LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 110, 3 February 1920, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

All the Amolmra boy? who recently suffered a mild attack' of the influenza have now returned to'their ship fit end well. The laat batch returned yesterday. The Government has .inceploH tenders for joinery And doors for 200 houses, all to be built in the North Island. Tho successful tenderers were XFesMS. Fletehei Brothers, of Wellington, and the,Wan»anni Sash and Door factory, A leading firm in Palmerston North has just introduced <v savins policy for its employees (says our spee : al correspondent). The firm has practically established a. bank for its hands, ,nd rllows them 7 per cent, for money placed on fixed deposit for twelve months, l! per cent, for six months, and 5 per'cent, on current account. In !hn latter instance the employees aro furnished ;vitli cheque books.

The Wellington City Council have in eontcniulation a ivery extensive, scheme for the improvement of the city, and for the nurnose of carrying it out it vill be necessary to raise i a loan. Within Hie next few months citizens will be asked lo sanction this course. The money will be spent on the extension of existincr reserves, parks, and playing grounds, and for the construction of'new ones. Sites at: Khandallah and Wadestown were purchased recently, and these it is intended to convert into sports grounds. At Island Bay and Ngnio rest-parks for the use of picnickers will be established with fire-places and other conveniences. It is also intended to equip a number of children's playgrounds with suitable apparatus. and to set aside a comer 111 every ground with swings, sand-pits, and other contrivances for the nmusoment of children. The Government lias purchased the properly knoivn as Walkers Station. M.truia Valley, owned by Messrs. J. and G. Walker, for the settlement of soldiers (says the Nelson ''Colonist"). The property comprises' approximate}- 7000 acres, and the purchase price was .MA,OOO. Mr. H 11 Walker states that the date of delivery will be about the end of Apri or the end of May. It is understood that tho Government has also purchased some lJflO acres owned by Mr. D. Oxnam, aliout 20 miles from Mu/'chison. These two properties will be cut up into sections for close settlement. Crowds of school children, accompanied by their parents, thronged the Auckland lailway station on Friday, en route for liomc the order cancelling the opening of the schools evidently having been re-., ceived too lato for them to continuo holiday-making.- One of the carriages 011 tho Main Trunk express was reserved for deaf and dumb jiupils returning to (he Sumner institution. Fifteen _of them entrained here, and it was anticipated that the lxirty would be. augmented to forty 011 tho way south.—New Zealand "Herald." About fiftv men aro constantly employed in connection with the city reserves. and many of these are. in the forestry section, which is busy clearing awav sorse and broom at Onslow and Oriental Bav. "The cotton crop of this season in America can oruv be descr.bed as a failure," «iys a London trade journal, in the' course of a review of tlie prospects of the cotton market. Cotton (f a quality that cost. IS.SOd. per pound in Mav last was costing -id. in December, nnil the movement of the'prices was still upwards. The demand for .British cotton goods at ihat, time was far exceeding tho supply, wages and jnanuf.-tc-turin" costs were rising, and it was freely predicted in tho trade that Hie 1 rices of tho manufactured goods would mount to new levels before any reduction be- . came possible.

Durine the visit of the Deserves Com. mitieo to tlio city reserves yesterday Mr. .T. G. Maokenzie (Director of lieserves niul Parks) mentioned the cost of linked) of Home of these places. Tlio figures itre interesting. The cost of clearing the gorse and bioom from tlio Town Belt on Mount Victoria was ap- ( proximately ..£ISOO, and during last year 4M200 had been sp£nl on Newtown Park, .£5(10 on Anderson Park; <£050 on Iveihurn ; Park .£450 on Kilbirnio Recreation Ground, and about XI4OO on the Botanical Gardens. A Press Association message fronj New Plymouth yesterday stated t.iaMhe Customs revenue collected at iNew 1 ljmouth for .lanuarv, 1920, amounted' to against J.-4047 for January 19111. The nohutakawn trees in tlio Botanical Gardens Ivere last vear attacked by the red snider. and suffered a good deal in conseonence. but they have now recovered from the ravages of this pest. A complaint was recently forwarded to the. Auckland Chamber of ..ommereo by Mejsrs. Sp«ld.n<r, Ltd., of 'lie inaccuracies in the cable message* Ww« England and America (sta.es the btai )• Of sixteen '.messages received, it was stated, onlv one had been correct. .Members of tiip chamber generally agreed with this, slating that -jcarcely a mesca"o was received now Uat \.as aecui.tte, ]t"\v:is dee ded to communicate vitli the Postmaster-General in the .matt?r, and to forward a copy of the coniniuincation to tl'/> postmaster at Auckland. When Questioned yesterday regarding Hie council's scheme for tree-planting in the streets, the Director of liesoryes and Parks (Mr. J. G. MacKcnzie) said that it was intended to make considerable-im-nrovements in Kent Terrace but these , could not be proceeded with until the m-onosed alterations to the tramway lines , had been completed. It is proposed to i olaut Norfolk Island pines and pohutaItawas along the promeimdo at Oriental Bav. "In the United States I found e-try-where a etroiisr feeling of civic jmde, great faith in the future poss toli-ies of the country, and tremendous .cmlb to iu«tifv the one and to develop the otixpr, 'aid 'the Auckland City Engineer (Mr. W. 13. BnslO to a "New ''Miami Hevald reporter. "In this connection ;t must be remembered that the war or America lasted only lone enough to stimulate the energy and will of the people, without , ir. any «nse impairing the r xmWl.tyor reducing their resource, while Gieat I Brhnin and every other jwit of tlu. imniiT. in eommict.oii villi l ei Luro- ■ ~enn Allies, liad to sustain the* i of a severe and prclungnl btrugg is ih.st made tremendous demands en all tl.eir i resources. In Great Britain's case, has revolution sed almosv e\ei> 1 a,e ! of 'her social, political, and n.ononuc ; life, a fact which has to be torn* in i mind' when one weghs the varying ntti- , tufles of the peoples of the fount lift... ' visited if a right judgment is to be oiI rived at."

For tlie purpose o£ allowing the trees to develop, and as a fire. it is tb» intention of the of TCeserves and Parks (Mr, J. G. MacKenc.iel to have the pines on section 48. Mow TCelburn Parado (near Mount Streetl thinned out.