Wintry Conditions.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 135, 8 May 1940, Page 6

Wintry Conditions.

The Ruahine Ranges in Central Hawke’s Bay are coated with snow at the top. Southern Hawke’s Bay is experiencing a very cold snap. All streams are running hank high, and the Manawatu River has risen considerably in the district. High Commissioners’ Cars. Special sizes and colours Tor the registration plates of private cars owned or regularly used by the High Commissioners for"the United Kingdom or any Dominion are prescribed in the Gazette. The plates are to have gpi letters edged with white on a black ground. . Support For Winter Show. Support for a proposal by the Manawatu A. and P. Association that business houses in the city be asked to close on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 12 on the occasion of the Winter Show and the Te Ante-High School Rugby football match was given by the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce at its meeting last night. It was stated that the matter would have to be decided by the employers’ Association. Unable To Withdraw. Though the previously-announced Liberal candidate for the Auckland West bv-election, Mr J. B. Kennedy, stated fast week that lm did not propose to contest the scat, the regulations governing the election procedure do not allow his name to bo withdrawn at this stage. As a result his name will remain on the ballot papers at the poll on May 18, and he is equally entitled to receive votes as any of the other candidates. — Press Association.

King Street Traffic. A decision to ask the City Council to give further consideration to the proposal to confine King Street to oneway traffic was made at the meeting of the Palmerston North Chamber ol Commerce, last evening. Members expressed the view that such a regulation would prove very inconvenient to business men, and as alternatives it was recommended-that the roadway be widened by narrowing the footpaths 2ft on each side and that one-hour parking be introduced, instead of continuous parking as at present. Transit of fwaiis. In spite of the difficulties brought about by wartime conditions, Post Office officials consider that the time taken in transit by mails between New Zealand and the United Kingdom has maintained a satisfactory average within recent months. Outward surface mails to the United Kingdom, it is stated, have recently been averaging 33 days and inward mails 40 days. With the inauguration of the Tasman flyingboat service, the average transit times for airmail to and from New Zealand and the United Kingdom will be very little more than two weeks. Error of Compulsion. The opinion that compulsory games would come to an end, as knowledge, enlightenment, and facilities to provide alternatives increased, was expressed by Mr R. G. C. McNali, of. John McGlashan College, Dunedin, in his presidential address at the conference of the Association of the Heads of the Registered Secondary Schools of New Zealand, in Wellington. “It is, say the experts, a fact that a boy playing or exercising against his will and instinct is not only rebellious but inefficient, and likely to disturb his physical and mental disposition,” said Mr McNab.

National Patriotic Fund. Donations'’ to the National Patriotic Fund now total £101.558, including £IOOO lrom'll. Hannah and Co., Ltd. The expenditure to date totals £51,365. Donations to the St. John and Bod Cross Sick and AVounded Fund have reached £2507, including £250 from the New Zealand Ladies’ Golf Union. Association-Code Trophy. To mark the Centennial, members of the council of the New Zealand Football Association yesterday decided that they personally would contribute to buy a cup to be known as the Centennial Cup. The trophy will be presented to the team who this year wins the Chatham Cup. It will be in addition to the Chatham Cup and will be held permanently by that team. Increase in Rates. At a meeting of the Manawatu Drainage Board, this week, it was deckled to increase the general rate of last year by 10 per cent. -It was estimated that this increase would bring in the sum of £4864, as against £4422 last year. The rating for the different areas is as follows: Class A, 1 30-80 of a penny; Class B, 66-80 of a penny; Class C, 44-80 of a penny. Successful Airmen. The following New Zealanders have been granted short service commissions as acting-pilot officers on probation for four years on the active list of the Royal Air Force: Messrs D. R. Bagnail (Wellington), A. E. Berry (Christchurch), F. K. Gill, J. S. Smith (Auckland), R. J. Hannan (Palmerston North), N. A. Svcnson (AA 7 anganui), C. F. Tibbetts (Rotorua), and G. S. Williams (Gisborne). Teachers In Wartime.

Referring to the impact of the war on teachers and children Dr C. E. Beeby (Director of Education), in an address to the Educational Institute conference, at Wellington,' said the business of the teacher was to act as a buffer between the war with its beastliness and the children, to present to the children a world predigested as it were to suit their state and to break the force of the war before it reached them. It was a terrific responsibility. Anomaly Descried. ' A sharebroker member of the Wellington Chamber ol : Commerce, in a letter read at last night’s council meeting, referred to what he described as a grave injustice in respect of death duties on the estates of soldiers. It was stated that there was a £SOOO exemption in the case of a deceased soldier leaving an estate in favour of his wife or children, hut there was none of any kind where a soldier left his estate to other members of his family. Bishop’s Successor. The nomination of a successor to Rt. Rev. W. G. Hilliard as Bishop of kelson was made unanimously at a special session of the diocesan synod at Nelson. The nomination will be submitted to the bishops and diocesan standing committees of the New Zealand province for their approval before the nominee is asked to accept office. Bishop Hilliard is to return to Australia as rector of" St. John’s Church, Parramatta, and Assistant-Bishop in the Diocese of Sydney. Farmers’ Plight.

The-serious plight of farming industries in Otago as the result of the enlistment of farmers’ sons and farm workers was emphasised at a meeting of the Otago Provincial Council of the Farmers’ Union by Mr S. Sim, who said that all over the province there were middle-aged and ageing men, many of them soldiers in the last war, who could not carry on their farms single-handed and could not get competent men, because some of the best farm ivorkers had gone into camp. The War Crusade.

“No one can justify war,” said Sir James Elliott to the AVellington Rotary Club yesterday. “Yet is this war a holy crusade against barbarism and paganism P AVe sit here at our ease; sleep to-night quietly in our beds; go forth on the morrow to our commerce or our sports ; try to forget unpleasant things. But our soldiers and our sailors and our airmen go forth against the powers of darkness to destroy anti-Christ in the person of Adolf Hitler and his mighty legions. The destiny of mankind lies trembling in the balance.” Loans And Income Tax. The Associated Chambers have forwarded a circular to the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce stating that there appears to ba a certain amount of misapprehension among business concerns on the subject of income tax allowances regarding interestfj'ee loans made to the Government. The Commissioner of Taxes has advised that if a firm makes such a loan when it is in credit that in’ no way affects the deductibility for income tax purposes of overdraft charges to the firm when it is in debit, provided such overdraft is incurred for the conduct of the business. The Commissioner is investigating the position of firms which, in order to make an interest-free loan to the Government, have to borrow an overdraft to make that loan. The present position under the law is that overdraft charges are not deductible for income tax purposes. This is being investigated in order to see if it is possible to ij§»ke any amendment. “Go-Slow” Reward. The reaction of the Minister of Labour to the tramwa-ymen’s “goslow” demonstration illustrates to perfection the stage the Government has reached in its handling of industrial disputes (says the Auckland Star editorially). There is an agreement between the union and the Transport Board. If words have any meaning, that agreement requires the parties, in the event of a dispute, to invoke the aid of the Arbitration Court. It was Mr AVebb’s duty as a Minister of the Crown to recognise and uphold that agreement. Instead of doing so, he acted as if the “disputes clause” of the agreement did not exist. He used the war regulations to set up a compulsory “committee,” over which he appointed one of his officers to preside. As the parties could not agree, , the decision of the “committee” was the decision of its chairman. That decision, mandatory on the board, is that the board shall pay a higher rate of wages than, in its judgment, its financial position justifies it in paying. The increased cost, above the 5 per cent offered, is estimated at £IO,OOO a year, but the chairman of the committee explicitly did “not think the increased cost a factor in considering the matter.” It will, however, be a “factor”, that the board and the public, for whom the tramway service exists, will have tc consider. The Minister’s use of the war regulations was. in the circumstances, entirely illegitimate, but that they should be used to reward at the expense of the public the instigators of the “dispute,” creates a precedent which the Government itself will have reason to regret.