LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 223, 15 June 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The members of the Australian Daria Cup team ate passengers by the Nl. agara, which arrived at Auckland yesterday en route to Canada.—Press Assn. Alaior-General Sir Donald M Gavin and Sir John Luke will bo the guests and speakers at a New Zealand Club luncheon to-day.

Wellington is shortly to have a <-hincso newspaper. The paper wijl be called the "Alan Sing Times. Ihe first number is to appear on July 11 and the paper will contain news of affairs in the East and also a record of events elsewhere.

Tn November last Mr. J. Castle, secretary of the Wellington Zoological Society, wrote to the Prime Minister asking that a communication bo sent to the High Commissioner requesting him to ascertain whether the Ixmdon Zoological Society would supply the Wellington Society with a tiger, to be presented to the Wellington Zoo. Information ha. been received by Mr. Castle through the Department of Internal Affairs that the Ixmdon Society has no tigers for disposal, nor did they know of any on offer. The secretary of the London Society has undertaken to let the Wellington Society know if he hears of any tigers offered for disposal. He advised as the quickest method, however communicating direct with, the Zoologica Gardens at Calcutta, as the majority of the tigers sent to England pass through Calcutta. High prices are being asked for tigers just now, and in the opinion of the secretary of ,the London Society the price at Calcutta would be from -€l5O to .£2OO. Duplication of the tramway track at Island Bay was urged by a deputation from Ihe Ratepayers' Association oi he district which waited yesterday on he Mayor. Mr. Wright stated that il o Citv Council and the Tramway Deparlment were both anxious to proceed w‘th the work as soon as possible, but the financial position would not allow this to be done at. present.

According to shopkeepers more soft drinks are being sold in Wellington now than has been ihe ca*e for some years. In one small shop the proprietor showed a Dominion reporter a docket indicating that he had sold 401 Txittles between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. on Saturday.

A combined meeting of delegates representing the Wellington Industrial Association and the Wellington Trades and Labour Council will be held this niietnoon to consider the proposal to hold a New Zealand industrial exhibition in Wellington in October next of the matter was made at last nwht. meeting of the executive of the W elhngton Industrial Association over which Mr C J. Ward presided. It was decided V approach the Harbour Board for the use of one of its big sheds for the purpose of housing the proposed exhibition.

A deputation, representing business people who make use of petrol and benzine is to interview the Minister of Internal Affairs this morning to protest against some of the provisions of the regulations relating to dangerous goods.

It was mentioned al last night fl meeting of the. Victoria Collego Council that Mr R. T. Turnbull had presented the college' library with about eighty .volumes dealing with physical, chemical, and electrical subjects. The books aro an important addition, to the woiks avail able for th« use of students.

The vocation officer fells of a pathetic incident which occurred recently at Pleasant Valley Sanatorium, Dhineilin. Among the patients are a number of soldiers who contraeled tuberculosis as ihe, result of active service, and .the Defence Department provides them l with instruction in suitable subjects, such as poultry farming, leather work, and bas-ket-making. Great interest is taken in these occupations, even by the worst cases. One man. although in the last stages of Ihe disease, insisted on finishing a basket he was making for exhibition at, the Dunedin Show. The basket was finished, but the maker died before he could learn that a special prize had been awarded his last effort.

“In Wellington you are getting the highest prices for eggs, and you have no organisation,” stated Mr. 8. 11. Scott (president of the New Zealand Poultry Association) at a meeting last night. He said that he thought poultrymen here were cutting against one another. He thought that the Wellington men should decide to have one organisation to fix the supply and price of eggs. A short meeting of the Victoria College Council was held last night, Mr. I*. I.evi in the chair. It was decided that meetings of the council should be held in future on the second Wednesday in each month. A sum not exceeding £166 was granted for extra assistance in the philosophy department. The librarian was granted six months’ leave of absence, on full pay, to enable him to visit England, and the chairman, with the chairman of the Professorial Board, was authorised to arrange for a locum tenens from July 15. The. board decided to discontinue the practice of transferring fees to other colleges on behalf of students who were transferred during the session. Refunds would be made direct to the students in suitable cases. Some other business was taken tn committee.

“The industry is going ahead throughout the country by leaps and bounds, said Mr. Scott, referring last night to the poultry industry, "and it looks as though there will be a great increase in production.” A report that the Government intended to appoint a woman as a branch immigration officer 'jn Auckland, whose special duty would be to place girl immigrants in employment, recently reached the directors of the Auckland YWC A. A letter, asking for information'on the subject, was sent to the Minister of Immigration, who has re plied, stating that the Department has no intention of making such an appointment at present. Mr J B. Merrett mentioned at the gathering of poultrymen last mglit( that there was a small township in California about the size of Lower Putt wino wo in far the poultry industry. In this small narrow valley there were overfive million birds, just dooMethotota.lni her of birds in New Zealand. He naa stayed at one place where one man possessed 35,000 laying birds. In New_ land they fiddled around with .£0 buds. Late Inst year a movement was maoe to form a guild composed of “embers of the staffs of wholesale genera merchants in the Wellington district, which resulted in a very strong bodj, now known as "The Wellington Wholeale General Merchants’ Asststenu Guild” being incorporated and recog nised’bv the various mercantile firms in the 'city. After several conferences betwren the executive and a eom ; mittee of controlling officers of ware houses an agreement as. to salaries, and conditions of work satisfactory to all parties ■ concerned has been made The conference-s were carried on ?n a very friendly spirit, the employers throughout .expressing their sympathies with the guild and its aims and "Sects, which, when fully developed would materially improve the e ciency of their staffs, and promote and foster «■ social spirit, equally to t advantage «f toe employee and (employer. The Citv Council has already , passed a resolution authorising the Wellington Zoo authorities to charge an admittance fee of 3d. to adults on Sundays. The new charge has not yet been mat . as toe Zoo” grounds are a portion of u public reserve (Newtown Park), and the charge for admittance on Sundays has to be sanctioned by Parliament, as was the case when authority was given to charge On week-days.

A recent visitor from the Old Country who takes a great deal of interest in zoology, visited the Wellington municipal Zoo, and was rather surprised to see how well the pair of heron* thrived, and mentioned the difficulty that had been experienced in keeping herons alive in the London Zoo. In the course of a chat he mentioned that the food given them included dried flies, which were imported from Mexico and the Argentine. Mr. J. Langridge, the Wellington curator, suggested that the provision of live insect food might be a factor, and recounted that in the Wellington Zoo he. was accustomed to hang a piece of meat or a fish to one of the bushes within the enclosure, but out of sight of the public. . That attracted the flies, and the herons were able to get a nice meal of fresh food whenever they felt hungry. There are tricks in every trade—even that of a Zoo curator.

The secretary of ihe Commercial .Travellers’ Association has received the following letter from Sir John Luke in reply to the association's congratulations on the recant birthday honour conferred on Sir John“ Many thanks to the directors, members and yourself for kind congratulations on the honour conferred upon me by His Majesty the King. My' wife and myself are conscious that the distinction was possible because of the loyal and unstinted help accorded us in all the enterprises during the strenuous years we have just emerged from. May I be permitted to state no other association stood out more prominently, than your own association? It is world's knowledge the great organising capacity and successful campaigning' of yonr club efforts in war work. Your members each and all deserve the best tribute we can pay you, and that is you were a Iqyal, inspiring force that did and not talked. I shall never forget what you did. I again thank you, and I hope the future will reveal happiness and prosperity to all your members.’’

In pointing out at last night’s conference regarding the city’s milk supplies, that the farmer had his labour troubles, Mr. F. J. Ryder (Otnki) said that the sharemilkers—four men and a boy—on his property last year drew between .11200 and £l5OO as their share of the milk cheques. This year, however, they had turned the proposition down as not offering sufficient inducement to stay on. They were not required to milk. by hand, but used machines, which 'ho himself had installed. Another farmer present said that in the Kairanga dlstr E”[ one family- milking on shares drew £l5OO for the year,* 1 and then refused to renew the contract on the same basis. The remits adopted at the recent conference of poultrymen were placed before the Minister of Agriculture (lion. AV. Nosworthy) yesterday by a deputation. The proceedings were private. Members of the deputation stated subsequently that they had urged the needs of their industry- upon the attention of the Minister, who had promised to do the best that he could for the poultrymen with the means at his disposal.

“It is an absolute scandal that honeygraders should be paid as poorly as they aro,” said Mr. R. C. Ryland at the keepers’ Conference at Auckland. “We have made representations to the Government, and I believe the heads of the horticultural division are with us.” He referred to the importance of grading guarantees in the marketing of honey in other countries, and said that the only way to retain the services of efficient men was to pay them adequately. He maintained that honey-grudors should be paid as much as the graders of dairy produce.

The Wairarapa Automobile Association has resolved to ask the .Masterton Borough Council to permit the parking of cars al: an angle of 45 degrees, iustead of straight on to the footpath, as is at present the custom. The suggestion emanated from Air. Edward Barton, of Lansdowne, who stated that, this method had proved very successful in Wellington, and meant that the cars could lie got away from the parking-places much more expeditiously by being placed at this angle. "They have got in Masterton enough parking places to park the whole of the cars in the Wairarapa, and none of them are any good,” was the comment of one member when ihe matter was being discussed. There is sometimes a gleam of humour to relieve the serious work of those whose lot. it is to investigate the cases which come under their notice in regard to some of the homes in the city (states the Auckland "Star"). At a recent meeting an elderly man who had spent a few weeks at one of the places and who wished to become a permanent resident, was asked how he liked the place so far as he had gone. "Oh, it was simply a heaven,” he promptly replied. A broad smile appeared on the face of one of those present, and after the old man had left he explained that perhaps the chief reason why tne old boy thought the place a heaven was that he was recently divorced.