SOUTHLAND TOPICS

Otago Witness, Issue 4028, 26 May 1931, Page 33

SOUTHLAND TOPICS

’(From Our Ora Correspondent.) POWER BOARD’S RATING PROPOSALS. The rating proposals for the current financial year of the Southland Electric Power Board have now been issued. The same general rate of one penny in the £ will be levied as last year, but, as the result of revaluations which have taken place in certain districts it has been decided, in order to establish a position of rating equity and fairness, to charge, in addition, separate rates in those revalued localities (wherein the unimproved values have been reduced) so that the total Tates will be brought up to approximately the same figure as in 1930. Subject to confirmation at the next meeting, the board has unanimously decided to give a further reduction to non-rcticulated ratepayers, who will be granted a rebate of three-fourths of the 1931-32 general rate, as against a rebate of half of the 1930-31 general rate. Of course, in all cases application for the rebate will have to be made in accordance with the provisions of the Act. LATE HARVESTING. Although the lengthy spell of glorious autumn weather prevailing recently has just been broken by two or three days’ heavy rain, all the abnormally late crops have, fortunately, now been harvested. A considerable amount of grain has been threshed, and a fair quantity has already changed hands on the basis of 2s a bushel on trucks for A grade.

LENDING A HAND. The officials of the Invercargill Returned Soldiers’ Association seem a particularly live body, for they have left no stone unturned recently in their vigorous attempt to place in work all their unemployed members. For 113 jobless men, suitable occupations, under the No. 5 scheme, have been found, and all eligible have secured employment. But the officials are not yet satisfied with their efforts, for thej' aim to give men work, not alone on certain days in the week, but, in fact, for the whole five and a-half days. And it looks as if this laudable objective may well be attained, as negotiations between the association and the Minister or Public Works have been proceeding for some time in connection with the Waikawa-Curio Bay road. If, as is confidently anticipated, a successful conclusion to these negotiations be soon reached, 50 men can be placed in work which will be both regular and likely to last for a considerable time. AN IMPORTANT CONFERENCE. Lively discussion may be anticipated at the annual conference of the South Island Dairy Association, to be held at Dunedin on June 4 and 5. Several contentious matters will be ventilated, and the recent allegations to the effect that there has been a falling-off in the quality of cheese sent to the Home market by New Zealand has been responsible for a number of important remits, in which. Southland plays a hand. One remit from a large factory in the province bears on the administration of the dairy division, and a question of confidence in its leader, and this is expected to arouse one of the liveliest discussions of the conference. The various topics will be somewh’at affected by the announcement of the Minister of Agriculture that further manufacture of standardised cheese will be prohibited. It is certain, however, that the conference will consider many topics of the greatest importance to the industry generally.

SHIPPING FACILITIES. The already much-discussed question of a regular Bluff-Hobart-Melbourne shipping service has again been brought well into the limelight by the recent visit to Invercargill of Mr J. AL Fisher, of Hobart. The visitor is the accredited representative of the Tasmanian Government, Chamber of Commerce, and the business community generally, and his mission to the South Island is in the nature of an endeavour to foster both the establishment of this regular service and the development of reciprocal trade betwe’en Tasmania and this Dominion. His aims have been thoroughly explained to a large meeting of members of the Southland League and the Invercargill Chamber of Commerce, who expressed themselves as being wholeheartedly behind the Tasmanian Government in its efforts to crown the project with success. Mr Fisher declared that if only a regular service was instituted, his Government would be able to take from New Zealand manures, seeds, fish, preserved and dried milk, bacon and hams, potted meats, and hides and skins, while Tasmania could offer her hardwood timbers, wattle bark, motor tyres, and other lines. The visitor said that he had recently conferred with the Hon. P. A. de la Perrelle on the question of a shipping service, and the Minister informed him that in October next the Melbourne-Bluff Steamers would be re-established for six months, the Government paying the Union Company £5OO a month subsidy. He (Mr Fisher) would, immediately on his return to Hobart, advise the Tasmanian Government of that and find out what amount it would be prepared to pay of such subsidy for Hobart to be included as a port of call. All present agreed that it was essential to Southland that the facilities for shipping her produce away should be provided. Mr Vincent Ward, M.P., who was present at the meeting, indeed declared that there was no reason whatsoever why we should not procure many of Tasmania’s products instead of going further afield. Another member went so far as to suggest that, if the service eought x was not granted in the future, the business men themselves should run their own steamer or sailing vessel. “ When we extend our line and get it going properly, the Government may come and buy it off us,” he said amidst laughter. Be that as it may, however, cffie has no doubts that Mr Fisher will fight tooth and nail in his efforts to establish the desired shipping service, and so promote the interchange of products between the two Dominions.

FARMERS’ PROBLEMS. The remits to be considered at the annual provincial conference of the Southland branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union on May 29 are many and varied, and cover a wide field. Conditions affecting the farmer will be discussed from every angle, and national problems generally reviewed, so in many respects the importance of the deliberations of the delegates to the conference cannot be overemphasised. Among the many remits brought forward from different branches are questions concerning stock, taxation, wool, marketing, unemployment, work and wages, the derating of farm lands, and organisation, which are sure to be discussed at length. A remit froth the Mossburn branch to the effect that the land tax should be abolished and that farmers be called upon to pay income tax only is one suggestion at least which will undoubtedly meet with the approval of the conference.