LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 August 1920, Page VI

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

During tlie year ending 30th June last the" Kgmont Box Company paid out £27,780 in salaries and wages. The recent issue of the Gazette gives the following population figures:—Auckland, 144,646; Wellington, 100,896; Dunedin, 72,048; the total metropolitan area being included in each case. A well-known firm of Dunedin butchers last week receiyed an offer of several lines of fat wethers, totalling over 2000, at prices ranging from 50a to 60s, most of them being at the latter price.—Star. Here is a tip for deputationiats: Take my advice," said the Prime Mill iater to a deputationist the other day, who decribed himself as a fighter, "that diplomacy will effect your purposes better than pertinacity." Thirty-nine building permits were issued in New Plymouth last month, the estimated value of the buildings being £22,000. In addition, four were held over and four sent to the Board of Trade for approval. The work of transforming the Fitzroy Hall into four tenements, is now com-1 pleted. Seventeen persons are housed in the building, and the Borough Chief Inspector (Mr. R. Day) states that, the | quarters are comfortable. The steamer Ngakuta, which is bringing 1000 tons of cement to New Plymouth, is to leave Limstone Island today for Wellington. Prom Wellington the Ngakuta comes direct to New Plymouth. A Press telegram from Hamilton says the Waikato Hospital Board considers the closing of the Waikato Sanatorium not justified, and it has decided to ask the Government to set up a commission to inquire into the administration of the sanatorium. Another southern newspaper is about to suspend operations, the unsatisfactory state of business: being chiefly due to the high cost of newsprint. At the annual meeting of the BlUff Publishing the balance-sheet for the year ended April 30th, 1920, showed a loss of £154 2s 9d. A telegram from Auckland says the charge against Dadleys, Ltd., of overcharging on a pair of suede shoes, was again before the Magistrate when E. G. Pinker, auditor And. accountant, was recalled. . After hearing further evidence from this witness judgment was reserved. At a meeting of the Otago division of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association it was decided to increase the charges for medical attendance. ' The increase will only apply, however, where visits are made to suburban districts. The fees charged in the city area, and for visits made, to the consulting rooms, -will remain as at present.—Press Association.

Th? executive council of the New Plymouth Astronomical Society met last night. The treasurer reported a debit balance of £l6, but about half the subscriptions to come in will change this into a credit balance. Six new members were elected. The Borough Council notified that it would make paths and put in order the reserve behind Marsland Hill where the observatory is situated. The opening of the observatory was fixed for next Thursday at 2.30 p.m., but if it is wet the ceremony will be held next Saturday afternoon. The Rev. 0. Blundell was appointed acting-director of the observatory. j j | The latest indication of high prices for dairy (says the Levin Chronicle) is th? receipt by the directors of the Levin Dairy Company of an offer of 2a 4d per lb (261s 4d per cwt) for their new season's make. It is understood the butter, if available, would go to the American market, This is a price that is from l%d to 2d a lb better; than the Imperial Government's tentative offer for Jlie New Zealand output; and goes to strengthen the view that the producers would receive much better treatment on the open market than under the British Government's controlled purchase. Of 62 applicants for the position of headmaster of Wellington College 55 were from Australia. Academically, the headmaster of' Wellington College is, says a Sydney paper, the equivalent of •the position of headmaster of a flrstclass high school in New South Wales, but the maximum salary for such schools is £036 per annum, with the, exception of the Sydney Grammar School, where the salary is £I2OO per annum. That, the salaries paid t« headmasters of high schools is too low is recognised by the Department of Public Instruction, and the whole salary system of the State schools is being revised with a view to an all-round increase. A recent issue of the Financial News (London) reproduced the exposition on the currency question by the chairman (Mr. Jos. Barugh) of the Fanners' Cooperative Auctioneering Co., Ltd., at the last annual meeting of shareholders. In doing so it says: "There is nothing new in it, but coming from such a remote part of the world, and from the chairman of an agricultural undertaking it is worth reprinting." Then follßws a quarter of a column under the heading. "As New Zealand sees it," "An Antipodean Exposition of the Currency Complex." To the shareholders of the Farmers' Auctioneering Co., Ltd., and also I to others, the incident is interesting as indicating that, thanks to its Publicity Department, the Company is being taken note of by such an eminent authority as the "Financial N«ws."

The position regarding the price of woollen goods in the Dominion was the subject of special reference in the annuai report of the directors of the Wellington Woollen Co. The paragraph reads: "The acute shortage of supplies and high prices of overseas woollens of equal quality to New Zealand manufacture has brought the local industry very much under public notice with unfair criticism, and. despite successful efforts to increase production, consumers have expected more than the industry could accomplish. The assumption, frequently expressed, that the cost of New Zealand textiles are based on London market values for wool, ia erroneous, as they are on the. Imperial Supplies Department's appraised prices of wool in the Dominion. Further, in relation to statements as to excessive prices, it is due to explain that the ratio of profit on the company's overturn has not been increased, but continues the same as before the war." The N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., draw attention to their Stratford sale which they are holding on Tuesday, 17th jnst. Full particulars will be found on page 8 of this issue.