LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 298, 10 September 1920, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

"Mr. Massey proposes to tax tho tramways undertaking, I trust you will join me in protesting against any such thing. Any works that aro run by tlio' people for the people should not bo subject to taxation."—The Mayor (Mr. J., P. Luke) at last night's meeting at the Town Hall. |

The conferonce of directors and supervisors, and representatives of boards of managers of technical schools yesterday passed a resolution: "That in viiew of the educational importance of organised school games, the Minister of Customs be urged to approve of articles used for 6uch games being admitted to New Zealand duty free"

Some person lias sent the Commissioner of Taxes £30, as. conscience-money, anil the Treasury acknowledges the receipt of tlio amount.

After investigating the statement made by .it member of the Wellington 'U.S.A. that the Tow.n Clerk (Mr. J. R. Palmer) had advjrtiscil for a Chinaman, tho following letter has been sent to Mr. Palmer reply to your letter dated September 3, wherein you took objection to a remark passed by one of our. members to the effect that you had advertised for a Chinaman, I am directed by my executive to inform you that the matter has been thoroughly investigated by them. Mr. Hinde, the member' wlio made the statement, was caller! upon to prtdueo his authority. This ho has now done, but, alas, the advertisement was not for a 'Chinaman,' but for a 'chainman.' At a general meeting of my association. held on Wednesday. Mr. Hinde apologised to you for having made the statement, and my executive trusts that this apology will be accepted by vou. Having in view the sympathetic consideration you have always Riven- to returned soldiers, and to returned soldier mattors, my executive also wishes to express its regret at 1 any annoyance you may have been caused."

The following local bodies have obtained tho consent of the Government to raiso by way of loan the amount 6et opposite each-.—Auckland City Council, ,£500,000; Palmerston North Borough Council, .£228,300; Banks Peninsula Electric Power Board, £100,000; Avondaleßoad Board. .£75,000; Gisbome Borough Council, ,£10,000; Bluff Harbour Board, ,£35.000; Waipukurau. Borough Council, £36,500; Matamata County Council, ,£20.000; Foxton Borough Council and Whangarei Borough Council, each £10.000; Hastings Borough- Council, ,£9360: Snmner Borough Council, £8350; Mount Eden Borough Council, £20,000; Waipa Drainage Board. JJ5000: Ivawlua Countv Council, .£4500; Featherston County Council, <£4200; AVhakatane County Council, £1035; Whakatane Borough Council, i!« 00; Whangaroa County Council, ~£4425; To Awamutu Borough Council, £2500; Woolston Borough Council, £1850; JoTinsonviUo lown Board. £1000; and Orona- County Council. £500;

Tho Government has accepted the services of the Heretannga Legion of Frontiersmen Defence Hide Club, with headquarters at Hastings.

A questioner at tho loan poll meeting lirtlie Town Hall last evening raised' a laughj.by asking who was goins to. uet jje 5l per cent, interest on the loan. The Mayor said that if he worked for n man he wanted his wa#es. and the- man who lent his money wanted his interest— auil deserved it.

On Tuesday morning a party of students, who are under instruction in boot repairing, in connection with- the vocational training scheme at tho Trentham Military Hospital, visited Messrs. Hirst and Co.'s tannery works, Kawarra. They wore received by Mr. Harris (the manager] and conduercd on a tour of inspection of the works. Members of the party evinced keen interest in tho technicalities of till© tanning and fellinongery trade -as unfolded by the manager and his staff. Before taking their departure tho members of. the party were presented by the management with specimens of leather manufactured at the works. The appreciation felt by the visitors for the courtesy shown was expressed by the vocation officer- at _ tho conclusion of tho tour. Tho patients attending this class executed repairs tn seventy pairs of boots during the month just ended, for which the sum of .£lB 13s. 3d. was realised. This amount ha? been credited to the soldiers' recreation fund account at the liosn ; tal and will be disbursed, along witih other moneys -which" havo accrued from the 6ale of articles manufactured in the various workshops, among tho students accorciiig to tho hours of attendance they have put in during tho period.

It is notified in the Gazette issued last evening that the charge for the transmission from a ship-station of a Press-radio telegram for publication in New Zealand shall he ss. per 100 words or fraction thereof. The charge for transmission to or from New Zealand, from or to Western Samoa., shall be 3d. a word with a minimum chargo of ss. Tho immigration and emigration' returns for the moiith of August show that 4143 persons arrived and 2443 left New' Zealand. For tho corresponding month of last year the arrivals were 88G and the departures 1285. During the past month 193 Chinese arrived in the Dominion and 23 left the country.

The following extract from a private letter received from an ex-Otago runholder in Scotland has been placed at the disposal of the "Otago Daily Times": —"I hope Sir James Allen will wake up our people re frozen^meat; tho stuff the Government are letting the butchers have is quite unfit for human food, nnd bound to prejudice consumers. I see two butchers'- shops every day on the way to my office, and am shocked every day. Two or three years' frozen meat is not nice to look at, or to smell. It smells stuffy, and lion' anyone can face it is a. wonder. Until tho public cry out no Government official moves," A notification appears in the Gazette proclaiming tho constitution of the borough Ngnruawahia as from September 11, and the first election of Mayor and councillors is to be held on October 4. Further requests that women workers should be paid the samel cost of living but us as is received by men wero made in the Arbitration Court at Auckland on Wednesday, says the "Herald." "We are all the same," said Mr. G. Poore, who appeared on behalf of the Musicians' Union. "There is ho differentiation he•tween males and females. A woman might )je playing lead in the orchestra, nnd a man might be playinp tho drums." Mr. Justice Stringer said it was not a question of wages, but of the cost of living bonus. It did not matter whether the wage was XI or <£5 a week. "The triris would spend their lunch money on silk stockings," remarked Mr. Justice Stringer at tho Arbitration Court at Auckland on Thursday, when considering a clause in tho restaurant, tea, and refreshment room workers'' award. The proposal was that n sum of Is. per day should be paid to the waitresses and oilier employees whose employers could not provide a hot meal. His Honour added that the girls would pocket the money and content themselves with the cold meal provided, thus defeating the obiect of tlie clause. Tho decision of the Court was reserved—"Star." A West Coast correspondent writes:— A re:ent visitor from Canterbury, a practical bushman, who lately visited Mr. "William Farrell's farm at Ikamatna, states that he saw growing on tho properly a red pine tree which he considers tho largest red pine tree in the South Island. He estimated the girth at ground at 17ft. or over, and the length to first limit 80ft., and so even that he estimates tho tree to produce GOOOft. of milling timber. Tho treo can bo seen about a mile from the railway station.— "Press." llow soldiers who had portions of their rcrves blown away had them rejoined by the grafting in of lengths of animals' nerves was told by Sir Charles iJallaice in a on "The' Healing Process in Nerves," given at the annual conference of the Incorporated Society of Trained Masseuses, at the Hoyal Society of Arts, London. "You got an animal." he said, "whoso nervo is tho samo eizo as tlio one you want to heal. An officer was wounded in the arm, and two inches of his ulnar' nervo was blown awav. I wont to my butcher and told him T wanted two inches of a sheep s seiat/c nerve. He killed sheep, and while (he nervo was still nlive I cut it out and grafted it in immediately. That officer mado a oomplete recovery." 1

Sir Arnold Gridlejr, who has been visiting Southland during" tho last few days, was entertained at dinner to Invercar gill Inst night by tho Southland League and Elcctric Power Board. In the course of a spcecli Sir Arnold Gridloy referred in congratulatory terms to the Southland electrical scheme, and predicted a great impetus to the prosperity of the Dominion with the extension of the use of electrical power.—Press Assn. A meeting of the Jewish community of Dunedin was held last night to hear an address by Mr. Israel Cohen, emissary of tho Executive of the Zionist Organisa ; tion. _ The following resolution was unanimously adopted: "That til's meeting of the Jewish community of Dunedin tenders its heartfelt thanks to the British Government for accepting the man date for Palestine, and pledges itself to do everything in its power to assist tho leaders of the Zionist movement in the restoration of Palestine." In response to an appeal was contributed at the meeting, and this sum, it is stated, will be considerably augmented.—Press Assn.

Many tunes have newspaper correspondents and speakers nt public meetings denounced the glowing practice of giving a ' nosh bonus to secure the 'tenancy of a house. It has been said ihat tho bonus system is responsible for many evils and much, hardship. Landlords have been blamed for harsh treatment of tenants, and even tenants have been known to profit materially out of the necessities of other tenants. A city estate agent gave a Dominion representative yesterdav an illustration of this which is rather striking. The tenant of a house in this agenfs hands stated that as his wife had i to go away for awhile he would be letting a fellow-cmployeo have the use of the place. This proposal seemed reasonable enough, and was approved, but soon the agent heard reports which arousi ed his suspicions. Inquiry showed that tho original tenant had left for good, and had mado a nice little profit out of the mar. for whom he had professed sympathy. In the first place he had received a bonus of ,£5 for letting the new tenant in, and thereafter was making a weekly profit on the rental." The agent was unable to do anything about tho bonus, but he took immediate steps to stop the profit on the rent. He also reported tho matter to tho Labour Department and to tho police, and was astonished to find that neither could take action against the original tenant, whose little bit of profiteering seemed to be ciuito -within- the four corners of tho law.

The severe frosts experienced in some parts of Taranaki during tho past winter, played havoc with the fern, to the great joy of the settlers in tho Whangamoinona district, who, just before the weather broke, took advantage of a high wind to have an out-of-season fire. Fern fires blazed in all directions, and some good clearings were effected. Tho nativo bush has also felt the severity—tawa and hinau trees are quite browned, koromiko and other tender shrubs hang in rib-' bons, and tree ferns are blackened and (lead looking. Ribbonweeds appear to be the only liativo plants capable of resisting the frosts.

At the 'Symonds Street Post Office, Auckland, one day last wec-k, a young man staggered, in with a. large biscuit tin and deposited it on the counter, saying lie wished to open a banking account. A lady official smilingly asked what on earth lie had. "Twenty hundred . pennies," was tho answer. She asked for the tin to be passed over the wire screen, but the young man, knowing the weight, took it to the other end, and pushed it over the counter. The young lady could not shift the tin, let. alone lift if, and had to call on another official to help lier. She then dragged it alcng tho counter and started to count out the contents, taking a full half-hour to finish the coppery contract. Two land deals at Porirua wcrtr the subject of a reserved judgment delivered by the Chief Justice (Sir Bobenl StoutJ, yesterday. The judgment was in connection with the oases of Mexted v. Greer and Mungftvin v. Greer. In the case of 3lexted v. Greer the plaintiff sought specific performance in respect of thf sale of 13 acres of land owned by >h« defendant, while the case of Mungavin v. Greer was an actiton for specific performance to compel defendant to purchase .acres of land and certain dwellings thereon. The defence set up the plea that there had been misrepresentation. Judgment was given for the defendant in both cases, with costs on tho lowest scalo.

On Friday the Rev. J. J. North, of Christchurch. was rung up by a lady, who inquired .about the Fight tho Famiuo Fund. She wanted to bo euro that the European need was real, and that the ?nethod o£ distribution was Rood. She said she had a considerable cheque to gire to the fund, and would post it. By Saturday morning's mail a clieaue for JE7OO was delivered to Mr. North. It was an open cheque, and the envelope contained 110 lino of tho lady's writing. The cheque was issued by tho Post Office Savings Bank, and signed by .1 Savings Bank officer, on the Bank of New Zealand. The lady's namo therefore is buried in obscurity.

Following an Appeal Court decision in June, the Valuation Department _ assessed land occupied by the gas mnins in Auckland city and suburbs at for taxation and rating. The Auckland Gas Company lodged an objection, which was heard yesterday by Sir. _ Cutten, S.M., and two assessors. Mr. Richmond, counsel for the company, said tho Department was dealing with an intangible interest in land which had not before arisen under the new Valuation Act. Ha argued that there was no unimproved value in the possessory right of tenure of tho company, and' that the company had 110 exclusive interest in the land, but merely a statutory right of way. Mr. Peacock, for the Department, submitted that this right was saleable. Mr. Richmond "ep'.icd that he thought not. Tho case is proceeding.'—Press Assn.

At the loan poll meeting last evening a question was asked tho Mayor as to how an estimate for tho cost of a tunnol through Mount Victoria' could bu made, wjjan no site had been decided upon. The Mavor said that an estimate had been made roughly on the existing rates for labour, and the averngo length that such a tunnel would have to be. The Jlatai--tai people had suggested Majoribanks Street, but he thought the Bllicc Street site the better one. Mr. A. Butt said thai: the Citv Engineer hsd suggested the college grounds, but the Hataitai people agreed with tho Elliee Street site. The Mayor said that 110 was glad tiiat liie Hataitai people agreed with linn. A funnel "by way of Elllco Street would, it was assumed, cost JC160,000 (the amount for tho tunnel on the schedule), Instruction in poultry farming is in very keen demand among the patients at the Trentham Miliary Hospital, particularly tlioso men whoso disability has incapacitated them from resuming tlheir pre-war vocation. To meet this demand an arrangement has been mpdo with the Government poultry expert to visit the hnspiwl periodically for the purpose of aiidresstog tho students. Mr. Brown, tho expert, went to Trentham 011 Tuesday morning, and his remarks were listened to .by a class of twenty who displayed tlie keenest of interest' throughout In response to overtures made by the vocation officer, the Hon. C. It. Izard and Mr. Mumby, who own poultry farms fri the neighbourhood of the hospital, havo consented to hold t'heir plants and tho experience of their respee'tive managers at the disposal of-the patients. Since the commencement of the current- month students have attended these farms daily for practical instruction. Tho vocation officer says rlinfc commendable readiness is shown by various business concerns in this district. in co-operatins: with tho eiroris of tho Department in its endeavour to grapple successfully with th© rehabilitation of (he disabled soldier. _J'About this hot salt water bath fov 1 norndon,' said Mr, John Castle at last evening's loan poll meeting in tlio Town Hall. '.'Tho original proposal was tiiM it was to be in tho centre of tho city, and that tlio waste hoat from the destructor was to be used in connection with it. It seems to me that it is a sop for Thorndfin." "It is no Gop for anyrcpftbtl tho Mayor; "you get sops in a chemist's shop. The council is responsible for tho whole schedule, and 110 councillor has any pull. Anyway, I think the Thorndon people ought to have n bath. (Laughter.) Tho present baths are 110 Rood—they arc so polluted with silt that it is dangerous for anyone to iiso them." The Mayor added that there was 110 wasto heat at tho destruotor,

Mr. John Crowes, spealimf? at la>A evening's loan poll meeting at the Town Hall, said that ho thought tho amount proposed to be spent on « new tunnel through to Hntaitai could, he more advantageously spent on widoning Manners Street. In replying, the Mayor said that it would he a better idea to carry on the widening of "Willis Street to Dixon Street, and widen tho latter street down to Taranaki Strcot. Then, by doinu away altogether with tho Royal Onk Hotel, they would have an open, block <n the centre of the city that would accord with town-planning ideas. It is notified in tho Gazette that the following addition has been mado in the regulations under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act: "In the case of malt and vinegar, malt and alcoholic vinegar, or mult and spirit vinegar, not less than fifty parts per centum of the total acid in tho vinegar shall bs derived from malt,"