LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 December 1942, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Theatre Temporarily Closed. In the Auckland province there is a motion picture house which employs a married woman as operator. She is the only licensed woman projectionist in New Zealand, and because she is at present in a maternity hospital the theatre has had to be temporarily closed. “Penny Racket.” Another example of the “penny racket” has been discovered in Auckland, this one, unlike some of the more innocent affairs, actually being an offence under the law. Boys who come by a large number of pennies in their after-school hours are reported to be selling them to customers at a penny profit a dozen. Those who have succumbed to this “illegal trade” evidently have been so much in need of the coppers that they have willingly paid the extra sum. Increase in Note Issue. With the approach of Christmas, and despite coupons, a shortage of many luxury goods, petrol rationing and restrictions on rail travel, it is obvious from the record note issue in the Reserve Bank statement as at Monday, December 14, that money is being very freely spent. The note issue on December 14 reached the new record high level of £29,987,690, an increase since December 7 of no less than £1,344,413. In previous years the note issue just before Christmas has always shown a similar expansion, though that for the week ended December 14 this year is easily a record. If figures in previous years are any indication, the note issue for the week ended yesterday will show an equally large expansion when the bank’s statement is released. High Price for Fruit. The following prices were being asked in a Wellington Chinese shop yesterday and may be taken as a criterion for the rest: Peaches. Is per lb; plums, Is and Is 4d per lb; New Zealand grape fruit, 6d and 8d each; grapes, 8s and 9s per lb; tomatoes, 2s per lb; apricots (small), Is 6d per lb; black and red currants, Is per, lb; cherries, _2s per lb; raspberries, 2s a small chip. The market is still bare of apples—for the first time on record. Vegetables varied in price, but, on the whole, rates were on the descending scale. New potatoes may now be purchased at 5 and even 61b for Is; cabbages were sold in the markets for Is 6d a case (nine or ten first-class cabbages to the case). Peas were four pounds for Is, or 4d per lb. Cauliflowers were dear: small scrubby ones were marked Is 6d each. Naval Doctor Drowned. A verdict of accidental drowning was returned in Auckland yesterday by the city coroner, Mr F. K. Hunt, at an inquest concerning the death of Lieutenant Stuart Terry, aged 35, medical practitioner, of the United States Navy, who lost his life at Piha while swimming on Sunday afternoon. Lieutenant Terry was a married man with two children, and his home is in Michigan. Dr Ernest Belanger, who was at Piha with Dr Miller and the drowned officer, said Lieutenant Terry went into the sea on the west side of Lion Rock and got into difficulties. The surf and current carried him on to the rocks, when he was badly lacerated about the body and head. Witness and Dr Miller went down, to the rocks and got Lieutenant Terry out of the water and applied artificial respiration and other remedies without success.