LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 May 1938, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Diphtheria Case. A woman resident of Masterton has been admitted to the isolation ward at the Masterton Hospital, suffering from diphtheria.

Dunedin Burglaries. Burglars were busy in Dunedin during the week-end, but met with poor success in four attempts. The Crystal Products Company had 2s stolen from a drawer, Sargood’s boot factory one pair of boys’ shoes, Young and Anderson’s grocery a few tins of sardines, and the intruders secured a shilling from a gas meter in a watersiders’ shed.

Makuri Road Widening. Work on the Makuri Gorge road widening commenced last week and already sections of bush slope have been cut away in order to shave off corners. At present there are 12 men in the camp, all married, and it is the intention of the Public Works Department to bring the quota up to 40 by the time the scheme is fully under way.

Shooting Fatality. A Maori boy, Para Raroa, aged 13, son of Raroa Murray, Ahipara, was accidentally shot at Herekino on Sunday. He accompanied Steve Junjevich, aged 22, on a shooting expedition, and it appears that Junjevich fired at what he believed was a pheasant, and the boy, who was behind a tree, was in a direct line of fire and received the charge. The coroner opened and adjourned the inquest.

Wages and Prices. A denial of statements that the increased income of the workers had been absorbed by increased prices was made by the Minister of Finance, the Hon W. Nash, in his address at Lower Hutt last night. “That statement is not true,” Mr Nash said. “Here are the figures supplied by the Government Statistician today. Wage rates have increased since 1935 by 23.3 per cent. Retail prices have increased by 12J per cent. Every worker and his wife know the improved circumstances today compared with 1935—but wage rates are not the best tests. A better one is total wages and salaries —in 1935 they amounted to £60,969,149. For the year ending March 31 last, they totalled £91,588,230. It’s income that counts. The wage rates may be 2s 9d or 3s an hour, but they only meet the cost of living when the man is working.”