LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2420, 27 March 1915, Page 7

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

His Honour the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) will preside at a Chamber sitting of the Supreme Court at 10 o'clock this morning. Figures compiled by the Department of Labour make it clear that the supply of domestic labour offering in Now Zealand is not nearly equal to the demand. In February, employers made 670 applications to the Department for women assistants, and the number of workers offering was only 378. -Employment was found for nearly all of these workers., American eggs have arrived to supply the shortage in New Zealand —a shortage occasioned by the killing off of fowls owing, to the high price of fowl-wheat. By the Maitai, which arrived from San Francisco yesterday, 634 cases of eggs, each containing i thirty dozen,' arrived, [consigned to local merchants." Thirteen Chinese, from Papeete, who are bound to the Flowery Land, are through passengers' by the Maitai, which leaves for Sydney at noon to-day. At the suggestion of the Prime Minister. a committee ! has been appointed to confer with him upon matters of detail concerning the establishment of a Board of Trade and industries. It consists of the president of the Industrial Corporation, Mr. J. B. Laurenson (representing the South Island), the president of the Auckland Industrial Association, Mr. S. J. Harbutt (representing •Auckland), the > president of the Wellington Provincial Industrial. Associar . tion. Mr. C. B. Norwood' (representing Wellington), and the organisor, Mr. A. R. Sennett. '_ In the course of a speech at Gisborne, and referring to the matter of imposing a' war tax, the Minister of Finance (the Hon. James Allen) said that a question that' had been raised, and a very important one, was the matter of exemption from a war tax of those who had voluntarily subscribed to equip the troops and to the relief funds. ( Mr. Allen «aid he had already under consideration a method of dealing with this question per medium of the income tax. The Department had prepared and submitted to him a memorandum suggesting that contributions to the funds stated should be deducted from the income in assessing income tax. He could not give them a definite promise that this, would be carlied'out; but it was receiving consideration, and he was inclined to think that ii was a reasonable thing to exempt from payment of the income or land, tax those who had been kind enough to provide for the equipment of troops and for the relief of distress. Considerable interest is being taken in the cricket matches which commence on the Basin Reserve this afternoon. This set of matches is tho last of the season, which means that unless rain interrupts play the curtain will be drawn aoross the cricketing stage in a week's time. At present, Petone leads for the city ohampionship, but it is yet possible for North to gain the premier position. If Petone is beaten by East, and North seoures a two-points win over University, North and Petone will be equal. A three-points' win (in similarcircumstances) will leave North a clear Jead of one pointj and give, them the championship. All the senior matches in this final set are to be played on the Basin Reserve, and the draw is:— Petone and East, On No. 1 wicket; Central and Old Boys, on No. 2; North land University, on No. 3. A meeting was held in Esperanto Hall last evening of members of I) Battery, who recently returned from Samoa. The meeting, which was attended by between twenty and thirty men. had been called to discuss the question of "signing on" to leave with the.next reinforcements for the front. Unexpectedly, Major Petherick, officer commanding the battery, attended, and addressed the meeting, after which some of the men on his advice left the room, and took no further part in the proceedings. The others remained, and ■ talked over matters, but no definite decision was arrived at. Business premises in Masterton will be closed from Thursday till Tuesday for the Easter holidays. A special meeting of the Wellington Hospital and Charitable Aid Board is to be held on Monday next to consider the tenders for the milk supply to the Hospital and allied institutions. Some nominations are already in hand for the offices of the Wellington Trades and Labour Council. The annual meeting of the counoil will be held on April 8, when the election of officers will be held.

An adjourned meeting of creditors in tho bankrupt estate of Thos. Riddler, junr., fellmonger, of Petone, was held before the Acting-Official Assignee (Mr. S. Tansley) yesterday. There were three creditors present, and after a short discussion it was decided to leave the estate in the hands of the Assignee, to do his best for the creditors. The liabilities amount to £243, and the assets To £105, but they are not estimated to realise that sum. The collection in aid of the Belgians which is now-being taken up by the Hotel and Restaurant Workers' Union in tho "Wellington district, has already totalled £120.

The Labour Department reports that last month there were 0339 men employed on co-operative works in New Zealand. 'The artisans engaged oil railways numbered 171, and tho labourers 26f8. On roads, 78 artisans wore employed and 2712 labourers.

Some sixty men are at present employed in- widening the cutting at the head of Constable Street. The land on either side is Town Belt, and altogether about 18ft. of hank is being excavated, the spoil from which work is being used to fill in thoso bends in Crawford Road where such filling is necessary. It will not, however, be necessary 'for the tramway tracks at any point to be laid on any but solid ground. . In most cases tho filled-up portions of'tho improved road will be traversed by the 'six-foot footpath which is provided for in the plans. At yesterday's meeting of tho College Governors the chairman (Hon. J. G. W. Aitken, M.L.C.) reported that some difficulty had occurred as to the clauso in the new Educaton Act referring _to tho representation of tho Education Board on the Board of Colloge Governors. It was not quite clear whether the Board was entitled to a representative. in addition to its chairman or not. It was decided to refer the point to the Crown Law officers for elucidation. ! Certain ulterior motives havo been imputed to the Government for appointing Mr. G. L. Tacon to the position of Fruit Trade Commissioner for New Zealand in South America. The facts about the case are that in succession the Nelson Fruitgrowers' Association, the State Fruitgrowers' Association, and the Board of Agriculture urged i upon the Prime Minister the desirabil- 1 ity of appointing Bome suitable man to such a. position. Last of all, on November 17, 1914, representatives of the New.Zealand Federation of Fruitgrowers met Mr. Massey, and made ; the 'same request, but they also recommended Mr. Tacon as a suitable man. This suggestion was confirmed by a letter on the following day, and the Govern-' ment acted upon it.

In common with the rest of the community, the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) is interested in the dispute which is how going on between the milk suppliers and the milk vendors, of the city. The latter had an arrangement as to the price of milk for the current year, which agreement the milk suppliers liow propose to cancel, intimating another, and possibly further rises in the price. The difference is one that every householder is interested in directly; and that being so, the Mayor has proposed that a conference of the parties concerned be held at the Town Hall on Monday evening next. It is to be a rOund-the-table discussion of the position, and one which Mr. Luke hopes will help to clear the air and at the same time result in justice b&ng dotte to the great third party—the pubtic.

I A/ deputation from Pahiatua. waited on tie Postmaster-General _■ yesterday morning regarding the mail Berries from their town to Pongaroa. . Some little time ago a motor-mail, service on this line was instituted, but, 'chiefly owing to the bad state of the road, the service has never paid the company, and now tie motor-service is discontinued. The contract price for the carriage of the mails waa £400 a year, but when the company asked that the mails might be carried by horse-drawn coaches, the Minister offered £300 for this service. Against this the company, and the settlers on their Behalf, protested, urging that before the advent of the motor service £500 was paid for a coach mail service, and that now hor6e feed was' very much more expensive. The deputation asked that the £400. subsidy be continued. The Minister replied that he .would, be prepared to allow the £400 subsidy to go on until the end of the year, and if the company would restore the motor service ho Would allow the contract to run for the remainder of the five years' term for which it had been made. He pointed out that, strictly speaking, the contract had been broken by the company failins: with the motor service, and that he was not legally bound to pay any further subsidy. He also pointed out that he could with the service from Kketahuna to Pongaroa serve all the country east of the railway in that district with the aid of the Pahiatua service. This was all that he was interested in as Postmaster-Genera] ; and this was what he always found it difficult to make settlors understand. In this case the settlers and the people of Pongaroa and Pahiatua were interested in the service as a passenger and freight-carrying agency, but this -was no argument for the payment of a mail subsidy. i Employment for a number or men is to be found by the Labour Department on railway works in the vicinity of Whangarei. The men engaged will be drawn from -Auckland,'and it is understood that a large proportion of them will be men whoso services are no longer required on the Parnell tunnel undertaking. A few days ago it was decided to send a certain number of men to the Whangarei works, and yesterday the Department received instructions that an additional thirty would be taken on. Owing to pressure of space Garden Notes are held over until Monday. The Wellington City Fire Brigade has received the sum of £3 3s. from Mr. W. Bcleher, leather merchant, Manners Street, in recognition of the brigade's services at the fire at his busiuesa promises on March 11 last. With the completion of the culvert<ng in of the Island Bay stream, which c or many years has traversed an open ditch alongside the main road, a considerable improvement will be made in the Parade between Tamar and Cornwall Streets. The work now proposed to be done as the money becomes available will be to utilise the full breadth of the 80ft. street, by "parking" off that-sec-tion of the street above the culvert, and providing a dcceut footpath hetween ■tho grass plots and the boundary of privato properties. By so doing the heavy traffic will never impose its weight on the crest of the culvert, and the laying out of rectangular plots of grass the whole extent of the Parade will "Americanise" that thoroughfare in the most attractive manner; Later on it is the idea of the City Engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton) to carry out similar improvements on the eastern side of the Parade. Another improvement about to be made in that locality is the duplication of the tramway track between Cornwall and Mersey Streets.

The household staff of His Excellency the Governor arrived from the south by the 'l'utanekai yesterday morning. The Press Association lias been asked to state that the report published locally that only two candidates were nominated by the committee of newspaper editors'set up to examine the list of applicants for the position of official war correspondent with the New Zealand Forces is incorrect, and that, in fact, four names wero submitted to the Government by. the committee. Messrs. Baldwin and Rayward, patent attorneys, 215 Lambton Quay, report that they have filed the following applications for patent of New Zealand recently:—W. Iley., York, England, necktie; M. Davidson, Thames, flow of water to Pelton wheels regulations; H. Boesou, Sydney, milking machine teat cup; F. J. Ryder, Otaki, fencing standard; C. A. I'earce, Auckland, caliphont; S. M. Kean, Palmerston North, bicycle handle-bar; W. E. Elson, England, wire mattress; J. Bennett, New, Plymouth, race starting-machine;- E. W. Terry, Victoria, tinning gear for piece expecting machine; L. S. Tarrant, Hawera, paint; Lak Ro. Proprietary, Melbourne, metal goods cleaning composition; S. J. Galladker, Christchiiroh, horse race starting device; A. Burges, Palmerston North, manure distribution ; J. C. Retter, Otaki, liquids filtering and strainiug; S. R. Trevor, Sydney, pent distillation; V. L. Pegler, Manurewa, haulage grip; H. -Droutlege, Auckland, cow milking apparatus; J. A. Hill, Sheffield, England, ash ejector; G. Constantinex9 and W T . Hadden, London, inertia in liquid columns.