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Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 62, 15 March 1922, Page 4

A debtor at the Magistrate's Court ! this morning stated that his wage was [ £4 per week. He had a wife and five | children to maintain, and also paid £2 j per week rent for an unfurnished house. '■ It is almost needless to add that Mr. J. K. Wilson, S.M., refused to make an, order under such circumstances. j A speaker with a deputation from ' Marauiarua, at the meeting of the Auckland Kducation Board this morning, stated that for the past' nine montns the children in that part of the district had ma received any schooling. "A very .serious position, - was the comment ot the chairman (Mr. E. C. Banics). The deputation requested tluxt a school should 'be established at Manamarua East. The chairman, in reply, said the matter would receive serious consideration, but he regrett"d that the residents were divided as to location of site, lie thought it useless, however, to apply to ■Wellington at present foT a grant. On the motion of Mr. J. S. Bond, the advisory inspector was instructed to report. The inspector said the district was a widely scattered one, anJ that one school would hardly serve the purpose. Of all thp nuts he had had to crack this was the hardest. (Laughter.) On visiting the district telephones were immediately set to work, and he was waylaid at every point. (Laughter). It was a country squabble as to site, and he predicted that an opposing deputation would wait on the board if any decision was arrived at. (Laughter.) In the Supreme Court at Hamilton yesterday, Arnold Francis Cokcr was found not guilty on his second trial on a charge'of indecent assault at Putaruru ;on a girl under the ago of 16.

1 A curious request was received at this ' morning's meeting of the Education ] Board, when the children of a certain I cpuntry school petitioned for the - removal of their headmaster. "Something , in the nature of a revolution?" inquired > ; a member, amidst some laught-er. i j "Request declined," commented the i i chairman (Mr. E. C. Banks) a≤ the board ■ proceeded with other business. ""I understand the Government wants ' revenue, and so far as I can see these are ' really revenue cases." This remark was passed by Mr. J. F. W. Dickson to the ' magistrate in the Police Court this morning during the hearing of a betting case. Counsel at the time was pleading for a light tine. The Act makes the particular offence of which the accused, was ' convicted punishable by a maximum of imprisonment for three months, or a fine of £100; £50 was the figure set by the I Bench, and accused was given a month | I to lind the cash. ; The unemployment problem so far as seamen at this port is concerned has considerably improved. A few weeks | back, with a large number of vessels laid up in the harbour, quite a large number of seamen were compelled to seek work , on land. Although the position has been J alleviated to a very large extent, as ! stated, there are still several vessels in the harbour which have not been in commission for months past. '"We are after effieiencj'. We muet I look for the welfare of the children. It I is our duty to do so," exclaimed Mr. James Boddie at this morning's meeting of the Auckland Education Board. "If a man is unsatisfactory in any business ■he would very soon be discharged," replied Mr. J. D. McKenzie. The board was discussing the appointment of a teacher, and members emphasised the necessity of an amendment to the Act whereby a teacher who had been proved i unsatisfactory at one school, could be J appointed to another at reduced salary. The following dates have been fixed for Jie consideration of the seamen's | dispute 'by councils of conciliation: — j Auckland, March 21; Wellington, March -7; Dunedin, April 4. Union assessors at each of the sittings will toe: Messrs. W. T. Young (general secretary of the Seamen's Federation), W. Clarke (Dunedin), and T. F. Anderson (Auckland). About the only change the seameu are j seeking is an increase in wages. I ' At yesterday's meeting of the Auck-' land Provincial Industrial Association,. a letter was received from the Hun. E. P. Lee, Minister of Industries and Com-j merce, denying that certain firms had: received preferential treatment in price in connection with supplies of road metal •from the Prisons Department, lie had' Jiad the matter thoroughly investigated,. j and wan quite convinced that the majority of statements recently made -by Mr. •John Wilt-on were quite in error. A noticeable feature of the order paper presented at this morning's Education Board meeting and quite a t-igii; of the timee, was the absence of grants] for new schools or enlargements. The j terms "declined for the present," or simply "declined" wVre the most frequent replies endorsed on application Jorms. That New ZealamT-grown apples are | increasing in favour in England is ! proved by the large quantities that | reach Wellington almost daily for over- j sea transhipment. The s.s. Kaitoa, j which arrived on Tuesday from iiapua I and Motueka, brought GOOD cases for the New Zealand Shipping Company's , Peshawur. fixed to sail on Saturday morning for London. The ferry steamer ' Nikau from Nelson to-day brought a fruit cargo for transhipment to the Federal steamer Leitrim. The Minister of Defence states that it has been decided that the ages of deceased soldiers will be inscribed on the headstones where parents or other next-of-kin wish this to be done. But the age must be the correct age as supplied by the ne.xt-of-.kin. The use of the official age as shown in attestation papers would give rise to much confusion, since some of the men gave Incorrect ages at the time of enlistment owing to their desire to avoid the age barrier. Relatives who wish to have the age inscribed on headstones should communicate their desires to the Xew Zealand War Craves Committee. The manner in which a man may got tied up financially in bad times was illustrated at the Magistrate's Court to-day. A witness was asked, "How much mont-y have you now?" and replied, "About one (shilling." Yet in the course of examination by counsel it was shown that the debtor had mortgages on land from which he was getting practically no return. Jn one case, the best offer he had received for a mortgage of £2000 was only £500. The property had been thrown on liis hands. As there was a sub-mortgage for £300, the offer simply meant he would lose all his money, but at present he was getting £20 a year for grazing rights. No order was made. A letter was received from the Xapier Borough Council at the meeting of the Manukau County Council yesterday, asking the council to support them "in requesting the 'Government to introduce legislation providing that credit balances of loan account be set oIT by the banks against the debit 'balances of the other accounts as regards the payment of interest on hank overdraft. It was agreed to support the request. It is reported that the recent decrease in the price of bread and milk means a saving of some hundreds of pounds to some of the largest public institutions in Auckland. Many large manufacturers are quoting very low indeed for bread, anticipating as they do that as time goes on there will be a further decrease in the price of flour. In a speech at the opening of the New Plymouth Technical High School at Stratford the Hon. C. J. Parr. Minister . of y.ducation. said he was opposed to . economy in education. The rising generasible regardless of the fact that money ' was short. : informed the Auckland K.'ncation Boarl that it is not arlvi*n!>b to arccpt the ■ Church of England's offer to purcha-e n portion of the eld schorl site. It was ( decided to inform the Church authorities that the board was not prepared i ■ to ?eil at present. . ! A total of IR4 teams have entered tor the united fire brigades' district competition, to lie held at Dannevirke at Easter, the district 'being represented from , Wellington to Xapier, and as far nortli i as Marton. • "These "entlenien who yon say were acting both ways are not politicians, i are. thevV' , queried his Honor Mr. Justice Hosking of a witness at the Nelson Supreme Court one morning last week. Witness: "Apparently they arc, your Honor."' The town of Petone. in Wellington province, is steadily growing in size and importance. The borough engineer re- '. ported to the council last night that ! j during the past year hnilding permit, . i to the value of £J5.57'.l had been i=sued. | I '

"I am a Scotchman, and I am going to stick to my gum?. I hope the mover of this motion, even if he i≤ not a. ■Scotchman, will stick to hid guns also," (laughter), exclaimed Mr. James Boddie at this morning's meeting of 'the Auckland Education Board, after seconding a motion for the appointment of a ■certain head-teacher. '"Well, as t-he Englishman follows the Scotchman. 1 Buppoee I shall have to do so on this occasion," replied the mover, Mr. H. ;-. W. King. (Laughter.) The motion was carried. The question of taxation and its effect on the farmer was brought up at the provincial executive meeting of the Farmers' Union last evening. Mr. L. McAlpine said that the position of the farmer in respect to Die renewal of mortgages at present held up by the moratorium was very serious. All the money in tho country was being absorbed by the commercial people, and when mortgages on land became due there would be no money available for renewal. The manner in which companies were taxed was ascribed by Mr. F. Colfoeck as the great trouble in the matter. A company, in order to realise, j 6 per cent, net on mortgage money, hud j to charge 12 per cent. If the Govern- | ment would forego the tax on money lent on land there would be a flood of j money available for removlil of mort- j gages on broad acres. HV suggested '. that the Government be approached i with a view of getting the income tax j on mortgage money remitted. It was i decided lhat a remit on the subject be | framed for discussion at the next provincial conference of the union. An inquest was held yesterday afternoon by Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., concerning the death of" the little girl, Marie Lillian Hefferen, aged three years eight monthe, who was fatally burned on Monday afternoon. Evidence was given that the deceased and some j children were playing together in Baker Street, off Nelson Street, when a five-year-old boy struck a wax match and j threw it away. It fell on her dress and 1 caused it to catch fire. Running towards her home the deceased's mother rushed out and managed to extinguish the flames, but not before the child was severely burned. She was admitted to the Auckland Hospital about three o'clock on Monday afternoon, but died j five hour s later. The coroner returned a verdict that the deceased died as a I result of shock, following burns caused by a lighted match feeing thrown on her : j dress. i J Measures have now been taken by the Defence authorities to place the : Xew Zealand Army Chaplains' Depart- ; ment on a basis which, it is hoped, will 'be satisfactory both to the Defence Department and t lie various denominations. An advisory committee of chaplains is to be appointed, consisting of one representative each from the following denominations: Church of England, Roman Catholic. Presbyterian, ! Methodist, Congregational, Baptist, Hei brew, and Salvation Army. The comi mittee is to be the channel for all com- | munieations, and is to keep the various denominations in touch with one another and the Defence Department. Chaplains are to be divided into two sections, active list and reserve list. Only those I lit for active service will be appointed ■to the first list, and the age limit is as ! follows: Chaplains, 4th class (equivalent to captain). 43 years; 3rd class (equivalent to major). 50 years: 2nd class I (equivalent to lieutenant-colonel), H. 5 years; Ist class (equivalent to colonel). <!0 years. In etich regimental district there will be chaplains on the active list, as follows: Church of England 5, TComan Catholic 2, Presbyterian 3, Methodist 2, other denominations 1, Salvation Army I. The Town Clerk and heads of departments of the Auckland City Council last night entertained the staff of the corporation numbering about 200 at a social in the Concert Chamber. Town Hall. The hall was tastefully decorated with ferns and festoons of lycopodium and electric lights, giving a beautiful effect. The town clerk (Mr. -J. S. Brigjham), in welcoming the guests, said that the object of the gathering was to bring the various branches of the cor-" poration service into closer touch. During the evening musical items were rendered I>y Misses Fletcher and Smith, Messrs. "McKinley, Hollinrake, and A. Taylor, and a recitation was given by Mr. A. Wylic. After supper dancing was indulged in. the music being supplied by Mr. Morrow a orchestra, which terminated a very pleasant function, j When Mr. J. Keele, ceramic engineer; to the Canadian Mires Department, (was ] in Wellington a few days ago, he made some remarks which are of interest in view of Saturday's big fire. As a specialist in clay products he was strongly ; impressed by the enormous amount of wooden construction in New Zealand, and especially in Wellington, where, he said, it seemed to him to constitute a real danger because of the congestion of many of the residential portions. "One of these days," he said, "you will have a fire, and if you get winds like we do in Canada, there will be no stopping it. The houses are too close toavtlier in the absence of brick walls to check a fire." Mr. Keele said he recognised that houses were bound to be very ' close tofffther in narts of Wellington. ■ but ursretl that far more brick or other incombustible material should be used, j At a meeting of the Hamilton Cham-! bor of Commerce a pamphlet was received from the Auckland Advertising League, pointing out that the lack of good hotel accommodation in Hamilton was widely commented on by the travelling public, and suggesting that citizens should adopt a scheme, favoured in ; America, of erecting a municipal hotel. The members of the chamber generally \jrreed that the town needed better hotel accommodation. The matter will be discussed at tho next meeting, the members meanwhile obtaining information. The authenticity of a recent cable | message from Australia stating that shipowners of the Commonwealth intended to approach the Arbitration Court with a request that the wage-, of eeamon bfi I educed is questioned by Mr. T. r\ Anderson, secretary of the Auckland .-e,i:r,r-i's I'r.ion. Mr. Anderson contends that the information is incorrect: tii.u art late a-; last month the Court delivered a judgment giving the, seamen concerned increased wages. ' Tn sentencing a Maori for theft of £S ; from the person at Gisborne yesterday.' Mr. Justice Reed -aid that young Maoris i released on probation were under the '■ impression they had won the case, and ] were inclined to ''swank on the result : of the trial. If the accused had Wn j a European ho would have got pro:>a- i tion. «o he did not like to make a racial ! distinction. Also, the accused served in ' the war. He would be required to bo prohibited for three years and to pay! £23. costs of the prosecution. ' j A letter was received at this morning's j meeting of the Auckland Education , Board from the department stating that authority to acquire fc"t. Stephen's 'Native .school o'he under S.he PiiUHc. Works Act must be declined. 1