LATE LOCALS

Hokitika Guardian, 23 November 1932, Page 6

LATE LOCALS

The HoKitika Cycling Club’s sports which were to have been held this evening have been postponed till next Wednesday evening, November 30tli.— Advt.

“Nauru and Ocean Island, which have the distinction of ..saving the British Empire from being comparatively popr in phosphate deposits, are of great importance to New Zealand,”, said Mr A. iF. Ellis, New Zealand member of the British Phosphate Commission, in addres-smg the Auckland Rotary Club- “About '5,500,000 tons of phosphate rock have been shipped from the islands since the Commission took control, and of this about 1,230,000 tons have come to New Zealand. The Dominion’s present requirements amount to about 200,000 tons annually. If you can imagine 25 big cargo steamers entering the Waitemata, all fully laden with phosphate, you will gam an idea of the extent of the trade.”

An interesting addition to the Maori collection at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, exhibited at a meeting of the Museum Council, was an object, probably a mauri or amulet, carved in pipe-clay. The article, which was presented by Mr G. E. Lopes', is circular, the diameter being almost two inches and the height about one inch. It is decorated principally by primitive criss-cross carving, but there are one or two crude representations of human features one face being well-defin-ed and haying something of an Egyptian type of features. The accession is regarded by- the museum authorities vis being of particular Interest, the institution possessing no other Maori article of such a nature. It was found on a hilltop at Taiura, Coromandel Peninsula, after other native . articles were recovered following the burning of an -area of bush.

It is understood that three new measures are being introduced by the Government this week. They are the consolidation of the Muncipal Corporations Act, an amending to the Mortgagors Relief Act, and a Bill consolidating and simplying the apprenticeship legislation. The operation, of the Mortgagors Relief Act has revealed several anomalies and weaknesses in the legislation, and there are to be remedied according to the recommendations of a conference of the chairmen of Adjustment Commission, set up upder the original Act which was recently held in Welilngton. A general consolidation of the Municipal Corporations Act will be accompanied by several new provisions giving effect to the recommendations of the New Zealand Municipal Association. Finally, the Apprentices Amendment Act, which has already been outlined, will simplify and amend the present law to encourage wider employment of .apprentices.