LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 7, 3 October 1919, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Adolf Woennnnn, which arrived yesterday morning' from England, via the Panama Canal, brought 539 bags of mail mutter for New Zealand.

Up to tho present, mail matter for the Now Zealand Expeditionary Force has been addressed to tho care 'of the General' Post Office, Wellington, and the correspondence has been' dispatched in special mails addressed: to tho New, Zealand Army Base Post Offices, in London and Egypt. Consequent upon the closing of the army post offices,' correspondence will in future be 1 forwarded' through the. civil pest offices in London and Egypt, and it should now te addressed fully to the place at which the addresses are known to be.

Tho application of kerosene to mosquito-infected ponds and. water-holes is a well-known means of coping with this winged pest. In this connection it is interesting to note that at last night's meeting of the City Council a rocomHerniation of one M tho standing committees was adopted that a supply of kerosene lo the value of .47 10s. begrantetl to the Island Pay Electors' Association for the purpose of exterminating mosquitoes, on' the condition that a similar amount was contributed by the association. The I'rime Minister staled in reply In a question yesterday that all officers of tho Public Service who are sixty-five years of age and orer have been retired or given notice of retirement by the end of the financial year, with the exception of six officers whone cases have not yet besn settled. The Minister of Railways has promised that tho request ior tho running'of a train from Lambton Station to the Hutl; district, leaving at 5.40 p.m., will be considered when the time-table is reviewed. The request was made on behalf of tlioso shop assistants whose places of business now clos<? at 5.30 p.m. . The Prime Mini iter lias. promised Dr. Newman, who, made representations on the subject, that every effort will be made to seo that the services of temporary employees of t'he Stale are dispensed with as gradually i.s possible. An appeal for retrospective separation allowances for the wives .of men ivlio volunteered for home service was made to the Defence Minister by Mr. I!. A. Wright. Sir James Allen said that the matter had received consideration, but it was regretted that retrospective separation' allowance can be paid only in respect of men who actually embarked for service overseas. The Finance Minister, answering a request by Mr. R. A, Wright that the maximum amount of advance from the State Advances Department to workers should ,be increased above the, .uresem limit of JMSO, said that the question was at present under consideration by the Government. The Wellington Cricket Association has decided to postpone the opening of the. season until Tuesday next, when practice will commence on the Basin He?ervc. That aV. bona fulo Greater Wellington residents should participate in tho. City Council's housing scheme was the opinion expressed bj; the Greater Wellington Town Planning and Municipal Electors' Association in a resolution passed at its last general meeting. A new post olf.ee is to bo. built at Hataitai lithout delay. The member fot the district (Dr. A. K. Newman) asked the Postmaster-General in .ho House of Representatives whet'ier the .lovornmenc would shortly ct 11 for tenders fur tlio erection of a poft office at Mntaitai. Mr. Coates (Postmaster-General) replied:—"ln view of the representation;' made as to the urgency for the erection of a post office at Hataitai, the neeess/.ry action v/ill be taken to give eftect til the matter as early as possible.'' A motorist approaching Whangarei late on Wednesday night ffom Hikurangi was stopped by a waving lantern held by a rauddr and dislievelled woman. Inquiry (says tho "New Zealand Herald") elicited the fact thai: she had received a teledram at Hukenmii stating that lur husband in tho Whangarei Hospital had become dnngeroiwly ill. The' train had just gone, but. armed with a lantern, sho immediately started to tramp the journey. Sho had done about fifteen miles, and wt-s struggling brnvel.v on when the ear overtook her, and gave her a, lift for the remaining ten miles. ■ The new Ministers ih the Government treated their fellow-members of the llouso and some of the Legislative Councillors to an oyster suppei 1 in the Whips' Room at Parliament Buildings last evening. Mr.'MftSsey proposed the health of the new Ministers, which toast was l"ii|-, oured with much enthusiasm.

The PostaO Department is being asked to increase the wages of telegraph messengers from to JCI ss. a week.' TJio Postmaster-General says the increase cannot bo granted. He says tly.it a bonus of ss. a week is given in Wellington, but the reason is that boys are difficult to obtain in Wellington, and the bonus is given as an inducement in order to secure them. The Postmaster-General has informed ■Mr. AV. It. Field, If.P., that authority 1 has already been given for the erection of ft pest office building at Paraparaumu, ami the matter is now in the hands of the Public Works Department. The Minister of Internal A flair;, (Mr. Hine) stales that, it is proposed to introduce Cegish'.tion at the first opportunity prohibiting a defaulting ratepayer from voting. Replying to the member for Masterton (Mr. Sykes), the Minister of Public Works (Sir William Fraser) said tlint the surveys required to determine the best roilte for the proposed deviation of the railway through the Rimutaka Mountains had been neatly completed." The principal work remaining now was the compilation of results and the final determination. This work would shorti'.y receive attention, an officer having now been detailed to deal with it. Owing to tho winter load being over, and to the improvement in tho coal supply, the City Council last night adopted a recommendation from thq Power Stations anil Tramways Committee that the restrictions on the use, of outside tighta be removed. Another recommendation adopted was that' a portion of Town Beit, just beyond the Constable Street cutting, be set aside for a tramway substation, conditionally on the westernhalt of the reserve at Lyall Bar. comprising 121 acres, being dedicated for recreation purposes in lieu thereof. The Mayor explained that the dedication of the laud at Lyall Bay for. Tecreation purpesea would compensate for taking a slice of the Town Belt, and would not reduce the area available for public Tecreation. ' At a conference of the managers of Messrs. M'Gruer and Co., drapers, now sitting in Wellington, it was unanimously decided to affirm the principle and adopt a system of profit-sharing with all their employee*), ft is understood that this firm 15 3 - ears ago initiated a system of profit-sharing with their branch managers which has had most satisfactory results. For the past five years experiments have been in operation in ' their Napier branch to evolve a scheme applicable to all employees, with such success that now the firm have decided to adopt a scheme that embrace? all the employees in a system of profit-sharing. The conference of the Counties' Association last night carried a remit from the llangitikei County Council stating that the time had arrived when the Government should set up a Bureau of Roads to undertake the proper tretiiH! of all road-building materials, having in view the conservation of all Dominion sources of supply for rfrad-bnilding in the future. . , The City Council has 'accepted with thanks donations of rending material to tho .Public Library from Mrs. E. Anderson (18 volumes "Illustrated London News") and Mr. 11. Liardet (two volumes Wellington "Independent,"' 18GG). ' In the course of a discussion a 4 the City Council last evening the Mayor stated that not a single tender had been received for tho cottages proposed to be erected 'at /Alarnnui. The difficulty of obtaining labour was most acute. In connection, with the reference made in the House of Representatives on Wednesday by Mr. 6. Witty to repairs charges made by a local boot making firm. Mr. .T. A. Tripe, solicitor, writes, stating thai; the firm in question made nn actual loss on the work the.v performed and throughout tho war period specially laid themselves out, to keep prices down. - Mr. Tripe states that the charge for repairing the first pair of shoes mentioned by Mr. Witty was is., and the cost of the work was:—Material, Is. 3d.; labour. 2s. 2.|d.; inspection, paper, string, etc'., lid.: gross profit, sd. The gross percentage of profit was 10 5-12 pel' cent. In the second case the charge of 2s. Gd. made'showed a m>t'> loss of is. Id. Material cost Is. 3d., labour 2s, 2.W1., inspection, string, paper, etc., IJd., the net percentage of loss being 43 !-•' P el ' cent. Since tho mid-winter crisis was successfully negotiated, the electric light department of the City Council (which had for some time been forced to close .down on applications for n'ew services) has been very busy catching up with the demand. During the month of August the number of new connections made was 121, and during last month (ended on Tuesday), no fewer than 2G3 connections'wero made—a total of 1)81 for two months. A new 1000 horse-power Babcock nnd Wilcox boiler has arrived for the lighting generation plant. As space is restricted, considerable structural alterations will have to he made in the Mercer Street power-house to provide for this boiler, and another that will have to bo procured later to meet the citv's growing need. The setting up of the boiler now in Wellington will enable two of tho old engine sets' to be put in commission again, which, should provide a sufficiency of current, for some years to come—perhaps until the Maiimlioa hydro-electric supply is available for lighting piirroscs.

According to a delegate at yesterday's conference of the Counties' Association, the use of motor-tractors is rapidly, increasing. It ivns pointed out,, however, that county councils have no power tt< control and license the uso of tractors, which, although primarily intended for farm work, very often travelied on tho roads. The conference carried a remit from the Waipa County Council that county councils should have,their powers extended so that thoy might l)o enabled to license tractors. . Mr. Justice Herdman delivered judgment in the Chrietchurch .""upreme Court yesterday in a case hoard to deterniine to-,which (if any) pAblio benevolent institution in Christchurch a legacy of .£SOO should go. .The facts were tfiat Zillali Fairhurst, by her will, bequeathed .£50!) tu the i J ublic Benevolent Institution for the Aged and Needy in the City of Ciiristclmreh. Tho sole executor, James Petrie InncsJ could not find an institution iu Christchurch answering to the description in the-will, and decided that the Court must deteriniuo which body was to benefit under tile will. Thus the proceedings were instituted unlder an originating summons. The plaintiff was the Nortn Canterbury Hospital and Charitable Aid Board and the defendants were the M'Lean Institute, James Petrie limes, of Palmerston North, solicitor, tho solo executor of the will, and the Christchurch Benevolent Association. All claim on behalf of the M'Lean Institute was renounced, an<l Mr. Justice Herumnn found that plaintiff was entitled to the legacy.—Press Assn. The Outlying Districts Committee reported to the City Council last night that they had visited Wadestown in connection with a request from the. Wadestown Municipal Electors' Association, and recommended as follows: —"(1) That tho track from Margaret Street to the main road be given tho best possible attention; (2) that the work of erecting cattle-stops at Wade Street East be put. in hand at onco; (3) that full power be given to tho city engineer to interview Mr. M'l'horson with reference to the imposed alteration to tho track at Wade Street West." The recommendations were adopted. Tho Baths and Beaches' Committee of the City Council reported iast night that they had received a deputation from tho Island Bay Electors' Association with reference to the erection of boat-sheds on the Island Bay beach,and tare obtaining a report from the acting-city engineer, in connection with this matter. A question about shipping, companies contracting themselves out of their liability for the sate .:nrria?e <f passengers was asked by Hie member for Wellington ■South (.Ur. 'J!. Semple) in the House of lJeprescntatives yesterday. 110 gave jiqtico to ask the-Minister of Marine whether ho was aware tliat, shipping companies habitually escaped liability for shipwreck or other accidents musing passengers personal 'njury or death Ijv printing conditions on their tickets issued to passengers, and whether he would introduce legislation this session to put "nu ciul to this niionuilous stiuo 01 the law. Mr. Semple pointed out that this question was intended to refer only to shipwreck or other accident. (1,110 to the negligence, of the owner or his agents, and not to inevitable accidents.

"The great lesson to be learned so far as municipal government is concerned is in finding out what should 'be avoided," writes tho City Engineer (Mr. W. 11. Morton) from London.- "The original planning of a city is a most vital matter, and I cannot help thinking of my native jJiace, Melbourne, which,was subdivided locally by the Crown, nnd where, so far us I am aware, no land has ever had to be acquired for tho improvement of the streets or to oaso traffic. Tho same, I think, can bp said' of Adelaide.^ The question of cxbndnij.; the Petone West School situ i'or tho purpose of providing an area upon which to erect additional school accommodation is under consideration by the Government; "I am of the opinion that tho road of the future has not yet been evolved," remarked Sir James N'ilson "in addressing tho delegates to the conference of the Counties' Association yesterday. Al'i forts of methods of road construction had been advocated, and no.finality had been reached. The people who could best give advice regarding roads wero the county engineers. "I. think the road of the future is a matter of evolution and trial," concluded Sir James Wilson. "The railways arc the main arterial roads to the baekblock set'Hcrs," said a delegate at the Counties' Conference yesterday, during a discussion on national highways. "What, wo (-Should do is to shako up the Railway Department and get them to Cay down more railroads, and not urge the construction of fine roads for motorists to run aloiip;. These wealthy motorists from the cities who an; of no use whatever fo far as production is concerned should not be considered at all." (Laughter.) . "In America I saw some fine power stations," writes the City Engineer and Tramways Manager (Mr. W. H. Morton) i'-o his deputy, sl'r. M. Cable. "Most of the cities have hydro-electric plants. New York has not. But steam plants are to la seen in all. I.saw a general electric turbo.set in course of orection ill New York that is to havo a capacity of 45.000 kilowatts. The most interest-' ing features, however, were the orMircd boilers in. San Francisco and Seattle. These are simply splendid, and I have been thinking what a fine thing it would be for us if v.-o could get oil fuel for the stand-by'station. The only, hope of that would be for' the oil companies to run tank steamers to New Zealand. . . Of course coal gTate furnaces could be converted without difficulty, but the trouble would be the fuel supply. . . . The Yankees do spill money on machinery. Very little is done by manual labour if a machine can be employed." , Speaking at the social ovening held by the. Post iiini Telegraph staff of TnvercnrgKl Inst week, the • Chief Postmaster (Mr. St. George), referred to tho extreme difficulty officers, recently transferred to the local staff, had experienced ill obtaining house accommodation. He said that he considered that the time had arrived for the Post and Telegraph Asso. ciation to bring under the notice of the Department the urgent necessity and fld-,. visnbility of building suitable houses for the. accommodation of its officers. Thesu houses could with advantage and with ■' u view to town-planning, be built in such a way that lences would not lm necessary, and the only barrier between the houses need be a garden. This kind of housing, he continued, would be to the advantage of the town as well as to the officers and tho Department. Mr.-Massey has promised that the eon tinning ol' the protection of tenants from eviction, and the extension of the prolection will be provided for in legislation during the present session if time permits. An important of Wellington city property took place this week, Mr. D. Buckley, licensee of the Forrester's Arms Hotel, Ghuznce Street, having purchased from Miss E\ Crawford-the freehold of the To Aro Hotel, corner of Willis and Dixon Streets for .£13,500. Replyiug to a question in the House yesterday the PrimC Minister said that the hospital boards of the Dominion h:>d been notified that the Department proposes before next session to.call a coilft;rence of the hospit.il boards to discuss among other matters a colonial scale of salaries and a superannuation scheme iiir probationers, nurses, and matrons, .so a? to place tho nursing stall's of hospitals on a better footing.

Messrs. Sargood, Son, and Thvon, Ltd.,* linvo announced in their employees tlint tlicy intend pnying a .(! for. J! subsidy of ilio Government war gratuity recently pawed by Parliament, to those members of their stalls'who have returned to their service from the front. The Roil of Honour comprises nearly 1(10 names, of whom neaity nil who have so far returned are again in business, and s<>ttlinpr down well, to commercial life. In addition to the above, a scheme for the formation of a provident association is bf.ing. submitted to the various stall's throughout New Zealand, whereby the contributions of the members will be subsidised, subject to the conditions of the fund, £ for ,£, tho interest on the whole amount being credited annually to tho personal accounts of the subscribers in the books of the provident association. The company is also settinß asidu as a mid!«u« fund an amount of ,£so{!o, the interest on which will be credited in a like maimer after the animal administrative expenses of the association, which will not be largo, have been provided for.

The Prime Minister stated yesterday, replying to a question, that with the exception of two Departments, from, which information tvas.beipg awaited, tho rates of pay of casual md temporary hands in the service hail been reviewed as at April 1 last. In the course of a letter dated' August 1, received in Wellington the City Engineer (Mr. W. 'H. Morton) advises, that he lias had to change his plans in respect, to his homeward route. Mo did intend to return via the Suez-Canal and Australia, lint there were difficulties in booking : tl)at way, and he states that the host lie can do is to return via Canada, leaving Vancouver by the Makura at the eml of October, and arriving in Wellington just before the end of November. In the course of a letter received from Mr. W. H. Morton, City Engineer, he state 3 tlmt he met Mr. Evan Parry, the late Government hydro-electric expert, and had spent some time, with him. Mr. Parry informed him that the day before his steamer reached Liverpool his son contracted scarlet fover, and.had to be conveyed to a hospital immediately on arrival. The boy had a bad time, but was (when the letter was written) well again; The question of railway crossings was considered by the conference or Hut Counties' Association last night, when the Grey County Council suggestion that Wherever a railway intersected a road that legally existed prior to the construction of the railway, a suitable crossing and approaches should be constructed by the Uailway Department at its own cost, on the request of the local body. The president of the association (Mr. A. E. Jull) said the remit was one that should bo carried, as it was time that tho "arrogant attitude" of the Railway Department was put to an end. Tho remit was passed. The desire of the Legion of Frontiersmen for recognition by the Government as a special line of defence was placed before the Prime Minister h(st evening liv Dominion Staff-Captain John M'Gregor. The idea, he stated, was that tho Legion should be recognised in return for its undertaking to hand itself over to the Govfermnent in tho event of trouble, and the services of a fighting force being required. It was proposed to continue its own training as at present, and it was suggested that a certain amount of assistance might be granted by the Government. A force comprising nil branches of the service was'the objective. The present constitution of the Legion required that members should provide their own small arms, but itwas obviously impossible that they should provide the more elaborate nnd expensive sort of technical gear required for tho specialist branches, and it was hero that Government assistance was sought. The Legion contained representative.', of every branch of the service and every'rank, from private to colonel. Mr. J. A. Young, who introduced Captain M'Grcgor, supported the request. Mr. Massey, in reply, said that he would be very glad to convey the request put to Sir James Allen, and, if necessary, to bring it before Cabinet. Ho thought it a vory good thing to have tho assurance that if ever trouble came there -was such a fine body of meu at call.

Tho Secretary to the Treasury acknow- i ledges in the Gazette the recejpt of ill forwarded by some unknown person us conscience money. Legislation is to be introduced to provide that time spent on active service by solicitors shall count towards the fivu years' practice qualification for admission as a barrister. ' A iarge gathering in the Native meet-iiig-hoiiso at the Maori pa. at Whakatano (states ii Press Association message), coin prising Natives and pakehns, formed an additional rowing club, with the lion. Mr. N.gata as patron and the Chief Huruliui and other notables among the vicepresidents. It was decided to iinaneo the elu'b by growing a crop of . potatoes on an aero lent, with the aid of borrowed teams and seed given. It was also decided to raise funds by fishing. Two Natives aro lending boats. The club promoters are to buy a second-half skiff, and using'the meeting-house us a. boatshed temporarily. Ngauruhoe lias been in eruption receniIv. The honorary warden of the Tonga, rim National Park (Mr. J. CilUcn, l.S.O;) stated last week (says the "New Zealand Herald"! that la:e!v the mountains have nil been covered with snow right down to the base. When -the ..residents of Waimarino one mdrning, however, they found that the whole of tlie north side of-. Ngauruhoe ami the shoulder ot ToiiKariro were black, owing '■ to a discharge of scoria ash during-an eruption on the preceding night. Again, ,011 Friday week, at about 1.31) p.m., Ngauruhoe sent up another great shot, which continued until nearly dark. . This drifted over the line (.. the previous deposit, the wind being in til's same direction. At the beginning of last we?!;, when Mr. Cullen left tho district, the portion ol the. mountain affected was still blackThe lip of iNgauruhoe, on the south and south-eastern- sides, was also very much serrated and had fallen in. ; In replv to an inquiry by Ml'. It. A. Wright iii the Huiiss -d Kepresentatives I lie Prime Minister stnte.l yesterday that tt is not tlie immediac jitention of 1 the Police Department to build a new police station at, Karori. As the Department was offered a very suitable Louse in goodcondition with a large section of land for .£550 less than Ihe lowest tender for a new building, it >vas decided to purchase the property instead of building. The section of land whidi ivas purchased some time ago as a' site for a polict station .will be retained by the Department, and probably used later on as t site lor police resiknci?. Postal facilities in the baekblocks formed a topic considered by, the conference c-f the Counties' Associntion last night. The president (Mr. A. 11. Jull) said the postal authorities were getting i ''st ill-necked" about providing facilities in sparsely settled districts, and were asking heavy guarantees The conference decided that tho Postmaster-General I shonOd be requested not to take into consideration the estimated revenue to be derived from outlying or isolated districts when deciding upon tho postalfacilities to 'be granted to such districts, as suclv method was not calculated to pneyiinve the successful settlement ot the back blocks, or the work of . the pioneer. It was resolved to impress upon the Postmaster-General that in the opinion of the conference the distribution of postal facilities should be considered from a Dominion standpoint, and pioneer and other settlers going into . sparsely settled districts should receivq every possible consideration from the' Postal Department instead of being expected >o either make up, any deficiency or submit to a very inefficient or greatly curtailed service. Tho committee set up by the conference of the Counties' Association ot Mew Zealand to consider the matter of snb"sitlie« on rates and grants to lottil bodies submitted its report to the conference Yesterday. The report of the committee was thai' owing to changed conditions ot truffle which ' continued to impose on enmities an. enormous increase m the construction and maintenance of roads, it should be recommended that all county ■councils be paid a uniform subsidy cn all feneral rates'col.ected of Ills, m the £.' In addition, the committee suggests! that, in order to inerfasifisettleinent and production in the interests of the wlio.e community, the Government should make special!, financial provisions ..for a-, vigoi-. ous raiding policy'in _ 1M;' undeveloped" districts of the Dominion; it al>o con--sidered that this work could be best carried out by the counties concerned acting under Government supervision. The president of the association (Mr. A. E. Jull) said that it was not to b? con-', sidered'that the demand for a uniform subsidy of Ids. in the X was final, for in the future it might be necessary to ask for a. larger subsidy. He moved tho adoption of the commit tee's report. Ihe motion was carricd unanimoiri y.