NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4520, 21 October 1930, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

During the I;is1 10 years the Wellington Commercial Travellers’ ainl Warehousemen's Association has distributed £5847 to children in local homes and orphanages, and has handed over £I2OO to the Commercial Travellers’ and Warehouseman’s Blind Soldiers' and Sailors’ Fund.

After I ravelling- through the. Failed States and Canada, Mr. -K. G. Holland, of (Christchurch, has come home (irmly convinced that Ne W Zealand has equal, if not better, scenery to offer the tourist than any to he found in those countries. “A great thing in favour of our scenic attractions is,’ he said, “the fact that our good season is much longer than overseas. The great hotel at Niagara Falls is open only fo’r four months in the year and some of the show places in Canada for about the same period.”

■New Zealanders may wonder why the. railways do not pay in New South 'Wales. On one of the country dines recently —one of many of the State’s vote-catching, non-paying railways-, Ihy the way —-the only passenger on two journeys -was the will 1 of a railway employee, and she was travelling on a free pass. ■ That particular line cost £404,000 to build. The annual outlay on it is £-20,000, including an interest hill ot £22,000.

A leading Dunedin ljierchanl prophesies an appreciable' drop in the cost of living towards the end of the year, so far as groceries are concerned. Uncommonly large shipments of farinaceous and other goods are to come from the Hast. America and Australia are competing eagerly in the trade in canned goods and dried fruits, and he thinks that prices will fall to the level of 1914 or before. About the only article of common consumption that Ihy the present indications is inclined to he firm is flour.

The unusual sight of nine bodies of motor-cars being loaded on a scow at the Nelson street wharf, Auckland, on Thursday evening aroused -curiosity (states the “New Zealand Herald’’). The bodies, which were those of old model louring ears for which there- is no .safe, were taken by the scow Ngahau outside the liaibour and dumped into the sea between Tiri Tiri island and the Great Barrier. Discarded material has previously been sunk at- sen, bint this is staled to ihe the first lime that mo-tor-car bodies have been disposed of iii that manner. As the -water is about 30 fathoms deep in the sea, there is no danger of the material interfering with trawling operations.

A (reduction of nearly 1000 iu the number of employees of the Dost and Telegraph Department since 1925 was quoted by Mr. G. McNamara, secretary of the department, iu his address to the Auckland Chamber of -Commerce last -week, as an indication that the charge of over-staffing in the'Civil Service does not apply to the Post and Telegraph Department (says the Herald). Commercialisation of the department, the introduction of modern machinery and general tightening up had enabled the staff to he reduced from 12,411 in 1928 to 11,505 in 1930, in spite of the new duties, such as motor registration and the collection of the unemployment tax. “We hope to be able to reduce the -number still further, but can onlydo so slowly as methods are improved,” Mr, McNamara added.

The deer-cuilling party which the (Southland Acclimatisation Society sent to -Stewart Island last month met with little success (says the Southland Times), and in a fortnight. Ihe party secured only an average of one head per day. Weather conditions -were not favourable, and the party came to the (•(inclusion that deer were not so numerous on the island as had been (Stated. The chief difficulty in carrying out culling operations was that there was an abundance of •feed available in the hush to maintain thle deer for vcall's, and the deer had no occasion to come out to the open country to feed. These facts were contained in a report submitted by the society’s ranger to a recent meeting of the council. While the report was under discussion several members referred to the serious effect that the- rapid multiplication of rats and wild -cats had had on the native bird life of the island.

Reports from the llax-mili erected at Evan’s Flat ((Central Otago) at. the beginning of the year -are not very encouraging- (says the Dunedin 'Star). While the flax supplies aire good, the big reduction in price, from £25 per ton last year to £l9 this year, is not keeping the mill very busy. Six men are employed in gathering the raw material from the valleys and hollows in the surrounding hills, and in stripping, paddo eking, and scutching the Max. The finished product from Evan’s .Flat is used solely in the manufacture of binder twine. The tow which remains after the scutching finds a very poor demand, and the price is very low. The Paper Mills are not buying- this material so freely as was the case a few years ago, the paper manufacturers obtaining other materials elsewhere. Conse- ■ quently large quantities of the tow go to waste, and the operatives of the flax-mill have to stand the loss.