LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 October 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Messrs. Morrissey and Co. intend to hold regular stock sales at Patea in future, and have'purchased the auctioneering business of Messrs. Bennett and Harding, of that town. A sitting of the Tramway Appeal Board at New Plymouth was fixed for yesterday to consider the appeal of Motorman E. G. Allen against his rating and dismissal, but it was adjourned for a month. ; During the hearing of a case in the Wellington Magistrate's Court in which a prisoner was charged with breaking and entering with t-iieft, it was stated that the identity of the accused was discovered by his finger-prints. When pleading guilty he said: "They hanged a man on finger-print evidence." Hawera has been made a weather station, and in future the rainfall will be registered daily at the post office. The records will be posted up from day to day, and information will be exchanged by the various centres in Taranaki. These records,, it is understood, will be advantageous to farmers, says the Star. "There is a wider outlook in Taranaki and throughout the Dominion to-day than ever before. We are getting more united, and we can only get what we want by being united in our demands for the province."—Mr! W. P. Kirkwood, speaking at Stratford on the prooosed pew railway time-table, ,

The prospectus of a company with £7OOO capital has been issued in Auckland to exploit an electrical process for the treatment of ironsand invented by Mr. X. G. Winklemann, formerly of Mew Plymouth. The opening of the fishing season in Taranaki yesterday saw the streams near New Plymouth mostly disturbed by flood water, but better reports were received from the coastal rivers. One rod produced six fish and there were several anglers who were successful in securing from three to six. These were all working the coast streams.

The position as regards southern shipping, to New Plymouth is doubtful owing to the hold-up, at Wellington. If possible the Rosamond will leave Wellington early next week with cargo for New Piymouth, but the. exact date of lier sailing, or the amount of cargo to be brought, -.are not yet known. The. Corinna was to leave Dunedin yesterday for New* Plymouth, via southern ports, and is expecteJ\here about next Friday.

At a recent meeting of the Taranaki Employers' Association a committee was set up to discuss the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce; a proposal to form a disputes committee with a view to improving waterside conditions aud facilitating the working of wharves, so as to prevent the development of trouble there. Yesterday' thAChamber of Commerce discussed the mfttter at length, there being some divergence of opinion as to the practicability ar}d effectiveness of the proposal, and eventually a sub-committee was appointed to go into the matter with the Employers' Association, and report to next meeting of the Council of the Chamber. \

The Taranaki branch of the New Zealand Society of Accountants recently rcBolved to request the various Chambers of Commerce in the province to interest themselves in the direction of endeavoring to facilitate and improve the standard of commercial teaching throughout all schools in Taranaki where commercial subjects are taught. As a step in this direction it was thought that the Technical School Advisory Committee should be requested to allow a member of the Accountants Society an ex officio seat on their committees, with the object of assisting them in all matters pertaining to commercial subjects. The proposal was supported by the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce at a meeting of the council yesterday. The inconvenience caused to country people, and presumably to Waitara people, by the inadequate train service from Waitara to New Plymouth, and also south, was referred to by Cr. Foreman at yesterday's meeting of the Clifton. County Council. He pointed out that settlers requiring to go from Waitara to a flag station had to travel by the mail connection from Waitara, and "kick up their heels for an hour" at Lepperton. There was also no connection with the mid-day train. The inadequate service had been responsible for a number of 'buses using the roads, entailing more expense on ratepayers. On his suggestion the Council unanimously passed a resolution asking the Waitara Chamber of Commerce to consider the advisability' of waiting on the General Manager o"f Railways when he visits Taranaki.

"To a very large extent the shipowners and harbor boards have got themselves to blame for the present conditions of affairs in Wellington and other big ports," said Mr. E. P. Webster at the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce yesterday. _ They should, he said, have long ago set about evolving a scheme whereby they could have a regular staff of hands with a minimum amount of wages guaranteed. It was a difficult problem, of course, but he was convinced, after giving the matter a great deal of thought, that it wa3 by no means insuperable. "'What have you to-day?" he asked. "In the big centres you have on the wharves the flotsam and jetsam of the country." If the authorities would only provide for permanent work the very best men would be attracted to it, and permanent men, as they knew by the experience on the railways, were satisfactory men and were not always 'looking- for trouble, as unfortunately was the case with the watersiders in the main centres to-day. He concluded by expressing the hope that all harbor boards would lose no further time in evolving a scheme Of the nature mentioned.

In the last Gazette are published details regarding telephone charges, They are summarised as under:—ln addition to the entrance fee of £1 the fcharge per annum payable in respect, of business connections which comprise warehouses, stores, shops, boardinghouses, or any. premises which bear prima facie evidence of being utilised for business purposes or are advertised as such, the charge for an exclusive circuit at the four principal cities is £9 10s, not exceeding one mile; at other exchanges open continuously £S for half a mile, £8 las for threequarters of a mile, and £9 10s for one mile; for exchanges not open continuously £i less than the foregoing. A common rata at exchanges other than those in the four principal cities would be granted on the application of not less than two-thirds of both business and private subscribers, and this common, rate is fixed at: For business connecfor half a mile, with advances of 15s for three-quarter's of a mile and one mile. The private residence rate at all exchanges is £{>.

At the Workers' Social Hall on Tuesday next Webster Bros, will submit to auction a quantity of" new and modern house furniture. This furniture is in splendid condition and conies direct from the manufacturers. The articles will be on view from 2 to 4 p.m. on Monday.

It should be realised by all who prize their independence in old age that the Government National Provident Fund is specially designed to ' appreciate that virtue. For a low contribution, any person under 50 years of age can join without medical examination, and along with the liberal benefits throughout life, is secured an annuity of 10s, 20s, 30s, or 40s per week at the age of 60. Mr. J. Curtayne and the Department's lecturer is now busily engaged in arraneplaees in New Plymouth with a view to explaining the fund's benefits.

The special people's monthly service is 'announced to be held at the Whiteley Memorial Church on Sunday evening at 7 o'clock. The Rev. J. Napier Milne will make some unpleasant disclosures concerning "Some religious mischiefmakers in Fiji and Taranaki." Those who dislike humbug and narrowness and mere sectarianism in religion should make a point of being present. . Under t'lie skilled direction of Mr. R. Laurie Cooper a large choir and orchestra will lead the service of praise. The musical part of the service will commence at fi.45. Mrs. A. B. Macdonald will sing Sir Charles Harriss' "I Heard the Voice of Jesus," and the anthems will be "Abide with m#."

Some idea of the development of the dairying industry in the Auckland district is given by Mr. S. J. Ambury, chairman of directors of the Auckland Fanners' Freezing Company. The total quantity of butter received at the company's works for the year ended 30th June was 4!>1,760 boxes, or 12,294 tons. The cheese received totalled 11,778 tons. Ten years ago the quantity of butter frozen by the company during a similar period was 6510 tons and cheese 515 tons. The increase in the annual butter production compared with the figures of a decade ago was 5783 tons, while in respect to cheese the increase amounted to the substantial quantity of 11,263 tons.

A AVanganui grocer states that of late the wholesale quotations of the majority of lines of foodstuffs have been particularly steady with little variation either way. Whether this was the forerunner of prices receding he was -ot prepared to state. However, one thing was particularly noticeable, namely, that merchants were very anxious to unload certain lino?, were not considered to be Tjopnisr, and generally speaking thers s-aa ?reat anxiety on the part of wholesalers to do business. This was different ho a year ago, when the retailer had to practically beg !.o get even a portion of his orders filled.

i In spite of an elaborate system of , tribunals created to prosecute* cases of profiteering, a system which, has thus far proved unsucce'-iin:.', the ':os : ; of living in England is gradually increasing though prices for eggs, butter, milk, and vegetables are temporarily .-,omewhat lower. Government officials predict that for at least two yean prices will be higher than they are at present. A boost in household eoal of 12s 6d a L ton became effective recently. This, it j,s said will bring a proportionate rise in everything else. All foodstuffs and canne v (l goods are increasing 25 per cent, owfeg to the difference in exchange and the promised decrease in meat prices has not-'jNjfc materialised, although warehouses aW glutted with meat. It is an interesting and not altogether profitless exeV-ise to project oneself into the future i\™d imagine what a later age may think \° f this (says the Auckland Star). For. example, we may picture a historian 0$ the year 2300 spending his summer in Lhassa, reached easily and safely by air express, dealing with events in Australia in the present century: "Oib reason for the tragic decline in the prosperity of this magnificently endowed was the spread of the hallucination that you could at one moment deflnwid oheaper goods, and at the next deSmnd higher wages and shorter hours. nj the Australian and New Zealand \>aper3 of September 22, 1920, appearedVn ironic juxtaposition two items of neVs that vividly illustrate this point. Any officer of the Commonwealth Statisticians Department showed that the Coiftmonwealth's primary products had decreased in quantity by 20 per cent, during\t fte Great War. The area under wheat iW less by 3,200,000 acres, sheep by 10,00?;000, wool by 50,000,0001b. At the siun\ time Board of Trade evidence diaclosedV that in one year prices of clothing and' boots had advanced 25 per cent. Then followed the announcement that the Amalgamated Society of Engineer;? had served demands on all employers' for a 40-hour week and increased wages. It is amazing to our enlightened age that men could not see then that after the gigantic waste of the Great War, the world's salvation lay in work.

To-morrow (Sunday) afternoon, should t!io weather permit, the' Citizen.*' Band will "ire their recital a'; Ihe Bv-itkwater, which had to he postponed from last week owing to the rain. The Band will play in the vicinity of the Home liner, and the programme will be the same as outlined previously.