POLICY AND POLITICS.

Southland Times, Issue 18839, 4 June 1920, Page 4

POLICY AND POLITICS.

The new Minister of Public Works need not be surprised if his recent statement regarding the policy to be pursued with reference to the construction of railways in this country is received with expressions of disappointment in every' part of the dominion outside the Auckland province. When Mr Coates declared that it was necessary to frame a definite plan of construction before announcing any part of it he was on safe ground and most people will agree with him that to follow in the steps of previous governments will not suit public opinion, but unfortunately the minister did not let the matter rest there. If he had said nothing more we would have been prepared to hail with some satisfaction the presence of a Minister of Public Works with a thorough understanding of the word “national.” Mr Coates was speaking in Auckland and that fact may explain the last few lines of the Press Association report of his remarks, but in any case it is extremely disturbing to find the newly appointed Minister, from whom we have been led to expect so much, rounding off a statement to the effect that he cannot declare which of the Main Trunk lines is the most important with the solemn affirmation that the North Auckland railway must he completed first. We arc afraid that Mr Coates, in spite of his warning to us that politics should not intervene in this matter, in spite of his grandiloquent speeches about a well-defined policy of national work, is taking the very road that he has told us should be closed. His brutal frankness will not make the South Island any easier about the matter, and we can cx[>ect a storm of protest from Canterbury and Westland, who will see the completion

nf the long-delayed Midland railway further than ever. Mr Coates, we think, will oil to look over the railway situation in country again before he makes any promises involving matters so close to own electorate. The Midland railway is so near to completion that delay means waste. The country will not thank the Minister of Public Works if under fine speeches about a national policy in regard lo the Main Trunk lines, he neglects to bring into operation those lines which arc admittedly important and which require a comparatively small outlay to finish. In this matter we are not concerned with our own direct interests. Southland has no direct interest in the Midland railway, but she is certainly concerned in any policy that is going to perpetuate the old methods of political railway work in a new guise and is going to continue the wasteful process of leaving almost-finished work as a dead weight on the railway system. If Mr Coates wants us to recover the confidence in him that is fast slipping away, he should not hesitate to correct the impression that his latest utterance has left, the impression that his thanks, that he is not as other men, sound just as did similar expressions over nineteen hundred years ago.

! Dry rot is reported to be prevalent among crops of swede turnips in the Wanganui district.

It is said that a Wairnrapa man has bought and sold three farms in 12 months, and netted £12,000 on the transactions.

Movable “whares” for school teachers are to be provided to help meet the difficulty which exists in many of the smaller districts in regard to living accommodation.

A resident of Ihuraua reports to the Eketahuna Express that influenza is very prevalent there, scarcely a house being without one 1 or more victims. *

In the United States daylight saving is adopted by each State separately. One result is that the New Haven railway line has decided to set its clonk an hour ahead in New York, but leave it at standard time in Connecticut. A man who lives in Greenwich will, in this way, reach his home each night an hour and a-quarter before he leaves his office.

The operations of the municipal fish market, established by the Auckland City Council some years back, appear to he resulting satisfactorily, and have, it is said, proved a restraining faetor in (he price of fish, as the local scale had to ho kept somewhere in the vicinity of the municipal retail price. The Mayor recently explained to the council that the concern was quite sound, and had paid its way after full depreciation, accident and sinking fund reserves had been provided for, there being a credit balance in the revenue account of £9l.

"In connection generally with the matter of payment for services, I believe that the class in the community which is suffering most at. the present time is the salaried class,’’ said the chairman (Mr M. Carr) at the annual meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. ‘I think,” he added, “all municipalities, public bodies, and business houses, if they have not already done so, should take into serious consideration the conditions of employment and the remuneration of their salaried men. Most business houses have done so, but if any have not I commend this suggestion to their immediate consideration.”

A conference of the New Zealand Fruitgrowres’ Federation concluded at Wellington on Friday. Complaint was made of the delay in transmitting fruit- over the railways. It was decided to set up a Transport Committee to wait on the General Manager of Railways and set out the position of the industry. It was also resolved in view of the cost of living, that the expenses of delegates be increased from 10s to 15s a day. It Was recommended that next year’s conference be held about the middle of June. The directors elected were:— Messrs Longton (Canterbury), Neill (Wellington), Paltridge and Atwood (Auckland).

An inquiry was held at Auckland on Friday at the Magistrate’s Court regarding the missing scow Kahu (says a Press Association telegram). Mr E. C. Cuttcn, S.M., presided, the nautical assessors being Captain B. Higham and Captain W. Reid. Captain Fleming, of the Marine Department, was also present. The Court found that the Kahu was lost with all hands on or about March 26, 1920, whilst on a voyage from Motiti Island to Auckland. The Court was of opinion that the vessel foundered in exceptionally bad weather and also that the ship immediately prior to her loss was seaworthy, fully equipped and manned and safely loaded.

It is not generally known that the Mayor's chair in the City Council meeting room is a thing sacredly reserved for useonly by the Chief Magistrate of the city (says the Christchurch Press). Mr L. M. Isitt, chairman of the Canterbury Parliamentary Committee, on Wednesday morning took the chair, with a remark that its wide back walled the heat of the fire from him, but he was hardly seated before the custodian informed him that the chair, according to instructions issued, must be used only by his Worship. The member for Christchurch North “abdicated” with a remark about a man being “born a baby, anyway,” and took another chair just before his political colleague, Dr Thacker, M.P., arrived.

A member of the Auckland Returned Soldiers’ Association, at the last meeting of that body, stated that his attention had been drawn to the case of an aged couple who had been harshly treated by their landlord. The woman was 66 years old. and the man 67, and they were old-age pensioners. The rent had been raised, and, as they were unable to pay' the landlord had the doors and windows of the house they rented taken out. The speaker said he had investigated, and found that the landlord was a returned soldier, wearing the badge of the association. He declared that a man who would do such a thing as this was not fit to bo a member of the organisation. It was decided that the executive should investigate the statement made, and that, if it were found to be correct, the returned soldier landlord referred lo should he expelled from the association. •—N.Z. Herald.

Registrars of electors are busy at present deleting from the parliamentary' rolls the names of those who did not vote at the General Election last December (says the Dunedin Star). One of the noticeable details in connection with this work is the large number of persons who had their names put on the supplementary' rolls, immediately prior to the election, but failed to exercise the vote on polling day. Electors who now receive notice that their names have been struck off for not voting might as well remember that their names have been really struck off, and that they will remain off until application is made for their re-enrolment. It will not get an elector’s name back on the roll to take up the attitude that he did vote, and therefore his name should remain on the roll. His name is off; it rests with himself to get it on again. It won’t go on unless he applies to have it put on. Electors are apt to confuse parliamentary elections with localbody' elections in endeavouring to recall whether they really did vote at last election. That is a matter of memory’. When the registrar of electors notifies you that y’our name has been struck off for not voting—well, that is a matter of fact. Probably the easiest and simplest thing to do under the circumstances is to fill in the claim for enrolment form which accompa'nies the notice, and send it by return to the registrar gi ejectors; otherwise the name will remain off.

Replying to a deputation from Ihc Fruit growers’ Conference at Wellington on Friday, the Minister of Agriculture said he could not give a definite reply to the request for a continuation of the penny per pound guarantee for some j-ears. This matter he would have to consider. In helping the industry, the Government realised that it had a duty to do, and, as a Minister, he asked them to be sure that there was organisation in the ranks of growers, such as would promote efficiency. If they worked together, then there would be something which the Government could back, and they could depend on the Government doing everything possible to open new markets for them. He was hopeful of getting on to the South American market. With regard to the importation of fruit trees from Australia and the suggested removal of the embargo, he promised to give the matter consideration. He could hold out no hope that there was going to be a supply of sugar at anything like the price at which it had been available up till the present, but he believed that the price would be reasonable compared with the price at which sugar was being sold in other countries. Mr Nosworthy received another deputation from the nurserymen. They stated that on no account should he allow the removal of the embargo on Australian fruit trees, pointing out there was a grave danger of bringing diseases into the country by the importation of trees from abroad. They denied the truth of all statements made by the fruitgrowers as to the inadequacy of the supply of New Zealand grown trees and as to their alleged bad' quality. The Minister promised to give the matter consideration.

In the Supreme Court yesterday his Honour Mr justice Sim approved of a change in the name of a well-known local firm. As a result the company previously registered as the A.C.M., Ltd., will henceforth be styled A. C. Millars, Ltd.

Strange reasons are given in the Courts occasionally by married people for husband and wife not continuing to share their room (says the Lyttelton Times I, and general laughter was raised in (he Supreme Court on Wednesday when a husband blamed the non-washing of her feet by his wife as one cause of their domestic troubles.

At least one (ram car yesterday bore evidence, in the shape of breakages in the front windows, of the stone throwing activities of the small boy. Such outbreaks, besides meaning damage to the corporation property, arc undoubtedly a danger to the motnrmrn, and decided steps to stop the mischief would be welcomed by the employees of the department.

A confidence trick has been successfully worked upon some Auckland shopkeepers (says an exchange). Each of the tradesfolk received a telephone message purporting to come from a trusted customer that the latter was sending a man over for certain goods, which he named, and which he said were wanted in a hurry. This was followed up by the appearance of a man who intimated that he had come for the goods named, and sootier or later, after he had gone with them, the shopkeeper found that the message had been it bogus one. A quantity of the goods thus obtained by fraud in country, suburban, and city shops has since been found to have passed through the hands of secondhand dealers in the city.

A plan for improving the standard of efficiency throughout the teaching profession was mentioned in Christchurch by Mr R. Masters, M.P. for Stratford, who has been chairman of the Taranaki Education Board for four years. He strongly believes that the maximum salary for the head teachers of the large schools should be increased to £750. This, he says, would be a strong incentive to parents to put bright boys into the profession of teaching instead of into other professions where the remuneration is much higher at present. “The teaching profession,” said Mr Masters, “is one of the noblest in New Zealand, but it is dying to-day for the want of male assistants and male head teachers to lake control of the larger schools,”

The commercial process of charging a profit on any increase in Customs duty was the reason which several members of the South Island Motor Union conceded on Wednesday night was an argument against an import duty on tyres. In considering a letter of protest from a body of taxi drivers, the president (Mr F. W. Johnston) said that the price went up on account of duty, and it was computed that an extra £90,000 would go into the profits of wholesalers and retailers. There was a good deal in this argument, for if the dealer made a bad debt part of it was duty, and he had to cost tip duty and everything else. Members generally were prepared to admit that a tyre tax was the most equitable if it could he applied, and it was pointed out that taxi men would benefit in reduced upkeep consequent on the improvement of roads. A decision was held over.

A strong plea to the public to protect rare birds like the wdiite crane and the blue heron was made at the annual meeting of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society by the President (Mr L. O. H. Tripp), who mentioned that one of a pair had been shot at Lake Ellesmere, and the prospect of continuing the breed lost. The bird was now in the Museum at Christchurch, but they had not yet caught the man who shot it. A member: "He ought to be in the Museum, too.” Mr Tripp added that the Government ought to put a very heavy penalty on people who shot such rare birds. Another old member (Mr L. G. Reid) said doubt had been thrown on the genuineness of the claim of the white crane to be a New Zealand bird. He could assure the meeting that birds had been reared at the colony in Okarito for fifty years at least. If a bird was not. a colonist after fifty years, what was? (Laughter.) The speaker quoted Sir William Fox and Sir Walter Buller in regard to the colony of cranes at Okarito in the early seventies. The Native legend was due to the fact that it came from the South Island.

If you want satisfaction in the wearing quality of Velveteen get a twill back. A splendid range of these has just been opened at THOMSON & BEATTIE’S. Among the selection arc several beautiful evening shades in Orange, Salmon, Flame, Nattier Blue, Mastic, Apple Green, Fawn, etc. Price—--6/11 per yard.— (Advt.)

Reductions—Large Edmonds 2/6, 2 small Salmon 1/9, 6 tins Milk 5/3, 3 large Blacking 2/6. Cocoanut 1/6, 4 Jellies 1/-, 501b Flour 10/6, 2001bs 37/-, 5 Sand Soap 1/-, 61bs Jam 4/-, lOlbs Honey 10/-, Bag Blue 1/3, 3 Toilet Soap 1/4 A, 6 B.W. Soap 1/-. The quicker the sale the cheaper the price. Small profits; quick returns; at BAXTER’S. (Advt.)

Blouses of the better kind. There are many Blouses on the market, but none better than our specials, coming straight from the hands of expert designers and skilful workers. They are perfect in every detail. Proof of the value of these Blouses lies in the huge demand and repeat orders. See special bargain table of Silk Blouses in white and colours, all one price, 22/6. Wincey Blouses in stripes and plain, ail going at 14/11. Huge showing in Crepe de Chine Blouses, all colours, 35/- to 79/6; white and coloured Voile Blouses, 7/11 to 19/6. Morning Blouses in prints and flannelette, 5/6 to 10/6. Exceptional offerings in Costumes, Coats, Furs, Jerseys, Corsets and Underwear at, H. <k J. SMITH, Ltd., The Progressive Stores, where supreme value can lx* acquired under the easiest and most pleasant conditions, Invercargill, and Gore. — (Advt.)

Keep baby contented and happy in a “Babincst” swing! These perfect swings are made of strong wicker, padded and lined, and make a “comfy” nest for baby. They are absolutely safe, being suspended by four strong leather straps and fitted with a spring to give an added up and down motion. A wonderful help in “minding” baby. Price, 25/-. Posted everywhere 1/- extra. Hyndman’s, Dee street, Invercargill.

Winter essentials for ladies and maids. PRICE & BULLEID, Ltd., have just opened a splendid assortment of warm Winter Gloves. Real Scotch Knit in grey and heather mixture; White Ringwood Gloves, all wool; Children’s White, Grey and Heather Wool Gloves in ail sizes.—-(Advt.j

MASTER*, LTD., were the originators of me xu per cent, discount to returned soldiers. Other storekeepers have copied u» and we now go one better. We now invite all discharged soldiers and those waiting discharge to have their military hats reblocked, free of all cost, by the only hatter in Southland. We still give a 10 per cent, reduction to all returned soldiers.— MASTERS, LTD.. Dee street.— (Advt.)

A Special Display of Exclusive Evening Frocks, Silk Drees Skirts and Blouses, now being made at THE “ECONOMIC," Lames' Outfitters. Prices exceedingly leasouabie. (Advt.)

“Chance will not do the work.” (Scott >. —No one can afford to take chances with health. Yet how many during the Winter when coughs and colds are so dangerous, experiment with preparation after preparation. Take BAXTER'S Lung Preserver immediately and be sure. Mr Baxter did an the experimenting 64 years ago and now you can promptly remedy cough, cold, sore throat, cuest and bronchial troubles. This sterling specific is quick in its action, permanent in its relief. Get large 2/6 bottle m-day from chemist or store. — (Advt.)

HATS for men, youths, and boys—a fine showing of all the popular styles and value prices. UNDRILL’S, opp. P.O.— (Advt.)

"Something worth talking about!" The marvellous way “NO RUBBING LAUNDRY HELP" enables the washing to be done without any back-breaking rubbing. Avoid "Just-as-goods." 1/- packet sufficient for 7 or 8 washings.—(Advt.)