LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 March 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

No Publication on Friday. The ‘•Times-Age" will not be published on Good Friday, March 22. Legal Holiday. ' The offices ol' the solicitors practising in the Wairarapa will be closed from tomorrow afternoon til] Monday. April Ist. Exhibition Attendances. Yesterday tile attendance al the Centennial Exhibition was 9.317 The total number of visitors has now reached 1,827,442. and the, daily average 16,030. Gift Parcels. All gift parcels for Now Zealand troops overseas are required t<> be in hand within a fortnight. This applies to parcels which are sent through patriotic committees or base offices for distribution to New Zealand troops. Woo! Appraisement. Proceeds of the third wool appraisement in South Canterbury this season amounted to £176,513 16s 6d from 10.332 bales. The average price was £l7 2s. The total for the three appraisements was £697,877 6s lid for 41,196 bales, against £588.394 for 45,363 bales last season. Waterfront Work. Representatives of the shipping companies and the employees discussed conditions of work on the waterfront at a conference on Monday, a Wellington message states. The delegates were welcomed by the Deputy-Prime Minister. Mr. Fraser, who expressed the wish that the parties would be able to agree upon some practical plan that would make for better work, better organisation and more harmony on the waterfront. Mr. W. H. Pride, on behalf of the shipping companies, and Mr. J. Roberts, on behalf of the workers, made statements, which were handed to the Government. Mr Fraser informed the conference that the Government after considering the reports submitted, would evolve a plan embodying the Government's policy. When this was done the parties would be called ; together again to confer with the Gov- , eminent.

Rationing Plan Rejected. After refusal by the union concerned to sanction a plan to ration warehouse work among its unmarried male employees a large Auckland importing firm has reduced the size of its staff. Several other firms are said to have been considering the question of rationing work as an alternative to staff dismissals, so that their deliberations are affected by the union’s attitude. Such a substantial reduction in stocks and business had been suffered by the Auckland importing firm indicated, that it found its staff over large in the circumstances. Had it not been for enlistments, which had previously cut down the number of male employees. it would have been forced to take action earlier. Its plan to ration work was that each unmarried male ' employee would stand down for one week in four. If enlistments continued at the previous normal rate, it hoped to be able to resume full tiriie employment in a few months. State Control of Business. There had recently been a marked increase of Government activities 'in business mid since the outbreak of war they had seen the State regiment practically all private commercial activities under various emergency regulations and enactments, said the president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, Captain S. Hohn, in his address at the annual meeting of the chamber last night. An examination of those enactments, he said, could not but give one the impression that the country had gone considerably further along the road of complete State control of economic life than prosecution of the war demanded. "I assure you that this chamber, and the associated chambers, arc keeping a watchful eye on these matters, and have repeatedly protested to the authorities, for it is considered that private enterprise is being curtailed and endangered. a state of affairs with which we are not in accord, nor do wo think it in the country’s interest," said Captain Holm.

Price Levels. An announcement that in spite of increased costs overseas and increased costs of shipping the all-groups price index for January, die latest month for which figures were available, was only 1,3 per cent, higher than that for the last pre-war month. August, 1939. was made by the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, in the course of an address to the annual meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce lasi, night. "This figure compares very favourably with the United Kingdom figure which has lately shown a tendency lo lise to alarming levels," Mr Jones said. “The value of the Price Tribunal is fmthei seen in the fact that whereas prices have risen only 1.3 per cent in live months, in the corresponding five months following the outbreak of war in 1914, prices rose by almost 9 per cent. A further reassuring factor is that while the early months of the Great War showed an unbroken rising tendency, (lie early months of thia war shoxV that prices are responding to control. Prices remained very steady up to October with a slightly rising tendency. A sharp rise in November was followed by a drop in December and a further sharp drop in January. Business Community's Great Trust. “From the experience gained during the past year we arc perhaps better placed than any other country to govern our imports so that the maximum good is recorded to the sterling group with the minimum of interference with business," said the Minister of Defence. Mr Jones, in an address te ■ (he annual meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce last night. The business community, he said, had a big responsibility in its hands, a great trust to honour and protect. The control measures introduced by the Government could do much to protect the interests of the majority of the people, but commercial men as individuals in their daily work could do even more. "It is not my intention to speak of tile part played by the soldier, the sailor and the airman," Mr Jones said. | "No mai' can do more than to oiler his life for his country. This is the supreme gesture and the work of any other member of society is secondary iii importrnce to the contribution made by the man on active service. Yet all tli-? elTorts of our military forces would be rendered valueless if they were not supported by the wealth of our country. It is the obvious duty of every man who remains behind to increase production and avoid waste."