MEW ZEALAND NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1111, 26 April 1911, Page 7

MEW ZEALAND NEWS.

(By TeleEraph.—Press Association.! ' ■■• — » ■

GROCERS' ASSISTANTS. Christohurch, April 25. ' a conference' of delegates of the Grocers'' Unions of New Zealand was held at Trades Hall this morning. Mr. A. Rosser (Auckland) was elected chairman, and Mr. Jas. Young secretary of the conference. -Delegates from the four , centres attended:' It was resolved that the. conference/should congratulate the , .Wellington Trades and Labour Council on the strenuous'manner in which it 1 had advocated the Saturday half-holiday in the: interests of the shop assistants of the Dominion, and express the hope that the movement would be successful at the poll to-morrow. It was resolved to form a federation of Grocers' Industrial TJnibns of Workers, and to apply for registration under the name of "The New Zealand Federated Grocers' Assistants' Industrial Association of ."Workers." A sub'-cdinmittee to frame •/rules, consisting of Messrs. Stanley, Wakelin, Roser, and Rennick, was ap-, pointed. The conference then went into wmmittec. CENSUS RETURNS. , a Auckland, April 25. Another batch of local returns; were completed by Mr.-Holmes (Chief Enu- ■ merator) to-day, and in every instance an increase on the figures of the previous census is shown. The returns aro all within the Eden County > and cover Road-Board and Town Board districts. The Chinese population of the Eden ■ County shows a substantial increase in . the five -years. ' : InMg.Q6,«tftefe':Were'-9o' males and one female, and the return' : now shoWs 323 males- and 35 females. Following,'are "the principal returns, 'excluding" some ■■of the? islands" in" and around : the harbour. The figures for 1906 are given in parentheses :—Arch . Hill, '2120' (1952); Eden Terrace, 2587 (2338);': Epsom, 2695 (1591); One Tree Hill, 3363 (1915); Panmure, 255 (217); Mount Wellington, 419 (386); Ellerslie, 9i6 (888); Mount Rdskill, 1094 (883); Point Chevalier, 1275 (902); Avondale, 2062 (1439); Chinese (Eden County), 3-58 (06); Waiheke: 227 (163); Great Barrier, 416 (312): Ruthes Island. 110 -.. (7); Pakatoa, 22 (4); Kawau, 60 (22).. OUR FIFTH CITY—WHIGHf . Inveroarglll, April 25. - In view of the rival claims to the honour of being (in point of population) the fifth city in the Dominion, the local papers are publishing comparative figures. The "Southland Times" shows that, reckoning in.the suburbs, which are really part of the town, Invercargill's total population is 16,009. The radius covered and represented by these figures is not so large as those imbraced by the towns which challenge invereargill in this matter, and it is. therefore claimed that Ihvercargill iseasily :in front.SOUTH CANTERBURY ITEMS. Timaru, April 25. The Education Board to-day appointed .a sub-committee to draw up a memorandum on the unequal treatment of high schools and district high schools, which receive a Government subsidy of pound for pound on voluntary subscriptions, and primary schools, which get nothing. The case of the. Timaru Main School was mentioned. This school raised £500 in one year for teachers' Saturday classes. i The Hospital Board to-day appointed delegates to the Hospital Conference at . Wellington next month. Tho chairman (ono of them) said that these conferences were no good, as tho Department took charge of them, and no notice was taken of anything not put forward by the Department. The. mistake of tho past conferences had been in putting tho Inspector-General in the chair.