LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 January 1943, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Church Services. The Rev. J. M. Simpson will be the preacher at the morning and evening services at the Lansdowne Presbyterian Church on Sunday, and in Eketahuna at 3 p.m. Naval Casualties. The following naval casualties are announced: —Paton, Thomas 8., Stoker Petty-Officer, missing, now presumed dead, Auckland. Thompson, Arthur, Temporary Sub-Lieut. (A), killed in an aircraft accident, Auckland, Airmen's Addresses.

Official advice has been received by Air Department, Wellington, that correspondence to members of the Roydt New Zealand Air Force serving in India should now be addressed to care Royal Air Force Base Post Office, Bombay, and not to Air Headquarters, Simla, as in the past. The new address for New Zealand airmen in Canada is care New Zealand Air Mission, Lisgar Buildings, Ottawa.

Enquiry into Air Liner Accident. The appointment of a board of inquiry to investigate and report on the accident to the twin-engine De Havilland Dragonfly aircraft of Air Travel (New Zealand), Ltd., which descended on the sea four miles off shore from Westport on December 21, after losing its starboard propeller, was announced yesterday by the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones. The four passengers lost .their lives. The members of the board are Mr W. F. Stilwell, S.M., Wellington (chairman), Squadron Leader G. B. Bolt, R.N.Z.A.F., Hobsonville, and Squadron Leader R. J. H. Makgill, R.N.Z.A.F. (seconded to Tasman Empire Airways, Ltd.).

American Idea of a Joke. Two American sailors entered an Auckland restaurant during the height of the luncheon rush and found themselves a secluded table. All was going well until suddenly one of the waitresses saw a rat whisking past her feet. A lively step-dance by the girl and a certain amount of vocal expression brought everybody into the picture, and for a few moments there was a rat hunt in progress. Finally the intruder ducked down a hole in the wainscotting. Explanations followed. The rat was a “pet” which the sailors had brought in with them and deliberately let loose! They thought it was a good joke, but nobody else saw the humour of the incident.

Air Commander Court-martialled. Wing Commander J. T. Brown, 0.8. E., M.S.M., A.F.R.Ae.S., A.M.LM.E., R.A.F., was tried by court-mar-tial in Christchurch on Tuesday. He was charged with conduct to the prejudice of good order and Air Force discipline in that he did, without proper permission, between February, 1940, and May, 1942, receive from the New Zealand Grinding and Gear Co., Ltd., its agents or employees, in respect of contracts made between the said company and His Majesty the King, for the manufacture or processing of aircraft, material and other engineering works, sums of money for his own use, contrary to the provisions of the King’s Regulations and Air Council Instructions. The finding of the Court will be promulgated after confirmation.