NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 82, 3 October 1931, Page 12

NEWS OF THE DAY

Yesterday in the House. The monthly Imprest Supply Bill was agreed to by the House' of Representatives shortly after 5 p.m. yesterday after an all-day discussion, and an adjournment was then taken until 7,30 p.m. on Tuosday, when the Minister of Finance will present the supplementary Budget outlining tho new Government's proposals. The Prime Minister intimated that after the financial statement has been read consideration will be given to Bills on the Order Paper, probably including the Transport Licensing Bill.. The debate on the financial proposals will be commenced on Thursday. Yesterday proceedings on the Supply Bill were not productive of discussion of much interest to spectators. Various phases of the unemployment problem were threshed, and the chairman of the Unemployment Board (the Bight Hon. J. G. Coates) announced the agreement of tho board to the principle of single men with dopendants being placed on tho samo footing as married men in the matter of unemployment relief. .Thcro was also some dobato concerning the closing of the Dobson mine, the Minister of Mines declaring that it was unfortunate that the Dobson miners did not accopt the offer of the company to employ 80 men selected by ballot in preforenco to the whole of tho employees being worked on a system of sharing the work. ' WorMew Tally Clerks. Repeated representations have been made to the Unemployment Board and to the Commissioner of Unemployment by tho member for Lyttelton, Mr. J. M'Combs, that the' Tally Clerks' Union should be placed on the same footing as tho Waterside Workers' Union in rogard to assistance under tho No. 5 unemployment scheme Mr. M' Combs has now been advised that henceforth the members of the Tally Clerks' Union will be in the same category as members of the Waterside Workers' Union so far as advantages under the scheme are concerned. Bupreraa a Situ. - j The Upper Hutt Borough Council was ' last night asked to decide whether it favoured the holding of the 1932 Muni-, cipal Conference in Rotorua or in Wei-1 lington. The Mayor (Mr. A. J.: M'Curdy) said that tho conference originally had always boon held in Wellington, which was the most suitable place, and it should never have been moyod from there. Wellington's central position made it tho handiest to tho majority who attended the conference, and the fact that it contained the head offices of tho Government Departments was another great advantage. His motion that tho council approve of 'the holding of tho next conference in Wellington was carried without discussion. Recent Ambergris rind. Tho owner of tho fishing launch Wairuna and her crew, who made an important' discovery of ambergris while ou a recent trip down the coast, now find (states the Riverton correspondent of the u Southland Times") that the results will not be so lucrative as was at first anticipated. In all about five hundredweight was brought back, and, reckoning on selling it at £1 an ounce, that would yield £8860, which, divided among the three comprising tho crew, would give each man a tidy suni. It has been ascertained that tho price for the commodity is considerably below the price mentioned, that there is a large supply of ambergris at Home at present, and that fv substitute has boon found which-is now being used with mucli success iv the manufacture of perfumes. Ambergris, it would appear, will not for tho future be as valuable, as it was a few gears ago.

Death in a City Bank. As ho was presenting a cheque for payment at a teller's counter in the Bank ot! New Zealand in Queen street, Auckland, shortly after 3 .o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, ftlr. Bichard Blagden Gamlen, aged 45, collapsed and died of hoart failure. Mr. Gamlen, who was married, was the ..chool teacher at Puhoi, and went to Auckland on Tuesday morning on a business visit, /. Building in Upper Hutt. A great decrease in building activity in Upper Hutt was shown by a statement presented to the meeting of. the Upper Hutt Borough Council last night by the Town Clerk (Mr. J. W. Harbord). The value of buildings for which permits were issued in the six months up to 30th September each year was in 1929 £37,866 for 88 permits, in 1930 £17,132 for 58 permits, and in 1931 £1464 for 20 permits. The permitß for the last six mouths wero for 1 dwelling, 1 shop, 12 sheds an<s, garages, and <3 additions. In Soptembor permits wore issued for throe buildings to, the total value of £400, compared with permits for six buildings,' valued at £656 for September, 1930. Earthquake Relief. . At the monthly meeting of the Peacetime Division of the Now Zealand branch of the >Bed: Cross Society yesterday it was reported that the society was still receiving requisitions from the Hawkes Bay earthquake area for goods, which had been purchased and supplied. The secretary (Captain, M; S. Galloway) said that such goods were no longer carried to Hawkes Bay free by the railways, but foodstuffs were carried at half-cost. The earthquake relief account had a balance of £.825 11s 3d, of which £750 was held by the Public Trustee. The acting-chairman (Mr. N. A. Grant) said that about £4000 had been spent by the Red Cross in affording relief in the Hawkes Bay earthquake area, relief to the; extent of about £200 having.been sont only recently, to the Wairoa district. It deponded on tho support afforded by the Government 'as to whether tho society could continue its work in this direction. Tokeas of Goodwill. The New Zealand Junior Jiod Cross Society received from the Czocho-Slo-vakian Junior Rod Cross headquarters at tho end of last month a gift of six small packets of glass bead necklaces made by the juniors of-that country as a token of peace greetings and assurance, of their friendship. This was to celebrate the ton years' anniversary of tho movement in Czecho-Slovakia. The juniors of1 tho Ikawai Circle, Waimate, applied for the beado, and the school, which ia 100 per cent. Junior Red Cross, is busy preparing a box. of handwork, representing tho work done by New Zealand children, which will bo sent U tho Czecho-Slovakian headquarters. Cheap Street-Lighting. , "Is it not timo that the Hutt Valley Eloctric Power Board made a reduction in its street-lighting charges to. local bodies? The privalo consumers have had a cut in their charges, but as far as I remember we have had no cut. We still pay £3 10s per annum for each light," said Councillor. A. Howcll at the meeting of the Upper Hutt Borough Council last night. Tho Mayor (Mr. A. J, M'Curdy), who is also a member of the Power Board, replied that the board did not make £350 profit per annum from' tho whole of tho street lights in its area. Considering that the lights were burning from half-an-hour ui'tor sunset to an hour before sunrise and that the cost per ann,um included replacements and maintenance, be thought that tho board's street-lighting charge was the cheapest in New Zealand. Before the bpard started its activities the Lower; Hutt Borough Council paid £8 per\annum for each gas lamp, that: gave 35 candlepower when tho mantles were now. Now, the Power Board supplied 100 candlcpower lights for £3 10s a year. Where "The Dinks" Made Good. References to the performances of "Tho Dinks" on the Western Front wero made by Colonel A. B. Stewart, formerly Officer Commanding tho Now Zealand Rifle Brigade, at the, annual reunion hold at Christchuroh this weok. Responding to tho toast of "The Brigade," Colonel Stewart expressed pleasuro that the proposer had giyen praise to General Pulton, its original commander (reports,, the .«' Christchurch Star"). "He made our brigade," he said. "It was all very well his strafing us, but he did not allow, others to strafe us. Woo betide anyone who canio in between General Fulton and his officers, n.c.o.'s, and men.'?, Alfter the Soihme in 1916, he said, the Rifle Brigade were "it." The "Dinks" had been a term of opprobrium, but after tho Soinme they held the name because they had earned it. They had no place in tho present defence force—they had only their memories,' but they wore worth keeping. "Passchendaele,"1- he said, "was a; battle that nobody could have won. Our fellows did all that men could do, but they could not fight against the conditions of that day. We lost hundreds pf our men there. A month, later the Canadians did what bad been expected of us, and what wo would have done had wo had the conditions. We fought for New Zealand in Egypt aud Franco;" he said, "and wo havo now got to fight for New Zealand here. If ono soldier lets another down it wil] bo a bad thing for New Zealand. '' . '