NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1981, 24 May 1919, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES.

A writer in the Scarborough Mercury is responsible for the assertion that a Yorkshireman, who went out to Yew Zealand before the war, declared that when war broke out he had conscientious; objections to lighting, “but the colonists are a rough and ready lot, and with ropes they dragged the Yorkshireman to the docks and put him on board ship, bound for the front. They respected his convictions so far that they made him a stretcher-bearer. However, he caught the war fever, and proved himself quite a hero, so that he was awarded the Military Medal.”

A development arising out of the apparently incurable difficulty in getting domestic help has taken place in Wellington during the past year, one that will doubtless cause a good deal of surprise in some quarters (says the Dominion). The new development is the result of' the enterprise of a firm which provides men to do scrubbing, windowcleaning, carpel-healing, and any other sort of household work almost, at so much per hour, and the linn's books disclose the astonishing fact that there are people prepared to pay as much as 2s (id, and even 3s. per hour per man for such labour. At this work a good scrubber ran earn good money, and a general cleaner who knows In’s work can make quite enough to live comfort ih!\ on even in ihesc hard times. This incursion of man into a sphere of labour usually 'relegated to the female general servant is tic.' first, indication that he is not prepared to see all his avenues of employment entrenched upon by women without getting one hack.

The following is an ox! me I front the Napier Mercury of the early ’7o’s“A Highly-favoured Town. —The foundation lias lieen laid for making the village of Waipukurau, within three generations, one of the wealthiest cities in the Australasian colonies. Wo hear that the Hon. H. R. Russell, to whom Waipukurau belongs, has defined by survey the limits and boundaries of the township, and in his will has bequeathed the whole of the property to the local governing body for the time being as trustees in perpetuity, for the benefit of the town. Mr Russell has sold none of the freehold, but he has a numerous tenantry holding 0!) years’ leases. On (he expiration of (hose leases, Waipukurau will, without doubt, boast of a Mayor and city council; which will (hen become the wealthiest corporation in New Zealand. There will he no occasion for rates and taxes; the rentals will give a revenue far in excess of Ihe city requirements, and (o absorb the surplus, probably,' the council will vote the Mayor a salary of £IO,OOO, and the councillors an honorarium of £2,000. There will be some piping times at every election, and Hie statue that will certainly be erected to the honour and memory of the Hon. H. R. Russell, the founder and benefactor of the city, will perhaps look' down on scenes of waste, extravagance, -and corruption induced by excessive wealth, and high stakes to play for, that will make the very marble weej).”