HELP FOR JAPAN

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 213, 8 September 1923, Page 6

HELP FOR JAPAN

Tho disaster in Japan is no exception to the rule that misfortune brings out of good in the more fortunate. Shocked by the nature of the calamity, tho world has not paused a moment ■before offering help to Japan in her dire distress. Ships are hurrying to the scene bearing food for tho stricken. Probably every civilised country will do Bomething. New Zealand, which has a splendid record of assistance, to the starving and homeless in India, Belgium, Italy and elsewhere, will not be behindhand in charity. The thing is to act immediately, generously, and collectively. The statement of tho Acting Prime Minister, .Sir Francis Bell, is not so satisfactory as it might be. The Government proposes to act with Britain and has offered a contribution to the Motherland's effort. It doubts whether money contributions will be acceptable to a great nation like Japan. We do not think there is much in this doubt, though perhaps Sir Francis Bell is justified in feeling his way with somn care. If the Japanese Government did not care to accept money, there are, agencies in Japan, such as the Salvation Army, which would be only too glad to do so, and could be trusted to use it to the best advantage. We should say tho need of the moment was food and supplies, especially food, and New Zealand could arrange for an early shipment, independent of what Britain is doing. Australia has already taken such practical steps, and this Dominion should not be content to lag some distance behind its neighbour. The Government should make a generous vote out of the country's revenue. In great national disasters like this assistance from other countries should be national, and the only way to make it so is to trive something from the general fund. Subscription lists are filled by only a fraction of the people, whereas a Government vote comes from a fund to which everybody contributes. JTf citizens like to subscribe to relief funds by all means let thorn do so, but the Government should h ■ ''«'■ in the name of all the people, yot 'inje sun. Some idea of the activity displayed in the building trade is shown by the fact that from April 1 to date 345 notices of intention to erect scaffolding or carry out building work over 12ft in height have been received by the Labour Department.

Shepherds have a very effective way of punishing a disobedient dog. If one" of I their canines has been causing trouble they simply whistle to their other dogs, which respond by turning on the malefactor. Under the circumstances he seldom comes out of the scuffle without i having received a severe mauling. In country towns troublesome dogs that make a habit of rushing out and snapping at passers-by are not infrequently I taught a lesson on similar lines. A farmer pays a visit to the vicinity, and whan the dog rushes out he is met by luilf-a-dozen sheep dogs, who give him the surprise of his life. One such lesson is generally enough. i A total indebtedness of £404 16/2, ' due to unsecured creditors, is revealed '■ in the schedule of Frank Forrest Adam, farm labourer, of Mititai. who has filed his petition in bankruptcy. The assets are £21 10/. comprising cash £6 10/ and furniture £15, leaving a deficiency of: £383 6/2. A meeting of creditors" will be held in Auckland on Monday afternoon, September 17. A petition to be adjudged a bankrupt has been filed by John Craven Carden, auctioneer and produce merchant, of Pukekohc. A meeting of creditors will be held at Auckland on Wednesday, September 12. Regulations are gazetted prescribing conditions to be observed in the construction of drains, septic tanks, and sanitary conveniences and appliances, breaches of and failure to comply with which arc liable to a penalty of £20, and in the case of a continuous breacli, to a fine of £.t for every day or part of a day during which the breach continues. The regulations provide for the yearly licensing of plumbers, whose licenses mny be endorsed by the engineer in charge, and no sanitary work may proceed without the permit of the local authority. Secondary and prcpnratory school teachers in Northern Ireland have been informed of th e new scale of salaries proposed to be paid them. The draft regulations issued have yet to receive the sanction of Parliament. In the ease of the secondary teachers the minimum salary for males is £210, rising to £4.10, and for women £200, advancing to £32.i. Male preparatory teachers will receive salaries of £IGO-£4OO. and women £100----.000. Minimum salaries will require to be paid in all recognised schools, and the State will be responsible, for the increase. I In connection with the statement of the president of the Waterside Workers' I'nion on the (Ith hint., that con-; ditions on the waterfront were highly unsatisfactory, inquiries show that during the year ending 31st August last work has been somewhat better than during the preceding year. The average weekly wage for tlie previous year for 910 men employed was £4 5/, while for the yenr ending 31st August last with 034 men employed the averuge wage was £4 3/10. During the last two months, owing to this being the slack season for shipments of primary trifle affected, but the above figures prove that there was a very slight difference in wages over twelve months' and employment was found by a. few i more men. The overcrowded state of Maungawhau School, Mount Eden, was the subject of representations to the Hon. C. .T. Parr, Minister of Education, yesterday. It was pointed out that there were 830 children on the roll, and that two new class-rooms were urgently needed. One class contained nearly 100 pupils, while another class was taught in the porch. The Minister said that the problem of the. whole district was involved, but he promised on his return to Wellington to apply to Cabinet for a grant, and he thought it would be possible to make a start. with the additions before Christmas. Acting on a suggestion made at the meeting of the City Council on Thurs- i day night, the traffic department has curtailed the length of the taxi stand in Customs .Street East, so that it no longer abuts on the safety zone there. ■ The space between the zone and the rank is considered dangerously narrow, and the additional space will be appre- ! ciated by pedestrians crossing to the zone and drivers of vehicles turning into the street from Queen Street. Tlie prime cause of the inconvenience is the fact that the stand is on the wrong side of the road, but because of the intersections by other streets the stand is more advantageously situated on the wrong side. Sir Joseph Ward met many eminent and interesting men when attending various European Conferences, and he will give his personal impressions of ■ them in a lecture at. the Leys Institute, I Ponsonby, on Tuesday next, on "Some j People I Have Met." These include j King George and five other European sovereigns. British and Continental Prime Ministers, admirals, generals, and , celebrities in the political and theatri- | cal worlds. A tangi has recently concluded at To Karakn in connection with the death of Pera Haronga, a well-known native of the district, who died suddenly last ■week at the age of about GO years. The death of Pera recalls an incident in the life of old Wi Haronga, hig father, who died about twenty years ago. Wi Haronga was a friend of the whites in the troublous Ilauhau days, and after Bishop Williams left Wnerenga-a-hika for Xnpior the natives evinced a desire to burn his house and furniture. Wi Haronga remonstrated with them, and eventually declared that if they burnt . the bishop's furniture they would burn \ him (W\ Haronera) with it, as he was j going to sit on top of the stored furni- j ttire. His influence prevailed, and the : bishop's house and effects were in that. ; way saved from destruction at the hands of the Hauhaus. The ■craze to destroy a Government as soon as it 'begins to toddle, and before it I has bad reasonable time in which to run, j manifests itself in a series of intrigues i against the Fuller Administration (says a Sydney -writer). As elsewhere, the condition with the Progressive or Country party is not a happy one, probaibly because it was not possible to include the whole of the latter's members in the •Ministry. Naturally the Labour party ! takes a le3s than .benevolent, but still keen, interest in the (brewing storm, and j Mr. Lang has made more than one overture, open and covert, to Mr. Bruxner, the Progressive Leader, to either let Labour get into ofiiec or go in himself. | 13ut Mr, Lang holds a tottery seat as i captain of a disorganised and dis- ' satisfied little host; and Mr. Bruxner'3 party consists of nine members all told. Neither could carry on without the other's assistance—and dictatorship. Kor the present, and excepting that the unexpected is always happening in polities, the condition of the other parties keeps in office a Government without very much to commend it personally or politically. The composite photograph published in the Auckland "Star' , last Saturday showing how a railway in front of the F<mtv Buildings would look in action was the work of Mr. Revell-Reynolds. j