LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 308, 22 September 1920, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The swearing-in ceremony of His Excellency the Governor-General (Viscount .U'Jlicoe) will take place nt Parliament Buildings ou Monday, September 27. A return tabled in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon gave the approximate area of unsettled Crown lands within the Dominion and tho classification of these lands. Tho figures were as follow First-class land, 155,072 acres; second-class land, 1,260,648 acres; third-class land, 1,7611,463 acres; barren and worthless land, 2,068,828 acres. A note to tho return stated that it showed the position as at October U, 1919. Tho Presbyterian General Assembly is to meet in Wellington on November 16. It is five years 6ince the assembly met in Wellington. . Referring to the cable message which appeared in Monday's Dominion, recording a drop 111 prices of manufactured goods, ft local indent agent said that such a drop may have been brought about by the action of a few retailers who were, perhaps, pressed for money. Certainly nolliing of the kind was reflected in trade cablegrams. As late as Friday lasi ho cabled his firm as to price and date of delivery of a lino cf standard flannelette. The reply was that they could not guarantee when any order could be delivered, and tho price would be that ruling on the day of shipment On cabling for another line last Friday, an answer came that there was an advance of 15 per cent, in price, and at that, price the order was booked. According to advices received by the agent, the rise or fall in priccs was not so much due to the cost of the raw material ns to tlie manufacturing and overhead charges. Even if wool or c?tton fell to half its present price it would have a marked effect on prices,. simply because the amount of cotton or wool in a single garment was very small. It was tho cost of labour that was forcing up prices m Old Country, and when labouring people complained of the. high cost of English cotton, sheetings, flannels, or flannelettes they should remember that.

At tho last meeting of the Boird of Management of the Wellington Typographical Union, the following resolution was carried That having considered the Master and Apprentices Bill introduced by the Government, we call die attention of other unionists to the provisions with regard to indentured labour, and we ask the Ikuse to reject tho measure. which would be detrimental to the whole of the organised, workers of New Zealand.

Tho Cliurch of England Institute for Soldiers at Eotorua is to lie closed at tho end of this month.—Press Assn.

The old established Napier legal firm of Cotterill and Humphries is dissolving partnership, and consequently this firm llama will no longer be used, the business was the oldest, in Napier, having been established by the late Hon. John Nathaniel Wilson, M.L.C., in - ISS9. In Vli the lata Mr. Arthur James Cotterill joined Mr. Wilson under the firm name of Wilson and Cotterill. In lSol Mr. Herbert Humphries joined- the firm, and ill 1859 its name was changed to r«s present title of Cotterill and Humphries. Following on the dissolution, Mr. Wilfrid C. Sproule is joining- m co-partner-ship with the firm of .Messrs. Iminedyj tusk, and Molding. Messrs. John and Walter Humphries will continue to practise in the present premises, lhe lim have disposed of their Hastings branch, which lias been taken over bv Messrs. Kelly and M'Neil, who were on the iirin a stuff.' and tliev will carry cn the business in the firm's Hastings premises. The trustees of the Dunedin Savings Bank have resolved to tender ior ioflflO worth of Otago Harbour Board debentures at par, which will bear interest at 5J per ccnt.—Press Assn. "I don't think we need worry oiu- heads about section 27 of the Act!" remarked Mr. A..S. Bank-art at the Chambers m Commerce Conference yesterday. jne section provides .that ' notwithstanding anything to the contrary m the principal Act, or in any other, Act, income tax shall not be 'deemed to be payable by any racing club for any year, prior to the year of assessment commencing oil April 3, 1920."

Professor Thomas, chairman of the Auckland University Council, stated m reply to the Betail Chemists' Association that the members of. the New Zealand Pharmacy Board had informed lum tliey were not' in favour of centralisation of pharmacy pxawin;ifcions in elhngtoii. Press Ass.i.

In the course cf his annual report to the Central Progress League Monday night, the secretary (Mr. G. Mitchell, M.P.), lefevrin? to the shortage ot houses, said: "The /Railway Department is making ft forward move, which seclUß oil right lines; but the Government activities are feeble in the extreme.- Only 13 houses have been built in Aew /jWlnnii so far, and. those under course ot construction are making very slow progress, and unless ,a good dcal_ mure enprirv, organisation, and ability is put into the Department, it is dconied to piove a costly 'dud.' We are still wantin" a live Government housing scheme, carried out with ability and vigour, and until this is established we have little hope of relieving the present deplorable housing conditions in our cities. The "Prince's Choir," consisting nf picked voices from the higher standards in the' State schools, is at P res e n V'"'° t ' ing singing time to the rehearsal of Jiwe songs which are to be sun? at the fovn Hall on the evening of Aolsons V<w, ' when it is hoped that the hoyernor-Gen-eral, Viscount Jellicoe, will he present. The songs will include ' l e Gentlemen |of England," "The Golden Vanity, and "Rule Britannia."

The changes that have taken place in the kauri gum trade during recent .veal's mentioned at the Arb trahon ourt at Auckland on Saturday by Mr. 1 . h. Gribbin. He stated that fifteen or twenty vears ago there were about torts grades of gum marketed, compared half that number new. ? r >' h IL, evade gum was now received. In 19W the quantity of gum hand Q a 6000 ions, compared with about WO toi for the past year. About 75 pel cent, of that now being produced was the low-grade commodity that was bein;g o - tnined by dredging. T-lus class, of gum wa" now worth a ton, compared with £15 n ton a little more than a year ago. "Herald." , "I have found no fewer than twenty : four different spellings of a certain Maori word—the name of an early there may be more!" asserted Mr. Elsdon Best at the Philosophical Society u Historical eection meeting last night.

Bearding the statement by the Board of Trade relative to the issue of permits for advertising hoardings 111 Chnslchureh, Councillor J. W. Bennland (deputy-. Mayor of Chnetchurch) said yesterday: "In spite of what the'board of Trade peoplo say, I still maintain Hint timber suitable 'for building houses is being used in advertising hoardings in Christchurch. and timber we waut badly; there is no question about it."—Press Assn. The third race of the season of the Hutt Valley Homing Club was flown from Waiaura on Saturday, the winning bird being Mr. I*l. Shaw's Blue Chequer (Irish), 1049. yards per minute. Mr. Donl'ieTly's Rutty, 1002 came second, and Mr. C. Carter's Turbine, 977 yards, third. Jlrs. Ada Margaret de Mutt died suddenly at 133 Ghnznee Street at 8 o'clock last "night. The doctor who was called in would not give a certificate as to the ciuist of death'. The body' was removed to the morgue, whero an inquest will lie held. The Wellington Labour Representation Committee has not yet dismissed the question of nominating n candidate for the City Council by-election. "We have not yet felt the economic pressure that must come," remarked a dolegate at the Chambers of Commerce Ccnforenco yestordav, speaking on the Land and Income Tax Bill.