LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 August 1943, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Drunken Motorist Fined.

Having been found in charge of a motor-car while in a state of intoxication in Murphy Street, Wellington, last Friday afternoon, Patrick Arthur Townsend, a member of the Royal New Zealand Ail’ Force, was fined £25 by Mr J. L. Stout, S.M., in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday.

Eggs for Fido. Housewives today find it a hard battle to secure eggs, and for the family to sit down to a meal of them is sheer luxury. But to some senseless people this thought never enters the mind, and “Fido” continues to get his daily egg or “Rover” has his kidneys. It is about time this type of person woke up to the fact that there is a war on, and thousands of people are going without because of it, states the Palmerston North “Times. - ’

Boy Missing.

Barry Adam, aged 14, a New Plymouth high school boy, has been missing from his home since Thursday. The missing boy is a son of Captain A. Adams and Mi's Adams, Gaine Street, New Plymouth. He is a well-built boy, sft. tall, and weighing between eight and nine stone. He is pale faced, has dark hair and grey eyes and when last seen was wearing the school uniform of navy shorts, shirt and blazer and black socks with yellow and white striped tops and black shoes. Wasting of Seed.

There is a tendency among home gardeners seized with the idea of laying in seed stocks to buy too many, advises the /Agricultural Department. Most people wind up the season with seeds in hand, and buy more the next season. The actual weight of seeds varies according to moisture content, and each 6d packet may not weigh a quarter-ounce. What that weight will produce in plants is illuminating, and shows it is wasteful to sow seed too thickly. Normally a 6d packet of celery seed will produce 17,500 plants. Almost equally startling are the following figures: Turnip, 3000; carrot, 5750; radish, 875; spinach, 1250; onion, 1750; leek, 1750; parsley, 6250; cauliflower, 3750; cabbage, 2000. This is assuming that 80 per cent germinate:

Houses for Service Men.

Representations have been made to the Government by the N.Z.R-.S.A. asking that the preference in respect of the letting of State rental houses to exservice men should be raised from 50 per cent to ,75 per cent of the units available. The preference now being exercised is applied by the State Advances Corporation acting on the recommendation of the various rehabilitation committees and the priority is being granted in accordance with the following categories:—(a) Service men returned to New Zealand and placed on home defence; (b) service men returned to New Zealand for duty as instructors, etc.; (c) widows of service men killed overseas or who die overseas or subsequent to return to New Zealand; (d) wives of service men who are prisoners of war. The N.Z.R.S.A. has asked that a further category be added so as to include the wives of men serving overseas.

Protest Meeting. • A meeting of property owners and all others interested will be held in the A. and P. Rooms, Perry Street, Masterton, tomorrow at 7.30 p.m. to protest against certain provisions of the Servicemen’s Settlement and Land Sales Bill:

Nobody Wanted Tea. Proof that the tea ration is ample for i most people was given by a bring-and-buy conducted for patriotic funds by an Auckland women’s organisation. Each woman had brought a donation of jam, produce, cakes or groceries to sell, and one had brought a packet of tea. Surprisingly enough, however, the packet of tea remained when everything else had been sold, so it was put away for the next sale.

American Red Cross Club. Four dances are on the schedules for the Masterton American Red Cross Club this week—tonight, tomorrow night and Friday and Saturday nights. On Sunday, August 15, another stage show will be presented at the Regent Theatre at 2.15 p.m. These performances are given through the co-opera-tion of the Red Cross Club in Wellington. After the show, a tea dance will be held at the American Club.

Bombing Did Not Disturb Them. It used to be said at the beginning of the war that the New Zealanders were so fond of tea they would probably stop fighting to take their morning and afternoon cups. A story from Guadalcanal seems to bear this out. It happened in the days when the Japanese bombers were making things uncomfortable for the New Zealanders and Americans at Henderson airfield. One day a New Zealand reconnaissance plane had just returned to the airfield, and the crew, like true New Zealanders, were drinking their afternoon tea in the shade of the plane’s wings. The airraid siren went, and the rest of the station made for their fox-holes with the speed of long practice. The bombers came over and did their best to plough up the landing field and smash the planes on the ground. When the “all clear” went and the foxes came out of their holes, they were amazed to see the New Zealanders still drinking their tea under the plane.

Imports Reach Record Figure. ~ Imports for the production year ended June 30 totalled £71,772,000, an increase of over £20,000,000 compared with the preceding 12 months, and resulted in an unfavourable trade balance for the first time since 1930. For the month of June and for the six months of the current year there are also excesses of imports. The figures for June released yesterday by the Customs Department show exports at £4,555,000, compared with £11,026,000 in June, 1942, a decrease of £6,471,000. Imports totalled £7,709,000, compared with £5,702,000 in June, 1942, an increase of £2,007,000, resulting in an excess of imports for the month of £3,154,000, against a favourable balance of £5,324,000 in June, 1942. For the twelve months of the production year, which ended on June 30, exports totalled £71,302,000, compared with £74,039,000 for the preceding year, a decrease of £2,737,000, but, with the exception of that year, were the highest on record. Imports reached the record high level of £71,772,000.