CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4604, 21 September 1923, Page 4

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

81-MONTHLY MEETING. The bi-monthly meeting of the PaeI’oa Chamber of Commerce was held in the Coronation Chambers on Wednesday evening last. Mr E. W. Porritt, president, occupied the chair, and there were also present: Messrs R. Coiririgham, B. Stansfield, W. 11. Taylor, W. Robson,, J. Bertlesen, A. Steedman, A. Farrar, T. W. Kenny, P. E. Brenan, W. Alp, C. N. O’Neill, W. L. Lawrence, J. T. Brown, G. P. de Castro, C. Holes, F. Thorp, and E. A. Porritt (secretary). PAEROA-POKENO RAILWAY. The-Hpn. Minister of Public Works wrote in reply to the Chamber’s letter asking for some indication of the re - sult of the consideration which had been given to the question of the commencement of the Paeroa-Pokeno railway. The Minister seated that an engineer had been deputed tp undertake the necessary surveys, but that he would be unable to commence the work for some six weeks.—Received. MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL. In reply to a resolution from the Chamber urging the establishment, of a manual and technical school in Paeroa, the Minister of Education wrote as follows : “I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 23rd inst. conveying a resolution passed by your chamber urging that a manual training centre should be established in Paeroa. In reply I have to state that I regret at the present moment it is quite impossible to proceed with the establishment, of such a centre, as this question is bound up with that of the establishment of a technical high school in Paeroa, which cannot well be considered before the cases of Tauranga and Dargaville have been dealt with, the Council of Education having recommended that both these cases should have precedence over Paeroa. In these circumstances it is improbable that action can be taken in Paeroa during the present financial year. The Chamber of Commerce may rest ashowever, thait, when more urgent mattery have been provided for, and financial conditions are more favourable, action will be taken to provide more suitably for the manual training in Paeroa and district schools.”—Received. LICENSING MATTERS. The following resolution was received from the Paeroa Business Men’s Association :■— ‘‘That the Paeroa Chamber of Commerce be thanked for its letter’ re licensing, and that this Association is in favour of supporting the Chamber in thi,s matter, and further urges that a representative be immediately sent to Wellington to give evidence in support of the resolution.” The president said that an executive meeting of the Chamber had been held> and it was decided that the time was not opportune to carry out the suggestion of the Business Men’s Association. WAR MEMORIAL. The secretary pf the Business Men’s Association advised that the association had noted with pleasure the resolution passed by the Chamber with reference to the' War Memorial funds, and stated .that the members were in full sympathy with the suggestion that the War Memorial should take the form of a Memorial Library in Paeroa. The president .said that he was anxious to correct the impression that had got abroad about the Chamber's action as regards a war memorial. The library as a war memorial had only been suggested by a member of the chamber in the course of a discussion. No resolution on the matter had ever been passed, and the chamber had not in any way committed itself. The matter of the war memorial had been left in the hands of a special sub-committee, set up to go into the matter with the Borough Council. DUTY ON GLASS BOTTLES. G. W. Wilton and Co., Ltd., of Auckland, wrote asking for'the Chamber’s support in requesting the Government to carefully reconsider the imposing of increased duty on the importation of glass bottles to New Zealand. It was pointed out that if the increased duty was imposed such bottles as herd-testing and medicine bottles would be included in the tariff.

The president said that the increased tariff was a very small item, and he understood that all agitation had now been dropped. Mr; de Castro said that the matter had been settled by the importers. So far as medicine bottles were concerned, he understood that such bottles up to Boz would be brought into the country free of duty. LATE FEE LETTER BOX. In reply to the Chamber’s request to the Post and Telegraph Department asking tjiat a late fee letter box be erected on the Paeroa railway station, the Chief Postmaster, Thames, advised that he considered that such steps were not warranted,, as any mail matter posted at the Paeroa post office before 6 am. was despatched by the 6.40 a.m. Paeroa-Frankton-Auck-land train. The -letter was received, the president. remarking that the contents of the letter was news to him. PAEROA STATION. The president intimated .that, in company with the Mayor, he had made representations recently to the district manager of the N.Z. Railway Department, and asked that more adequate lighting should be provided on the platform of the Paeroa railway station. He had also drawn attention to the inadequacy of the accommodation on the station platform, pointing out that .when the ThamesAuckland express was in passengers were obliged to walk along right off the platform, which meant that women and children had to climb into carriages off the ground. The deputation had suggested that the Department should extend the platform farther south. A reply had been received from the Traffic Manager that t,he suggestions had been noted for future consideration. TRAIN SERVICES. Since the last meeting of the chamber there has been a lot of correspondence between the Railway Department and the chamber with reference to the proposed elimination of the present 6-40 a.m. Paeroa-iAuck-land train, and the chamber has emphatically protested against the Department taking such steps. The president said he hoped that the time-table as at present in force would remain unaltered. The Minister for Railways, and the member for the district, had also been written to.