The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, June 16, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Tge manager ol the local municipal gas works has tendered bis resignation as a result ot certain increased duties which the Council consider should be undertaken by the manager and his assistant witnout employing outside labour. Whether the extra work suggested can be done by a manager and assistant without detriment to the gas manufacturing department, is for the future to disclose. The Council is anxious to put the works on a paying basis, and in this connection no fault can be found in an effort to keep down expenses. But it cannot be denied that the manager, who is an acknowledged expert in his business, has been considerably handicapped and worried in bis work with the present inadequate plant, It may have been better for the Council to have stayed its band until the necessary additions were made, and for which a loan of is to be submitted to the ratepayers. That the manager has done his best with the equip-
ment at his command, no one will deny, and to increase his duties under the circumstances appears a little unreasonable. Of course, the Council may be in possession of particulars in connection with the gas works administration which have not come our way. Still, we believe that in Mr Stunnel the works possessed a thoroughly competent man.
At Saturday’s meeting of the Horowheuua County Council, Cr Venn briefly reported on the conference of delegates regarding the Foxton wharf purchase. He thought the Council should help the Foxton Harbour Board to get the wharf at a lower price than that asked, and if they could not get it at a lower price, then support them in getting some of the profits on the wharf spent on the river. Otherwise they should not agree to a rating area being formed, that proposal he understood had now been abandoned. A councillor asked how the Board expected to raise the money and Cr Venn replied “by raising the money in Foxton and pledging the revenue of the wharf, I suppose.” This reply is somewhat vague as the Board have been informed that they cannot borrow unless a rating area is formed, and as for raising the money necessary, with Foxton as security—ti is absurd. Cr Venn, like many other local body representatives, has not a clear grasp of the position. The point is: What right has the Government to penalise the Board and the district for changing the control of the wharf from the Railway Department to the Harbour Board. The wharf was originally constructed by the Public Works Department and vested in the Harbour Board. The first constituted Board lapsed and the Railway Department automatically took control of the wharf, and ever since has collected the wharfages and transferred them to the working railways account without spending anything on the port. In order to facilitate shipping, a new Board was formed a few years ago, but the Railway Department refused and still refuses to part with the wharfages, the principal source of revenue, unless the Board pays a goodwill of ,£28,000 to the Railway Department for the loss of revenue the Railway Department will sustain for usurping the rights and privileges of the Board. If the whole transaction were submitted to a legal tribunal lot settlement, the scandalous imposition which those in charge of railway affairs are trying to impose upon the Board would open the eyes of Ministers and Parliament and result in the Board coming into its own without detriment to the port and the district.
Makkiagk by registrar costs quite as much as marriage by a minister, so it cau hardly be on the point of economy that the civil ceremony is so popular (says the Auckland Star). The marriage notice and license costs £i 2s 6d. Without this no marriage cau be celebrated in either church or registrar’s office. The marriage fee and cost of license amounts to another £i 2s 6d, making the total cost of a civil marriage £2 ss. Statistics concerning matrimonial matters in New Zealand make rather interesting reading. For instance, 40 per cent, of the people in this Dominion belong to the Church of England ; yet more marriages are solemnised by Presbyterian ministers than by ministers of any other denomination. The reason possibly is that neither Church of England nor Roman Catholic clergy care to solemnise marriages outside their churches, while Presbyterian ministers do not object tc conducting the services in private houses. It is significant that the percentage of marriages last year worked out as follows:—Presbyterian 26.48, Church ot England 25.99, by Registrar 16.98, Methodist 13.43, Roman Catholic 10.90, other denominations 6.22
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1259, 16 June 1914, Page 2
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781The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, June 16, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS. Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1259, 16 June 1914, Page 2
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