NEWS NOTES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 164, 23 January 1914, Page 4

NEWS NOTES.

It may not be generally known that in the Washing-up Bill of last session, in order to avoid litigation over tha lottery cf a motor car at Hamilton Show, a clause was parsed which empowers stewards of shows or exhibitions to give the ri,ht to any private p:rson to dispose of any exhibit, or the whole of them by lottery. The grantirg of the freehold to Crown tenanti at Rotorua and t e establishment of through telephonic communication 10 Auckland were the subjects of a deputation to the Hon. YV. H. Herries at Rotorua. Regarding the freehold Mr Herries said he would consult Mr Massey. The holders of sectiors at £lO a year would simply make a foitune if t u e freehold were given them. Something would have to ba done in regard to the extension of the township, and that was mixed up with the question of granting the freehold in the town itself, and he considered they would have to see if they could get a system that would act efficiently without filling the packets of owners of 10-acre blocks. As a picture performance was about to commence at tne Gisbornc Opera Hcuse the other night a tire broke out in the operalinp box, and two programmes of pictures, totalling, 13.0C0 feet of film, were d;stroved. The new projecting machine was somewhat damaged, and all the fittings of the box were destroyed. Toe theatre, which is a fine rtodern structure, is quite fire-proof, and tne outbreak, though fiercp, was confir.ej to the box. The audience, though aware of the fire, remained calm, and nfter the fire had been subdued tcok the orchestra's playing of the National Anthem as a signal that the entertainment had b:en abandoned, and quietly left the building. The damage, which will run into a fairly large amount, is covered in several offices. A Kentish Town milk dealer has been fined £lO and costs for celling milk to which a preservative consisting of benzoic acid hsd been added,

in contravention of the Milk and Cream Regulations, 1912. Benzoic acid is deiived from benzoin, a sort ol gum or resia obtained from the stem of a tree, ind used as a drug or preservative. Recently the Local Government Board sent a circular to the medical officers of the metropolis warning them against the presence of the acd in milk, and anonymous letters tad been received by the borough councils in the various districts where the defendant sells his milk, alleging that it contained acid. Four samples ot the defendant's milk were taken by the Paddington Council, and three of these proved on analysis to contain benzoic acid in exactly the same proportion of eight-tenths of a grain to the pint. The defendant denied that he put the acid into the milk or that he knew it was there. An ex-Wellington resident who spent four years in California, conversing with a reporter, explained the effect the "factory"' Bystem"was having upon skilled latour in the Unitoi States. In all large factories, he said, specialisation metheds were in vogue, and machines did the work which was formerly carried out by experienced mechanics. Consequently, the demand for skilled labour wa* growing less ar.d less, and unskilled workers were filling their places. In some of tha motor car factories, for instance, practically the only skilled men employed were those who put the parts together. The machines manufacturing the various parts had been so perfected that the work they turned out at a very rapid rate did not vary a fraction of an inch, and in many trades there was little inducement for men to become efficient workmen. There was a tremendous influx of foreigners who were more and more usurping the places of American workmen, tkiiled and unskilled, and the unemployment problem was becoming most acute.

The final number of "Han«ard" viaj published on Tuesday, acd it is now possible to apply the measuring tape to the eloquence, or rather the volubility of legislators during last session. The sittings created a Ireah record for length, and the reported talk aggregates well over five million words, covering 5664 pages of the official recoid. The previous record session speeches in 1910 were printed on 4782 pages. A change has been made in the type since then, but liberal allowance for the extra space now taken by the larger type still gives 1913 session an easy lead. The bulk of the talk was, at course, in the House of Representatives, and, as its committee proceedings are scarcely reported at all, it will be realised that the avalanche of talk is not fully represented by the big total already quoted, The Prime Minister was not particularly prone to speech last session, it was the Leader of the Opposition, Sir Joseph Ward, who led the way and filled most spac», despite the fact that he was not present during the earliest weeks of the session. "Hansard" is published twice weekly, and usually about thirty parts come out. This year the final issue is No. 51. The reporters well deserve the extra pay voted them j by the House just before there was i welcome silence in the legislative halls.