NEWS IN BRIEF

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 9, 24 March 1947, Page 8

NEWS IN BRIEF

Formidable Task The convener of the Methodist Church conference homes committee in Wellington, the Rev. J. D. Grocott, had a formidable task when it fell to the lot of his committee to find accommodation for the 250 visiting delegates. He received 300 letters and 200 postcards asking for assistance. Three days before the opening of the conference accommodation was still needed for 25 of the visitors, but through the hospitality of members of the public who made rooms available in their homes all representatives were finally provided with lodgings. Mutton Birding x Forty-five permits to Maoris and Maori families to visit the muttonbird islands during the coming season were issued at a. meeting held in Invercargill. The “birders” will leave for the islands on March 15. Each person making the trip takes 501 b of flour, tea, sugar and butter according to the amount allowed under the rationing system for the period from March to May; 501 b of .salt for each 1000 birds, ahd 1000 kits bach. Tinned foods, cereals and other foodstuffs are also taken, as are coils of wire, sheets of iron, lengths of timber, and other materials used in repairing the huts and equipment left idle and unattended for a year. Last year 100 birders caught '200,000 birds in nine weeks. This represented about £15,000. It was the largest catch ever made. Local Body Labour The difficulty of local bodies in securing adequate labour was referred to by the Mayor of Rotorua, Mr P. A. Kusabs, in opening the annual conference of the Institute of Town Clerks at Rotorua. There was only one cause, he said, and that was because the wages offered to borough workmen were the lowest on the scale. If a man were efficient, he should command a good price, said the Mayor. He drew the attention of delegates to the fact that it had been announced that Russia’s collective farm workers were to be paid henceforward by results. He predicted that that move was the start of democracy in Russia, as we in the British Commonwealth and the United States, knew it.