Local & General

Chronicle (Levin), 19 June 1948, Page 4

Local & General

Food Parcels Reach England 13,967 parcels ' weighing 148,805 lbs. which were despatched to Britain by the New Zealand Star ar-i rived in the United Kingdom oni June 10. These parcels were posted j during th# period Apj.il 10 to May 5 j from offices in .the southefn half of i the North islarid,' and the Gisborne and Nelson- districts. ^ • " j Increased Wages ■ I Increases ranging from 2/6 to 9/6 weekly are granted under the New Zealand Freezing' Companies Clerical Workers1 Awkrd issued by the Court of Arbitration. The wage scal'e for malfe's'- ranges from £2 5s weekly in the 'first six inohths to £8 2s' in the' eleventh ' year, and thereafter on a merit scale. For females it ranges- from £2 2s 6d to £5 and on merit after the ninth year. The -award does not apply to ■ male employees in receipt .of salaries of more than £550 per annum or f'emale employees- recei'ving more than £400 per annum. ■ The award will operate from June 16, 1948, until June 16, 1950. Exchange Clerks. Injured Five Feilding telephone exchange clerks experienced an uncomfortable few second when the motor car they were travelling in while returning home from the ' Marton P. and T. Ball at 2 o'clock yesterday morning, le-ft the road at the top of Mt. Stewart a,nd became wrecked. The car, a rental vehicle, was being driven by Mr. Frederick Churcher, exchange clerk, and con-; tained Ronald Wm. Bryant, Dawn Flore'nce Hight, Margaret Lorraine Proctor and Leslie Arthur Sporie, all of the Feilding . telephone exchange. Churcher suffered slight head injuries, Miss. Hight, slight facial injuries, whiie Miss Proctor suffered a broken arm. The car was badly damaged. ,Supply Of,Steel ! Possibilities of a Iarge supply of steel coming to New Zealand in the next year or two ' are npt bright.i This is the opinion of the Austra-I lian High.CommjssiOner (Mr A. R.| Cutler). He sai^ in an inuerview* "New Zealand is a most important market for Australia as far as iront and steel are concerned, and no doubt Australian industry wiil depend on an overseas market to maintain. efficiency of production and enable it to produce steel at the nheapest rate. The shonage of iron and steel in New Zealand is not because the entire production is going to the home market. The shortage in Australia is just as acute. This is due to the wartime lag, which has not yet been overtaken. Onehimga's First School One of the earliest • activities of St. Peter's Parish, Onehunga, which celebrates the centenary of its church at the end of this monthj.was education. The parish authorities built the first school and engaged the, first schoolmaster:, named Lusk, who resigned in 1847, because "the fees were .altogether inadequate to defray expenses connected' with the school." To succeed him a Miss Bates was appointed, at 12/6 a week, and served for severn years. In February, 1854, the school fees were fixed at 9d a week for all. children who had begun to write on paper and 6d -for all others. There was an additional charge of 3d a month for all children above the lowest class, to buy school and other needs, but copy books were charged extra. Not until 1876 was Onehunga provided with its first public school.

Decrease In Shipping The retprns of overseas merchant shipping for May, compared with last year, showed a decrease of ten vessels ,or 97,135 gross tons, stated the harbourmaster, Cagcain H. Hogan, in a report to the Auckland Harbour Board this week There was an increase of 627 gross tons in the intercolonial traffic, but coastal shipping showed a decrease of 14,214 gross tons. *