LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 June 1942, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Cafeteria for Men of Forces. The taking over of the large Waldorf Restaurant in Manners Street, Wellington, as a cafeteria, recreation centre, and information bureau for the benefit of members of all the Allied forces was announced last night by the secretary of the National Patriotic Fund Board, Mr G. A. Hayden. This restaurant was closed down recently because of staff and other difficulties arising out of the war. Mechanic Awarded Damages. A jury of 12, in the Supreme Court,' Wellington, yesterday awarded Ray Prosser, mechanic, Wellington, £4B 19s 6d special damages, and £lOOO general damages, against Paratex (1938), Ltd., his employers, for having had his right hand crushed while tending a rubber rolling machine on October 30, 1941. The jury added a rider that they were of opinion that machinery which had material fed into it by hand should have some protective device or guard to prevent similar accidents in future. Need to Zone Delivery System. “There has to be a complete Domin-ion-controlled and planned zoning system,” said the Minister of National Service, Mr Semple, in an interview at Christchurch last night. “In my opinion all commodities carted to people’s homes will have to be zoned. We cannot single out any one commodity and let others play a game under Rafferty’s rules. In a nutshell, New Zealanders have to choose between rationalisation of transport and a scientific method of zoning or no services at all in a few months. The alternative is inevitable if we continue with the old system.” Oil Fuel Charges. Charles Norman Young and Thomas Irvine Bell, proprietors of the service station in Thorndon Quay round which the recent series of “black market” petrol prosecutions has centred, were each committed to the Supreme Court for trial by Mr A. M. Goulding, S.M., in a reserved judgment delivered in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday. Bell was committed on a charge that, with intent to deceive, he made a material omission in a communication to the Oil Fuel Controller, and Young was committed on a charge of the unauthorised purchase of oil fuel. The magistrate also said he would make an order empowering the prosecutor to present a bill of indictment against the company of Young and Bell, Ltd., on a charge of the unauthorised purchase of oil fuel. Charges against the company and both principals of acquiring oil fuel otherwise than in pursuance of a consumer’s licence were dismissed, as was also a charge against Bell of the unauthorised purchase of oil fuel. 1