men For Camp. The additional men called up for service with the Sixth Reinforcements, whose names appeared in yesterday’s “Times-Age,” will enter camp on April 22 and not April 26. In addition to those men whose names were published yesterday, J. M. R. Welch, Masterton, will also report at Trentham on April 22.

A Visit by Royalty. Three very interesting photographs have been sent to his parents, Mi' and Mrs V. E. Donald , of Masterton, by Pilot Officer Graham Donald. They were taken on a recent occasion, "somewhere in England,” when he had the honour of conducting the King and Queen, accompanied by the two Princesses,. The photographs depict the Royal family among the crew and ground staff of Pilot Officer Donald’s plane.

Crops for Patriotic Fund. It is expected that the patriotic funds will benefit to the extent of about £5OO from the disposal of wheat and barley grown on areas of land made ' ailable for the purpose free of charge by Mrs M. Ellison and Mr N. M. Campbell, of Hawke's Bay. The barley was grown on approximately 100 acres of land lent for the purpose by Mr Campbell, while Mrs Ellison’s property of 40 acres was used for growing the wheat. Ploughing, sowing, and harvesting was done free with the help of other farmers.

Land for Hospital Wanted. A unanimous decision not to agree to requests from the Department of Health and the Hospital Board to make available land 'adjoining the former Exhibition Hotel, now a nurses’ home, at the Kilbirnie Recreation Ground for the erection of a temporary 100-bed hospital was made by the Wellington City Council at a special meeting yesterday. It was suggested that the Hospital Board should give further consideration to alternative sites, the Newtown Library, the boards’ land in Hospital Road, and an area near the Fever Hospital being some of the localities mentioned.

The New Maunganui. Veteran of 30 years’ service as a Pacific passenger liner and a troop transport in the war of 1914-18. the Union Company's liner Maunganui is about to be commissioned as a fully-equipped hospital ship. Rejuvenated at the hands of hundreds of craftsrhen whose work represents the results of intricate planning, this fine old ship today presents the graceful appearance of a great steam yacht. The familiar green of her hull and the red and black of her funnel have given place to gleaming white paint, relieved along her sides by a broad stroke of green broken by great red crosses, and green boot-topping below the water-lino. Internally, her former passenger accommodation has been replaced entirely by a hospital of nearly 400 beds.

No Fifth Column in Java. “There can exist no fifth column in Java, because they have such efficient political research," said Mr R. Meyers, an administration official from Java, who has come to New Zealand with his family for a few months, in an interview in Christchurch. He described the “political research” system of his country and said that the police there had power, but good training as well. If I was an alien in Java and you were a reporter seeing me you might meet an officer from the research afterwards, to ask what I had said. I tell you there can be no fifth column there now. In Holland they had democracy and they could not take steps before the war. In the Nctherland Indies we have a democratic administration, but the police have the necessary power.”