LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 September 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Special Band Practice. A special practice for members of the Masterton Municipal Band will be held in the Bandroom tonight. All bandsmen are requested to be present at 7.45 o’clock. Russian Music. A reminder is given of an address on Russian music tonight at 7.30 o’clock by Mrs Miller Hope to members of the Masterton Art Club, in the Bannister Street Hall. All persons interested are invited to attend. Workmen’s Friend Building Society. The monthly meeting of the directors of the Workmen’s Friend No. 2 Building Society was held last night, Mr W. Kemp presiding, there being also present: Messrs E. H. Morton, C. W. Walker, E. J. Brown, A. E. Hubbard, H. L. Price and T. B. Braggins. Apologies for absence were received from Messrs S. M. Gilding and A. V. Dixon. The finance report, as submitted by the secretary, was adopted. The Society’s solicitors reported that the mortgage in regard to a recent appropriation had been completed. Flood Damage Costs. Mr J. O’Brien (Government, Westland), who was chairman of the Select Committee which took evidence on the Rivers Control Bill, said that in one year alone flood damage had cost New Zealand £500,000. He estimated that during the last two years subsidies to river boards had amounted to £173,800 a year, while flood damage had cost £150,000 annually. No one could estimate the cost to the landowner and the ! local bodies. Most of the work done in the past in connection with river erosion had been wasted because it had not been properly planned, and he was of the opinion that, taken altogether, the cost had been £500,000 a year to the country because the problem had not been handled as it should have been. The problem still faced the country.

The League of Nations. The view that there was no way out of the existing international chaos without the League of Nations, if full economic, political and social freedom to individuals of all countries and all races was to be attained, was expressed by the Acting-Prime Minister, Mr Nash, in opening the annual conference of the League of Nations Union of New Zealand in the Frederic Wallis House, Lower Hutt, yesterday. The activities of the League might be temporarily in abeyance, said Mr Nash, but its spirit was still there and the principles of international co-operation were still necessary if peace was to be enduring.

Refusal to Suppress Name. “You know my views of these applications. There is a universal law governing rich and poor, and the fact that this man comes of a well-known family does not warrant an order,” said Mr J. Miller, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, Napier, yesterday, in refusing suppression of the name of David Dockary, who was charged with the conversion of a bicycle. Bail of £lOO with one surety of £lOO was agreed to. Counsel for accused, Mr C. W. Nash, applied for an order for suppression of his client’s name because his wife was in hospital, but his Worship refused this, stating that unless there were more substantial grounds for suppression it could not be ordered. “I intend to establish a rule governing future applications for suppression. Very real reasons must be presented before orders of that nature are made,” said the Magistrate. Other charges were pending in this case, and that -was a further reason for refusing the application.

Meningitis Cases in Auckland. There are now 17 meningitis cases in the Auckland Hospital, including several not declared positive. No further deaths have occurred. Free Stakes. The pruning of Masterton. street trees is at present under way. Residents who wish to acquire stakes or pea sticks are invited by the Masterton Beautifying Society to help themselves from the primings. Fire Victim Dies. Injuries received in a fall when he was escaping from the fire at the warehouse of John Burns and Co., Ltd., Auckland, a little more than two weeks ago, resulted in the death yesterday of Mr Francis Harold Baker in a private hospital. On the morning of the fire, Mr Baker was in his office on the first floor. From a window he stepped out to the roof of the Customs Street veranda, and it was when he was preparing to descend to the street level that he fell and received injuries to his head which rendered him unconscious. Old Newspapers Wanted. Difficulty is being experienced by the Masterton Women’s Patriotic Committee in securing sufficient supplies of old newspaper for the packing of i soldiers’ parcels. This position has | arisen on account of the extensive collection of waste paper conducted locally during the past few months. The committee therefore appeals for the donation of 200 or 300 newspapers, which could be left at the Women’s Rest Room, Dixon Street, before Monday, so as to .allow the packing of parcels to proceed according to schedule. Any surplus paper will go to the Waste Paper Depot.

No Change in Taxation. “There will be no need for any more tax to be collected, because the loan is over-subscribed,” said the Acting-Prime Minister, Mr Nash, when the Land and Income Tax (annual) Bill was introduede in the House of Representatives last evening. The measure, which was read a first time, fixes both land tax and income tax for the year beginning April 1, 1941, at the same rates as those for the preceding year. “The Bill before the House just provides for like taxation this year as last year,” Mr Nash added. -The Bill, which is almost, an exact copy of last year’s enactment, was received jocularly, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Holland, asking Mr Nash if the measure would provide any relief from taxation. Anonymous Letters to Press.

“If the publication of anonymous letters in the newspapers is found to interfere with the war effort, consideration will immedic 'ely be given to the introduction of steps which, while providing for freedom of expression, will also protect individuals and the State from unfair attacks by anonymous correspondents.” This was the reply by the Acting-Prime Minister, Mr Nash, in the House of Representatives yesterday, to a question by Mr Meachen (Government, Marlborough), who had requested that the Government give consideration to the prohibition under the war regulations of the publication of anonymous letters in the columns of the newspapers.