NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 191, 11 May 1944, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF

Lower Hutt Rates “Rates have come in very well this year,” said the mayor of Lower Hutt, Mr. Andrews, at a meeting of the city council last night. The amount collected, £97,915, or 95.06 per cent, of the levy, is the highest on record. Taxi Licence Revoked. A taxi-driver recently convicted of receiving stolen property had his licence revoked by the Wellington City Council yesterday. Cream Sale Restrictions. The effect of the prohibition on cream sales is reflected in the April, 1944, figures of the Wellington municipal milk department. The total sales were 8432 pints, against 75,786 in April, 1943. a decrease of nearly 90 per cent. Milk Bottle Losses. The losses of bottles by the Wellington municipal milk department increased by £lBOO during the year 1943-44, due mainly to inferior bottles. This matter is causing concern to many milk-treating establishments.

Boys Stop Work At Mine. The rope boss at the Liverpool State Mine complained yesterday morning that the temperature in the new bathhouse was too low and refused to change their elotbes. Consequently the mine was unable to work. —P.A. Scarlet Fever Still Prevalent. There were 33 cases of scarlet fever in Lower Hutt last month. Two -of the cases were adults, 16 were children of school age and 15 were children under school ‘age. The cases, not of a serious nature, were fairly evenly distributed over the city area. Gowns for Gravediggers? A simple gown or coat for gravediggers to wear during commital services was suggested by the N.Z. Inter-Church Council on Public Affairs in a letter read at yesterday’s Wellington City Council meeting. The church council considered that wearing ordinary working clothes during the commital service presented an uncomely appearance.

Shortage of Batteries. The excuse that they are unable to obtain batteries is being offered by cyclists who are caught riding at night without a light, said the Lower Hutt city engineer, Mr. Bach, in his report to the city council last night. Because there is a definite shortage of batteries, he said, his department had been as lenient as possible wifb the offenders.

Military Defaulter. Pleading guilty to failing to render military service, Edward Richard Anderson was sentenced to defaulters’ detention by Mr. Stout, S.M., in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday. Senior-Sergeant G. J. Paine said accused had spent some time in a military camp, but had been discharged. He was later drawn in a ballot, but deserted, and had been court-martialled. When again called on he would not parade. Vagaries of Fashion. Lustres, with their tinkling pendants of crystal glass, were very fashionable in mid-Victorian days. But those mantelpiece ornaments that pleased- one generation did) not impress the next so much, with the result that early in the century they went out of fashion—and sight. Now they are back again in the sunshine of favour, simply because other objets d’art in glass are off the market. At an auction sale in Wellington this week single lustres reached as high as £4/10/- a piece —dE9 the pair.

Polling Booth Hours. A suggestion that to meet the convenience of sportsmen and others engaged on polling day till after 6 p.m., the closing hour be extended to 7 p.m. was made by Cr. R. McKeen to the Wellington City Council yesterday. The mayor, Mr. Hislo,x said the matter was one for the council, but the booths would be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on past experience the staff would be working up till midnight or 1 a.m. next day. To add another hour might delay the final count till Monday. The matter was not further pursued.

Example ,in Citizenship. A flying officer gave an example in the responsibilities of citizenship, as related to the municipal elections, last night. He had flown to Tauranga and back that day, arriving in Wellintgon again for a late tea. Then he went along to Cr. Appleton’s meeting at Lyall Bay, but he got there too late to hear the mayorscandidate. So he accepted a lift to the next meeting, at Roseneath, and when that was over walked through to Ilatattai to catch a tram home. He is going to hear the Labour candidate, too, and then decide how to vote. Demand for Farm Properties. The increase in value of small farm properties close to Hamilton was mentioned by an estate agent, Mr. H. F. Saunders, at a sitting of the Land Sales Committee «n Hamilton, when the transfer of a farm of 63 acres, five miles from the Hamilton Post Office, was under consideration. Mr. Saunders said that he received endless inquiries from people who wished to buy properties close enough to the town to enable them to go in and out to work and at the same time allow them to run a few head of stock on the land- -

C.P.O. Statuary. The 25 tons of smybolic statuary by Alfred Drury, A.R.A, (the English sculptor who designed the statue of the late Queen Victoria, which stands in the Kent Terrace reserve) is to be removed from its position over the main entrance of the Chief Post Office, Wellington. The figures represent the postal and telegraph services, and transport, a group which has always been much admired for, the breadth of artistry it encompasses. What will become of these pieces has npt yet been decided, but the suggestion has been advanced that the trustees of the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum might have ideas on the subject.

Special Work Renewed. No section- of Wellington s tram tracks is subjected to quite so much wear as are the curved rails in the busiest part of the city, the junctions of Manners and Willis Streets, of AVilHs Street and Lambton Quay, and of Courtenay Place and Kent Terrace. On that account such sections call for renewal more frequently than rails on the straight. The work is arduous as the actual removal of the old rails and the laying of new ones has to be done while the service is in full swing. The curved special work at the junction of Willis Street and Lambton Quay was renewed yesterday.

T.B. Association Formed. With the objects of helping to check the spread of tuberculosis iu New Zealand. of giving much-needed encouragement to sufferers and of assisting in the after-treatment and rehabilitation of discharged patients, the Auckland Tuberculosis Association was formed yesterday. The president of the Auckland Rotary Club. Mr. A. K. North, presided. Those present included the mayor. Mr. J. A. C. Allum, representatives of various medical services, some 30 local bodies, and men’s and women’s organizations of all descriptions. 1 The movement for forming the association was started by the Rotary Club.—P.A. A Doubting Thomas. . . A critical questioner at a, municipal election meeting at the Vivian Street Hall, Wellington, refused to believe the answer of the mayoral candidate, that nil British subjects 21 and over, had been able to vote in Wellington on a residential qualification for many years. lie declared that up till the recent legislation mainly affecting county areas but making enrolments in all cases compulsory, only ratepayers in Wellington had a voting right, 'lhe mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, and nieuibcrs of their audience, tried to convince him of his error, but he still. persisted in saying, “It’s all lies."

Industry in Quebec Province. Referring to remarks about industrial activity in the province of Quebec in his talk oii Canada at the Wellington Rotary Club on Tuesday, Mr. Gordon Glenuie said yesterday he had no intention of conveying that the French Canadians were not alive to the fact that most of the heavy industries were in the hands of English-speaging groups. As a matter of fact thev were very much alive to the fact. In the past they had not been alue to compete with the skill and pace of modern industry, to which they had not been technically or psychologically trained • but thev now appreciated the position. aud were doing all in their power to train and equip their youth to play their full part in the industrial development of tltL-l'rovince.