HON. A. W. HOGG.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 437, 20 February 1909, Page 6

HON. A. W. HOGG.

VISIT TO HAWKE'S BAY DISTRICT.

; SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. ' The Hon. A. W. Hogg, who; returned from Hawke's Bay last night, gave a Dominion reporter: an interesting account, of his visit to Hastings. He did not; 1 receive any depu-

tations, arid he had no pnblio engagements,

but he was welcomed upon, his arrival -on Thursday by the Mayor arid leading towns-

i men. -Hastings"struck him as a prosperous ; and progressive. centre. : Wooden buildings ~ were being replaced in all directions by up-to-date structures in! brick and conorete, and the new post office, now in course of erec- ' tion, would be both handsome and commodi- : ous. .Besidents; complained that considerable inconvenience was caused by the railway trains shunting'across one or two of the . main streets,. and they were .anxious to have this trouble ended by means of a change of the site of the station.. Their case was the stronger, by-reason-1 of the admitted inade^ ; quacy of the present station buildings. Adjacent' to the line, the land was owned/ by the Railway Department, and let on short leases.' These sites 1 were right in the heart of the town, and were occupied by business premises in wood,. and it was pointed out;to 4he Minister that if ;the land were sold, of if longer.leases were granted) people would 'be encouraged to build in a permanent style' more in keeping; with the general development of Hastings. |Tho Department owned; ,a good deal of valuable urban' land, which, it was suggested; might -be made to yield; a considerable revenue, .v Accompanied by Mr. A. Dilloc. M.P.. and _Mjv the Hastings Hotel, tne Minister went out [to Meanee,, where ;he was ; entertained ; by. the; ...Rev.. Dr. Kennedy, a •yoiuig New- Zealander of high scientific attainments. Mr. Hogjj was greatly interested in Dr. Kennedy's [observatory, with" its huge ' telescope,: and, his fine; equipment of scientific instruments,/ including thermometers .'for taking jthe 1 'temperature, 1 not only! of. .-the' atmosphere, but also of the earth at different _ depths. Dr. Kennedy's wind gauges, ■his-lunar and, stellar, photographs, taken by ;himself, .his: system,of daily,, meteorological .observations,, and the , spectrum . analysis,, were also inspected.> Mr! Hogg said, he had ; rarely .enjoyed anything- more .than, listening, to -Dr. Kenn'edyls. exposition' of-his views on. astronomy.; His cbmprohensively-stocked' .garden, his'glass-sided:observation beehive, ! ■ftt nw cellar ;of first-rate -local wines, were •also ver.v remarkable. ■ • in the| afternoon,the Minister: yis-'-it-ed . the celebrated' Frimley .orchards and canning,works,., which .were described-in'some detail in; an illustrated article published re- : .V the ... He considered that - Miy. J.;N. Williams,^in 'introducing' and fos-' tering' this; industry, doinga work'r'of, ; greall value to the district.', The Minister also formed -a very favourable opinion of . .the' .methods pursued by. the .manager, of. the'ean:iiing works, .Mr, Basil - Jones,; ; The machinery and . appliances, appeared' to bo thor,oughly up.'-to.-.date, and perfect cleanliness was' observed.. . . As : Minister for -; Labour," Mr.;. Hogg was J pleased to find . that', the ■ conditions of' em- : ployment at the Frimley, faotery■ appeared to' ; be. very satisfactory.;. About 200. hands,: including men; youths, women,';' and 'girls, 1 were - ; omployed, and .some. £3QO a week, was paid ;in; wages.. ;,The.' young, women -and girls, in ;.the/clean,;;well-lighted 'rooms; appeared so ; .cheerful that 'lio thought they regarded -their • work aimost;as.a- : recreation: '- Jlost of them' earned more, than £l;a'weoki ; ' Coalites were ■ provided-'by ih©; employers to 'convey them 1 to and' frq ; between Hastings' and'the factory, a distanco'of a milo and a half. " They ; began -'work at ,8 a.m.,-and finished'for the' day (except during times of. special stress) at ,4.40' p.m.' so; ad to eniiblo'those living at Wapier. a.5 o'clock train. An Hour ' was allowod-for lunch; which was taken in a ' .fane, well-lighted room, ;with a stage,, which': .was used'for (concerts .and' socials.' 'There ;?2?-SK;* th °.employees,;w;Mo Mr. n ilhpms and the; manager were'always best. for::the cotnfort-iuid welfare :0 J 'audi'aßoit the'-'worksi;- - /Minister ; - spoko warmly of- the-kind-and Hospitality. Bhown him -'throughout' - iiis yißifc;.to *

ANOMALOUS RAtL RATES ON FRtJIT.' OPPRESSIVE DUTY ON WINE CASKS. . te^oeaph— spectaii coerespondent.) '. • x ~ . Hastings, February 19. Un his visit to tho Frimley Canning Fac;tory. yesterday,vthe Hon. :.Ai W. Ho^. was .informed that.the railage on a casd of fruit from Hastings to Wellington was 6d.; while .tor. a case ot tinned fruit, it was Bs.': This, the. Minister for/ Labour considered ,'was - a hardship on the industry,; and' tended • tofrustrate the efforts of'the locaUgrowers to compete with the Californian market, vMr Hogg has.promised to havo tho-matter-in-quired into: , . -:

, Last ovoning the Minister'.was waited on by Messrs. J. .0. Craik and AlaoNamara. representingthe - Temata -vineyards;'lffr. Craik ...said: that they ..would like to draw; tention to the fact that they paid 20 per cent, -duty on wine casks of about. 600 callons capacity The' duty was charged on ~the invoice value' with ten per cent, added! •He could not understand, why the additional ten per: cent, was charged.. The duty" was ■very heavy, and he objected to-it because it - if Vf' c l sks „ of this character mado in New Zealand- Over a year ago,: when to liavo tho duty removed some of the New. Zealand coopers had 1 promised to make the casks,, but they failed- to go on with the work.-A firm in Auckland offered -to make them, but the price which' they requiredl■ would-amount to 2d., a gallon -more than; he . could • place - the-' imported -cask's for in nis .iceJJarv :; ' • v.- ; .

Craik explained that the-cases were mad o ; in Australia,: where' a large numbbr' of vineyards existed,/and-there! was-,a -considerable:: trade in. the industry. ■:' They had: to be • made from Baltic and American oak,* wrnch was .the, only .timber adapted fir the purpose, and ho urged that-, seeing: that thev could not be .manufactured here', under reasonable terms, the duty should "not be insistcd -upon. • . . ' - ■. .- The Minister advised them to make another application setting forth the faots, and he would, see the ; Secretary for Customs, and .ascertain whether; something could be done to remove the. duty, or reduce it: He considered thatj • in; the case of a ' valuable industry _such as that, carried on at Temata, jt ' Should, as : far .'.as, possible, be assisted, 1 instead of. handicapped. He also expressed the opinion that the true priniciplo of protection,,. in'.connection with industries,was simply to .-impose a duty rin the imported articles, which .could be easily made in this county. ■ .' ' -' "■ ' .

. The deputation' also called attention to'the heavy. duty on: low grade cartridges. These largely used for the destruction of-birds at/the vineyard. Since the tariff was altered., and; a,, duty amounting to about 50 per cent, was-imposed, theprices materially increased by the manufacturers 'of ammunition :m, Auckland; Not only that, but thev were unable. to purchase ihem' .direct,, but from the manufacturers' ' agents, so . that several profits were exacted. . Mr.: Hogg.'informed thodeputatoiri' that, he would look into the matter and see if anything could be done. .