LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 February 1943, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

General Synod. The Primate of New Zealand, the Most Rev C. West-Watson, has called the General Synod of the Church of England to meet in Auckland on November 4. Minesweeper Launched. The third minesweeper to be completed at Port Chalmers in the last six months, H.M.N.Z.S. Maimai, was launched yesterday. A large crowd attended the ceremony, which was favoured by perfect weather. The Maimai is the third of five minesweepers which were originally planned to be constructed at Port Chalmers, but an announcement was made during the ceremony by the Controller of Shipping, Mr James Fletcher, that this number has now been increased to 10 for immediate requirements. Nelson Apple Crop. The Nelson apple crop this year is of better quality than for several seasons past and of good average volume, said the director of the horticulture division of the Department of Agriculture, Mr W. K. Dallas, yesterday, on his return from a visit to the district. The fruit is of good colour, with less russet than usual and ample rain, has helped to bring it up to the sizes preferred by the public. The early varieties, chiefly Gravensteins, are now almost finished. The picking of Cox’s Orange has begun and it is expected that they will be on the market within about 10 days. Woman Opposes Appeal. The No. 2 Armed Forces Appeal Board has dealt with the * first appeal in Hastings in which a woman reservist was involved, and considerable interest was taken in the hearing because the reservist strongly opposed the appeal. Appellant was the Union Bank of Australia Ltd., and the reservist was Miss Nola Justice Mathieson, a teller in the bank, who had enlisted for radio location work with the air force. Appealing for retention of reservist’s services, Mr M. R. G. Matheson, manager of the bank, stated that reservist had been in the service of the bank for about three years, having taken a position to relieve a member of the male staff who had entered camp. Being a girl above the average in ability, she had made very rapid progress and was now holding the position of teller. Reservist opposed the appeal as she was anxious to serve her country in the Air’ Force. The board decided in favour of the bank. ’ s

Kuripuni Ladies’ Guild. t The Masterton Women’s Patriotic Committee regret that owing to a misunderstanding over the names of guilds, the Kuripuni Ladies’ Guild was not included in the list of knitters published last week. The members of the Kuripuni Ladies’ Guild have been constant knitters since activities began. Prison Conditions. “So far as I know, .prison conditions here are better than in any other country in the world,” Mr Justice Fair told a man who came before him in the Supreme Court at Auckland for sentence, ■for escaping from custody. If under conditions like that men were going to escape and put the police and warders to all the trouble of hunting for them and recapturing them, they must expect to suffer additional penalties. The man had a year’s hard labour added to his sentence. State Houses. The completion of 317 partly-built State houses in the Auckland district and the erection of a large number of homes on a block of land in the Penrose locality would be undertaken as soon as the defence works programme permitted, stated the Minister of Public Works, Mr Semple, in discussing housing schemes. He said that the large waiting’ list of applicants for State homes and the prospective increase as men returned from war service, indicated the imperative necessity for the earliest possible resumption of building. “In Auckland there are approximately 10,000 applicants for State houses, and work on housing will have to be accelerated as soon as possible,” said the Minister. “Some effort will have to be made to overtake that steadily-increosing list of applicants.” New Zealand Navy Candidates. It was officially announced yesterday that for 1943 the number of candidates to be entered as officers in the Royal New Zealand Navy for long service will be as follows:—Cadets (executive), (age between 17 years and 18 years 8 months on December 31, 1943), three; cadets (engineering), (age between 17 years and 19 years on December 31, 1943), one. There are no vacancies this year for Probationary Paymaster Sub-Lieutenants. Candidates, besides being within the age limits prescribed above, must have passed the Matriculation Examination or the School Certificate Examination. This announcement refers solely to candidates wha wish to make the Royal New Zealand Navy their career in life, and has nothing to do with service for the duration of the war only.