Interprovincial

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 17, 30 April 1908, Page 24

Interprovincial

The postal revenue "of the Dominion ' during • the , March quarter of this year was £112,034, as against £109,846 for the corresponding period of last year. The telegraph revenue was £71,581, compared with £67,055.

We' have received the second number ol" the "C.V.M.', a mag-arfne issued' under the auspices of the Adelaide Catholic Club. It is very well got up, and nicely printed and illustrated, and is , very creditable to tie society.

At a meeting of the Oamaru Harbor Board on Monday it was decided to ask the ratepayers for permission, to borrow £50,000 for tho purpose of purchasing a new dredge, and so render the harbor and approaches absolutely safe for Home-going vessels of any size.

At the local school committee elections (telegraphs our Wellington correspondent) candidates favoring the introduction of Bibde-readiing into the State schools were decisively rejected. The League proposals were almost unanimously condemned by committees.

Tfliie sale of unclaimed articles at the " Christohurch Police Station on ■ Saturday realised £30 odd, by wMch. amount the Police Provident/ Fund will benoiit. The articles included eleven bicycles- and a variety of .trinkets, hand-bags, etc., found in the Exhibition during ttie period of its currency.

Mr. H. St. A. Murray, the Canterbury athlete, who is going Home to represent New Zealand at the* Olympic games, and who passed through Wellington on Friday on his way to Sydney, has been provided by the Prime Minister with a letter of introduction to. the Hir;h Commissioner, Mr. W. P. Ileeves.

During the first quarter of this year the total amount deposited in, the Post Office Savings Banks of the Dominion was £2,542,188, as against £2,325,099 during the first three months of 19i7. The withdrawals during the same period totalled £2,382,933 for 1908, and £2 : ,000,251 for 1907, tho excess of deposits over withdrawals b|eing £159,253 for this year, and £324,849 last year.

The 4 Press ' reports that a householder at a suburban school committee election on Monday evening referred to the fact that, during the previous year, the school library had been augmented by a number of volumes presented by an an anonymous giver. - ' I 'intend to make a n anonymous gift of books this year,' he pursued, ' and I hope there are others present who will do the same.'

Sir Joseph Ward, in the course of a speech .at Wellington, on Monday night, said the financial position of the Dominion was highly satisfactory. The revenue of the year ended March 31 showed a record of £9,055,946, and other receipts that could not be called ordinary revenue amounted to £8043, making the total receipts for the year £9,003,980. At the beginning of the year they had brought forward £717, 82 d. As indicating the peculiar season in the Wairarapa, wattle trees "'in full rloom may be seen at Konmi, as well as apple trees blossoming after having yielded a good harvest of fruit. In Masterton one resident has secured two crops of potatoes consecutively from the same piece of ground since the beginning of spring. In several Christchurch gardens the wattle trees are in bud, while currant bushes are sprouting neiw growths which threaten) to- toiist into~ leaf before the past season's foliage is finally disposed of.

- The new Hermitage at Mount C o o^ will Rebuilt on a commanding site at Governor's Bush. TbW'istfoe one piece ol bush* now left near Mount Cook on the eastern siide oi' the d[\ ide. A beautiful stream runs past it f om small glaciers situated his*-* up on the Scaly. range which towers to at heigibt of GOOOft. in the immediate background. From the front windows magnificent views ol Mount Coo 1 * < 1 2,349ft.\ Mount Sefton (10,350 ft.), ?t David's Dome (9948 ft.), and tine bold rocky peaks of the Liebig Ran^e will be procurable-

The Government " has decided to erect a temporary covered footbridge across Sydney street, Wellington, in order to connect Government House, where Parliament next meets, and the Parliamentary Library. ' The Jatter was not consumed' in the recent fire, ( and the bridge will be erected for convenience of .members ol Pai^a'mpnt. and o'lberss, burins; *be S orithqom'iing " scission. Thle Wellington City Council has given its consent to the proposed work, on condition that the passage will n o t be - a permanent structure.

Adyaoe was received ia Oamaru on Saturday, that the Government have decided to purchase the Kauroo Hills estate, ne a r Maheno, for closer settlement. There are one or two details in connection -with the purchase fatal! to be 'arranged with Messrs' Teschmaker, but it is very satisfactory to be able to record the * Government's decision. The estate consists of 19,113 acres, of ireehold, to which is at present attached about* 7500 acres of Crown land leasehold and 600 acres of School Commissionbrs' land,- also held on leasehold. The property has been one o f the most reputed in North Otago from the early days of the district, both for its wheat and for ats wooil-gri owing capacities. It is well watered, has a fertile soil, and a nice aspect,, and ijt is «t present subdivided inttx* Severn, farms, which are a 1 well fenced and roaded.

With the object" of keeping New Zealand a <nd its resources before the notice of newspaper readers in "the Unaf.d K)n|d O m the Government is making a n important and interesting experiment. An arrangement has been effected with Reuter's Telegraph Company to despatch three times a wee't from' New -Zealand to England a message o f a hundred words containing items of general n ews wM~K will fee of *ntei*st to newspaper readers at Hbme The selection o f the news is left entirely to Reuter's Agency, it being understood that wie items R re to be free from bias. Matters which no SSim W + / e °! ye will be any important S?t S - by c hea f of the Government, crop prosaffP»tin^ g re + tUn ? S ' t he^ ield of wheat - and matters affecting the extensive trade between New Zealand and the United Kingdom, Canada and America. t «„« ■?' S* S Mjf le y. manager of the New Zealand S£, w d Me + I : cailtl 3< J A gency Company, in giving cviSd thfrthpV Co r ilia j ion Board > ** Christelmrch, said that the farmers' outlook was not too promising and though there was no reason, to fear a great d£i preciation m the value of our staple products, this was an inopportune time, to alter the conditions of expeoKfature. now prevailing for farm work, The small farmer was not doing so well as he had been for some" yeais, owing to the lower values of some faorm .-products. Wool was considerably lower; sheep were down in price; and fat lambs were very much lower. Certain classes of wool had. declined in London by 3d to 4d wer ft daring the past twenty-four months. Any further tax would bje detrimental to the small farmers many of whom were bearing as much as they couid already. An award imposing further burdens would cause his firm to advance - money less freely to farmers. . J

The American. Consul-general (Mr. W. R. Prickett) in conservation with a -representative of an Auckland paper, referred to the question of the advertisement of tms Dominion in his country. He viewed favorably the suggestion of the Hon. Dr. Findlay (AttorneyGeneral) that the officers and men of the United States fleet on their forthcoming visit to Auckland'should* be "shown our thermal regions if the requisite arrangements as to transport could be made. Mr. "Pnicbett pointed out, however, that the trip would od cupy two or three days at least. -Still, everyone to whom you can show the thermal region,' he declared, ' must count for something.' In Mr.- Prickett's opini on,0 n, however, the most important thing is to procure good accommodation between here and San Francisco. 'Until you get that,' he said, ' you cannot expect to get very many people to come here from the United States. Some arrangements should -be made between the New Zealand and American Governments to provide "for a good steamship service.'

Dealing with the question of holidays for farm and station hands (says the • Press '), Mr. Ackiand remarked' at the -Conciliation Board on Monday that those demanded by the Farm Laborers' Union did not suit either the employers or the men. He knew that on same back stations the shearers' wanted to shear on Christmas Day, and they would shear on Sundays if they were allowed. In Queensland they had practicallycompelled the bosses to let them shear on Sundays, and the same applied In.- New Zealand, though not- to the same extent. A holiday was little use to a man 30 or 40 miles from anywhere, and he had heard of men spendinjg a holiday in poaching paradise ducks or damming a creek for eels. As 1 to the allegation -that a weekly half-holiday was necessary so that the men should do their walshing on Saturday instead of Sunday, he dismissed it as an agitator's excuse ; probably - the men would play cards on the Saturday -half-holi-day, and continue the practice of doing their washing on Sundays.