LOCAL AND GENERAL
Tho official price of gold .is £s'l9s. 6d. an ounce, according to a cablegram from London received yesterday.
There is a prospect of better-quality gas being supplied the public within a few days. The Wellington Gas Company has two colliers ea route from Newcastle with full cargoes of coal.
It appears that Tom Kettle, the famous Irishman, dealt with by one of the speakers in the Plunket lledal contest on Friday, did not leave the law courts becauso he thought it dishonourable to earn his living there. Kettle, we nro asked to state, "turned to where he could exercise his talent 6 more honourably," as lie "was extremely sensitive, and lie found it difficult to believe when he lost a ease that another lawyer might not .have guarded the interests of his client more successfully."
"It is better to live for a cause than to dio for it," said the R-ov. H. IV. Burridse in the course of his sermon at St. John's Church last evening, on tho occasion of the unveiling of tho second memorial to the members of tho church on active service. "The fact that ono is willing to dio for a causo proves that tho cause is worth living for."
At a meeting held in the Trades Hall, Vivian Street, on Thursday, the following resolution was passed: "Thin! this meeting of the Wellington Municipal Employees' Union heartily ondorse and support the action of the New Zealand Labour Party in cabling to the British Council of Action, congratulations on its magnificent fight against the capitalist and militarist of Britain declaring war on Soviet Russia, and also denounce and Repudiate the acition of tho three 'so-called 'Labour M.P.V who have publicly declared their opposition to organ'«d Labour in Great Britain and Now Zealand." In tho Juve'uilo Court on Saturday morning a lad was charged with theft of £i 15s. in money on three different occasions, namely, on August! 31, 155., September G, 205., and September 10, £'i, tho property of his employers, E. Keynoldo and Co. Chief-Detective Ward said that the boy was not a bad boy and although ho had been before tho Court previously ho suggested that! he should b? given, another chance. Tho Magistrate, in addressing the bov. said that"lie \\as I'flble to lie sent to prison. He would, however, adopt tho, suggestion of the Chief-Dot'cctive and givo him another chance. He would bo convicted and ordered to como up for sentence when called upon within n period of two years, The lad is on probation in respect to n charge of theft recorded against him in January last, and the present sentence does not interfere with that.
'We must never forget that all classes participated in the Great -War," enicl the Hov. H. AY". Burridge at tho special service at St. John's Church Inst evening. ''The old principle of tho British Army, that she officers should bo aristocrats and the men of the lowest class, has vanished. In the recent war, clerk rubbed shoulders with carpenter, merchant with miner, high with low, Protestant with Catholic: and this should iiever bo forgotten."
A very brief sitting of tho Magistrate's Court was held on Saturday morning, and Mr. J. S. Evans, S.M., was asked to punish ono first offender for insobriety, who failed to appear. Ho was fined 15s. . Alex. Lundquist was further remanded for a week on a charge of assaulting Mason Coulson at MariSnborough. Bail was allowed in £100 and ono surety of a like amount. The coinpla'tnant is still in hospital.
Owing to the refusal of the Labour Department to grant rtgisu'ation, the Wellington Municipal Employees' Union, at a meeting in the Trades Hall on Thursday evening, unanimously decided to veg'v-fcr under tho Trade Union Act. Opinion was freely expressed that id would be a calamity to let the union lapse seeing that it had gained concessions for its members much in advance of anything gained in tho past.
A huge elephant's tusk Was an outstanding exhibit of a most valuable collection shown to the Otago University anthropology class recently by Mr. Macdonald. This tusk, which Mr. Macdonald received from Africa some time ago, weighs over 701b., and is fully 6ft. Gin. in length
Sir Keith Ross, the aviator who was knighted for being the first to fly from England to Australia, is at present in Auckland,.under engagement to the N.Z." Picture Supplies, Ltd., as lecturer to tho very interesting pictures that are being shown in connection with his flying exploits.
Thanks for sympathy expressed, after tho recent destruction by fire of St. Andrew's Church were communicated in a letter from the managers of St. An drew's. read to the congregation of St John's Church last evening.
Interesting diagrams in connection with the extension ot the city'ti power and lighting supplies have been prepared by the Tramway Engineer's department, and these will bo shown and explained at a meeting of ratepayers which is tn be held in the Y.M.C.A. this evening, under the auspices of the Town-planning Association. Ratepayers will he (old in simple language, as free from technicalities as possible, just why a new station is necessary in order to utilise the power from Mangahao, as well as other uselal information concerning lelectric power and lighting for the city. In addition to these diagrams, a large map showing tho proposed new tram routes and arterial roads will "bo displayed. The meeting will commence with moving pictures of Wellington and development work in th« States, to he followed by a few speeches on the loan proposals. Ilatepayers are urged to attend this meeting to-night, as the poll will take place mi Wednesday. Members of the City Council will bo present to address the meeting, and to answer questions if necessary.
A doDutation is to wait upon the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) in connection with the proposed construction witli private capital of an electric lift to servo tho residents of Wellington Terrace. This matter _ was before _ the City Counoil at its last meeting when opinion was divided among councillors as to the wisdom of rdlowing private enterprise to undertake any such work in the city. There were some councillors, however, who thought that the council was assuming a dog-in-the-manger attitude in preventing private enterprise providing a convenience they (tho council) were not prepared to provide.
_ A correspondent writes:—"Tho explanation given by the Prime Minister regarding clause 23 of the Land and Income Tax Amendment Eill does not answer the objections raised in regard to the inclusion of war loan interest with assessable income to fix the rate payable. The Primo Minister states that the assessments referred to in the new section of the Land and Income Bill are on assessable income only, and flint interest derived from War Loan Debentures issued free of income tax is not assessable income. Of this the commercial community was already quite awaTe, and it was not suggested that war loan interest was to bo included as assessable income. What was suggested was that the nonassessable income (that is, war loan interest) might be added to the assessable income for the purnose of .fixing the graduated scale applicable to the assessable income. The Prime Minister, in his reply, has not dealt with this question at all. If a taxpayer received an income of ,£SOOO. of which -XIOOO is wnr loan interest, he will be assessed on ,£4OOO. but at what rate—the A'-KMO rate or the .£SOOO rate? Clause 23 is dangerously ambiguous, and holders of war loan stock require a definite answer to this ouery."
The nnniml report of the congregation ot S». John's Presbyterian Church, to bo presented at. the annual meeting on Wednesday, states that tho communion roll last year showed a membership of 803. The loss this year, by certificate and otherwise, SI, and the additions SI. The total number on the roll at June 30, 1920, was 80G. The highest attendance at Communion for the year was in June, when 152 were present The visitation of the congregation has been carried out tv Dr. Gibb prior to his leaving for Britain, and since that time by the Rev. H. W. Hurridgo
Before the Arbitration Court at Auckland, the payment of 12 months' half-pay as a lump sum was agreed upon by the parties in the case of J. J. Sutton against tho Union Steam Ship Company. The plaintiff fell off a boat into the sea and received shook, which affected his heart. The company had been paying compensation, but plaintiff now desired a lump nun. Judgment was entered for ,£l2B 14s.—Press Assn.
Referring to the attendance at public worship, Hie annual report of St. John'? Presbyterian Church, state: "The 'it■tendance at the Sunday services has fluctuated considerably, but there can b« little doubt that it shows an improvement on the previous year. The'most hopeful sign has been the return of tho younger people, who, especially at the evening service, are beginning to make tho galleries look almost as full aB in former years. The prayer meeting attendance has beon good, tho class room usually being well filled." Special reference is made to tho work of the choir.
It was only a fow years ago when every boy had to start work at ss. or 7s. Gd. a week, and was accorded fortunate if ho obtained entrance in a good firm at that salary. Now ho can pick and choose, and oven up to 255. per week A wellknown schoolmaster was consulted on tho reason for the acute shortage of boys. lie stated that the attendances at the schools were steadily growing, and the outjnit cf boys was quito normal, whereas tho demand was quite abnormal. Ho could only account for it by quoting the phrase in such common uso for the past three or four years: "C'est le guerre!" (It is the war). New Zealand suffered more than people were able to realise. She loot 10,000 of the cream of her young men; another 10,000 wore injured, many incapacitated for lifo from taking up their former employ, and on top of that many hundreds, thousands perhaps, clianjed by their war experience,, declined to go backto their former employment, but turned to other avenues which they thought would suit them better, These threo reasons, ho believed, accounted, in the main, for the acute demand thai existed to-day for boys. For a long time past the skilled trades had been starved for hoys, and tho public throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand had felt that for more than a. year or two.. In that case the shortage had been accentuated by ill-considered laws restricting the number of apprentices to one to every threo or lour journeymen tradesmen, as the case may lie. thus drastically regulating tho number of skilled tradesmen needed for the country's requirements. These regulation!), followed by the war, had made tho case almost dosperato for tlioso who employed skilled tradosmen, 60 one heard to-day of carpenters in receipt of 3s. Cd. an hour, plumbers the same, and bricklayers 3s. an hour. So in the end the public paid for regulations that were enacted ten or fifI teen years ago, and did' not fit the present times at all. On top of all this camo tho offer of the Government to take bovs into the service direct from the Stale schools, so Ilia 1 us far as tho trades wore concorned the boy fihortago threatened to bocomo an absolute ftniino
"The cost of playing cricket has gone up," said a club secretary at a meeting at Christchurch on Friday evening. "Bats are now £2 and <C 2 10s., instead of 255. and 30s. Cricket balls which used in be about 7s have jumped to 19s. and 21s. Gd." The meeting decided that subscriptions 6liould go up in sympathy. Members will be called on to pay an additional ten shillings this year.
The participation of the Christian Church in tlio war was referred to by the liev. If. W. Burridge during his sermon at St. John's Church last evening. In the opinion of the speaker, never before in the history of the church had it been more solidly behind a cause in battle. "We aro a peace-loving nation," added the speaker, "but the war proved that the church had, too. to cast herself into the maelstrom for the good of humanity. The church realised her duty."
The vexed question of u trade boycott of our late enemies, and particularly of 1 Germany, was pointedly raised at the Overseas Club, at Christchurch, on Saturday night. In a discussion after Archdeacon Woodthorpo's lecture on British Imperial problems, Mr. H. S. Black made somo scathing comments on British people, who by their trade had helped Germany to accumulate wealth, and said ho hoped nothing of that kind would happen again. Another member questioned whether this-was a sensjblo+'new to take, and, suggested that if it was to our advantage to trade with Germany we should bo well advised to do so. Ho appealed to the Archdeacon for his opinion on the subject.' Archdeacon AVoodthorue declared at once that he "had no sympathy with the boycotting business at all." The first principle of international trade wn» mutual service. Germany was the centre of an economic system of 303,000,000 people that depended upon her effort, and any refusal to trade with her was only going to perpetuate the misery of Central Europe, and perpetuate bad.feeling for many years to r/ome. He believed himself that the attempt to boycott German commodities would be a mistake, but lie left it to the statesmen on the political side as distinct from the economic side to,protect Great Britain against any unjust penetration by Germany, as sho did in the past for political purposes. It was only in that senso that he would expect the statesmen of the Empire to bo on their guard. The Archdeacon's sentiments were cordially applauded, says a Christchurch paper.
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Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 300, 13 September 1920, Page 4
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2,323LOCAL AND GENERAL Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 300, 13 September 1920, Page 4
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