NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 164, 7 April 1921, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

A wise step has been taken by the Government. in restricting assisted immigration for the time being. Passages are now only to be granted to immigrants who have work and accommodation assured. The industrial outlook for the winter is uncertain, and it would be bad business all round to bring out newcomers who could not he rapidly absorbed into industry. In January tho English newspapers reported that tho Imperial authorities had on hand 4000 woiild-be emigrants desiring immediate transport to New Zealand. It was notified, however, that the Dominion could not take more than 1000 at once, and that the others would have to await passages at later dates. Last year the assisted immigration passed tho 4000 mark for the first time since 1914. These people, with few exceptions, have had little difficulty in finding employment, and the great bulk of them, so fjir as can be judged, are well satisfied with the change they have made in their fortunes by coming out to this Dominion. Tn the railwaybuilding days of the seventies about 100.000 assisted immigrants were brought out in ten years- This is a performance

which stands by itself in. our history, and subsequent Administrations have always shown a marked desire to avoid any approach to the saturation point in immigration.

Taranaki has some of the best stretches of rural roadways in New Zealand, and strangers to tho district finding these good roads together with a system of tollgates have regarded the two as cause and effect. At a meeting of the Wellington Automobile Club last night, Mr. L. Ashcroft Edwards stated that as a result of personal investigation it appeared that tho better roads of' Taranaki were due to the strong local interest in modern methods of road construction. The receipts from the toll-gates had been a minor matter, and provided a relatively small part of tho expenditure. Tollgates are an undoubted nuisance, working expenses in proportion to receipts aro unduly heavy, and if a national system of toll-gates were instituted endless anomalies would arise. At the same time modern road construction is out of the question for most local bodies under present conditions. Year after- year slips by without Parliament finding time to deal with the matter, and it is scarcely surprising that to many people to erect even the archaic toll-gate seems better than waiting and doing nothing. It would bring something in in the meantime, and it would harden up the demand for reform in main roads maintenance and control.

Discussion of the waterside labour problem has been proceeding in the Auckland Press. With freights absorbing so largo a proportion of the receipts for our produce, th© inefficiency on the waterfront becomes of more concern than ever. It is pretty well established that go-slow methods in New Zealand have resulted' Tn mich delays Ho shipping that voyages of overseas vessels are extended on an average by something like 30 per cent. Various suggestions are put forward in Auckland for improving conditions, and enabling cargoes to be discharged and loaded at the same pace as in other countries. One shipping man thought that, say, 300 permanent men might be engaged as tho nucleus of tho labour required. In a rush they would act as leading hands. An alternative scheme suggested was tho introduction of the contract system, but small hope was held out that tho men would consent to the system. Tho chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board inclined to the opinion that a way out might be found if every labourer on the wharves had to be licensed by the board. If no man could be employed without a license, and if licenses were refused to men who did not do a fair day’s work, some improvement might bo expected. Tho situation is difficult, but if tho present policy of drift goes on much longer, ocean liners will be spending more of flheir time in New Zealand ports than at sea. » « * * Spiritualism, company - promoting, music, and fire-eating politics were the odd combination offered a bewildered audience of tho elite of the Berlin musical world a few weeks ego. A Hamburg business man, Herr Ohlhaver, had announced flhat the spirit of Stradiviarius had appeared to him and revealed the secret of the Stradivarius violin. H© wa a ignorant of music, and knew nothing of violin construction, and for a while he made no test of , his revelation. Eventually he bought a common violin and treated it by tho process revealed, incidentally varnishing it with some common lacquer his wife had used on the floor of his room, so great was his ignorance. The result was astonishing, and over 100 violins had been treated with uniform success. The Berlin audience wns assembled to hear a leading German violinist play a number of compositions first on a genuine Stradivarius, and then o n a treated cheap violin. Herr Ohlhaver explained in’an opening address that Tie was too busy to be treating violins, and was therefore forming a litlfle company which would ' produce old masters at popular prices, or at any rate prices that would compare favourably tith the 2,000,000 marks (about £8330) which one pays in Germany today for a Stradivarius. “The Times” correspondem' stated thlat the tone oi the Ohlhaver violin was certainly remarkable, and a preference for it over the Stradivarius was expressed by members of the audience. Herr Ohlhaver in a fiery speech at the conclusion of his strange concert, denounced the Entente, and declared his invention would bo a corner-stone in rearing tbe new Germany. His process is secret, but has he a guarantee that Who spirit of Stradivarius will not appear to Sir Oliver Lodge, or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?