JOTTINGS FROM WANGANUI

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 886, 4 August 1910, Page 2

JOTTINGS FROM WANGANUI

UNKOADED , . HINTERLAND. ' (By TolesraDß.—Suecial CorresDondent.l ' Wanganui, August 2. Iteplies received by the. Wangauui Uducation Board show that Nelson and Marlborough are the only boards unrepresented at the conference of Education Boards which it is promoting in Wellington, and which is to open on August 22.

In'relation to an instance of hardship in the back-blocks, the "Herald" says:— "Want of access is still the. great bugbear ,of ~these settlers who have, taken m> holdings in the , " back-blocks, and, till the Government gives reasonable roads into newly-settled areas, bush farmers must always be heavily handicapped, for;,, even when they have their land cleared, it is a matter of extreme difficulty to get, their stock in.- and. their producoout. One settler who lately took up a piece, of land lying some 15 miles to the-west of the Main Trunk line, in the Waimarino district, recently spent three weeks trying to get in from Mb nearest railway station. He had finally to abandon tho attempt, and make a long' detour, approaching it from tho other side by a survey track, and even that took, him several days. This will give some idea ■of tho difficulties awaiting the man who takes up land in the interior, and lends additional point to tie oft-repeated cry that reading shoiiid go on simultaneously with settlement."

• In \a case brought by the Inspector of Awards against the Wanganui Borough Council, Mr. Kerr, S.M., found (aga'ust the, inspector) that tho laying of service pipes from a gas main to a meter Iβ not a branch of gas-fitting business. The. case was one in )vhich a man employed in this class of work was paid labourer's wages, and the. inspector.sought to show that he should have been paid wages as prescribed by the gas-fitters' award. Reporting on a new Edison storage battery to the Gonville-Castlecliffi, Tramway Board,- M. R. ..Creagh (engineer to the board) advises caution. In a lengthy criticism of tho battery, he contends thati as applied to the , tramway system, there would bo very little saving in tho cost of construction or operation, and no move reliability or safety.. Summing up, he eaj'S:—"l do not tlimk that your board need givo Edison's battery a second thought, unless tho Wanganui Borough decide to consider the advisability of also installing it, which I do not think likely, as-it would be necessary to 'scrap' not only the overhead gear, but also tho cars." ■

Lambing has already begun in this district, and if the present fine weather holds, good percentages should result. : August 8. An addition is to lie made to tho Wanganui Girls' College in the shape of an assembly hal\ to cost ,£2OOO. , The sections in tho Riariaka and Mangatiti Blocks, between Jianganui o te Ao and Retaruke Rivers (tributaries of the Waneamii), which'were balloted for here in March last, are now all takeii up, and bushfelliug thereon is proceeding. ': .-

The employees of the Borough Conncil, including tins gasworks and tramways staffs, are moving in the direction of establishing a sick benefit fund. The matter was referred to at last night's meeting of the council, the opinion being expressed tha.t the council should do ivhat was possible to assist euch an object; A motion referring the matter to tho finance committee to see what could bo Jone was earned. . , -